Trump’s killed the GOP: He erased covert racism from the party’s platform — by being overtly racist

Trump’s killed the GOP: He erased covert racism from the party’s platform — by being overtly racist

by Henry Fernandez at Salon

http://www.salon.com/2016/07/24/trumps_killed_the_gop_he_erased_covert_racism_from_the_partys_platform_by_being_overtly_racist/

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No longer will the GOP be able to keep race-motivated voters in line by offering dog-whistle racism while forcing them to swallow economic policies that do nothing to benefit them. Trump has shown a way forward for himself and other candidates who will embrace economic populism and much more direct racially biased appeals.

And just as there are race-motivated voters who swallow GOP economic policy, there are current Republican voters who will leave the party because of Trump’s explicit appeals to race. This potentially large group of current GOP voters have no desire to be associated with racist or bigoted attacks and morally oppose the raising of these views to a central role in the Republican Party. Their departure will shrink the GOP base and further increase the dominance of the race-motivated voter in the GOP.

The Modern Republican Party faces a classic party collapse. The race-motivated voter now knows he or she represents the dominant Republican constituency and Trump has shown them that it is no longer necessary to tolerate GOP attacks on Social Security or Medicare. Candidates now know they can win Republican primaries by appealing to this dominant constituency, so we will soon find candidates at all levels acting a lot more like Trump. Economic populism and outright racism will forever more trump trickle-down economics and dog whistles. Before it dies, the Modern Republican Party will shrink, wither, and almost certainly become uglier.

We do not know what will rise in place of the Modern Republican Party, but something will. We have seen great political parties fall before and witnessed political realignments within parties even while their name stayed the same. Within an election cycle or two we will once again likely have two national parties. But the Modern Republican Party is dead.


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