Trump Is No George Wallace. He's Worse.
By John Judis
July 18, 2019 10:29 am
I keep seeing comparisons between Trumps racial appeals and George Wallaces 1968 campaign. Heres the APs Steve Peoples and Zeke Miller: Not since George Wallaces campaign in 1968 has a presidential candidate and certainly not an incumbent president put racial polarization at the center of his call to voters. Someone here can correct me if my memory is failing me, but in 1968, Wallace did not make explicit racial appeals.
Wallace talked about states rights and the ability of big government to dictate whether schools should segregate. In his opening appearance in 1967 in Meet the Press, he said he did not favor segregation in any phase of our society in any state of this union, but favored the states being allowed to continue to determine the policies of their domestic institutions themselves. His voters often understood his appeals in racial terms, but he was careful not to frame his appeal in white vs. black terms.
Trumps appeal is much more explicit and personal. Wallace, in retrospect, was a conventional politician who reflected and then later rejected the mores of his time and region. Trump is much more of an irresponsible demagogue. He did not rise out of a political movement the way that, say, Hitler or Mussolini did, but is a peculiar product of our celebrity and social media culture. Hes a bad person a man lacking in conscience in a way that Wallace, as his turn later against his segregationist past showed, was not.
I have mixed feelings about the politics of this latest outburst: on one hand, it tempts Democrats into an over-reaction, particularly on issues like immigration; on the other hand, it reinforces the aversion of many voters, including erstwhile Republican voters, to having such an individual represent the country as its and their president.
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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-is-no-george-wallace-hes-worse
Rhiannon12866
(206,016 posts)He did come to see the light later in life and obviously passed that on to his daughter.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)I don't remember him whipping up anger/hatred, mocking the disabled, etc., like trump.
rampartc
(5,435 posts)everyone knew Wallace's famous speech :
"segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever"
so by the time he ran for president he could tone down the overt racism into their watered down "states rights" dog whistle version. trump has no "tone down" dial.
BigDemVoter
(4,157 posts)But at least he apologized. Pussy-Grabber would NEVER apologize for anything.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)By his own admission, Wallace's segregation schtick was to win votes:
"I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career, and nobody listened. And then I began talking about ni***s, and they stomped the floor."
Plus he openly apologized for his past views and sought forgiveness from African Americans: "I know I contributed to that pain, and I can only ask your forgiveness."
"I was wrong. Those days are over, and they ought to be over."
Could you ever imagine Trump going into a black church and uttering those words?