Chris Hayes Says Racism Is The Fuel That Keeps The Republican Party Alive

MSNBC host Chris Hayes said on Thursday that there is a simple reason so many Republican leaders are standing by Donald Trump after his shameful rally in North Carolina: The GOP needs racism to survive.

According to the ‘All In’ host, Republican lawmakers have realized that their voters don’t care about small government or big deficits. Instead, what fuels the GOP base is the type of rage they expressed on Wednesday at the president’s campaign rally.

“No one actually cared about deficits or small government. That was never the fuel that fired the engine of Republican politics,” Hayes said. “It was always roiling rage against them that was on full display in the  ‘send her back’ chants last night. Without that rage and that passion, that enthusiasm and fire in that room, this entire project falls apart.”

Video:

Hayes said:

The base, what does the base get? The folks in that arena. Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? They get to chant. They get the revel in their own Americanness and primacy at the expense of others. They may not get much more than that, but Trump and now the entire Republican Party and most of the conservative movement realize that that is enough for them. They realize that no one actually cares about deficits or small government. That was never the fuel that fired the engine of Republican politics. It was always roiling rage against them that was on full display in the “send her back” chants last night. Without that rage and that passion, that enthusiasm and fire in that room, this entire project falls apart. That sentiment at the core of the coalition cannot be pried loose, and it cannot be negotiated with, and it cannot be appeased. It must be peacefully, nonviolently politically destroyed with love, compassion and determination, but utterly confronted and destroyed. That is the only way to break the coalition apart. Not by prying off this or that interest. They are in too deep. They have shamed themselves too much. The heart of the thing must be ripped out. The darkness must be banished. The people who feel moral revulsion at that display we saw last night must collectively mobilize in greater numbers than the chanters.

The hatred at the core of the MAGA movement must be ‘confronted and destroyed’

There are still some in the political universe who believe Democrats must reach out to Trump supporters, try to understand them and perhaps even win them back.

But as Chris Hayes said on Thursday, that’s a fool’s errand. They have gone too far off the ledge for this president. If last night’s shameful display of racism hasn’t convinced them to abandon Donald Trump, nothing will.

Instead, they must be beaten at the ballot box. The majority of the country who is disgusted by the increasing level of bigotry being spewed by the president and his band of supporters and GOP appeasers must show up in greater numbers to offer a positive vision of an America that welcomes everyone.

On Thursday, when Rep. Ilhan Omar arrived at a Minnesota airport, we saw what that version of America looks like.

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Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.

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