Senator Tim Scott, who’s Black, seeks the presidential nomination of what has really become the White Nationalist party. I want to say, Good luck with that.
Yet more than a token few Blacks have been prominent in the party, even in the South. The leading North Carolina GOP gubernatorial prospect is Mark Robinson, very Trumpy and Black. Georgia almost elected Herschel Walker. And after all, Scott himself did get elected statewide in Republican-dominated South Carolina — where Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond was his predecessor.
Does this demonstrate the Republican Party isn’t racist?
Of course all Republicans aren’t racist. But most racists are Republicans. How does that gibe with their voting for non-whites? They deny being racist, even to themselves, resent the accusation — and voting for a Black candidate provides a welcome opportunity to seemingly prove, especially to themselves, their non-racism.
And, importantly, they see Democrats as the party of Blacks. Something they’ll vote against, even if it means voting for a non-white. Most white Georgians held their noses and supported Walker — not only Black, but an atrocious candidate — to strike a blow against more hated Democrats. Indeed proving not that those Republicans aren’t racist, but how far they’ll go to vent their animus against Blacks and the political forces identified with Blacks.
A little history. The Republican party was born as the anti-slavery party; the early GOP stood up for freed Blacks; and for a century retained their allegiance. Then in the 1960s it was Democrats who embraced the civil rights movement while Republicans sought to exploit white resistance to it, especially in the South. But most white Americans were okay with Black progress, and race relations were improving. Until electing a Black president signaled loss of the caste dominance long taken for granted.
Which became a central political preoccupation. And whereas the GOP had previously cynically pandered to white racial anxiety, with Trump that took over the whole party. Studies have shown that such racial concern is the one factor most closely correlated with Trump support. Making Republicans today what is at heart really the white nationalist party. Hence the prominence of the Confederate flag in Republican iconography. (No, it’s not about “state rights.”)
So — how can we account for Blacks like Tim Scott cheerleading for that party? Black Republican voting, in the Trump era, has actually risen above previous lows. Are they race traitors, “Uncle Toms” (in antique parlance)? Or just deranged? For politicians, opportunism is a partial explanation. While Black Democratic politicians are a dense crowd competing for advancement, the GOP is more open territory, with Blacks having there a novelty value, and being welcomed as again seeming proof against the stain of racism.
I don’t doubt that some Black Republicans are sincere. Though I have a hard enough time fathoming how any rational American could back Trump, blind to all the lies, even given the white nationalism factor; and to understand Black supporters is harder still. Maybe it’s just the raw macho alpha-male appeal to our lizard brains.
Yet the human heart and mind are very complex and deep. People have reasons for what they believe. You or I might think them bad reasons. But it would be a dull world if everyone thought alike.
