The GOP is no longer a party. It’s a movement to impose White Christian nationalism

[ZiprHead]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/27/gop-no-longer-a-party-movement-impose-christian-nationalism/

https://wapo.st/3rVCmbN - Gifted link

People might be confused about how a Republican Party that once worried about government overreach now seeks to control medical care for transgender children and retaliate against a corporation for objecting to a bill targeting LGBTQ students. And why is it that the most ambitious Republicans are spending more time battling nonexistent critical race theory in schools than on health care or inflation?

To explain this, one must acknowledge that the GOP is not a political party anymore. It is a movement dedicated to imposing White Christian nationalism.

The media blandly describes the GOP’s obsessions as “culture wars,” but that suggests there is another side seeking to impose its views on others. In reality, only one side is repudiating pluralistic democracy — White, Christian and mainly rural Americans who are becoming a minority group and want to maintain their political power.

The result is an alarming pattern: Any moment of social progress is soon followed by reactionary panic and claims of victimhood. It’s no mere coincidence that Donald Trump, the leader of the birther movement, succeeded the first African American president. Nor should the anti-critical-race-theory movement surprise anyone given the mass protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Understanding his phenomenon is crucial to preserving pluralistic democracy.

 

[Trausti]

Wow. The Left just hates White people.

 

[ZiprHead]

Jennifer Rubin is a conservative. She has worked for PJ Media, Human Events, and the Weekly Standard.

 

[Politesse]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/27/gop-no-longer-a-party-movement-impose-christian-nationalism/

https://wapo.st/3rVCmbN - Gifted link

People might be confused about how a Republican Party that once worried about government overreach now seeks to control medical care for transgender children and retaliate against a corporation for objecting to a bill targeting LGBTQ students. And why is it that the most ambitious Republicans are spending more time battling nonexistent critical race theory in schools than on health care or inflation?

To explain this, one must acknowledge that the GOP is not a political party anymore. It is a movement dedicated to imposing White Christian nationalism.

The media blandly describes the GOP’s obsessions as “culture wars,” but that suggests there is another side seeking to impose its views on others. In reality, only one side is repudiating pluralistic democracy — White, Christian and mainly rural Americans who are becoming a minority group and want to maintain their political power.

The result is an alarming pattern: Any moment of social progress is soon followed by reactionary panic and claims of victimhood. It’s no mere coincidence that Donald Trump, the leader of the birther movement, succeeded the first African American president. Nor should the anti-critical-race-theory movement surprise anyone given the mass protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Understanding his phenomenon is crucial to preserving pluralistic democracy.

How does that not make it not a party, though? A lot of crumbling third world nations have openly religious or ethnonationalist political parties.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Let's not only focus on one word in a sentence, but instead examine the full exchange, history and meaning. The article "The GOP is no longer a party. It’s a movement to impose White Christian nationalism" is written by Jennifer Rubin. Immediately, Trausti tries to discredit the article with a comment that "the Left" hates white people. If you look at Rubin's political history, she is not "the Left" as she despises the far left and Sanders. She came out as pro-Biden and anti-Trump a while ago, but she's a former conservative who stopped aligning herself to the Republican Party because in her very words in the article "one must acknowledge that the GOP is not a political party anymore" and she explains how it is reactionary based on identities as in the title. The important point here is that she used to be a Republican up until very recently and this gives her credibility. Calling her a reverse racialist among "the Left" is a good way to quickly discredit her and furthermore to start arguing the intricacies of how she currently identifies serves to distract the thread. But since it was brought up, let's go there, too, and then be done with it. The full label is not "liberal" but instead "19th century liberal or a wet Tory." It should be noted that Tories are conservatives and while she's shying away from the label, it is therefore indirectly there. "wet" though means moderate or willing to compromise. So "wet Tory" means moderate conservative, even if she doesn't like the label conservative. "19th century liberal" is classic liberal or libertarian. A Moynihan Democrat would probably be a fairly liberal person who splits with the party and works directly with Republicans, even for them. I think by alluding to these diverse labels she's trying to point out that she is independently-minded and bases her thinking on principles, utility, and non-partisanship. All that said, while being a former Republican gives the author some credibility, it's really the content of the article we ought to pay attention to, not the political labels.

 

[Jarhyn]

You said "Jennifer Rubin is a conservative". You were wrong. Jennifer Rubin was a conservative, and she no longer identifies as a conservative, and her current writing would not mark her as a conservative.

I thought you were pro respecting people's identities?

There is being 1990s small government, fiscally constrained conservative and being 2020s conspiracy theorist conservative.

This would be my dad.
Reagan Republican, Bush supporting, conservative Catholic...

He's gone now, but he would have been utterly appalled by the current Republicans.
Tom

My parents are this, but still around. Their response has been to stop voting at all.

 

[TomC]

You said "Jennifer Rubin is a conservative". You were wrong. Jennifer Rubin was a conservative, and she no longer identifies as a conservative, and her current writing would not mark her as a conservative.

I thought you were pro respecting

I know nothing about Ms Rubin, but I can very much relate.

It appears that her values haven't changed enough to suit the people who consider themselves conservative. Her mainstream views, fiscal responsibility and social responsibility and such, have been left behind. Now, self identified conservatives are fine with massive deficits and and lying for political gain and undermining basic U.S. institutions. She doesn't hold with that sort of behavior and doesn't want to be associated with it by a label.

She looks like someone who didn't leave the Republican "party" so much as it left her.
Tom

 

[Loren Pechtel]

You said "Jennifer Rubin is a conservative". You were wrong. Jennifer Rubin was a conservative, and she no longer identifies as a conservative, and her current writing would not mark her as a conservative.

I thought you were pro respecting people's identities?

There is being 1990s small government, fiscally constrained conservative and being 2020s conspiracy theorist conservative.

This would be my dad.
Reagan Republican, Bush supporting, conservative Catholic...

He's gone now, but he would have been utterly appalled by the current Republicans.
Tom

Or my father. He ran for office as a Republican in the 60s, was voting straight Democrat (albeit having moved to a redder area) in the 80s. He didn't change, the parties did.

 

[IIDB Staff]

The derail of whether the author is conservative has been moved to ~Elsewhere.

https://iidb.org/threads/the-gop-is-no-longer-a-party-derail-about-authors-politcal-identity-from-its-a-movement-to-impose-white-christian-nationalism.26033/