Luke Zaleski: Obama broke their minds

[Qutzupalotl]

Link to tweet

“I don’t think you could overstate how completely Obama broke their minds. The fact that a black man was the most powerful person in the world for eight years and was popular and largely successful absolutely destroyed white power mythology and psychology and was their apocalypse”

_______________
I always thought Trump was the right's overreaction to Obama, everything he was not.— Qutz

[judesedit]

1. And Obama's witt and sense of humor about it drove them crazy

[CrispyQ]

8. And his athleticism--he could play ball, & do more than ride in a golf cart.

And he looked good, even in a tan suit!

[3catwoman3]

21. Looks mighty fine in...

...swim trunks, too.

[louis-t]

23. Sang pretty good, too.

[Maru Kitteh]

57. Also had the chops to do a good stand-up act!

He is BRILLIANTLY funny!

[CrispyQ]

25. Oh yes! Very fine! -nt

[judesedit]

34. I agree with all of that. I'm glad he's still out there showing those mal-adjusted weaklings up

Yay!

[vanlassie]

48. And he has a brilliant wife.

[Biophilic]

2. Unfortunately, I fear it's going to take a long time for them to get over it.

Their resistance will just keep escalating until it reaches total absurdity. Until then we just have to stand firm and fight back when necessary cause they are not going to give up easily.

[halfulglas]

6. Some never will.

Many will die without accepting the reality. I think that's one of the reasons many bought into the 2020 election lie and continue to believe it.

[GB_RN]

37. UNTIL???

It’s already gone well beyond that point, IMHO. It was one thing during Obama’s first two years, but then we had the astroturf movement resulting in all the Klanbaggers in Congress, which gave us the Freedumb Caucus. The absurdity has never stopped..and only seemed to escalate.

[certainot]

73. there's another major factor in their crackup, not factored in - the death of the moral and

'intellectual' leader of the GOP the last 30 years.

all RW radio followed limbaugh's lead and the GOP followed that alternate reality deeper and deeper into the hole that the kremlin increasingly influenced - through limbaugh - since at least 2008. the bushs and mcconnell's and roves that had the establishment lost control of limbaugh and blamed him for losing to obama beccause he wouldn't support mccain until mccain picked palin - set up by manafort/putin. now the nuts are headless - no central messaging.

[cilla4progress]

3. This

occurs throughout time and place when POC surpass and outshine wypipo!

Some whites need to put them back in their place in the power structure.

The system is heavily invested in propping up white cis men, and woe be to those who challenge this in any way!!

[TheBlackAdder]

46. The M odern Republican Party Post 2007.

.

.

[roamer65]

4. How true.

[tblue37]

5. K&R for visibility. nt

[KarenS]

7. yes, indeed.

Then TFG with his disdain for tradition and following rules helped stir up their anger into a cult,,, I don't think we will ever be the same again.

[CrispyQ]

9. Sadly, I agree with your last statement.

My opinion of people I know, some in my family, even, who voted for him twice & those who still support him, has changed. I'm still polite to them, but I'm not interested in doing anything with them.

[a kennedy]

10. I know, and fawk em. 🤬

[Ferrets are Cool]

11. It makes me happy that they have to go BACK to Obama to find shit to complain about.

We just have to turn on today's news to find RW atrocities.

[Boomerproud]

12. Just by his very existence he drove them insane.

He didn't even have to put any effort except be himself. My my aren't they weak.

[Historic NY]

13. President Johnson said it best.

"I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it," he said. "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."


"Oh look at my African-American over here."Trump

[link:https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/12/politics/trump-my-african-american-leaving-gop/index.html|]

[Solomon]

52. And further, this is why they elected the lowest trashiest white man they could find to succeed him.

it wouldn't have done to elect an honorable, upstanding white man. They needed to prove their worst is better. Therefore everything he did and said, even the ridiculous, had to be accepted and praised.

[Martin68]

14. I agree. In spite of being insulted and blocked at every turn, Obama was a class act and a decent

human being in stark contrast to his opposition of rabid racists, corporate shills, and political hacks.

[70sEraVet]

15. When school desegregation was finally forced on Southern towns,

the black students were allowed in the white schools. But black teachers and principals were often left out -- the white townspeople couldn't allow a black person to be in a position of authority over ANY white person, not even children.
A shame we, as a nation, can't overcome this kind of prejudice.

[electric_blue68]

66. Oh... Never thought of that aspect...

In my NYC Junior High I had an African-American Woman Science Teacher!

She was my first (but not last) black teacher. My folks (esp my mom) taught me to be anti-racist but at 14 I still had a lot to learn about all the threads, and tentacles of racism.
So I was more excited (since I'd also been observing,
and experiencing sexism as a girl on up) to see a
Woman Science Teacher!!!

[Fiendish Thingy]

16. And the last six years have been the backlash

Straight White Male culture won’t give up its power without a bloody fight, even if democracy has to be sacrificed in the process.

Fortunately, the demographic momentum is on our side. Which makes 2024 critical, for the years that follow will continue the steady decline of their power.

