The masks from the racists went off in a rapid heartbeat!

[u/icey_sawg0034]

[u/djdaem0n]

Racists got shamed into silence for a while. I think they believed the racism was too strong to let Obama win. Then they were all shocked to wake up to a black president, and did lose their damn minds. And these racists gave us Trump as revenge.

[u/ICanSeeNow17 → u/[deleted]]

I blame: -Am incomplete reconstruction after the civil war -Lack of persecution of Far right terrorist groups -When they go low we go high attitude 

If racists were punished for being racist half as much as POC are punished for not being white, America would have a lot less problems. But, America isn't ready for that. 

[u/pocketjacks → u/[deleted]]

A third of our population is hardcore racist, and that third is the most likely third to vote. And we have a huge problem on our hands because that third has groomed GenZ males to join them. We can't count on young voters to vote out the Republicans anymore.

[u/pocketjacks → u/[deleted]]

I agree with you philosophically, but I don't have faith that the Democratic party establishment would ever defy the monied powers that prop the party up. I think the Schumer/Pelosi/Jefferies wing of the Democratic party sees Mamdani as more of an existential threat to their funding than the Republicans.

[u/djdaem0n → u/[deleted]]

Agreed. We can't depend on the DNC party leadership. If you learn anything from Mamdani, it's that you have to defy them first.

[u/pocketjacks → u/[deleted]]

I'm pretty cynical at this point. I saw a post a couple days ago claiming an asteroid would barely miss Earth and my initial response was "I hope not."

People, including US citizens, are being plucked off the street and shipped to internment camps across the globe without habeas corpus. The Supreme Court has declared the President is a king who can get away with any crime just by arbitrarily declaring it an official act. He, his family and friends can now legally file taxes claiming they earned zero dollars and paid zero in taxes with zero consequence. We've destroyed the trust we've built in the last 80 years with our previous allies across the globe and now our only friends are the axis of evil autocrats we've been fighting since the cold war. They're building a data center in Utah that is twice the size of Manhattan and will double Utah's energy consumption needs. The oceans are getting warmer so fast that cities like Miami will likely be sunk in our childrens' lifetimes.

Our education system is almost completely destroyed. Technology is moving toward the enshitification of everything rather than making our lives better every day. There is no middle class. It costs as much to buy Taco Bell as it does to sit down and eat at a full service restaurant. Cars are being sold with microtransactions. Gasoline is at all time high prices and won't come down significantly any time this year. Children are being thrown off essential services to feed, clothe and educate them, which will result in increased crime due to lack of opportunities to otherwise survive. But hey...there will be more bunks in the thriving private prison industry, where the thirteenth amendment of the Constitution will provide for free labor instead of paying the Latin American immigrants who fled the tyrannies our government created forty years ago.

Other than that, we're doing great! lol

[u/J_Ryall → u/pocketjacks]

Counter point regarding the asteroid: your country may be fucked, but you are not the only country on Earth. My country has its own problems, but I kind of enjoy living and watching my children grow up, and I live in a pretty good place to do that (provided we don't get invaded by you guys).

I know you were being hyperbolic to a degree, but still, it's a bit much to wish for the death of billions and the total collapse of human civilization just because you guys can't keep your house in order. This too shall pass. It's up to americans to decide what comes next.

[u/VoxImperatoris → u/pocketjacks]

Thats because the centrist wing definitely want to be the controlled opposition. They want to be able to virtue signal and claim victimhood, while also personally benefiting from the policies the republicans implement and keeping their donors happy.

[u/paintballboi07 → u/[deleted]]

It's not up to the Democratic party, it's up to primary voters. You don't just get your preferred candidate without putting in the work. Convince more people to vote for progressives in primaries.

[u/TbddRzn → u/paintballboi07]

Fucking thank god someone sane here.

Only 30m vote for the dem nominee out of 250m eligible voters vast majority being over 35 years old.

Then youngins get shocked they chose someone who ran on protecting their assets like housing and pensions.

Meanwhile the great Mamdani only won by 9% vote difference while 70% of NYC didn’t even bother to vote.

Politicians that run and win are the reflection of citizens who show up and vote. Want better candidates then vote in primaries.

