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Trump is not an anomaly in GOP

Since the ascendancy of Donald Trump, some pundits and politicians have sought to paint him as an anomaly, an outlier whose embrace of white identity politics is not representative of the Republican Party as a whole.

Yet the history of that party shows that Trump is not a fluke but rather the natural progression of decades of Republican practices.

From the GOP's embrace of Dixiecrats who fled the Democratic Party over Lyndon Johnson's civil rights initiatives, to Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy, to Ronald Reagan's dog whistles on state's rights and anecdotes about "young bucks" and "welfare queens," to George H.W. Bush's Willie Horton ads, to today's efforts to strip voting rights from minorities, the Republican Party has sought to foster and exploit racial fears and animosity.

The sad truth is that the only thing that distinguishes Trump from the Republicans who came before him is that he has laid down the dog whistle and picked up a bullhorn.

Daniel Welch

Glen Ellyn

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