As a former republican until 2016, I have become painfully aware that there is a racist living in the white House but President Donald Trump could never have been elected without the help and support of the current republican party which created the environment to guarantee his success.
In 2013, I had started to become painfully aware of a strain of racism that had permeated the republican party to where I finally left it in 2016. It started with the Trayvon Martin case. Too many in my former party (2012-2013) were propping up as a hero the likes of a bum, George Zimmerman. Then there was the demonizing of Trayvon Martin as a pot smoking thug when he was just a kid walking home from a store. When George Zimmerman was declared “not guilty” by a Florida jury, a Pew poll indicated that the vast majority White older republicans favored this vote. This was my wake-up call.
Along came the democrat President Barack Obama (2008-2016). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to push back on fellow republicans when they would spout their talking points, like President Obama was a Muslim, born in Kenya and not really an American. With rare occasions, did “we the people” hear FOX TV folks, and/ or republican leaders/ lawmakers out-rightly and firmly denouncing this talk?
I recall one example when Senator John McCain was running for the presidency in 2002 when he graciously corrected a woman in his audience who referred to President Obama as a Muslim who hates the USA.
And it was the republican President Donald Trump who was the number one marketer-in-chief of the “birtherism” myth against President Barack Obama questioning his American citizenship. He helped peddle the myth that alleged President Obama had been really born in Kenya and not in Hawaii? How many republicans did “we the people” hear denouncing this talk? Their silence was deafening.
There have been numerous other signals. Even today, Republicans have been frequently attempting to define the Black Lives Matter movement as a hate/ terrorist group which is definitely “fake news.” They are echoing right wing pundits like FOX TV hosts who have been describing the “Black Lives Matter” movement as a hate group since its inception, instead of a minority group trying to garner attention to wrongs being done in their communities by law enforcement and the judicial system.
Even after all the recent events like the NFL players not being allowed to respectfully protest the plight of men of color being too frequently mistreated by police by kneeling during the playing of the our national anthem, and the star Roseanne Barr who felt it was okay to tweet ugly racist comments, too many in the republican party would like to portray that the impact of racism on the America culture as being exaggerated all out of proportion with what’s real.
This republican talking point does not bear up to scrutiny. Racism is such a virulent, insidious disease that has been spreading its ugly tentacles throughout the republican party to where racist hate groups, now feel emboldened. It is not by accident that leaders of these hate groups have been openly praising President Trump. This ugliness has been allowed to flourish because republicans don’t want deal with the reality of racism in their party that they have allowed to flourish, unchecked, and that they now have a standard bearer who is a racist.
Here’s the rest of the story…
On May 30, 2018, Max Boot for the Washington Post penned the following report, “President Trump is normalizing racism”
“President Trump once exulted in the success of “Roseanne.” “Look at her ratings! Look at her ratings!” he raved at a rally on March 29 after calling to congratulate the star. “And it was about us!”
“Fast forward to this week. Roseanne Barr’s show has been canceled by ABC after she compared former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, an African American, to an ape and falsely accused George Soros, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, of being a Nazi collaborator. And now, if you listen to Trumpland, the fired TV star has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the former reality TV star in the White House.”
I beg to differ.
“My immediate reaction, upon seeing the news of Barr’s vile comments, was to post on Twitter: “Trump is normalizing racism.” Brett Baier and Dana Perino of Fox News were incredulous. “I don’t think that President Trump had anything to do with this tweet,” Perino said. Baier denied that Trump is “responsible for that tweet.” Brit Hume jumped in on Twitter to proclaim that my comment “is an example of the way too many Trump critics think everything is somehow about him.”
Of course I wasn’t suggesting that the president dictated Barr’s comments or that she wasn’t a racist before Trump was elected. Barr has a long history of pushing crazy conspiracy theories — lately, pro-Trump conspiracy theories — and of making racist comments. In 2013, she tweetedthat Susan E. Rice, another African American and former Obama aide, was “a man with big swinging ape balls. ” Such comments did not, of course, prevent Trump from embracing Barr — indeed, he thanked her for her support in 2016. He still hasn’t condemned anything she has said — instead , he condemned ABC for not apologizing for criticism of him! And his son Donald Trump Jr. hasn’t apologized for retweeting Barr’s vicious attack on Soros.