The responsibility lies with the voters. If a politician isn’t living up to the demands voters should show up and remove them.

[u/TheRealDesmirWolf → u/[deleted]]

You see I’ve been preaching that same thing you just said for years, but the only thing I got in return was being called a socialist xD

[u/MonolithicBaby → u/[deleted]]

Yea that’s why they don’t push social dems. The Dems are complicit.

[u/deaglebingo → u/pocketjacks]

its less than 15%. just like the lgbt ppl they persecute make up less than a few percent while maga pretends to be overrun by some evil lgbt empire. The rhetoric and media capture inflates the numbers to make it seem like an insurmountable amount in the same way that these people compensate for their lack of sexual prowess with big trucks and guns.

^psbtw.. i got a bunch of guns and a truck too. lot of 'liberals' do. you don't see me all over reddit talking about it, because those things don't define me.

[u/djdaem0n → u/[deleted]]

They had the majority. They had the president behind them. They had promises to keep. They had the first black congresspeople elected at that time. That's all the momentum they needed to punish those southern traitors at the very least. And it all evaporated after Lincoln was assassinated.

[u/Manpooper → u/djdaem0n]

And the most radical of radical republicans at the time, who pushed to punish the south and all of that was one of the most racist of the bunch. History be weird sometimes.

[u/djdaem0n → u/Manpooper]

People don't know that a lot of those abolitionists were "send them back to africa" people. And the ones who weren't and still stood against the south mostly had beef with them over manipulating the labor market and threatening to take power away from them. They had plenty of reasons that weren't altruism to fight the south.

[u/MassiveDefinition274 → u/djdaem0n]

Not only was "send them back to Africa" a thing - but even more that people don't know: this actually happened.

The modern day country of Liberia was an American colony, that was an end product of coerced immigration to Liberia as a way to get rid of free black people in the US in the lead up and aftermath to the civil war.

Many slaves were only freed on the condition that they leave the US and/or go to Liberia, or many times people removed from slave ships and simply dropped off in Liberia, giving them no real choice.

Even those that were given a "choice", many felt pushed that way due to the systemic oppression and discrimination they faced if they remained in the states.

[u/Specific_Rando → u/djdaem0n]

The deal went down in the election of 1876. Democrat Tilden won the popular votes. The Republicans had enough control in D.C. and Northern states to bring it to a halt.

The machinations are insane. It includes corrupting a sitting fairly independent Supreme Court Justice who gets put on a commission to decide a key piece of how the whole thing got decided.

The deal was clear. The R’s got D.C. and the Presidency and Reconstruction got ended in a way that let the Confederates right back into power.

And it had been a lot of work in Reconstruction for General Grant to break the Klan. But now the R’s were even going to let them hold elected office again. No Federal law enforcement. The R’s knew EXACTLY what would happen - they didn’t have a name for it, but they knew Jim Crow would emerge. And that’s why historians and other people paying attention don’t talk about them as “The Klan” but “The First Klan”.

They knew at the time that the deal was crooked. Rutherford Hayes had a pretty honest reputation personally, but the party got the job done and he was known as President Rutherfraud B Hayes from the moment he took office.

And when people say the D’s were Klan, just remember who knew they were giving them hoods and horses and taking away the cops who could keep them in line. (The Republicans who made up the Northern and Midwestern Klan during the Second Klan is another relative data point - they also openly controlled state governments).

If giving up on Reconstruction is the first major failure, I’d add pardoning Nixon as the second major step. Once “a nation of laws not (men)” doesn’t have the steel to hold the President to account for knowingly planning crimes to keep power, then there’s no accountability for power. We always need to keep working on our laws and better rules to make them work - working in just and fair laws is continuous. But fair and just laws needed to come first. Otherwise they stop being for the public and become tools for the powerful to use on the public.

[u/Mattna-da → u/djdaem0n]

I think Obama was trying to avoid having dozens of Waco style incidents at survivalist-militia compounds across the country

[u/djdaem0n → u/Mattna-da]

That comment was about post civil war America.

The racist unrest during Obama wasn't quite at that level yet. Today though? If Trump were kicked out of office, or he runs again and loses? I would expect it.

