If you’re wondering why after almost 250 years of relatively democratic government we’re suddenly dealing with fascists taking over the country, that’s been a process 45 years in the making, at least. The current situation is very much not just a backlash from the last remaining racists and bigots, who lost their minds after Obama was elected. (That and the failure of “centrist” Democrats to embrace a progressive political agenda.)

When I say “at least 45 years” I’m referring to Reagan who swung the Republican party around to the racists. He ran on his “welfare queen” story, a great lie that he persisted in telling even as it was repeatedly proved to be a lie. With Reagan racist evangelical Christians moved to support the Republicans, and the KKK switched allegiance. Before then Democrats from the South opposed the Civil Rights Act.

Since Reagan, Republicans who supported the Civil Rights Act and similar political goals have switched parties or gone independent, while the Bollweevil Democrats (“Dixiecrats”) joined the Republicans.[1]

So we ended 12 years of Republican administrations with Clinton, when Bush Sr. failed to turn around the ailing economy – an economy that was paying the price of Reagan policies which Bush Sr. had derided as “voodoo economics.”

After two years of Clinton neoliberal policies Newt Gingrich (who joined Congress in ’79 [2]) gained prominence with an aggressive and divisive no holds barred career in the House, and the stage was set for the current political climate, with some of the most partisan dirty tricks the country has seen in over 100 years. Trumpism seems almost inevitable, looking at that history with the benefit of hindsight.

Ironically some of the people responsible for this mess like Bill Kristol are vocal opponents of Trumpism. It would be nice to hear them acknowledge their role in bringing the country to this point. They’ll argue they wanted conservatism, but what they never wanted to see is how closely US conservatism has been allied with racism, especially since Reagan.

[1] For people unfamiliar with US history, the reason the US South voted Democratic for over 100 years is because Lincoln was a Republican. The Republican party was founded with the express purpose of ending the practice of slavery in the US, and the Slaver Rebellion was started by southern States expressly to preserve the same practice.

There is a disgusting history of Democrats running on racist platforms since the end of the rebellion. Republicans since Reagan have been only too happy to embrace the practice, even as they point fingers at Democrats. It’s part of US political pathology that either party actually manages to still exist – neither deserves the support of the American people.