Saturday, October 8, 2022, not 1952, Alabama Senator and former football coach Tommy Tuberville tossed the hood of racism into the fray with cynical jabs at people he described with the pronoun “they.” According to Tuberville, “They are not soft on crime. They’re pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that,”said Tuberville. By the way, Tuberville’s former profession as a football coach meant he was in charge of young black sons, brothers, and fathers, who helped make him a fortune.
In a close race for the Pennsylvania Senate, Dr. Mehmet Oz is contesting Democratic candidate John Fetterman. Dr. Oz, a proven carpetbagger to the state, has recently been fighting personal scandals. From allegations that a research clinic—he headed—routinely killed puppies to unproven diet supplements. Dr. Oz tossed his hat into the race and Anti-Semitic fray by choosing to pose in front of a limo owned by Adolph Hitler. Oz stood on a platform flanked by a sign identifying the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) and Hitler’s ride. The fact that Oz was so oblivious may be more damning than allowing himself to be photographed in approximation with the vehicle of the world’s most famous murderer and anti-Semite.
For a long time, I have been awaiting the first modern white politician to shout out the n-word for laughs and applause at a political rally. In September, in a Wilmington, NC rally, former President Trump tried out a call response teasing the n-word. Not that the word is funny, but he was testing how to use it when it again becomes an unhooded and unvarnished political weapon. Trump cleverly tried to explain a few lines later after the crowd shouted out the obvious racist answer to his inquiry. “No, no, no, it’s the nuclear word,” he said. Trump’s fans and apologists will say it was obvious he was talking about (n)uclear weapons.
If a movie were written today, where one political party talked about Black people as “they” or feted a puppy-killing doctor, not even daytime dramas would buy the script. Top that off with their former leader teasing an n-word chant and a few weeks later asking a crowd if they prefer the theme music of a cult, fighting baby-eating Democrats, c’mon.
The racial cynicism is so deep in the Republican party that the party bosses have admitted their hand-picked black Senate candidate Herschel Walker—is not only morally but intellectually flawed. Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, when asked about Walker’s abortion scandal and obfuscation, said this, “I think he is the most important Senate candidate in the country because he’ll do more to change the Senate just by the sheer presence, by his confidence, by his deep commitment to Christ. You know, he’s been through a long, tough period. He suffered a lot of concussions coming out of football,” concluded Gingrich.
So Republicans who constantly accuse the current President of mental failings think it is a good idea to have a man in the Senate with an impaired decision-making process; Disney awaits the script.
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