Make No Mistake. Today’s GOP Is Racist.

Given Trump’s unrestrained spending, the GOP can no longer claim to be the party of financial responsibility. Given Trump’s boorish behavior, his history of extramarital affairs and sexual assaults, his administration’s forced separation of refugee families and its torturous incarceration of young children, the party can no longer claim to be the party of family values. Given Trump’s lack of a foreign policy, his embrace of murderous dictators and his acceptance of Russian interference, it can no longer claim to be strong on defense.

Given Trump’s disdain for the FBI and his obstruction of justice, it cannot claim to be the party of law and order. Given his tariffs, it cannot claim to be the party of free trade. Given the party’s efforts to suppress voting, to gerrymander, to bury opponents in an avalanche of dirty money, and to steal elections, it most certainly cannot claim that it cares about democracy. Given the party’s determination to cut Social Security, Medicare and other safety net programs such as Meals on Wheels, it cannot claim to care about seniors. And, given its cuts to veteran’s benefits, it cannot claim that it cares for veterans.

What the today’s GOP can reasonably claim to be is a party of xenophobes, homophobes, misogynists, racists and fascists.

Once the party of emancipators and proponents of conservative fiscal policies, the GOP began its evolution following Brown v Board of Education – the Supreme Court ruling that forced the desegregation of public schools. In the wake of that decision, James M. Buchanan formulated a plan to allow the white elite to retain its power over the majority. His ideas were embraced by libertarians, in particular the billionaire Charles Koch, and southern conservatives. Then, following the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968, which were signed into law by a Democratic president (Lyndon B. Johnson), the GOP committed to Lee Atwater’s Southern strategy by reaching out to southern Democrats (the so-called Dixiecrats). Within a few years, the Old South was bright red.

Then, under the guidance of Paul Weyrich, Jerry Falwell and others, the party began the culture wars by embracing Christian fundamentalist anti-abortion and anti-gay views. It pandered to evangelicals, most especially those in the southern Baptist church.

The transformation from the party of Lincoln was complete.

In many ways, Trump is a symptom of nearly seventy years of change. His demagoguery merely gave the movement a celebrity and gave members permission to unleash their true feelings. He and his followers railed against our nation’s first black president questioning his citizenship. He fomented hate against refugees and immigrants from so-called shithole (non-white) countries. And he decried political correctness (aka politeness) which allowed the majority of Republicans to pull off their masks to reveal their true colors…er…color…white.

Trump and his advisors, Stephen Bannon and Stephen Miller, even pandered to neo-Nazis and white supremacists (those “very nice people” on the other side of civil rights protestors) encouraging them to crawl out of their hidey holes and light their torches. All the while, Trump and his followers have feigned outrage over being called racists. After all, according to them, they all have a black friend or they work with people of color.

While the GOP rank and file are focused on putting African-Americans, Latinos, the LGBTQ community and “libtards” in their place, the real swamp monsters in the administration are freeing multinational corporations to pollute our environment and fleece consumers. They have given them billions in tax breaks and packed the courts with corporatists, racists and religious fanatics to protect their interests for a generation. Meanwhile the crime-boss-in-chief and his family are filling their very large pockets with taxpayer money, destroying international alliances, threatening our neighbors, the free press and our most valued institutions.

Trump’s supporters voted for him as a way of figuratively throwing a live grenade into Washington. He has done that. He is undoing the very fabric and principles that have held our nation together. And, though his supporters may not yet realize it, he is also eliminating most of the regulations that protect them from predatory financial institutions, health insurance companies, big pharma, corporate polluters and a variety of other greedy scoundrels.

Once his job is complete, and he has finished carrying out the wishes of his billionaire sponsors and friends, not even his followers’ Bibles and guns will be able to protect them.

Why It’s No Exaggeration To Call Trump A Crime Boss.

If you read the Mueller Report, or follow the news, you know that the Special Counsel’s Office obtained indictments against 34 people and three companies, many of them associated with the Trump campaign. Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and Trump lawyer, Michael Cohen, now sit in prison. Trump National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, is awaiting sentencing. Trump advisor, Roger Stone, is awaiting trial. At least seven other criminal cases have been transferred to US Attorneys. And 14 cases have been referred to other government investigators.

Yet that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the corruption and crime of those tied to Trump. Like any organized crime family, the unsavory and criminal activity of those associated with Trump is widespread.