What I was suggesting is that racists such as Barr might feel emboldened to publicly vent their hatred because they see the president doing something similar. This should not be such a radical idea for conservatives. They used to believe that a president’s conduct mattered, because it set a moral tone for the entire nation.”
“Here is Bill Bennett writing in 1998: “Civilized society must give public affirmation to principles and standards, categorical norms, notions of right and wrong. Even though public figures often fall short of these standards — and we know and expect some will — it is nevertheless crucial that we pay tribute to them.” Bill Clinton’s flagrant misconduct with Monica Lewinsky, Bennett opined, “is moral bankruptcy, and it is damaging our country, its standards, and our self-respect.”
“How much greater must the damage be from a president who pays off a porn star, endorses an accused child molester for the Senate, mocks a disabled reporter, lies an average of 6.5 times a day — and, yes, engages in flagrant racism. It is striking how little conservatives who scolded Clinton have to say about any of this — and especially about Trump’s regular attacks on minorities.”
“Remarkably enough, nearly 80 percent of Republicans claim that Trump isn’t biased against black people. (More than 80 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of all Americans say he is.) How can they deny what’s in front of their eyes? He has a decades-long history of racist comments and acts, and he rose to political prominence by claiming that the first African American president wasn’t born in America. As president, Trump has said there were “very fine people” on both sides at the white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, defended Confederate monuments, pardoned racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio, described African nations as “shithole” countries, and vilified African American NFL players who were peacefully protesting police brutality by saying they “shouldn’t be in the country.”
“Trump calls certain immigrants “animals” — this has become part of his rally shtick — and complains that people in sanctuary cities are “breeding” like, well, animals. He claims it’s only MS-13 gangsters that he is referring to as “animals,” as if that somehow makes it okay to employ the kind of dehumanizing language used by ethnic cleansers from Rwanda to Nazi Germany. But he is seeking to make these outlaws, who make up less than 1 percent of all gang members in America, the symbols of undocumented immigrants.”
“Do (conservatives) simply not care that a president is setting a racist tone for the nation?”
Link to entire op-ed piece: President Trump is normalizing racism – The Washington Post
Gronda Morin 
Trump has long been a racist, and he is encouraging all white Americans to be racists too. Of course, people who aren’t white should not be racist in his mind, rather they should be thankful for whites allowing them to come to America and being their slaves, and garbagemen. He has no idea he is causing Black Americans and Hispanic Americans and Aboriginal Americans and Chinese Americans and Jewish Americans, etc., to be racist right back at him. I don’t know percentages, but I’m sure white Americans are in the minority were race wars to break out in the USA. And seeing as maybe half of white Americans are not racist at all, that leaves racist whites even more outnumbered. Does Trump really think he can outgun those odds. Of course he does, most racist white Americans are members of the NRA. (My apologies to those who aren’t, if there are any.)
But then, most of those white racists are cowards, including the Donald himself…
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Dear Rawgod,
You have the picture. The demographics are against the republican party and its future is dim. These years with Donald Trump at the helm is probably their last hurrah.
Why do you think the republican party is doing everything possible to suppress the vote or to rig it with tactics by gerrymandering (drawing voting districts within each a state) to favor/ give the advantage to republican party candidates?
But their days in the sun are coming to an end sooner than they realize.
Part of the problem is that there are many folks who are deep into denial about the racism that they carry. But many are open about it. I have come to the point that I suspect any republican who supports this racist president as have fallen victim to this disease of racism.
Hugs, Gronda
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Reblogged this on Filosofa's Word and commented:
Most of us do not rely on others to set an example for us of how we should think, speak and act. Most of us have functional brains and were taught by responsible parents. But there is a contingent in this nation who will play “follow the leader” and “monkey-see, monkey-do”, and those are the ones who are following Trump’s example of blatant racism. Gronda, with just a little help from Max Boot of The Washington Post, has written an excellent post tying the racism that is Donald Trump to some of the events happening today. Please take a few minutes to read and ponder. Thank you, Gronda!
