This week, news broke that as a guest on the right-wing Real America’s Voice media network in 2020, Republican candidate for Michigan governor Tudor Dixon said that the Democrats have planned for decades to topple the United States because they have not gotten over losing the Civil War. According to Dixon, Democrats don’t want anyone to know that white Republicans freed the slaves, and are deliberately strangling “true history.”
So much education and clarity in so few words, as is always the case with your daily newsetter. You are too classy to mention the book you wrote on this subject, but I will. "How the South Won the Civil War." A must-read, folks.
I am so incredibly anxious about the upcoming midterms that I am finding it hard to focus on anything else. I have been following campaigns of several candidates outside of my state for awhile now. That, and the fact that one of my adult children has been brainwashed by a legalistic Baptist church, makes these elections feel very personal to me.
THIS is why civics literacy and active life-long engagement in civil society are of central importance for beating back fascist, authoritarian messaging of the MAGA GOP tribes. I focus on these areas in my teaching. I’d like to know how others are resisting the polarization?
And let us not forget that Southern evangelicals seized on abortion, years after Roe v. wade as an issue for their followers to distract from the fact that the IRS was going after their tax exemptions for their segregated private schools in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education. In one way or another, it's always about race.
This is why we need civics and history classes in high school and college. And not a curriculum that just memorizes events and dates. I am old enough to have witnessed the history HCR discusses in real time: Nixon's southern strategy, James Meredith public stand . . . I don't know if Tudor Dixon is truly ignorant or deliberately devious in her portrayal. But the fact that she is running for governor is frightening.
Trump is back on Twitter. The Saudi's own the second largest share of Twitter. China is holding Musk over the coals wrt to Tesla, demanding favorable treatment on Twitter.
I've gotten in arguments online with people claiming this is all made up by the "mainstream media" or something and I'm always like "Dude! I watched it happening!" 🤣 I remember my representatives switching sides! My family think they're independents because they followed the same politicians from one party to the other 🤦🏻♀️
Thank you so much HCR!! I keep writing about this and telling people how the great exchange happened. Your demonstration of the true history is simple and clear.
Just observe which party embraces members who parade around with Confederate flags, or go ballistic when a monument praising the confederacy is removed. It sure ain't the Democrats these days, just as it would not have been any faithful follower of Lincoln back then.
What is in a name? Are Confederate flags in MAGA hands any less racist?
Tudor Dixon is a stain on Michigan politics. She proudly states that she is against abortion for ANY reason, including when the mother’s life is in danger. Recently, when asked about her stance that girls/women who become pregnant as a result of rape should be forced to give birth, even girls as young as 14, she proudly stated, with a smile on her face, that those girls/women should be given the chance to experience the joy of becoming a mama. I can’t begin to enumerate all of the reasons why that statement is so disgusting.
One thing: Kevin Phillips was the architect of Nixon’s southern strategy. He has publicly repented for the role he played.
Another thing: Republicans were pro choice in the 1960s and most supported Roe v Wade. Until Nixon seized on the idea of being anti-abortion to split the Catholics, a group that had historically voted for Democrats, away from that party.
So Nixon owns the racist, misogynist Republican Party of the 21st century. Reagan, the 2 Bushes, and Trump all flourished in that fertile soil. While Bush 2 does not seem to be a racist himself, he was in part behind the Willie Horton ad, and he defeated McCain in the NC primary with a robocall campaign about McCain’s “black” (actually Indian) adopted child.
Tudor Dixon's convenient, and more than likely intentional, amnesia of American history has come up before with modern-day Republicans and it has always baffled me that they can still make what have to be seen as bizarre assertions about Democrats' history of racism and segregation and their history of emancipation and anti-slavery. Well...that was THEN and this is NOW.-! What HCR once again for the umpteenth time has recounted was how the two parties totally flip-flopped in the 1960s. I wish THEY would get it through their heads what happened. Is the Republican base really so totally ignorant of American political history that they somehow believe the Democratic party of the 1950s is in any way similar to the party of today?? Talk about cognizant ignorance! They know that's BS, yet wing-nuts like Dixon seem to think they can still find some clueless numb-nuts in their base to believe such tripe.
I still assert this country's education system has somehow failed to inform a generation of not only American history, but also of basic civics. What TF is being taught in schools' history classes these days?? Don't they learn this stuff (what HCR details above)?? And as I've said, civics has disappeared from curricula across the boards, with a result that we have a population that really seems to lack knowledge of exactly how our government functions. They don't seem to know our Constitution, how it works, what the amendments are, and how it was they came to be. This is dangerous. It's hardly any wonder the current Republican party seems to almost have contempt for the Constitution, and they can more easily fan flames of insurrection with their base who, along with their Big Orange Jesus, seem largely ignorant of our founding document.
Sometimes HCR has despaired that she "sounds like a broken record" and that her message somehow isn't breaking through. I think every teacher wonders how effective their teaching is at some point. Historians like HCR (and by extension her adherents on here) HAVE to keep spreading the word. Mountains are moved little by little, not all at once. We have to keep informing people about history, over and over and over if need be. There's always the chance that somebody somewhere will be seeing the truth for the first time and it can change minds and hearts, one person at a time. Keep telling the story, y'all!!
Tudor Dixon and the Republican candidates for attorney general and secretary of state in Michigan are really bad news for our state. I am very hopeful that they will not win.
