Thread by @sethjlevy

I’m Seth Levy.

My mother was born in Colombia.

My dad is a Jew from NY who during his thirties converted to Christianity.

My family on both sides is two generations American.

I grew up with the Cubans in Hialeah.

I have no connection to racism or the confederate flag.

But I have a brain and a heart.

I can empathize for the family of George Floyd and many others, both black and white, affected by police brutality.

We can and should do better.

But what happened to George doesn’t make every non-progressive white person a racist.

Different people are different. Different cultures are different. Different regions of our country are different. And that’s ok.

I think an organization rejecting the confederate flag is fine. Appropriate. Same with states or local governments.

I realize that to some that flag is deeply offensive. And understandably so.

But to others it’s a symbol of their heritage. Btw there are many black people in the south who love the confederate flag as a symbol of their rebellion against conformity not as a defense of slavery.

Is that good? Is that right? That’s not for me to judge or dictate to others.

We live in a free country where people, individuals, have a right to their self inspired expression.

It’s one thing to say someone is misguided but to characterize them as racist is wrong.

They are only auto-racist (pun) in the context of a world view that says when you behave outside of boundaries that they set it defines you.

It isn’t exclusive to the confederate flag. The same people say if you wear a MAGA hat it is the equivalent of wearing a white hoodie.

They say if you celebrate Independence Day you are celebrating White Supremacy. Because they have set these rules.

No one has the freedom to challenge these conclusions or they will be destroyed. You must capitulate.

That is what unites people from north Florida, western Georgia, northern Ohio and northwest Wisconsin.

A battle cry that they heard that brought them out in numbers beyond anything any political consultant believed was possible.

Was it a call to racists?!?

Nope. It was a call to non-conformists. To traditionalists. To hunters. To gun rights. To free speech advocates. To people who reject the progressive world view.

These unwashed masses had been lost by a supine Republican Party.

What was Trump’s magic? He got their attention. He gave them hope. Made them believe they could elect someone who would defend their freedoms and their economic interests. And he’s delivered.

Now he’s telling them there’s more to do. Exposing what is at stake.

He’s letting them know he is still with them. Understands their frustrations. Is willing to defend their honor.

This is all complex but the media and the left wants you to believe it’s simple. That there are so many racists in America they can swing elections.

There aren’t.

There are enough disaffected low propensity voters in states like Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania and North Carolina and Florida to swing the election in his favor.

But he has to turn them out.

Do they all care about the confederate flag or the confederacy? No.

But they are motivated by the rejection of a culture and a media that makes negative assumptions about them because they will not conform.

They view Trump as the warrior many of them cannot be in public.

They want their rights and their culture preserved. If not Trump who?

That’s what this is about.

That is why.

And this is the time to energize and engage that group.

There will be time later for message discipline. There will be time for appeals to traditional Republicans. They can be won at the end because either way they will turn out.

I’ll add to finish something I’ve asserted a lot recently.

YOU DON’T WANT TRUMP TO WIN MORE THAN HE DOES. PERIOD.

He’s not impulsive. There is a method to his madness.

I’m not asking you to agree or like it. I’m asking you to understand why.

/end/