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Dear Jill,
I am no longer being unequivocal when I equate republicans supportive of President Trump as being racist or at least as those complicit in this sin.
Max Boot is one of my conservative heroes.
So now “we the people” know for sure that we have a Russian asset living in the WH who suffers from just about every ism disease that exists like racism, sexism, etc.
We need to make a c-change in our attitudes towards becoming a more tolerant generous peoples or we will become like them, haters.
Thanks a million times over for all of your support and for this reblog.
Hugs, Gronda
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No, there is no denying his blatant racism, and by default, that of his followers. I wonder if that is what they love about him? It’s time for a change, before we reenact the civil war all over again. Hugs!!!
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Dear Gronda. Where is America now. Biggest nuclear power. Greatest economy, (developed not only because of American intellect and industrial might, but because of world war that needed resources.) Big acceptor of migrants (that built America). Creator of so much, to the destruction of many. Would you believe that i am personally ashamed of believing in your great country, it has been exposed by yourselves. It has been exposed by schools in Terror…it is exposed by the Republican sycophants as to how NOT to act. America created the TV and the News cycle and it has all become bread and circus for division, bigotry, hatred and a voice for the deluded. What do you think will come of this game?. I am careful, because i have had the dubious pleasure of working with American service people (Australian Army 72-75) and found these people Black and White… to be good mates. In Australia, politicians are basically just incompetent fools who like to pretend they handle things, we have yet to suffer a coup by mobsters because the PUBLIC would indeed not allow such a situation. America has just delivered a blank cheque to the world, come and get it. America will not recover from the clown, the emporer has no clothes, we all know that now. Remember i said it gets violent after june 18… (who needs violence?) American ship of State is sinking. American atomic bombs can not save the implosion of decency, nor save the integrity that was. I am so sorry for you all. My thoughts and prayers for America. Land of the free, Home of the brave. Oh say you can not see…my humble hugs for you, fair dinkum.
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Well said! Blogger Lada Ray likens Trump to Gorbachev when it comes to the destruction of the country. Trump, the Republican Party and their racist supporters are the “demolition crew” to implode the weakened foundations of our once great nation. Oh well, I guess we can all move to Russia after 8 yrs of Trumpdom. 🙂
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Dear 1EarthUnited,
President Trump and too many of the GOP do suffer from racist impulses but they are not the majority of Americans.
President Trump will do damage but we Americans have overcome worse periods of time in our US history and we will do so again.
Racism is our original sin which means that we will have to continuously work to eliminate this scourge from our lives.
Hugs, Gronda
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Dear Gary J.,
I have more faith in the USA and its peoples because I live here and I know this country. Since the inception of this country we have suffered from this original sin of racism which still exists to periodically raise its ugly head to cause us pain. Every so many years, we take 2 steps forward, followed by 1 step backwards. This is a sin that we have to continually confront.
I am convinced that it is this darker angel within too many of us which propelled Donald Trump to become the 45th US president. He is racist but he is the symptom of an underlying disease that needs some fixing.
This is why I was so grateful when ABC owned by Disney took such swift action to cancel its #1 money making TV comedy sitcom when its star Roseanne Barr recently tweeted racist comments. It is my belief that the “Me, Too” movement has taken such a strong hold on the women and good men of this country as a reaction to republicans who acted too cavalierly towards the misogyny exhibited by their leader.
We will not only recover, we will be better and stronger than ever. Just watch, and learn.
Hugs, Gronda
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Thankyou for your generous reply. Hugs.
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Reblogged this on Words To Captivate ~ by John Fioravanti and commented:
Gronda Morin paints a chilling picture of the growing reality and threat of racism in the Republican Party and in the nation at large – courtesy of the Enabler-in-Chief in the White House. Please share.
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Dear John Fioravanti,
This disease of racism that has infected the republican US president and his followers has and is doing real damage to this country. For those who were in denial about how deep this disease is within the American culture, they can no longer afford this luxury.
I have some hope because of the recent backlash against the TV comedy sitcom star Roseanne Barr who tweeted her racist remarks. In this Trump world, she thought she could get away with her ugly behaviors but instead ABC owned by Disney cancelled this show which was its #1 sitcom. The TV channels who play her older TV shows as reruns has cancelled out on her. Her talent agency has dropped her.
