Now the chief of the Border Patrol union , Brandon Judd , is even repeating the America-For-Whites-Only theme , saying :
“ I believe that they ’ re trying to change the demographics of the electorate ; that ’ s what I believe they ’ re doing ,”
After the last presidential election , white supremacists conspired to keep their leader , Donald Trump , in office by , among other things , trying to murder the Vice President and Speaker of the House in their attempted coup .
This virulent form of white supremacy has also spread to our churches . When PRRI asked if Trump had “ encouraged white supremacists ,” a majority of Black ( 75 %) and Hispanic ( 68 %) churchgoers said yes . But , the pollsters found , fewer than “ half of white mainline Protestants ( 43 %) and white Catholics ( 43 %) and only 26 % of white evangelical Protestants share this view .”
These straight white “ Christians ” cheered when Trump began the “ Birther ” movement , terrorized refugee children ( many of whom are now lost to trafficking or unknown adoptions ), referred to majority-Black nations as “ shithole countries ,” engaged in slurs like
“ Mexican judge ,” and repeatedly referred to Black women in Congress as “ crazy .”
They ’ ve been told that as minorities increase their roles in media , politics , and the mainstream of American life and business , that must mean that white opportunities are similarly reduced . They see American society and the distribution of jobs , wealth , and power within it as a zero-sum game , which it very much is not .
Most of the old-timers among them have always been racists ; the new adherents to the white supremacist ideology were evangelized on unregulated social media and by rightwing hate radio and TV .
They ’ ve so completely taken over the Republican Party that white supremacist senators felt empowered to attack a highly qualified but Black female judge as pro-pedophile . CBS just put one of them on its payroll . They ’ re purging the party of old-line “ fiscal conservatives ” like Liz Cheney ; and the savagely bigoted and anti-gay Ron DeSantis is their new savior .
These people are lost . By and large , there is no hope to redeem or awaken them , and we should stop trying .
Americans and our institutions should stop normalizing them — as if being a member of the GOP means a person is suddenly above also being a white supremacist bigot . Racists should no longer be able to hide behind the sheet of “ just being political .”
A big step forward happened this past weekend when The New York Times published an extraordinary exposé of Tucker Carlson ’ s “ most racist show in the history of cable news .”
While programming like Carlson ’ s would have been normal in most of America in the 1950s , it should have no place in our more diverse nation in 2022 , regardless of how much money it makes Fox ’ s Australian owners .
Racists and bigots must be called out , labeled , and shunned , no matter how wealthy or powerful they may be .
This is particularly important on the Sunday TV political shows , where they routinely show up and are almost never confronted with meaningful questioning . ( There ’ s a reason Trevor Noah chose to call out Chuck Todd )
And then we must turn to the most important work : getting about the business of governing and moving forward , rebuilding this country from the wreckage of 40 years of Reaganism , while leaving his and Trump ’ s bigoted followers to marinate alone in their own putrid stew .