In 1963, William Rusher, then publisher of the National Review, laid the foundation for what would become the Southern Strategy. It was a plan for Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign and encouraged the Republican candidate to appeal to white-working class voters who were unhappy with the Democrats and feeling marginalized by civil rights. This would be a strategy that the party would continue to use to this very day. It is a strategy deeply steeped in coded racial language to appeal to a base largely comprised of racists. It is the strategy that paved the way for a Donald Trump presidency.
It is fitting to revisit this history, at this particular moment in time, since Trump has been using it recently in his talk about Charlottesville and the removal of Confederate monuments. Of course, most of the time, Trump hasn’t been at all subtle in his language. But he has recently begun talking about “changing” and “taking away” culture—a covert reference to changing demographics and the browning of America that Republicans love to bring up in order to scare white people.
President Trump reaffirmed once again Tuesday his claim that activists are trying to "take away" U.S. history and culture by calling for the removal of Confederate statues.
"They’re trying to take away our culture. They’re trying to take away our history," Trump said at a rally in Phoenix, Ariz. "And our weak leaders, they do it overnight. These things have been there for 150 years, for a hundred years. You go back to a university and it's gone. Weak, weak people."
It’s ironic that everyone demonizes the Democrats for being the party of identity politics. After all, it’s not as if Republicans don’t utilize their own form of white identity politics to appeal to their voters. The entire strategy of the Republican Party for the last half a century has been to stay as white as possible, develop an identity among whites that positions them as marginalized because of their race, and incite fear and mistrust of people of color. They’ve perfected it. So now they can’t be shocked that Trump is using it to justify keeping these awful monuments around.
"They were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee,” Trump said last week. “This week it's Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder is it George Washington next week and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?”
This has nothing to do with monuments. Sure, lots of people around the country really believe that they are a representation of their culture and heritage. But Trump couldn’t care the least bit about that. He’s pandering to their racism and anxiety. What he really means is that progress in the name of racial justice, diversity and inclusion must be stopped. This is the “culture” Trump wants to preserve. And this is the “culture” that Republicans created and fostered. Though many are finally seeing him for the unhinged maniac he is, this is a mess of their own making.