. . . to figure out that the entire basis of the Republican presidential candidates appeal is racism. Kevin Drum gives us a more opionated discussion of this obvious fact.
As a friend just ranted at me, however, the corporate media for the most part (Confessore piece above obviously excepted) and even, it seems, many Democratic politicians have at best tip-toed around this. Hillary Clinton obviously doesn't have nice things to say about him, but just calling him a con artist and a fraud is not mentioning the elephant in the room.
For the teevee news, of course, the candidate is good for ratings and that's all they care about. That's what made him the Republican nominee, his ubiquity on cable news. They obviously don't want to alienate his fans.
But the same goes for many Democratic politicians. The Bill Clinton presidency was largely about trying to win back the Reagan Democrats by pandering to their racism. Hillary knows that accusing racists of being racist is the best way to make them feel offended. Telling the country that racism is foundational to white working class culture would be the truth, but it would also be an excellent way to make sure you could not be elected to office outside of Berkeley or Jamaica Plain.
How worried am I? Not very worried about hearing the Marine Band playing Hail to the Cheetoh Dusted Thief, but disturbed by the weakness and corruption of our institutions. Donald Trump may be too vain and undisciplined to carry his schtick over the finish line, but somebody smarter and emotionally stable might come along and carry off a more successful version of the act. In the meantime, we could see a lot of unpleasantness.
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