I can’t believe that I haven’t seen (or I’ve missed) any posts about perhaps the best piece of journalism committed during this presidential campaign. Last night, Rachel Maddow led with an exquisite piece comparing Donald Trump’s campaign with that of George Wallace’s third-party run in 1968. He received 10 million votes in an election that also included candidates Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon.
Rachel began by saying that many people refer to the Trump campaign as something we've never before seen in a presidential election. She then ran a piece, "Trump's combative style has echoes in history," that compared Trump's campaign with Wallace's in 1968, using rare footage of Wallace's campaign. NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss was her guest, and the exchanges between him and Rachel are intelligent and insightful.
Replace "Muslims" with "Blacks" and you have Wallace. Wallace's crowds look and act like Trump's. Wallace's reactions to protestors are the same as Trump's. Wallace's message about threats to Americanism are the same as Trump's.
It's almost as if Trump studied him in order to garner the support of people who would vote for him if he runs as a third-party candidate. Replace Trump’s Tea Party Republicans with Wallace’s white, racist “Southern” Democrats and you won’t be able to tell the difference (except for the white t-shirtrs and jeans at Wallace’s rallies). It is frightening to think that 48 years later, this bigotry and hatred is still the underbelly of American politics.
I was literally on the edge of my chair, glued to the tube, stunned by the similarities not only in style and tone, but also in message. I was 15 when the 1968 election took place. It was a year of Bobby Kennedy's assassination, Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, and T.H.E. Democratic convention. So pardon me if I don't remember the specifics of the Wallace campaign and the media's reaction to it.
The media reaction? Instead of the barely-couched adoration and enabling of Trump many journalists have exhibited (e.g. Chris Matthews), the journalists of the 1960’s seemed genuinely shocked and appalled by Wallace’s rallies.
So, enough of reading this. This is a must-see. Go to Rachel’s website and watch history repeating itself.