First Thread: Before Trump

So my Ph D treaties on Twitter, about how Trump split up the GOP. We start with history of course. And we go to the political era before Trump. To the origins.

No. Not Sarah Palin.

No. Not Newt Gingrich. The origins:

George Wallace, the last racist

So reality check to my younger Tweeps, some who do not know this. Up to the 1960s, it was the DEMOCRATIC party that was the racist party and the Republicans stood for equal rights. Yes that is true.

The South had 'Dixie-crats' who were KKK Nazis, Democrats who were openly racist
The last Racist to openly run for President to win some (Southern) states - was former Democrat - turned Independent, George Wallace.

Democrats threw the racists out of their party and embraced the minorities, with a passion. Today it seems impossible to imagine DEMs as racists
George Wallace ran as an Independent (the American Independent Party, does that sound MAGA to you?)

When George Wallace's runs ended, the racists had no party to call their own. They infiltrated the Republican party who tolerated them. THAT WAS A MISTAKE
We need to understand the roots to Maganutters. George Wallace & Dixie-Crat / American Independent Party racists were mostly from the South. Land owners, whites. Gun-lovers. Fake Christians (churches were strongly segregated, so WHITE Christians in South easily racists)
The white racists had often direct lineage back to slave-owners. And broad support of KKK. Denying blacks and other minorities the right to vote. Lynch mobs etc.

This was George Wallace's voter base. Since Wallace, no politician DARED to appeal to the racists, until Trump
I do not mean all gun-lovers are racists
I do not mean all Southern Whites are racists
I do not mean all white Christians are racists
I do not mean all land-owners are racists.

BUT racists tend to be most of those things. They are sick slice of the population. GOP tolerated them
This racist wing would not vote for Obama, a black man. Note there ARE still rcists among Democrats too (only very few).

When RACISTS heard Trump question Obama's nationality (= Kenyan, the birtherism) they found their maga god
Most Republicans are not racist. The party's HISTORY was AGAINST slavery.

After Democrats threw racists out, the GOP accepted them in. This was a horrible mistake. The GOP tolerated the racists for decades, eroding their party
Most MAGANUTTERS are NOT racist

Let me repeat that

Most maganutters are NOT racist

But nearly all American racists are hard core Trump supporters. The deepest core, most loyal Trumpists among maganutters - are racists.

The GOP needs to deal with this now

More from Tomi Ahonen, Croupier at Pardon Roulette

More from Politics

My piece in the NY Times today: "the Trump administration is denying applications submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services at a rate 37 percent higher than the Obama administration did in 2016."

Based on this analysis: "Denials for immigration benefits—travel documents, work permits, green cards, worker petitions, etc.—increased 37 percent since FY 2016. On an absolute basis, FY 2018 will see more than about 155,000 more denials than FY 2016."
https://t.co/Bl0naOO0sh


"This increase in denials cannot be credited to an overall rise in applications. In fact, the total number of applications so far this year is 2 percent lower than in 2016. It could be that the higher denial rate is also discouraging some people from applying at all.."

Thanks to @gsiskind for his insightful comments. The increase in denials, he said, is “significant enough to make one think that Congress must have passed legislation changing the requirements. But we know they have not.”

My conclusion:
We’ve been getting calls and outreach from Queens residents all day about this.

The community’s response? Outrage.


Amazon is a billion-dollar company. The idea that it will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks at a time when our subway is crumbling and our communities need MORE investment, not less, is extremely concerning to residents here.

When we talk about bringing jobs to the community, we need to dig deep:
- Has the company promised to hire in the existing community?
- What’s the quality of jobs + how many are promised? Are these jobs low-wage or high wage? Are there benefits? Can people collectively bargain?

Displacement is not community development. Investing in luxury condos is not the same thing as investing in people and families.

Shuffling working class people out of a community does not improve their quality of life.

We need to focus on good healthcare, living wages, affordable rent. Corporations that offer none of those things should be met w/ skepticism.

It’s possible to establish economic partnerships w/ real opportunities for working families, instead of a race-to-the-bottom competition.

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