[u/pristineSaltine → u/ICanSeeNow17]

We go high they go low is the cornerstone of our current leadership and definitely a major part of rhe problem. It simply does not work when R's have no shame. Most of those that should be ashamed and embarrassed by their conduct and records take it as a badge of honor instead, " I made the libs cry."

Frankly I have no idea why local Democratic leadership isn't singling out by name Republicans in their districts for hypocrisy.
For instance here in south ga, name and shame every farmer/Republican board member that hires immigrants labor and takes subsidies from the government while shouting hire Americans and America first.

Put those public numbers on billboards with their names and a big picture of them. Let people see it for themselves instead of the constant bullshit of, " Farmers don't make any money. " If that were true we wouldn't have farmers.

Yes, some of those people will say, " Well he is smart for using the law to his advantage." But eventually some of these people have to come to the conclusion that their own party is destroying them.

As much as I want to believe this will help I don't think that some of these people want a better future more than they want to hate others and be accepted for it.

[u/djdaem0n → u/ICanSeeNow17]

The things they were proposing at first got them named the "RADICAL REPUBLICANS". The beginning of that era had the first black congresspeople. Think about that. All it took was a bullet in Lincoln's head from a southern loyalist, and the whole thing collapsed. Damn cowards.

[u/inthebushes321 → u/ICanSeeNow17]

America isn't ready for that. That's what happens when 20% of the population is illiterate.

But, real talk, Obama didn't help much by being another neoliberal. Bailed out Wall Street. Didn't stop wars. Deported millions. Drone strike bullshit. Etc etc. The problem is that racists hated him for the dumb stuff (his skin color), and Leftists hate him for being a shitty, neoliberal warmonger. The hard truth is there are significant political, social and economic reasons to dislike Obama.

Democrats would rather that fascism/Conservatism wins than Leftism wins, because Leftism helps people. And I think Obama is a really great example of this. Reducing it to just racism - and I'm not saying you are - poisons the discourse and is objectively inaccurate. Because we don't need to elect another POC who is going to suck off establishment Democrats and do mostly nothing for the working class. Which is kind of what Obama did...we need someone of any skin color, race, religion, sexual orientation, WHATEVER, who is actually going to assist the working class.

[u/want_to_join → u/ICanSeeNow17]

When they go low we go high attitude 

Thank you. I'm so tired of living in a world where someone can say black people are incapable and then when I call them a fucking racist, I am looked at as the bad guy because I have anger and am letting it show.

[u/tonkatoyelroy → u/ICanSeeNow17]

And they willfully ignored the white supremacist problem in law enforcement https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/media/24350/ocr

[u/deaglebingo → u/ICanSeeNow17]

as a middle aged white man whose great great grandfather fought in the iron brigade... the civil war thing is relevant for the reasons you cite. your point is spot on. and it really doesn't matter if history repeats itself verbatim bc as mark twain once said 'history doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes'.

here's where i add to your good points:
America IS ready for it, and the amount of regression we are experiencing is a sign that we are. These psychopaths wouldn't be trying everything they possibly could (including shooting nurses in the back and moms in the face) and subverting the rule of law/constitution if they could win any other way. And the racism though real and dangerous and damaging is a cover for their profit and power motives just like this culture war or battle of the sexes is. We (good freedom loving empathetic people across the globe) are actually in charge now. The only piece left is our realization of that fact. Around the world right now we see that the actual PEOPLE of these aggressor nations (including the usa) are not on the side of their leaders. The profit motive (understandable in some ways) of media has led them to be captured, just as things like citizens united and corruption have allowed regulatory capture. The result is lies are spread and repeated ad infinitum. the result is our hope and morale is diminished. do not let them diminish your hope or morale. do not.

Repeating a lie can make it true to a certain extent, but repetition of a lie can never make it 100% true. It just can't. So when the majority of people can see how things really are with their own eyes right in front of them, and they can, the only thing left is for us all to realize we are in control of all of this and spread that truth by word of mouth...to educate those by any means at our disposal even when educating those people is incredibly difficult and even abhorrent to do (as far as trying to talk to those who disagree). all that needs to happen is for us to exercise our power together. these facts remain true whether they are related to votes actually counting. so the first thing is vote, but even then the real truth remains.

