While it may be hard to believe, the South was once dominated by the Democratic Party. This was until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson and the conservative Dixiecrats left their espoused party for the GOP (Grand Old Party). The electoral map slowly began to reverse itself, as the South went from strong Democratic to strong Republican. Regardless of the party which dominated the region, the South has always been predominantly conservative. Just look at the Civil War and the South's (Confederates') fight for expanded slavery as a prime example. ...and that brings us to today.
A lot of people seem to believe that the Donald Trump phenomenon is just an aberration, that his rise within the Republican Party was just a blip on the radar and isn't emblematic of the GOP of today. I'm sorry to have to say this, but he didn't happen overnight. This has been a long time coming.
There's a reason why a large majority of the Republican Party is white; why a good majority of it is male; and why a significant majority of it is Christian (and allegedly straight). The GOP became drastically more conservative in 1964 and that was just the start of it. Like the South wanted to expand slavery in the 1860s, the Grand Old Party steadily became less inclusive, more monotonous in demographic makeup as a result, to the point where they're becoming almost indistinguishable from the Confederates or the Dixiecrats.
In the past several decades, as the Republican Party continued to become more conservative, they've fought for the following causes, with varying degrees of success: Limit voting rights for blacks; deport Hispanics; bar Muslims; strip women of reproductive rights; prevent equal opportunity, rights, and pay for women, minorities, and the LGBT community; etc. They've done this through: Sermons; talk radio, slanted cable news networks; partisan websites; master branding and brainwashing; and legislation. As a result of all this, the modern-day Republican Party has become an almost exclusively white party, male- and "Christian"-dominated, which wants to see the country as it would be if the South had won the Civil War.
No, the modern-day GOP isn't going to technically implement slavery anytime soon, but they've successfully integrated it to a certain extent, and are attempting to push the envelope regarding the matter as much as the public will allow. Confederate flags? That's about "heritage." Confederate statues? Let's keep those up. Minorities voting rights? Make it more difficult. Through this, gerrymandering, and the Citizens United ruling, the GOP has continually made it more difficult for the Democratic Party to succeed in elections. We'll see if Donald Trump's presence in the Oval Office changes that trend, but there's a good reason why the Democratic Party has less control today than it's had in about a century - GOP tactics.
Speaking of GOP tactics, it's ironic that Donald Trump often refers to the media as "fake news," because the Republican Party has been the king promulgator of fake news for over two decades. Sadly, a growing portion of their base eats it up more than Cookie Monster eats cookies after smoking a bong with Willie Nelson. According to them, the Clintons killed Vince Foster; Barack Obama was born in Kenya; Hillary Clinton was in the hospital for most of her 2016 campaign; George Soros controls everything; the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax; Democrats hire "crisis actors" to make shootings look worse than they actually are; etc. Fact-checkers are now seen as partisan. Debunked conspiracy theories are viewed as legit. Studies are irrelevant. Scientific findings are inferior to biblical interpretations. Even if video evidence disproves a claim they've made, they'll have the gall to refer to said claim as an "alternative fact." ...and we wonder how Donald Trump became head of the Republican Party...
Donald Trump is just the name and face for what the Republican Party has become. He's fully emblematic of the modern-day GOP. The man repetitiously spouts lies, debunked conspiracy theories, and talking points ad nauseum. He's uncoy on insulting women, minorities, and the LGBT community. The man, throughout his life, has seen and treated women as nothing but trophies and pieces of meat. Donald Trump, a president who lies approximately 70% of the time he speaks (according to Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-check site Politifact), head of and fully representative of today's GOP, has, with the help of his minions, tried to revise one of the most integral parts of this country's history - the South losing the Civil War and slavery being abolished as a result. I'm sorry GOPers, but it isn't up for biblical interpretation. There aren't any slanted studies to showcase otherwise. It doesn't matter what your so-called "alternative fact" is. The Confederates lost the Civil War. Get over it; stop living in 1861; and start living in 2018. RINO (Republican In Name Only) President Abraham Lincoln would say the same thing.
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