[onetexan]

28. prior to Obama's election there were not many internal white extremist groups & their numbers low

After O was elected their numbers increased exponentially. He did nothing about it, and the Con co-opted them for his purposes. It culminated to what we have today - a country overrun with white nationalists, and all levels of government infiltrated by their members.
We are in O dark 30 till this issue of domestic terrorists are dealt with, and forcefully to retard their numbers and retain democracy.
Either that or they will turn this country into a shitshow of fascist rule.

[2naSalit]

32. +1

[OldBaldy1701E]

70. No, they wont give it up without a bloody fight.

I wish more Democrats understood this. This is not a 'metaphorical' fight. It is not going to be won with words.

[zuul]

17. I have always thought this to be true

and nothing will convince me otherwise.

Now just wait until Kamala Harris is our first female President, who also happens to be Black and Asian . . . the pukes will completely lose it.

Or Pete Buttigieg. But I think they would tolerate a gay white man more than a Black-Asian woman.

[2naSalit]

33. +1

All the more read]son to deal with them now and swiftly.

[soldierant]

58. You bet they would

Heck, they would tolerate a gay whiteman better than a straight white woman.

A 77 year old woman myself, it continues to terrify me to realize just how deep misogyny runs. It's more deeply rooted than literally anything else.

[Hekate]

38. Hillary won the popular vote by millions, but the GOP/Russia with the help of so-called Greens...

…played the margins and won the Electoral College. Jill Stein has much to answer for, behind that smug smile.

Dr. Stein and Gen. Flynn dining with Putin — nice.

Please remember who the real enemies are.

[iluvtennis]

49. Exactly. n/t

[betsuni]

63. Hillary's approval rating right before running was 54%, Biden's was 53% before he won the primary,

and I can't find it right now, but her approval rating was higher than Obama's before they both ran and he won.

Her dropping approval rating in 2016 wasn't from Republican attacks, the damaging ones targeted potential Democratic voters with lies about Hillary and Democrats that we're still fighting and debunking. Only helps Republicans/Russia.

[bpj62]

40. Unpopular Candidate

Hillary won the Democratic nomination in a rout. She was the most prepared and accomplished candidate that this party has ever nominated. She won the popular vote by three million votes. Don't blame true democrats for her loss. The Bernie Bros as well as the far left who kept saying that there was no difference between the two candidates played a major role. The same people who called Hillary a corporate shill because she accepted speaking engagements and got paid for them. Other than Hillary which 2016 democratic candidate would have beaten Trump?

[betsuni]

64. Absolutely.

[ShazzieB]

67. Oh, God, the memories this brought back!

I tangled with some people on the far left who didn't see any point in voting for Hillary because she wasn't far enough left, and they were the absolute bane of my existence in 2016. These people were lecturing me about how awful they thought she was, while refusing to acknowledge the nightmarish horribleness of the alternative. "One of these candidates is going to win," I'd say. "It's between these 2, whether you like it or not. If you don't want Trump to be potus, there's only way to keep that from happening." They'd claim they didn't want him to win, but there wasn't any real conviction behind their assertions.

I think I still have ptsd from that election, based on the way my pulse rate started racing when I was typing this response. I swear some of those people wanted her to lose out of sheer spite, no matter what the cost was to this country or the world. Fork them all.

[betsuni]

68. Same.

And then there's the gaslighting that it never happened.

[DallasNE]

19. Disagree

I see no evidence of a mind to break. I saw them mindlessly breaking into the Capitol while Congress was in session.

[KPN]

30. Lol! Excellent point!

[Samrob]

60. If you think that broke their minds, wait until a black woman takes the reins and is successful.

Obama and Michelle held the rank of world's most popular man and woman also. That had to hurt. That even hurt the fascist dictators across the globe.

[moose65]

20. Yes

Obama was the catalyst, with Fox News fanning the flames and Facebook spreading the misinformation. We tend to forget that even though Fox News was born during the Clinton administration, they really didn’t turn into the Republican propaganda network until the Iraq war during W’s presidency. Fox had never had to deal with a Democratic President until Obama came along.

Likewise, Obama was really the first President of the Facebook era. Facebook didn’t really become mainstream until 2009. I was astounded at the ease at which people believed outright lies about Obama.

[republianmushroom]

22. like it

[llashram]

24. broken

completely for the stated reason and trump riling up his racist terrified followers...and still riled up. Elba of the Napoleon era for him. Cut him off from the whole world. Pathetic rat.

[Rebl2]

26. Think

you are right on this.

[grantcart]

27. No it was more personal than that

It wasn't that Obama was the most powerful man in the world, it was that this black man was more successful, better liked, better read, a better husband, a better father, better athlete, better speaker, better in every possible way.

To add to the injury he said that in their desperation all they could do was cling to their guns and their religion.

That's why they are happy to vote to make a fractured running back powerful, they can stand a black politician being more powerful but they can't stand one being better in every way and exposing their impotence.

[BlueJac]

29. Absolutely!

[KPN]

31. That's a fact ... nt

[Paladin]

35. Serves them right. (nt)

[malaise]

36. 100% correct

If you promote the view that the white man is the superior race, this is the expected response
What’s more is that he shattered all their myths about the superiority of any races over another.

