1. I want to return to the @EricLevitz piece because it really underscores that the GOP war on democracy is one of choice. It raises the crucial question of why a party would decided to shrink the electorate instead of enlarging their share:https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/06/gop-voting-laws-texas-sb7-war-on-democracy.html …
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2. It's true that Trump in 2020 showed GOP can be competitive with Latino voters (and to a lesser extent other POC voters). But that's not something GOP can bet on: it could be due to incumbent effect (which benefit Bush Jr. in 2004 & Obama in 2012).
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3. More to the point, as
@EricLevitz points out, the Tucker Carlson wing of GOP doesn't want party to become more multi-racial. And here some history is useful since these fights were played out in 1980s and 1980s between Pat Buchanan & Jack Kemp.2 replies 9 retweets 46 likesShow this thread -
4. Already under Reagan there was a splintering of GOP into two opposed factions on race: the Jack Kemp approach of outreach & Pat Buchanan approach of low-level race war.
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5. Kemp, even though he was GOP vice presidential candidate in 1996, is almost forgotten today but he tried (unsuccessfully) to push GOP minority outreach with gimmicks like enterprise zones. He & Buchanan were the two poles of party on race & immigration.
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6. I've been re-reading Chronicles, paleo-con & Buchananite journal, and it's striking how much a hate figure Kemp was to right (even though he was a conventional Reaganite). Here he's being called a looter.pic.twitter.com/125iUXsbYb
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7. Everything we're seeing today - not to mention Trump's domination - would indicate that Pat Buchanan won the wars of the 1990s. The party prefers to dominate by shrinking electorate rather than be compromised (as they see it) by POC votes. More here:https://jeetheer.substack.com/p/is-the-gop-war-on-democracy-self?r=bh54&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=twitter …
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Replying to @HeerJeet
What's your theory about why the Buchanan faction was relatively quiet in national GOP politics for 25 yrs btw 1992 and 2015? Next 4 primary contests (96, 2000, 08, 12) had no real Buchananite challenger; Kemp was on one ticket, Ryan another. Palin is closest, I guess.
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I think Perot absorbed most of the Buchanan energy on a national scale in 1990s, then Bush's popularity with evangelicals limited Buchananite growth in natural grass roots. After that it comes back in various forms: Palin, Huckabee, Santorum, Trump.
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