We pledge ourselves to use all lawful means to bring about a reversal of this decision (Brown v Board of Education) which is contrary to the Constitution and to prevent the use of force in its implementation.   — Southern Manifesto, March 1956

Its time our Republic admits to two uncomfortable truths. The first is that our President, Donald Trump, is crazy like a fox. The second, and this may be more uncomfortable than the first, there’s a large segment of the Republican Party that endorses the philosophy of white supremacy. It would be reckless and irresponsible to believe that every conservative Republican is a racist. But it would be just as reckless and irresponsible to watch the events of the past ten years and not conclude that some racists are hiding behind the banner of conservatism.

After the Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives in 2010, they pledged to commit every resource available to derail President Obama’s political agenda. Party leader John Boehner entered a Faustian bargain of sorts when emphatically stated, “We’re going to do everything — and I mean everything we can do — to kill it, stop it, slow it down, whatever we can.”

That Faustian bargain was with the then-extreme element of the Republican Party. At the time that extreme element called themselves the “Tea Party.” The reference was to the American patriots/terrorists that destroyed tea in Boston’s harbor in 1773. Today, while trying to wrap themselves in some weird kind of cloak of 1773 patriotism and conservative ideology, some Republicans hope we’re not aware of basic American political history.

That political history involves the New Deal’s lasting influence in this nation’s politics. Not only did it introduce the welfare state, but the New Deal also initiated an ideological transition in American politics. Eleanor Roosevelt’s inclusion of minorities and women into the Democratic Party led to the exodus of its white supremacist elements. They formed the short-lived Dixiecrats and in the 1950s and 1960s the Democratic Party was split between those embracing the death of Jim Crow and those clinging to racial segregation.

This was evident after the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v Board of Education when more than 100 Democratic congressmen (and two Republicans from Virginia) from throughout the former Confederacy signed what became the Southern Manifesto. Finally, the infamous southern strategy catapulted Richard Nixon to the presidency. With his reelection in 1972 the journey that started in 1936 was now complete. The former Southern Democratic white supremacists were now Southern Republican white supremacists.

Still, its reckless and irresponsible to believe that every Republican is a racist. It would also be naïve to believe that every Republican wearing the cloak of conservatism publicly isn’t wearing a cloak of bigotry privately.

The Voting Rights and Civil Rights legislation of the Great Society finally brought an end to Jim Crow. But that which our society failed to understand was the Jim Crow was a means of socially and politically controlling minority communities. With that strategy eliminated, how would “God’s chosen” protect themselves against the “savagery” of minorities? That answer was found in Richard Nixon’s announcement of new stricter policies for illegal drug violations. The “war on drugs” that began in the 1970s still reverberates throughout minority communities today. It has destroyed families for minor offenses disproportionately applied to communities of color. That unto itself is another story.

The white supremacist ideology existed in the Republican Party as a fringe element. Supporters of Ronald Reagan’s pure conservative ideology of hard work and trickle-down economics resonated positively with those whose hard work and self-determination lifted them from inner city neighborhoods to suburban communities in the 1970s and 1980s. There’s no question that those individuals should be applauded for their achievements. After all, that was the American Dream. However, this was also the time (1980s) when crack cocaine was beginning to destroy the very fabric of urban communities of color. As a result, the schism between the poor and uneducated and those who a generation before were their neighbors, increased. Many middle-class blacks embraced conservatism and argued that those afflicted by the crack epidemic had a choice…and they chose wrong. Interesting.

However, those white supremacists in the Republican Party seemingly remained in the shadows throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium because they didn’t seem to have an effective voice. Within weeks of Barack Obama’s historic election, rumblings were heard throughout the political world. Donald Trump became their voice when he questioned Obama’s birthplace and subsequently his legitimacy to the presidency.

Before 2008, John Boehner was a traditional conservative. However, the appearance of the Tea Party forced him to acquiesce to their demands to not participate in political negotiation or compromise, which is the hallmark of our republic. Instead, to maintain his power and influence within the Republican Party he negotiated a Faustian bargain with the Tea Party to oppose everything coming from the Obama White House.

Despite contentious vocal opposition, Obama’s signature policy, the Affordable Care Act, became law. Boehner was pushed into retirement. His replacement, Paul Ryan, pledged to lead the charge to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He failed, and like his predecessor has been forced into retirement. I guess that is what happens when one bargains with the devil and cannot keep up their end.

Trump announced his intention to be the Republican nominee for president in 2015. Many thought he was crazy. But he recognized that which most knew but were simply unwilling to acknowledge: the racist element in the Republican Party were ready to come out of the shadows and into the light. Trump would prove to be their light-bearer. Crazy? Maybe. Crazy like a fox? Most definitely.

Trump swept through the primary season of 2015 and 2016 and left tattered reputations of previously reputable Republican politicians in his wake. It was clear where his support came from and Trump meticulously spoke their language and stoked their fears. When he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in November 2016, the world stood in shock. How could this happen?

Its time our society accepts the fact that what was once a fringe element has now taken control of the Republican Party. Political analysts and academics acknowledge the exile of traditional conservative Republicans to the fringe. They claim the “new” Republican majority as Trump’s Republican Party.

That’s ok, I guess. But sooner or later even political analysts and academics will have to accept what the black community knew fifty years ago: supporters of white supremacy never died out after legislative defeat of Jim Crow. Instead, they fell back into the political and social shadows of our society. The 2008 general election was a siren-call. They could no longer sit in the shadows as a black man reached the pinnacle of world power.

Unlike 1956, there would be no Manifestos this time. Instead, the declaration of white supremacy would be made from the White House’s West Wing. Crazy like a fox indeed.

See you soon.

PS. Might not have to wait too much longer to see those promised tax returns.