Trump's Party Cannot Survive in a Multiracial Democracy
(
Bloomberg Opinion) -- It was 15 years ago this week that the Republican Party almost took an exit ramp on the long, dark highway from Richard Nixons Southern Strategy to Donald Trumps white nationalism.
On July 14, 2005, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman stood before the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and issued a mea culpa. By the 70s and into the 80s and 90s, the Democratic Party solidified its gains in the African-American community, and we Republicans did not effectively reach out, Mehlman said. Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to to tell you we were wrong.
Mehlman went on to make a case that Democrats were taking Black voters for granted and that Republicans offered policies, on school choice and more, that could help Black families. As President George W. Bushs emissary, he had some credibility. Bush had won about 4 in 10 Hispanic votes and had recently appointed Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state, succeeding Colin Powell. After Barack Obama, they remain the two highest-ranking Blacks in federal government history. ...........(more)
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