Much ink has been spilt about the racism in the Trump campaign for president. There is little doubt that his candidacy and quick rise in the polls are tied to clearly racist statements and polices. It’s also no secret that at least since the Nixon administration, the GOP has relied on racist memes to motivate its base. But the most troubling question is not why the Republican Party tolerates or even recruits racists, but what it means for our republic that it does.
The GOP’s racist policies mean that racism has a home in America. The racists in the nation know that they can always come home to the GOP. Home is a place where you can say “Yes, let’s keep out those Muslims!” and not be afraid. It’s a place where you can rejoice without repercussion as a protestor is attacked at a rally. The GOP’s embrace of racism is to racists what home is to the rest of us at the end of a long day: a place to get comfortable.
But more than making racists comfortable, the GOP’s toleration of hateration serves to validate – and maybe even strengthen – the racist ideology of its rank and file. Part of the social contract requires that we refrain from doing things that violate our social order. There are only two major political parties in this country. When one of those parties condones racism, racism becomes an accepted part of our social order. If your conduct is part of the social fabric, there is no motivation to change your behavior because, over time, your behavior becomes accepted.
The acceptance of racism means that if you don’t like Mexicans, and the candidate of a major political party agrees, you have no reason to question your beliefs. If you distrust Muslims, you have no motivation to actually read a Quran or otherwise learn about the faith. In fact, you might just be inspired to physically attack a Mexican or a Muslim just to prove your allegiance to the prevailing social order.
The current crop of Republican hopefuls is the result of many years of treating racists like normal people. When we debate whether a national ban on Muslim immigrants makes sense, whether the Dred Scott decision remains valid, whether the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a good thing, whether we should build a wall on the Mexican border, it makes it appear as if the racist arguments behind those proposals have validity.
It is time – well past time, in fact – for us to give racists no quarter in our political process. It is time to treat racists the way we treat holocaust deniers, Roswell UFO conspiracists, and those who believe Elvis Presley is still alive and well – with scorn and derision.
It is time for the Republicans to tell the racist persons and polices of their party that they are no longer welcome. It is time for the eviction notice to be served. Will this end American racism once and for all? Of course not. But without a national home, an accepted place of being, it will certainly make it more difficult for them to exist in our midst. I’ll take that . . . for now.