The problem
Turley's focus on his own feelings prevents him from seeing his bias. He doesn't see himself as a white supremacist: he just feels a tug of sympathy for what Trump stands for.
"Ethnic majorities rarely give up their power without a fight." Ziblatt and Levitsky. https://twitter.com/jeffjarvis/status/1347157015810945025

Turley's focus on his own feelings prevents him from seeing his bias. He doesn't see himself as a white supremacist: he just feels a tug of sympathy for what Trump stands for.
"Ethnic majorities rarely give up their power without a fight." Ziblatt and Levitsky. https://twitter.com/jeffjarvis/status/1347157015810945025
This explains why they can spend years investigating Benghazi but excuse yesterday.
They had a visceral hatred for Hillary Clinton and a visceral sympathy for Trump.
The best explanation is in Richard Hofstadter, The Paranoid Style in American Politics.
They had a visceral hatred for Hillary Clinton and a visceral sympathy for Trump.
The best explanation is in Richard Hofstadter, The Paranoid Style in American Politics.
The current GOP trajectory was in put in place during the Reagan era, but our current problems began with the Supreme Court decision in 1954, Brown v. Board of Education, the case that desgregated the schools.
We are still riding the backlash from that case.
We are still riding the backlash from that case.
GOP hypocrisy can be traced to the reaction to Brown.
Example: That's where "states' rights" comes from as a GOP plank. It meant: States should decide their own segregation laws.
Now they're fine with Congress deciding state elections because it never about states' rights.
Example: That's where "states' rights" comes from as a GOP plank. It meant: States should decide their own segregation laws.
Now they're fine with Congress deciding state elections because it never about states' rights.
They had to oppose Brown v. Board without sounding like racists.
So another example was decrying "judicial activism" because judges overturned segregation (elected officials couldn't; they answered to a white electorate.)
Now they wanted the courts to decide the election.
So another example was decrying "judicial activism" because judges overturned segregation (elected officials couldn't; they answered to a white electorate.)
Now they wanted the courts to decide the election.
Turley struggles with the same thing. He sympathizes with "make America great again," which really means "go back to the time white men were in charge."
He struggles with how to explain both his antipathy for BLM and his sympathy for Trump slugs. https://twitter.com/jeffjarvis/status/1347157015810945025
He struggles with how to explain both his antipathy for BLM and his sympathy for Trump slugs. https://twitter.com/jeffjarvis/status/1347157015810945025
Another reason to date the turning point with Brown:
Ziblatt and Levitsky, in How Democracies Die, not that from the early 20th century (about the time the GOP dropped Civil Rights from its planks) to the 1960s, the parties were in harmony. . . https://twitter.com/mdmnd9294/status/1347215455233187840
Ziblatt and Levitsky, in How Democracies Die, not that from the early 20th century (about the time the GOP dropped Civil Rights from its planks) to the 1960s, the parties were in harmony. . . https://twitter.com/mdmnd9294/status/1347215455233187840
. . . they could compromise and work together and respect each others differences because they were not that different: Both parties were almost entirely run by White men, and neither party was trying to advance racial equality.
That's why I think the best way to understand what's happening is riding the backlash from Brown v. Board of Education.
The only way to hold the view that authoritarianism is new in America is to view Amerian history from the lens of white men.
The only way to hold the view that authoritarianism is new in America is to view Amerian history from the lens of white men.
Consider life in America for a Black woman in 1860. She didn't even own her own body (literally).
Jim Crow was authoritarian. The 19th-century patriarchy was authoritarian.
It's not like authoritarian is new. We just thought it was gone.
Jim Crow was authoritarian. The 19th-century patriarchy was authoritarian.
It's not like authoritarian is new. We just thought it was gone.
Misuse of the word "we" -- I was thinking of the liberals who tell me that "things have never been this bad." (Then OMG AUTHORITARIANISM!)
I was shocked the first time Twitter Peeps told me that.
I had just written a biography of Thurgood Marshall. https://twitter.com/robmillernow/status/1347217792357998594
I was shocked the first time Twitter Peeps told me that.
I had just written a biography of Thurgood Marshall. https://twitter.com/robmillernow/status/1347217792357998594
Actually correction: I do recall a Twitter account about 2 years ago. She said she was a Black woman and told me that things are worse now for Blacks than they had been in the 1930s. When I tried to tell her about the South in the 1930s, she called be names and blocked me.