Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton coined “Deplorables” during the 2016 presidential campaign, her signal attempt to mark out Donald Trump’s core voters, now estimated to be 40 percent of the GOP.
But a little history’s in order. In our hyper-partisan era, we can’t forget that Trump’s Deplorables had their genesis within—and were a shameful bastion of—the Democratic Party, constituting the party’s “Solid South” and tolerated by Al Smith, FDR, and Harry Truman.
Then in 1948, Hubert Humphrey proposed modest civil rights planks for his party’s platform and punctured the dike. Southern Democrats were offended and, as Strom Thurmond’s “Dixiecrats,” they stomped out of the convention.
The Dixiecrats’ exit was followed over the next half-century by the civil rights movement painfully winning battle after battle, LBJ signing the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Richard Nixon concocting his (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) “Southern Strategy,” Ronald Reagan perfecting it, and Newt Gingrich baiting and demonizing Democrats.
Before they became Trump’s Deplorables, they were Jim Crow segs and lynchers. Before that, Confederate slave-owners and traitors. And before that, Know-Nothings.
Die-hard racists, union busters, religious bigots, misogynists, America-Firsters, states-righters, self-appointed posses comitatus, oath-keepers, and neo-fascists—collectively, the Deplorables—are no longer welcome in the Democratic Party, and few, if any, remain. They’ve all migrated to the GOP, and to Trump.
As Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
Grenville B. Whitman
Rock Hall
Frances Reed says
I never knew that the US “Deplorables”were all Sotherners and that, therefore, according to the writer, 40 % of the GOP live in the South! When I last looked at the general election map of the US, the map was mostly red except for the east and west coasts.
I am sad that you think that everyone who voted Republican is a racist, bigot, mysogenist, neo facist and so on, and so on.
Sir, it seems to me that the bigot here is you! We are all entitled to our oppinions but bashing half the citizens of the US and name calling because they didn’t vote the way you wanted them to, might make you feel better, but it solves no problems. Being civil to others with differing viewpoints, and not tossing generalized imsults, might be something for you to consider.
Deirdre LaMotte says
Although I generally do not feel brushing with a broad strokes is fair, I must say, with Trump it is. Along with his perversion of
leadership he shows, we also see a perversion of citizenship. How else does one explain the willingness of supporters who look past his misogyny, lack of morals and ethics, racism and unpreparedness to be president? As I have said, he never wanted to be President,
he just wanted attention. The perversion of citizens that willfully embrace the propaganda and continuous stream of lies is
unforgivable and is damaging to all our nation should stand for. And the repercussions of Trump and his supporters’s arrogance have
Produced indelible effects on human lives, the environment , and public discourse in this country. It is distroying our standing in the world.
This man propagates hate within this country.
The only good news is that the majority of Americans had the foresight and integrity not to vote for him.
His supporters are as bad, if not worse, than this perverse man.
Joe Fick says
Yikes, such hate mongering!
Joseph Fick says
It’s the Democrat party, not the democratic party.
Joseph Fick says
Bravo!
Apparently we are terribly misguided if we don’t agree with these ‘democreatic’ people.
Gren Whitman says
Joe (or Joseph) Fick, I hate to tell you this, but the correct spelling of “Democratic” (as in Democratic Party) includes that oh-so-pesky “ic” tacked on at the end that’s apparently so very, very annoying so many right-wingers.
And, dear Joe, you really should check what you’re posting before posting it to avoid extra letters, c.f., your imaginative “democreatic.”
In closing, and more in sorrow than in “hate-mongering,” it is my opinion that you are, indeed, “terribly misguided.”
Deirdre LaMotte says
As of today, if not before, Trump and his apologists can be called traitors.
beryl Smith says
I have come to understand how/why some voted for Trump the first time around. They were looking for answers to the situation they viewed themselves in with no escape, as they saw it, in sight. I fail, however, to understand those who still so ardently stand by this man who will spill arsenic and toxic wastes into our waters, pollute our air, tell lies about anything that doesn’t glorify him, and perpetrate such unchristian attitudes that allow others to spew hate on groups that are not white and conservative in the name of God==although not the Biblical God as I know it. When the words, “I have always been a Republican so I must vote for Trump and accept him” are the guiding principles of these people, I guess I agree–they are the deplorables who care not for the country and the people but for a word that names a party or a cause that defames the majority of the world.