Thread by @michaelharriot

The Lincoln Project is about to get a lot of donations but Here’s the thing about this thread by Steve Schmidt, why democracy is in danger, and why people love Donald Trump:

A thread.

https://twitter.com/steveschmidtses/status/1418948015923122188

First of all, we can’t act like this country has never been this divided before. Before the Civil War, it was worse than that. There was a whole intra-state civil war over whether or not Kansas would allow slavery. The

Pro-slavery Democrats burned down an entire KS town and stole a cannon. A pro slavery Democrat beat Charles Sumner damn near to death ON THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS. They had to throw out entire elections.

Then there was the CIVIL WAR civil war. You know, the big one

After the Civil War, Southern conservative whites were Democrats. But there were still some white Republicans. And since these new Black freedmen could vote, whoever could get them on their side would have the political power

But you gotta remember two things:

1. We had a two-party system but it wasn’t always THESE two parties. Democrats and Republicans were basically new on the scene. Before Lincoln, we had 4 Whig presidents, a federalist, Democrat-Republican. Shit, the Republicans were so new…

Lincoln didn’t even run under the party name for reelection.

The second part is, Before Jim Crow came out, Black folks OUTVOTED white folks. The Black voter registration rate in Miss. & Louisiana was +90%. And remember, in SC, LA and MS, black people outnumbered whites.

There are a lot of people waiting for me to get to the part where the parties switched sides. Others are waiting for me to get to the part where the Republican Party supported Black people.

But that’s not really what happened.

Black people never supported the GOP. They supported BLACK PEOPLE. “Republican” & “Democrat” was just a name because NEITHER party supported full citizenship rights.

Instead of forming a new party, they formed voting blocs called “Union Leagues” and supported Black candidates

It’s true that when there were no Black candidates, Black voters supported Republicans, but some Union Leagues also formed coalitions with poor white Democrats. still the Black Union Leagues had all the power in the South. Because they were secret, whites didn’t know what to do.

In SC, they filled the legislature & state government with Black folks. They even created a program for ex-slaves to buy the land of slavemasters. In LA, they elected a Black gov. who eventually became governor, HB Pinchback. In MS, AL, LA & Ga they basically took over.

Texas wasn’t having that shit. When Norris Wright Cuney became head of Texas’ GOP in 1883, they just kicked Blacks. Virginia, NC & other states did it later. The Republican Party split into 2 factions:

1. white people
2. Everyone else

Cuney coined a name for the white faction:

It was the Lily Whites who helped create Jim Crow with the Democrats. They aligned with their fellow to disenfranchised Black voters so they could take their party back over

Remember, the South had Black majorities in 3 states. In others, it was so close that they only needed a slim white Republican contingent

But why would Republicans help Democrats? Why wouldn’t they want that power?

Well there’s this thing called “white supremacy”

After disenfranchising Black voters, both Republicans AND Democrats appealed to white Southern voters by basically telling southern white voters their party was more racist than the other. Democrats could back it up because they were in power

But the GOP gained back some southern white voters when Republican William Taft said he’d be more racist.

Then Republican Herbert Hoover got more Southern whites by being more racist than Taft.

FDR was the beginning of the big shift of Black voters to Democrats. White voters began flocking to the GOP after they left the Democrats because BOTH parties supported supported civil rights legislation.

What does this have to do with Trump or Democracy?

Well…

If Trump wins the nomination, it will be because because Southern conservatives don’t care about party affiliation

EVER SINCE black people got the right to vote, the same party has been in control of the South. It’s not Democrat OR Republican.

It’s the Lily white faction.

Whichever party controls the Lily white faction controls conservative politics.
It’s why Nixon’s Southern Strategy worked. It’s why Reagan’s first major speech as a candidate was at the site where Klansmen murdered civil rights workers.

And for years, EVERY successful Republican stoked this faction.

Remember when Bush’s campaign m said John McCain had a Black baby?

Lily whites

Remember when McCain ran against Obama and said the Confederate Flag was fine?

He admitted why he did it

nytimes.com/2000/04/20/us/…

But White voters in the South don’t love the GOP. They love TRUMP.

They generally despise politicians. As you can see?, they don’t care about abortion, fiscal conservatism or religion.

But they will NEVER vote for a Democrat. They might like the policies but they can’t do it

Their grandparents were Democrats, so it’s not party allegiance. Their parents voted for people like Reagan & Bush, so it’s not the establishment. But the churches, schools and entire society have cemented their support for the Lily white faction.

So all these new anti-Trump Republicans can miss me with their allegiance to Democracy now that Trump is injecting steroids into the monster they built by demonizing “welfare queens,” crack thugs, BLM, voter fraud, Radical Islamic Terrorism, “illegals,” thugs & radical Marxists

Now you’re asking black people to organize and form coalitions with to fix the shit Y’ALL broke?

All y’all.

BEWARE THESE MOTHERFUCKERS

THAT IS NOT HOW YOU FIX THIS SHIT.

Because we know what happens after we fix it.

The Lily whites will rise again