Tremendous summary of a complicated issue
Thank you
So much education and clarity in so few words, as is always the case with your daily newsetter. You are too classy to mention the book you wrote on this subject, but I will. "How the South Won the Civil War." A must-read, folks.
I am so incredibly anxious about the upcoming midterms that I am finding it hard to focus on anything else. I have been following campaigns of several candidates outside of my state for awhile now. That, and the fact that one of my adult children has been brainwashed by a legalistic Baptist church, makes these elections feel very personal to me.
THIS is why civics literacy and active life-long engagement in civil society are of central importance for beating back fascist, authoritarian messaging of the MAGA GOP tribes. I focus on these areas in my teaching. I’d like to know how others are resisting the polarization?
And let us not forget that Southern evangelicals seized on abortion, years after Roe v. wade as an issue for their followers to distract from the fact that the IRS was going after their tax exemptions for their segregated private schools in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education. In one way or another, it's always about race.
This is why we need civics and history classes in high school and college. And not a curriculum that just memorizes events and dates. I am old enough to have witnessed the history HCR discusses in real time: Nixon's southern strategy, James Meredith public stand . . . I don't know if Tudor Dixon is truly ignorant or deliberately devious in her portrayal. But the fact that she is running for governor is frightening.
Trump is back on Twitter. The Saudi's own the second largest share of Twitter. China is holding Musk over the coals wrt to Tesla, demanding favorable treatment on Twitter.
If. You. Are. On. Twitter. You. Are. Part. Of. The. Problem. Period.
I've gotten in arguments online with people claiming this is all made up by the "mainstream media" or something and I'm always like "Dude! I watched it happening!" 🤣 I remember my representatives switching sides! My family think they're independents because they followed the same politicians from one party to the other 🤦🏻♀️
Thank you so much HCR!! I keep writing about this and telling people how the great exchange happened. Your demonstration of the true history is simple and clear.
Just observe which party embraces members who parade around with Confederate flags, or go ballistic when a monument praising the confederacy is removed. It sure ain't the Democrats these days, just as it would not have been any faithful follower of Lincoln back then.
What is in a name? Are Confederate flags in MAGA hands any less racist?
The problem is that the Tudor Dixons of the world are able to throw out a simplistic lie knowing that their MAGA base will believe it.
Tudor Dixon is a stain on Michigan politics. She proudly states that she is against abortion for ANY reason, including when the mother’s life is in danger. Recently, when asked about her stance that girls/women who become pregnant as a result of rape should be forced to give birth, even girls as young as 14, she proudly stated, with a smile on her face, that those girls/women should be given the chance to experience the joy of becoming a mama. I can’t begin to enumerate all of the reasons why that statement is so disgusting.
The people who most need to read this never will.
One thing: Kevin Phillips was the architect of Nixon’s southern strategy. He has publicly repented for the role he played.
Another thing: Republicans were pro choice in the 1960s and most supported Roe v Wade. Until Nixon seized on the idea of being anti-abortion to split the Catholics, a group that had historically voted for Democrats, away from that party.
So Nixon owns the racist, misogynist Republican Party of the 21st century. Reagan, the 2 Bushes, and Trump all flourished in that fertile soil. While Bush 2 does not seem to be a racist himself, he was in part behind the Willie Horton ad, and he defeated McCain in the NC primary with a robocall campaign about McCain’s “black” (actually Indian) adopted child.
Tudor Dixon's convenient, and more than likely intentional, amnesia of American history has come up before with modern-day Republicans and it has always baffled me that they can still make what have to be seen as bizarre assertions about Democrats' history of racism and segregation and their history of emancipation and anti-slavery. Well...that was THEN and this is NOW.-! What HCR once again for the umpteenth time has recounted was how the two parties totally flip-flopped in the 1960s. I wish THEY would get it through their heads what happened. Is the Republican base really so totally ignorant of American political history that they somehow believe the Democratic party of the 1950s is in any way similar to the party of today?? Talk about cognizant ignorance! They know that's BS, yet wing-nuts like Dixon seem to think they can still find some clueless numb-nuts in their base to believe such tripe.
I still assert this country's education system has somehow failed to inform a generation of not only American history, but also of basic civics. What TF is being taught in schools' history classes these days?? Don't they learn this stuff (what HCR details above)?? And as I've said, civics has disappeared from curricula across the boards, with a result that we have a population that really seems to lack knowledge of exactly how our government functions. They don't seem to know our Constitution, how it works, what the amendments are, and how it was they came to be. This is dangerous. It's hardly any wonder the current Republican party seems to almost have contempt for the Constitution, and they can more easily fan flames of insurrection with their base who, along with their Big Orange Jesus, seem largely ignorant of our founding document.
Sometimes HCR has despaired that she "sounds like a broken record" and that her message somehow isn't breaking through. I think every teacher wonders how effective their teaching is at some point. Historians like HCR (and by extension her adherents on here) HAVE to keep spreading the word. Mountains are moved little by little, not all at once. We have to keep informing people about history, over and over and over if need be. There's always the chance that somebody somewhere will be seeing the truth for the first time and it can change minds and hearts, one person at a time. Keep telling the story, y'all!!
Tudor Dixon and the Republican candidates for attorney general and secretary of state in Michigan are really bad news for our state. I am very hopeful that they will not win.