Turns out that the Slobfather was and is everything they had presented in their caricature of the African male.

[Aristus]

39. Doesn't surprise me in the least. If one thinks being born with white skin is an accomplishment,

the accomplishments of others who don't have white skin are going to rankle.

[Mr.Bill]

41. You aint seen nuthin' yet.

Just wait until we elect a woman president. Better yet a black woman president.

[Wingus Dingus]

42. I do believe that. They thought they were gonna get him on something,

like they got Bill Clinton, and it never happened. And they still don't know how to process it.

[CatWoman]

43. and for vindication they replaced him with a worthless, greedy, slimey

unintelligent POS aka DJ Trump

[OMGWTF]

45. We went from Class to Crass and back to Class.

[OMGWTF]

44. Add to that his Nobel Peace Prize, two Grammys, an Emmy, an Oscar, and a bestselling book.

Oh, and one wife and two loving daughters and ZERO scandals.

[LymphocyteLover]

47. Agreed

[iluvtennis]

50. Just remember that these white supremacists think they are genetically superior

[Warpy]

51. And you were right about that

because he was the antithesis to everything Obama was, a coarse, crude, unintelligent, proudly ignorant pathological liar who was likely owned by a hostile foreign power---and the white power assholes loved all of it.

I'd say Obama broke their brains, but there really wasn't much there to break.

[Cha]

53. Yes, he did.. and Treasonous

Dt got impeached twice & LOST the 2nd term and Lost again with his Failed coup.

[Skittles]

54. yup

Obama made these racist, fascist fucks emerge from under their rocks.....

[SouthernDem4ever]

55. The classy way the Obamas handled all the wicked rightwing bullshit

was simply amazing. Their strength of character and restraint from confrontations was way beyond what I would have been capable of doing. I was ready to fight over and over while they handled it with grace and conviction. They never took their eyes off the goals they had set. Unfortunately, we have a large population of total weirdos that really became evident during those eight years. I never saw it coming. I always knew there was a fringe group of assholes, but I never thought it would become mainstream in a political party.

[housecat]

56. Maybe Obama inspired their exit from reality

Trump's world collapsed when he was humiliated by Obama's jokes at the correspondence dinner. Obama could really deliver a joke and throw a basketball. It must have confused them all

[Laura PourMeADrink]

59. Never heard of him. But looked up - an actor? Guess it doesn't

matter who he is. Good sentiment!

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

61. I've heard it called "Primal white rage"

For me, it was from Sarah Kendzior on the podcast Gaslit Nation.

Every time black Americans gain something in this country, there's a huge backlash against them by angry white racists.

The Tulsa Race Massacre is one major instance. Black Americans were becoming very prosperous, and a number of White Americans got...very very angry and nearly burned the whole thing to the ground.

Same thing with President Obama's election. They were so fucking enraged that they screamed, gnashed their teeth, and then voted for the worst fucking person that has ever held that office.

[SYFROYH]

62. Yes, partly, but Trump was inevitable even if Obama had been white.

The Republicans tried "respectable" moderates like John McCain and Mitt Romney. They were angry about losing and having to deal with Democratic policies.

There were ready and primed for an extremist.

Just my humble opinion.

[electric_blue68]

65. It sure wouldn't surprise me. While I'd wished he'd been more liberal on some issues, he's a ...

good man, and was a very good President.
I was thrilled to be able to go to both Inaugurations!
So momentous, and exciting!


In some ways the 2nd one was even cooler bc Repugs could have blown off One Term as a "Fluke".
But Barrack Hussein Obama getting elected a Second Time?!!!!! Bwaaahaahaahhaaaaaaaa! 😄

I think in some ways THAT'S what truly
drove them around the bend!!!!

[JHB]

69. Yes, but they had some practice. It wasn't their first time at the rodeo

When Clinton won in '92, Republicans were shell-shocked and despairing that they lost.

Then Limbaugh went into full "rally the troops" mode, told them Clinton was only "technically" president because he'd won by a plurality of the popular vote, not a majority (yeah, we know where that argument went), so the thing to do was to dig in and fight the LLLLLLLLiiiibbbberallllll Menace!

Like with so many things, with Clinton they built their launchpad and wrote the playbook with which they'd sink to new depths with Obama.

[Evolve Dammit]

71. I know that's when the rush for weapons and ammo started at a rabid pitch. Friends and co-workers

[IronLionZion]

72. They decided documents don't matter

papers please turned into your papers are fake. Being just as white as he is black didn't help either since he looked "foreign".

Every racist knows what an American looks like. I dealt with birtherism myself while he was in office. It was so bizarre to have people tell me so matter of factly that I may have been born in the US and have a US passport but I'm still an H1B stealing jobs from real Americans.

they're stealing our jobs even at the highest levels!

[karin_sj]

74. Absolutely correct

It shattered their ignorant, racist, hateful beliefs and gave them another reason to hate Democrats. I still find it hard to believe that that ignorant, racist, hateful orange lunatic was our president for four years.