Can anyone explain this Yuval Levin analysis (paraphrased by David French) to me (with the understanding that I do know who George Wallace is)
@annehelen I mean, the "long time" in which some of it was in the Democratic party ended in the late '60s, maybe the '70s. I don't think you can make much of a case for it being bipartisan beyond that.
@annehelen In addition to what everybody’s saying (re: which party is the home of outward racism/Wallace’s performative, proto Trumpy style), in the Rust Belt especially, Wallace was the first reactionary candidate to start cleaving union-employed working class White voters from the libs.
@annehelen I’m sleepy and hoped they were describing a @MrGeorgeWallace America.
@annehelen I think beyond simply saying racists, I think George Wallace had a very performative and combative style, where he liked to grandstand his beliefs. Like he placed himself at the door of the U of Alabama to prevent integration, which, of course, was a great photo op.
@annehelen Since it's Levin talking and the American Enterprise Institute is terrified of populism, I'd say he means populists who used to vote D because populism, but now vote R because they love racism more than their own economic interests and the Southern Strategy still works.
@annehelen He means racists. Mostly blue collar or middle class, and people who are probably less politically involved than the average voter, but the big unifying characteristic here is being racist, and probably caring more about that than economic issues
@annehelen I just finished listening to Hunter S Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail”, and I don’t know if it was the audio-ness of it, but it filled in my understanding of Wallace’s ripple effects. Also, it was startling to realize the inevitability of today’s reality.
@annehelen I read it as the Republican party owning a narrow, bigoted party constituency outright at this point. Where Dems want to widen the tent, Rs are happy for the tent to shelter white supremacists.