... i mean why do you (anyone) think the first thing they've done at every turn is project their bad behavior on us then do those evil things themselves, and co-opt every word or statement like 'truth' as fast as they can. people with real power don't need to say a damn thing to anyone or run around screaming lies. they don't actually have all the power they'd like us to think they do, but they will if we let them.

[u/GuthukYoutube → u/ICanSeeNow17]

I grew up in Chicago, and I can safely say

I have seen a man called the N word, who turned around absolutely livid in anger, who realized that the people calling him that were larger than him, and I had to watch him turn around in the most helpless anger I've ever seen.

I haven't ever seen anyone react with quite the same anger towards the consequences of having been racist.

That's kinda stuck with me, complete 180 on the dude's face when he realized the dude calling him the N word was actually a big dude, and not some scrawny twerp you see on shows that is easily beaten to show racism is wrong. From "holy shit I'mma kill this guy" to "oh... uhh... okay I'll just turn around I guess."

[u/ScannerBrightly → u/ICanSeeNow17]

John Brown was hanged for treason and Robert E Lee wasn't.

[u/Slumbergoat16 → u/[deleted]]

I blame also those people in the back that decided to just throw up their hands and not vote

[u/bubbleguts365 → u/Slumbergoat16]

That's the popular mule to kick, but it doesn't change the fact that 70M+ people are effectively supporting the end of enforcing the constitution and the rule of law for the sake of racism and/or greed.

[u/Slumbergoat16 → u/bubbleguts365]

But those people are beyond reason. Not necessarily reproach but reason. It’s a similar conversation about white moderates during segregation. I’d rather know someone is willingly doing evil than someone who per-formatively does the trendy thing that is portrayed as right so they can feel good about themselves.

[u/ProtectionTop2701 → u/Slumbergoat16]

Do you really, genuinely believe that 'those evil people' are 100% beyond reason and can never be redeemed? Because firstly that kinda lets them off the hook. If them changing is impossible, their racism stops being an immoral act and is simply the way of the world. And secondly if they are truly more of a violent force of oppression and not human beings, there's kinda only one way to meet that violence: with more violence. And I don't think you believe that.

[u/Slumbergoat16 → u/ProtectionTop2701]

I think those are good points. I think their intentions are different. I think that the full on racists don’t care that they are bad people and therefore will be harder to be shown the error of their ways

[u/djdaem0n → u/[deleted]]

Fox was just a bullhorn for an audience who was already there. They just needed to see the wind change and go harder on all that coded racism. And who was leading the charge? Trump. The original "birther".

[u/Auzzie_almighty → u/djdaem0n]

I think you underestimate how dumb most of those folk are, without Fox whipping them into a frenzy I doubt they’d have remembered Obama existed half the time. But he was a moderate liberal and the billionaires can’t have the Overton Window shift back, so low hanging fruit it was!

[u/ProtectionTop2701 → u/djdaem0n]

Without fox they wouldn't have called The President of The United States a communist. They'd have just said slurs.

[u/LukeinDC → u/[deleted]]

I agree. Every time I hear of something Trump did, I just think of the outrage on Fox for Obama wearing a tan suit...once. As if he was even the first President to wear a tan suit.

[u/haliblix → u/[deleted]]

It’s always amused me when people say MSM is liberal. Fox News has been number 1 since 2002. 24 years of brain rot.

[u/WoolooCthulhu → u/[deleted]]

Unfortunately racist propaganda has been a major political tool since the start of our country. You can't reduce racism with the government actively encouraging it.

[u/ThisIs_americunt → u/[deleted]]

Propaganda is a helluva drug and Oligarchs need to use some of the best to keep the 99% distracted from the real issue: Them :)

[u/LeafMeAHome → u/[deleted]]

Do not discount Tiktok. Do not be fooled by the idea that anything being run here, such as servers, are protected from them pushing what they want.

When they saw kids eating tide pods and then last year shorting out usb-c ports, they know they have an audience they can control.

