This is such a classic example of "repectable conservative" weasel-wording. Civil Rights was a "noble crusade" until "identity and racial spoils factionalism" ruined it? What does that even mean? "I liked it when MLK wanted to work with LBJ but then they got too uppity." /1 
"Conservatives seized an opportunity." To do what, exactly? He knows the answer, but doesn't want to say the quiet part out loud. It was the opportunity that Lee Atwater saw. There's a reason Reagan launched his campaign yammering about states' rights in Philadephia, MS. /2
"Exhuastion of the 1960s." For Black folks, that exhaustion was from being beaten, hosed, and imprisoned for asking for their rights, seeing their leaders assassinated, and being disproportionately drafted for an imperialist war. /3
"Exhaustion of the 1960s" for white conservatives was "we're tired of the Negro and their inconvenient reminders that we fail to adhere to our principles. Now can we get back to freedom-fighting against the Commies?" /4
This is straight-up BS revisionism. If he were of political age during the Civil Rights movement, Radio Fr** T*m would have been writing thinkpieces about how MLK's death was the inevitable outcome of "racial spoils factionalism." /5
And we haven't even gotten to the part about "dragging the crazies along with us." Dude, they *were* "us." Jesse Helms, Ed Meese, Strom Thurmond, etc etc weren't some wacky outliers. You rode white racism into power, used it to keep power, and *now* you have a conscience? /6
These Never-Trumpers are just as culpable in what we're seeing today as those Republicans who still support the administration. The only difference between the two is concern for public decorum. They bought the car and the booze; they should have seen the wreck coming. /7
I'm glad they're against Trump now, but they're going to demand a policy voice now, and try to tell everyone else they're "the good ones." Nah, they were just the rats who were smart enough to see the ship sinking and want you to forget they helped chew the hole in the hull. /fin
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