This has importance because her show starred her as a republican Trump supporter. The show was very popular with president Trump’s base. An important line has been drawn.
Another cultural moment to look out for, is when the US football season starts in the Fall. I want to see how the NFL owners treat the players (70% Black) who decide to ignore the dictate that the NFL owners announced where they cannot respectfully kneel at the playing of the US national anthem. They are kneeling in protest to highlight the issue of too many unarmed men of color being mistreated by police officers.
The NFL owners issued what I consider to be a racist rule to kow-tow to President Trump’s racist impulses.
Thanks a million times for all of your support and for this reblog.
Hugs, Gronda
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And Trump remains silent. Looks like our countries are squaring off for a trade war, Gronda.
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Dear John Fioravanti,
I am afraid that you are right. This is just one more example of President Trump acting to appease his base instead of doing what is right and sensible.
It is important for countries to fight back this USA bully-in-chief. He needs a bloody nose.
Hugs, Gronda
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Gronda, anyone who says Donald Trump is not a racist should be reminded (or informed) that he and his father lost two court cases on discriminatory housing practices. After settling one case, they had to be removed they were not upholding their end of the settlement.
Each time opportunity presents itself to be Presidential on race matters, he has tripped over a very low bar. He made the Roseanne comments about him rather than saying they were inappropriate. Here is likely how this will play out – Trump will double then triple down on his own childish comments. Then he will call for a boycott of Disney. And, Roseanne’s show will be on Fox next year, without the full cast.
Keith
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PS – that should say “reminded” not “removed.”
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Dear Keith,
I’m in 100% agreement. One cannot support President Trump without knowing that they are condoning a racist. A lot of his meanness, exhibited by his need to bully and diminish others are based on this ugly racist part of himself. His response to Roseanne Barr’s racist tweets along with is past actions tell me all I need to know.
He is too much like his Dad. A 1927 NY Times article about KKK arrests at a memorial park parade mentioned Donald Trump’s father Fred, but the reporting was vague and inconclusive. In the past, I would not have paid much attention to those headlines as the Dad’s arrest doesn’t prove that he was an actual member. But with his son’s behaviors along with his racist actions towards renters, Fred Trump is losing the benefit of the doubt.
The GOP members in the US Congress have to so proud to have a racist as their standard bearer.
Hugs, Gronda
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Gronda, you asked: “Remarkably enough, nearly 80 percent of Republicans claim that Trump isn’t biased against black people. … How can they deny what’s in front of their eyes?”
They deny it because they believe exactly as he does … thus it’s “invisible.”
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Dear Nan,
That denial factor in the republican party has already taken a toll. In the past, I am convinced that the Supreme court cases with decisions against “voting rights” and affirmative action” were based in part because the conservatives sitting on the Supreme Court were in this state of denial regarding the insidious nature of racism in the American culture.
President Trump exists to day because of this denial. I’m certain that most republicans who support President Trump believe that he is not a racist and they would go to their death beds denying the racism that exists within their hearts.
As per an August 2017 Pew research study, “The proportion of Americans who think racism is ‘a big problem’ has more than doubled since 2009. 58 per cent of respondents said that racism is now “a big problem” in the US, up from a record-low of 26 per cent in 2009. In 1995, that figure was 48 per cent.”
As is typical, most Americans believe racism is a major problem in the USA even though the vast majority of President Trump’s republican supporters would deny this reality.
Hugs, Gronda
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Hideous. Their hate will consume them.
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Dear Roger,
Those who suffer from racism will eventually pay a steep price for indulging in this vice. Those Evangelical leaders who instruct their followers to support the likes of President Trump who suffers from this sin, will be exposed in the history books for the “charlatans” that they are.
Hugs, Gronda
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I try and not labour this point Gronda as it can be taken out of context, but “folks……please read your history about populist leaders and where they led their nations……”
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[…] Continue reading… […]
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Dear Tina Frisco,
Welcome! Thanks a million times over for sharing this post via your reblog.
Hugs, Gronda
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