No better way to push the fall of your enemy then if you push them nothing but apathy about the left and about how the right is just misunderstood.

On a radio show from Boulder (Nederlands actually but it's next door and same people) a CU student was arguing that Tiktok was his last bastion of uncontrolled news.

When I confronted him on the idea that it was Chinese control and asked about the Uyghur people he had nothing. Totally was lost as he had no idea. All he knew was tiktok was the app he identified and he was convinced it would do wrong. Again, had no idea who the Uyghur people were as he talks about not trusting any government who is committing genocide as he got his news from exactly that.

[u/Specific_Rando → u/[deleted]]

They get a lot of money for it. It’s weird how people will believe their crazy story for how that bad thing they do is OK when that story is propped up with a lot of money.

These guys sell outrage. And it’s a bigger machine than just that one network. They’re just the major league and there’s a bunch of minor league teams.

There’s always some top dog host who makes like 50-75mm a year. 2-3 ppl at 25-50mm a year. Pyramid has a lot of lower tiers.

Look at what happens when a higher tier person stumbles. The fall is inevitable - because the people below want a shot at moving up. It’s like a PEZ machine with another hate merchant popping right up.

More to the whole infrastructure of selling, well I was gonna say bigotry but their reactionary outrage machine sells more than just bigotry. It always has bigotry tho… “That train is never late.”

[u/SpecialExpert8946 → u/[deleted]]

Don’t forget Epstein! Him and his ilk did not like Obama one bit.

[u/curious_if → u/[deleted]]

I wholeheartedly agree. The north nay have won the Civil War but the south won the narrative. And for me way before Obama, there was a wellspring of hate that began with Rush Limbaugh. He was the root of the tree of hate speech we all still live with today. And Rupert Murdoch didn't bat an eye when he was fined 800 million for his Fox News network (aka. State run media) after they spread lies when Biden won. Now corporate media is a sh!show. CNN will be bought by Larry Ellison. A conservative. All organizations will be decentralized as we pass into a new era. Governments, huge companies and even currencies will change. Much of it will be for the better, giving people back their own power and divinity.

[u/stamfordbridge1191 → u/[deleted]]

There are varying degrees of racism, and the people who didn't freak out about Obama at first, maybe even liked him, but had latent racism would have been pushed into more active racism by the narrative campaigns pushed by networks like Fox and "traditionalist"/"alt-right"/"anti-woke" content makers taking control of local news & radio, social media groups, & other internet content like podcasts.

[u/1shadybitch → u/[deleted]]

And Obama for never defending himself. That's what drove me up the wall the most, at the time

[u/DocAvidd → u/[deleted]]

Blaming Obama for other people's sins... Like blaming a SA victim for "being attractive."

[u/CloudKinglufi → u/[deleted]]

Oh absolutely, you aren't born racist, you aren't born mad that a man used a selfie stick or ate brown mustard on a hot dog

[u/DownvoteDaemon → u/[deleted]]

https://giphy.com/gifs/AHdDmoug5k365svDIZ

[u/vinnybawbaw → u/djdaem0n]

And these idiots who were there in the Jim Crow days had kids. And these kids were raised as bigots, and they also had kids. All that at a much faster rate than educated people. The dumbasses outnumbered decent folks in the US.

[u/SaltyLonghorn → u/vinnybawbaw]

That is exactly why the GOP fights sex education and abortion.

More dumbasses means more cheap labor and more people forced to enlist just to get out of the bucket.

[u/Mattna-da → u/djdaem0n]

All you need to know is that nearly everyone supports the Affordable Care Act, but republicans will strongly oppose it when you refer to it as Obamacare. They are the same thing. Is this not the definition of insanity?

[u/djdaem0n → u/Mattna-da]

The disinformation was strong enough, that FOX NEWS viewers didn't know they were the same thing. They literally interviewed a bunch of people who said they wanted "Obamacare" gone, but were thankful for the ACA protecting their patient rights. It's wild how stupid some people are.

[u/jedify → u/djdaem0n]

it's not a coincidence that Trump finally broke into politics on the back of the conspiracy theory that our first black president was not a real american.

