The Sad, Sad Truth About the Rise of Trump

What is happening today in the Republican Party has its roots in 1968, the year George Corley Wallace, the former governor of Alabama, broke from the Democratic Party and ran for President as the nominee of the American Independent Party. Wallace ran as an avowed segregationist and collected 9,901,118 popular votes and 46 votes in the Electoral College. Based on Wallace's success with "blue collar whites" the Republican Party starting with Richard Nixon developed the "Southern strategy" that involved attracting these same voters with coded racial messages. Two historical examples of this strategy are worth noting. The first was Ronald Reagan's reference to "welfare queens" in 1976. The second was George Bush's use of the Willie Horton campaign commercials against Michael Dukakais in 1988. Regardless, the Republican Party has stoked racial fear and anxiety for almost 50 years although never as overtly as Wallace did.

Now we have Donald Trump. For the longest time I couldn't understand the rise of Trump. For years, I have been snowed, as many other political observers have, as the Republican Party has claimed that their core message is small government, lower taxes, anti-abortion, "traditional" marriage, etc., and for many Republicans that is true. I have listened as Republican after Republican has complained that their candidates are not "conservative enough." Then along came Trump. While there are many factors in his rise, being "conservative enough" is definitely not one of them. Trump has a history of supporting many of the things that "real conservatives" would never support. He has certainly supported enough of these positions to never, ever meet the standard of being "conservative enough."

So what is the real reason Trump is so popular with so many Republicans? The answer has two parts: the existence of the first black President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, coupled with Trump's overt racist message. The timing of President Obama's election to the highest office in the land in this analysis is no coincidence. The fact that so many Republicans are willing to enthusiastically support a man who actually speaks to none of the Republican Party's core issues, but a man who does overtly slam blacks, Hispanics and Muslims, even mocks the disabled, tells me that these folks were never "conservative enough" in the first place. I read an interview with an older white woman who says she supports Trump. The reason? She said that when she walked into a store before Obama was President, the store clerks looked at her with respect. Now, she says, those same store clerks, presumably black, look at her like they hate her. She blames Obama for changing their "attitude" toward her.

This is the sad, sad truth about the rise of Trump.