In his column for the Washington Post, Pulitzer Prize-winner Eugene Robinson said Donald Trump's increased reliance on racism as his re-election campaign looks to be in a death-spiral is going to haunt the Republican Party for years to come.
As the president's poll numbers continue to fall while the president ramps up his racist rhetoric, Robinson claimed that senior Republicans are standing by and letting Trump redefine the party in a way that will stick.
According to the columnist, the GOP will go into their Jacksonville presidential nominating convention as the party of, "racial grievance."
"We believe those marching in Black Lives Matter protests are 'thugs.' We see the term 'systemic racism' as an unfair attack on white people. We support keeping Confederate monuments on their pedestals, and we have no idea why anyone would consider Confederate flags a problem," he wrote addressing the stances the president has taken. "We are equal-opportunity racists. We see Latino immigrants as 'bad hombres.' And we believe that using the racist term 'kung flu' to describe covid-19 is hilarious, not least because we are convinced the covid-19 pandemic is basically over, anyway. Who cares what pointy-headed 'experts' might say — we know in our hearts that patriotic Americans don’t wear masks."
Writing Trump is "...leading his party down a sewer of unabashed racism and willful ignorance," Robinson said Republicans deserve what is coming to them if they refuse to rein the president in.
Robinson went on to name-check GOP lawmakers facing tough races, saying they could seek to save themselves if only they had the will to break from the unpopular president.
"I’m talking to you, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. And you, Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado. And you, Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Martha McSally of Arizona, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Steve Daines of Montana, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and John Cornyn of Texas. And while those of you in deep-red states whose reelection ordinarily would be seen as a mere formality may not see the giant millstones you’ve hung around your necks as a real risk, think again," he warned. "Sen. Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina and even Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, you should look at the numbers and realize you are putting your Senate seats — and the slim GOP majority — in dire jeopardy."
Going beyond warning Republicans of the fate that likely awaits them in November, Robinson pointed out that he won't be losing any sleep if the GOP is destroyed by Donald Trump.
"Trump’s antics are self-defeating. He’ll put on a racist show for a shrinking audience, but he won’t wear the masks that could allow the economic reopening he desperately wants. He may be able to avoid reality, but the Republican governors — including Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida — scrambling desperately to contain new outbreaks cannot," Robinson wrote before dryly adding, "It’s almost as though Trump is determined to destroy the Republican Party. Let’s give him his wish."
You can read more here.