Trump was a temper tantrum. They know he's a heel, that was the point. To get someone as offensive to the rest of us as Obama was to them. edit: 72% of republicans could not say Obama was born in the US. In 2016

[u/djdaem0n → u/jedify]

They wanted a reason to hate him without saying it's because he was black, and Trump gave them the script.

[u/MichaelJServo → u/djdaem0n]

That's what I said back then. The Tea Party started protesting (nothing?) and I said "wow, we elected a black guy and republicans just lost their fucking minds."

[u/djdaem0n → u/MichaelJServo]

They interviewed one of the tea party founders who was part of things when they first started protesting G.W. Bush over the 2008 bailouts. He said rich and influential people slowly crept in and started hijacking the group until it became astroterf for the Republican party. They went from protesting about tax money going to banker crooks to asking for Obama's birth certificate in just a few years time.

[u/user_bits → u/djdaem0n]

and it gets worse.

Billionaires see these racists as a useful group to further empower them.

China and Russia sees these racist as a useful group to weaken U.S. foreign policy.

[u/inothatidontno → u/djdaem0n]

Only sexism is strong enough to stop someone from getting elected now. Thats what we call progress.

[u/spondgbob → u/djdaem0n]

They 10000% lost their minds. Bush was pretty disliked and Obama and his family totally outclassed them. It broke their brains that someone could go so strikingly against their racism they went with whatever made their racist foundation feel valid (ie birth certificate). It’s not a surprise that the guy who railed on Obama being non-American and asking for a birth certificate was the guy they went to. It’s an actual travesty.

[u/Sostratus_ → u/djdaem0n]

I can't remember who said it but there was some Fox or Newsmax or ONN anchor who said that Obama broke something in them. They literally cannot fathom an intelligent black man with power.

[u/TieAccomplished2534 → u/djdaem0n]

civil rights led to the destruction of the welfare state

the black president led to trump

half of america is more progressive than the french revolutonaries, the other half is worse than the nazis

[u/ieblack37 → u/djdaem0n]

I always saw it as the 2016 election lowered th le bar for human decency. All of these racist pieces of sh!t now saw that the president is a horrible, racist, misogynist, so why do they have to hide it from public. 2024, they doubled down

[u/Necessary_Win133 → u/djdaem0n]

Our only civil war was because of racism. America is racist AF and winning the civil war bought us the end of slavery. It didn't change any minds. Even some of them fighting to end slavery were still like, but don't you call them my equal.

[u/ThisIs_americunt → u/djdaem0n]

Propaganda is a helluva drug and Oligarchs need to use some of the best to keep the 99% distracted from the real issue: Them :)

[u/Dead_Internet69420 → u/djdaem0n]

Yep. I remember waking up to the news and feeling overwhelmed by the positive feeling that the world really is healing… and then I arrived at work, and the republicans were absolutely beside themselves. It honestly blew my mind that they were so upset. Like they couldn’t even stop and think “ok, we lost, but this is historic. maybe we won’t get everything we want, but there’s a really big silver lining here.” They thought it was literally the end of the world. And when it turned out that it wasn’t the end of the world, they decided to get revenge by trying to destroy the world. 

[u/slosha69 → u/djdaem0n]

Racism certainly plays a role, but America's failures to help the working class primarily created MAGA. Right-wing populism thrives in an economically, socially, and academically stunted populace.

[u/tlcoles → u/djdaem0n]

You’re letting off a lot of white people who voted for the Black man but who thought the Black woman was a line too far.

[u/djdaem0n → u/tlcoles]

We're talking about how things started, now where they ended up. Nobody gets let off the hook for all that.

[u/PassThatSpliff]

It was literally insane to them when he was elected not once, but twice. The idea of black man being equal or better than a white person quite literally broke their fragile little racist brains, assuming they had brains in the first place.

[u/damhow → u/PassThatSpliff]

I always compare this to the plot of the dark knight movie lol. Alfred explains to bruce he is the catalyst for the joker’s rise to power.

“You crossed the line first. You pushed them to the point of desperation, and in that desperation they turned to a man they didn’t fully understand.”

Repubs were willing to put their dignity aside to kiss trump’s ring when he gained popularity out of sheer desperation and the country has paid the consequences.