Consider the fact, that the Mueller team found indications of potential illegal activity by many other Trump associates, including Donald Trump, Jr. But the investigators felt there was not enough evidence to indict noting that many of the Trump team hid behind the 5th Amendment, a web of lies and deceit, the use of signals and innuendo, the use of encrypted communications, and the destruction of evidence. In fact, in its report, the Special Counsel’s Office stated, “The Office cannot rule out the possibility that the unavailable information would shed additional light on (or cast in a new light) the events described in the report.”

Of course, the Mueller Report also lists numerous instances of obstruction of justice for which Trump could be indicted if not for a Department of Justice ruling that a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Not covered by the Mueller Report are the many other instances in which Trump family members, associates and appointees routinely lied to Congress or to the government. Former Attorney General and Senator Jeff Sessions “forgot” about his pre-election and pre-inauguration communications with Russians. There is evidence that Erik Prince lied about his meeting with Russians in the Seychelles. And presidential advisor and Trump son-in-law, Jared Kushner, not only lied to Congress about his contacts with Russians. He was denied top secret security clearance over questions about his family’s business, foreign contacts, and foreign travel.

Trump cabinet members Ryan Zinke, Steve Mnuchin, Ben Carson and Jeff Sessions have all been accused of misusing federal funds for personal benefit. More recently, Elaine Chao, Department of Transportation Secretary and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s wife has been accused of using her position to enrich her family business, Foremost Group. She is also accused of rushing the approval of $78 million in construction projects for Kentucky’s most Republican districts in advance of her husband’s 2020 re-election effort. And it was recently revealed that one of Jared Kushner’s companies received $90 million from an anonymous foreign source, raising questions of corruption and the potential influence of foreign governments in the Trump administration. Of course, Trump’s refusal to divest from his businesses or to place them in a blind trust raises the same questions. Moreover, setting aside Trump’s constant travel to Trump properties, which result in his businesses capturing millions in profits from taxpayer money, he is quite clearly in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause as representatives of foreign governments spend their time and money at Trump properties in hopes of currying favor with the administration.

Yet unethical and potentially illegal behavior is nothing new for Trump. Only the names of his partners in crime have changed.

As landlords, Trump and his father were found guilty of racial discrimination. Trump was also accused of tenant intimidation in an attempt to get tenants to leave rent-protected buildings, finally settling with the tenants and agreeing to government monitoring.

Trump has been accused of hiring undocumented workers as far back as the eighties when he hired undocumented Polish immigrants to destroy the classic Bonwit Teller building to make way for Trump Tower. His Trump Model Management company was accused of hiring undocumented models. Indeed, his current wife Melania was hired as an undocumented model. And, until recently, Trump employed undocumented workers at his golf courses.

Before the bankruptcy of his casinos, Trump was accused of breaking a variety of gambling rules, including failure to disclose a $3.5 million loan from his father. He has been accused of refusing to pay workers and contractors on his many real estate projects, illegally taking charity funds from his Trump Foundation for his personal use, defrauding those who signed up for Trump University, even buying thousands of copies of his own book with money from campaign donors in order to line his own pockets.

In many cases, Trump bullied his accusers with countersuits. And he often paid millions to settle the cases. For example, in the case of Trump University, he settled the resulting lawsuits for a sum of $25 million.

Trump has been linked to several mafia crime families. Trump’s longtime lawyer and mentor, Roy Cohn, even represented the boss of the Genovese crime family. (Perhaps that’s why Trump often uses the language of mobsters, e.g. “rat”.) Further, Russian oligarchs and mafia figures have purchased millions worth of property from Trump, raising suspicions of his involvement in Russian money laundering.

And mafia figures may not be the most unsavory of Trump’s associates.

Elliott Broidy, an RNC official and one of Trump’s top campaign fundraisers, along with his business partner, George Nader, used his influence to buy favor and bribe officials to shape the administration’s foreign policy in the Middle East. Broidy has admitted to paying his former mistress and Playboy model $1.6 million to keep the affair, and the resulting pregnancy and abortion, quiet. And Nader, already a convicted pedophile, was recently arrested for possession and distribution of child porn.

Another Trump associate, Jeffrey Epstein, was convicted of sexually abusing and trafficking underage girls for sex at parties he arranged at his New York townhouse and on his island in St. Thomas. It has been reported that Trump was a regular at Epstein’s parties, raising questions about Trump’s own activities with underage girls. After all, Trump’s affection for young women, even teenagers is well-known. Contestants in Trump’s Miss Teen USA pageant accused him of walking into their dressing room unannounced. And a woman filed suit against both Epstein and Trump accusing them of raping her at a series of sex parties when she was only 13. In addition, Trump has been accused by many others of sexual assault including unwanted groping, climbing into bed with a model unannounced and rape. And, of course, he was famously recorded bragging about his assaults.

The list goes on.