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How Trump surrendered the ‘statues’ and the race issue to Democrats

How Trump surrendered the ‘statues’ and the race issue to Democrats

Back in 2017, I wrote a commentary headlined “Trump blew it.”  The “it” was a strategy that would have put the Democratic Party in a well-deserved box on the race issue.  Instead, Trump fumbled – turning the ball over to the other team.  The Republican Party has not been able to recover the lead on the race issues since – as Trump continues to fumble whenever events toss the racial ball to him.

Trump had an opportunity to lead a national education campaign to the REAL history of racism in America – from the days of slavery to the reality of the remnants of institutional systematic racism in America’s major segregated cities.  When examining those responsible, the shocking truth is that it is virtually exclusively the Democratic Party that was totally in control of the old south and remains in almost total control of our segregated cities.

What prompted my concern in 2017 was Trump’s ceremoniously hanging the portrait of Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office and paying a homage visit to Old Hickory’s grave in Tennessee.

Jackson was a strident white supremacist and one of the most brutal of the slave-owning presidents – taking pleasure in personally whipping his slaves. He was a fierce Indian fighter and arguably a murderer due to his summarily killing Native Americans.  He was also the authority behind Indian relocation that led to the “Trail of Tears.”

Trump’s visit to the Jackson memorial was at a time there was a push to remove Jackson from the $20 bill to be replaced by Harriet Tubman – the famed REPUBLICAN abolitionist.  Every Republican should applaud that change – and Trump should push for it.

What evolved out of Trump’s honoring of Jackson has been the false narrative of racism in America that we see being set forth by the Democratic Party and the biased and compliant media.

It was just four years ago when removing Confederate statues and flags from places of honor was a REPUBLICAN issue. It was not being pursued by violence and vandalism – but by policy and legislation.

To understand the history of those statues and Confederate battle flags seen throughout the south, you need to know that they were not all historic remnants from the post-civil war era.  In fact, during the Reconstruction period – when Republicans controlled the south — the symbols of the Confederacy were nowhere to be found.  It was not until the Democratic Party violently seized control of the south in 1877 that the personalities and symbols of the Confederacy were first elevated to places of honor in the south.

Among Twentieth Century honorees was Democrat Senator “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman, whose statue was erected on the grounds of the Capitol Building in South Carolina.  Tillman gained fame for murdering four black U.S. militiamen in cold blood – and bragging about it throughout his political career.

But the major push for Confederate symbolism – as a show of defiance against black civil rights – came in the 1960s, when the powerful southern Democrats fought against integration and voting rights.  Many of the most powerful leaders of the Democratic Party signed the Southern Manifesto in opposition to school desegregation and — as an act of defiance – incorporated the Confederate battle flags as part of many of the southern states’ official banners.  Those actions were taken by Democrats – many of whom are still alive today.

It was only after Republicans won southern governorships and majorities in the state legislatures that those flags were being removed from the places of honor.  Confederate statues were being officially removed from places of honor to be stored or displayed as museum pieces.  It is certainly beneficial to see the historic and educational value in recalling the leaders and symbols of the Confederacy – but not to honor them.  The statues did not need to be destroyed.

Rather than honor Jackson, Trump should have challenged Democrats to repudiate the honoring of all those past Democrats depicted in those statues.  He should have called upon democrats to change the names of their traditional annual Jackson Day Dinners.

Trump should have reminded America that the Democrat elitists gather at the Woodrow Wilson Center – named after the Twentieth Century’s white supremacist President.  Trump could have used his enormous communication platform to set the record straight about Franklin Roosevelt – another white supremacist – and his highly racist New Deal.  The NAACP referred to FDR’s National Recovery Act (NRA) as the “Negro Riddance Act.”

And Trump could have made the case against today’s Democrat leadership that presides over the remnants of institutional and systemic racism in America in our major cities – where millions of black Americans live – and have lived for generations – in segregated and impoverished communities.

