I finished Rick Wilson’s book. It’s a good read, recommended for, if nothing else, the tapestry of insults he weaves around Trump and Trumpkins, which is cathartic.
The thing that bothers me about it, though, is the lack of self awareness that you always find with Republicans, NeverTrump or other. For example, Wilson talks about the need to publicly and forcefully eject the racists from the GOP. Okay, all well and good. But then he goes on to talk about Reagan and GHW Bush each talking about how racists don’t belong in the GOP, without ever acknowledging that Reagan and Bush both used racist appeals in their campaigns, and that Reagan appealed to racism as a way to get the White Working Class to hate social programs.
I mean, “Welfare queens driving Cadillacs”, “young bucks on street corners buying T-bone steaks with foodstamps”, and for Bush, the whole “Willie Horton” campaign. The heroes of the GOP are up to their armpits in racist muck, and without acknowledging that, how can they EVER be taken seriously when they say they’re not about racism?