Former Rep. Mark Sanford said that Trump’s rhetoric is turning the Republican Party into the party of white men and making it impossible for the GOP to grow.
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Mark Sanford explains how Trump's racist rhetoric is making it impossible for the Republican Party to grow. pic.twitter.com/ASgmwlxVg7
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) August 2, 2019
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Sanford said on MSNBC, “It needs to branch out. To state the obvious, some of the president’s rhetoric is destructive. It’s harmful not only in selling a message but building a party. If we dwindle to being a party of white men we have a real problem given the trendlines within our country.”
A lot of focus gets placed on the number of people who are leaving the Republican Party as a representation of the damage that Trump is doing, but there is a flip side to that coin, and that’s the people who won’t consider becoming Republicans because of Trump.
Republican spent decades prior to the tea party movement reaching out to Hispanic and Latino voters. Trump has turned those potential voters into targets for his racism. Republicans owed George W. Bush’s reelection to suburban white women. Under Trump, those women are resisting the Republican Party.
It is a bit of a chicken and egg argument. Is Trump a symptom or the disease that is killing the Republican Party? He could possibly be both. Racism and extremism put Trump into office, but those beliefs as policy are killing the Republican Party.
If the Republican Party become the white man party, it will go extinct. Trump is both the last gasp howl of white male political privilege and the big bang event the could wipe Republicans off of the political landscape.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