As I wrote in yet another commentary, America is not a racist nation – but systemic racism does still occur in the long-held Democrat cities where oppressed and frustrated blacks have risen up to protest and riot REPEATEDLY over the past 150 years.

Trump could have led a national “learning moment” that would have pushed back on the false narratives and historic misconceptions that permeate today’s political culture.  He could have pointed to the fact that it was the Republican Party that championed civil rights in the 1960s over the filibuster and votes of congressional Democrats – including Lyndon Johnson and Jack Kennedy.

Trump’s failure to seize the opportunity to continue the Republican Party’s consistent support for equal rights has given Democrats and the corrupt press the opportunity to advance their completely false narrative regarding the extent and causes of racism in America – and conceal those most responsible where it does exist. The Democratic Party.

Trump still has time to make that case – if only he knew how to do it.  So far, he has not demonstrated that he can.  And that is a real pity – for blacks, Republicans and the truth.

So, there ‘tis.

About The Author

Larry Horist

So, there ‘tis… The opinions, perspectives and analyses of businessman, conservative writer and political strategist Larry Horist. Larry has an extensive background in economics and public policy. For more than 40 years, he ran his own Chicago based consulting firm. His clients included such conservative icons as Steve Forbes and Milton Friedman. He has served as a consultant to the Nixon White House and travelled the country as a spokesman for President Reagan’s economic reforms. Larry professional emphasis has been on civil rights and education. He was consultant to both the Chicago and the Detroit boards of education, the Educational Choice Foundation, the Chicago Teachers Academy and the Chicago Academy for the Performing Arts. Larry has testified as an expert witness before numerous legislative bodies, including the U. S. Congress, and has lectured at colleges and universities, including Harvard, Northwestern and DePaul. He served as Executive Director of the City Club of Chicago, where he led a successful two-year campaign to save the historic Chicago Theatre from the wrecking ball. Larry has been a guest on hundreds of public affairs talk shows, and hosted his own program, “Chicago In Sight,” on WIND radio. An award-winning debater, his insightful and sometimes controversial commentaries have appeared on the editorial pages of newspapers across the nation. He is praised by audiences for his style, substance and sense of humor. Larry retired from his consulting business to devote his time to writing. His books include a humorous look at collecting, “The Acrapulators’ Guide”, and a more serious history of the Democratic Party’s role in de facto institutional racism, “Who Put Blacks in That PLACE? -- The Long Sad History of the Democratic Party’s Oppression of Black Americans ... to This Day”. Larry currently lives in Boca Raton, Florida.

7 Comments

  1. Blue

    Maybe President Trump could make a case by talking about how LBJ’s so-called “Great Society” ruined black America.

  2. Bill Parker

    Maybe this article should be in every editorial section of every newspaper and on every liberal website in America. With all of this proof, they still wouldn’t get it. How sad Democrat people don’t get it.

  3. Mike

    Larry-Per usual your article is filled with half truths. You talk about the racist democrats of the south, but then you fail to point out that all of those people are now republicans, following the democrats civil rights activism in the ‘60’s and Nixon’s outreach to those same people in the ‘70’s. There certainly were republicans who backed civil rights in the ‘60’s, but those people, the so-called Rockefeller Republicans, have for the most part been sidelined as the party has veered radically conservative in recent times. I do agree that trump has seriously fumbled on this issue, but he has never been able to read the country at large-only those fervent supporters who are his base. So there tis….

    • Larry Horist

      Mike … you are the victim of false narratives and political propaganda. Racist Democrats continued to vote Democrat long after Republican voters elected governors and senators in the South. Democrats still hold sway in such communities as Cumming, Georgia and Cleveland, Mississippi were systemic racism still occurs. The Nixon Southern Strategy was to defeat racist voters. Nixon got wiped out in the south in 1968 because they hated his pro-civil right platform. He did well in 1972 because the Dems put up George McGovern. It is also irrefutable that as the GOP gained dominance in the south, black oppress virtually ceased. Blacks were empowered to vote in numbers unlike the past. Lynchings ceased and the KKK membership crashed. .I deal in FACTS based on deep research … not mendacious political narratives. You would be amazed at what you would learn if you dug into the facts.

