The Buffalo Shooting Is the Latest White Rage Backlash, Brought to You by the GOP

[dalton99a]

https://newrepublic.com/article/166499/buffalo-shooting-great-replacement-racism

The Buffalo Shooting Is the Latest White Rage Backlash, Brought to You by the GOP
The gunman was angry about “replacement theory.” Gee, where do we think he might have first heard about that?
Michael Tomasky / May 16, 2022

Would this Buffalo shooting have happened if Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson didn’t exist? Maybe. But the gunman, Payton Gendron, is still alive and in police custody — a somewhat unusual set of circumstances. I’m very interested in learning where and how he got his racist and fascist ideas, and where he first heard about “replacement theory,” a recurring topic on Carlson’s Fox News show. Buffalo authorities owe it to America to ask him detailed questions along these lines and videotape it and show it to us so we can see how this poison infects angry young brains.

White supremacist hatred is a global phenomenon, of course — this shooter said he was inspired by the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, shooter, who killed 51 people. What’s notable about New Zealand, Norway and other countries where mass shootings inspired by racist ideas have occurred is there is broad consensus among the governing and media elites that such occurrences are bad. Here, the Trump/Carlson faction of America is no doubt celebrating.

Yes, they’ll denounce the shooter publicly. It’s likely that Carlson will go on his show tonight and say he condemns the killing and abhors violence. But he incites such violence all the time. White rage is the heart of his message; Trump’s as well.

It’s the heart of the Republican Party’s message, and it has been for decades. The press tends to gloss over the dog whistles, but years of this malpractice has led to the whistles becoming as loud as bullhorns. The very word “extremist” means that the person in question is well out among the societal fringes, which in turn tends to exonerate the mainstream, which by implication is not extremist. But the GOP mainstream is extremist on race. It has been since Barry Goldwater. That doesn’t mean that every individual in the party is a racist on a personal level — clearly this is not the case. But it does mean that the party, in terms of its behaviors and policies, is a racist party.

....

[Marcuse]

1. 1981. Lee Atwater (right) and the rebirth of the GOP Nation.

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy/
No paywall

[Martin68]

2. We need an intelligent, forceful campaign to paint the GOP racist.

I say "intelligent" because played the wrong way, the Democratic Party will lose supporters if it looks like we are labeling all conservatives as racists without cause. It's a fine line, but one well worth walking.

[ancianita]

4. AND violent.

This isn't about playing it the wrong way by labeling all conservatives as racists or violent without cause --
first, because there is NO cause for either; second, because any republicans who won't leave the party by now
-- after 60 courts ruled their "stolen" claims as unproven, after the Jan 6 violence, and after mass shootings based on their made-up great replacement theory -- are COMPLICIT in condoning the violence done in their name.

[wnylib]

6. +1000.

[Alien Life Form]

8. I totally agree

my own sister refuses to admit Biden won and repeats not just the ideas, but the very words of FOX in denying Biden victory.

I am not even talking to her now

[llashram]

3. ++

it seems there are only a few non-racists in the GOP at this time. Their fuhrer demands complete loyalty and a majority are perpetuating and parroting d. trumps racist line. And along with the fox news channel they have 50-million at least as a captive audience.

[Stuart G]

5. K and R. .Thanks for posting..

[Alien Life Form]

7. my take

I watched ABC news tonight and they covered the story and briefly mention "replacement theory' but never said who was promoting that. The media needs to call them out by name and example..so they cant hide any longer