  4. Mike

    Larry-You are obviously not a student of American history. The premise of your article is that the Democrats are the racists, not the republicans. Many years ago that was true. The party of Lincoln was the progressive party, democrats were the conservatives. Teddy Roosevelt was the last progressive republican President. Democrats moved to the liberal side starting with Wilson, moving much further with FDR, with Kennedy being very liberal and supportive of civil rights. Nixon did reach out to the bigots, in much the same way as the current failure in the WH. I am sure that many of your readers will believe the half truths that you write, but the current Republican Party is not supportive of civil rights, and is the home to bigots, who would have been democrats in years past. You need to return to high school so you can get your American history facts straight. So there tis….

    • Little Bright Feather

      It was the current Republicans who established civil rights and gave special laws to protect blacks. They have special black only colleges and other special privileges. There is not one white only college or white only anything. The KKK is a Yankee Ohio based org – they invaded the South as well as lots of Lincoln Carpetbaggers infiltrating the South to cause race problems that the South never had before in its history. The South Nation did not even want slavery and never did have it until the North DC forced it on them in the 1830’s to force more product and financial benefit for the North out of the South.
      The US North Nation had slavery for almost 200 years before they forced it on the South nation. And they kept slavery going well into the 1890’s and beyond that my own family witnessed.
      Oh TRUE REAL history would shock y’all !
      But you are not suppose to know about TRUE history – DC Cabal has kept if well hidden by Lincoln’s order !
      You just keep swallowing the fabrications that the DC Govt schools indoctrinate you with.

      ==.

  5. Little Bright Feather

    From what I read here even YOU do not know what TRUE history of American so the Lincoln communists did a great job with the fabricated history indoctrination and REconstruction.
    For the record it was not the South Nation that was the slave nation (2% at its peak) It was the US Red Republicans that did the UNlawful invasion Lincoln war and was the real Save Nation (95%) and had the Slave Trade with Rhode Island being the WORLD capital of Slave Trade business ! Lincoln followed his good friend’s tactic =

    Dem Communists (that use to be the original Republicans) are following their leader
    and mentor’s instruction = It’s a Communist
    operation and ploy.

    “The best way to destroy your
    enemies is to accuse them of doing what you
    are doing to them” – Karl Marx

    Brutal Dictator King Lincoln was NEVER the president of the CSA South nation and had NO authority over the Mason Dixon border line – but he invaded the peaceful South Nation anyway !
    Just a touch of REAL TRUE history so well hidden by DC
    cabal. Ever take a good look at the huge King Lincoln on his Royal throne on his huge building monument ? There is a reason why it’s like that ! If you knew REAL TRUE hidden history you’d know why.

    Try some TRUE history they don’t want you to ever know, for a change =
    THE SOUTH WAS RIGHT by Walter Donald Kennedy
    LINCOLN UNMASKED by DiLorenzo
    WAR CRIMES AGAINST SOUTHERN CIVILIANS by those who lived it and compiled by Walter Brain Cisco
    These are a good introduction to TRUE history.

    Two American Nations – NEVER to be Merged Together !

    Madison stated in the Federalist #62 that the senate was to …”guard by every possible expedient against improper CONSOLIDATION OF THE STATES INTO ONE SIMPLE REPUBLIC”.

    John Adams wrote, “No one ever even thought of consolidating this vast continent under one national government.” [The very thought of it was appalling and tyrannical to them]

    ===
    They are Lawfully STILL TWO separate Nations and cultures . Everything Lincoln did was done by Treason !
    ==
    “Americans have been taught monstrous lies about Abraham Lincoln and all school books who portray him as some sort of hero should be burned. The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC should be bull dozed along with FDRs. How many Americans know Lincoln literally tore up the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights ? ” – – Devvy Kidd, investigative reporter and columnist

    ==

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