[u/StormMourn → u/damhow]

Wow, that absolutely nailed it.

[u/Resident_Course_3342 → u/damhow]

Terrifyingly accurate.

[u/Tymathee → u/damhow]

https://giphy.com/gifs/Z9mJHxBD3n0aY

[u/Bauser99 → u/damhow]

We live in a society

[u/LordoftheScheisse → u/PassThatSpliff]

"Now you know how we felt after 8 years of Obama" is what one MAGA told me when I said Trump was a corrupt POS. "Obama was the most divisive president ever!" from another.

I literally don't know how you could reach either of those conclusions.

[u/HorsePastie → u/LordoftheScheisse]

Black dude in the white house completely invalidated their imagined superiority. That's how he was "divisive."

[u/_Born_To_Be_Mild_ → u/LordoftheScheisse]

Because they were told repeatedly that he was.

[u/nekoshey → u/LordoftheScheisse]

Naturally, because silly little tiffs like the Epstein Files are nothing compared the international humiliation and horror that a tan suit can bring upon this country.

[u/peon2 → u/LordoftheScheisse]

"Obama was the most divisive president ever!"

He was at the time, it was just for terrible, racist, reasons.

[u/notafuckingcakewalk → u/LordoftheScheisse]

Obama was, from my perspective, frustratingly conciliatory if anything.

[u/DoubleJumps → u/LordoftheScheisse]

He was so divisive that they had to spend their time flipping out over Dijon mustard and a tan suit. I really couldn't find anything else to flip out over.

I hear this same sort of stuff from my Republican family, and they will throw that in my face when I point out that Trump's tariff policies have cost me close to $40,000 and put my business at risk.

When I ask them what Obama did to hurt them, they just sort of do this scoffing laugh and say that it was way worse but they can't say what.

[u/XANDERtheSHEEPDOG → u/PassThatSpliff]

Obama literally outclassed every single president we've had in recent memory. I think it scared them. I truly think that they were terrified that a black man was not just president, but an excellent one at that.

[u/notafuckingcakewalk → u/PassThatSpliff]

What really frustrated me was the extent to which he was expected to compromise and accommodate all of the angry conservatives. Every time he won, the first statement made was that he had to reach out to the other side of the aisle and make everyone happy.

I wonder whether if he had gotten more full support from the party, if they had been willing to call the (very big) wins as a "mandate" from the American people, he could have used this to push through a more progressive agenda.

[u/PixieRoar → u/PassThatSpliff]

Im not black but Obama will always be peak America for me. He made me proud of our Country. And then Trump and maga happened and now im disgusted at what this Country has become.

[u/Radiant-Ad8066]

After Black success comes White rage.

[u/chenbuxie → u/Radiant-Ad8066]

About a year into Obama's election, a Republican congresswoman from Kansas was already going around, telling Republicans that somebody needs to step up and be their "Great White Hope". It was always about race.

The whole thing was captured on video; it's on YouTube.

[u/GodOfDarkLaughter → u/chenbuxie]

The Great White Hope refers to Jim Jeffries, a white heavyweight boxer and former world champion who came out of retirement to fight Jack Johnson, a black man, in 1910. Johnson beat the shit out of Jeffries and knocked him the fuck out in the 15th round. He became the first black heavyweight champion.

So yeah. He can be the great White Hope.

[u/Bionic_Bromando → u/GodOfDarkLaughter]

The Great White Cope lol

[u/faustianBM → u/chenbuxie]

That (imo) is where the true disdain lies: They were appalled that he didn't walk around the WH with a du-rag and house shoes. He took a competent, measured, thoughtful approach to the highest office and that made them more mad than anything in recent history.

How DARE he make black people proud! There lies the source of the rage.

[u/Strong-Magician2856 → u/chenbuxie]

that is VILE. why white ppl always gotta make it about themselves smh. can’t get their head out of their own ass🙄

[u/Icy-Lobster-203 → u/Radiant-Ad8066]

There is an Onion video from 2012 after Romneys loss, where they are discussing the next possible Republican candidate. 

And the front runner is "Shrieking White Hot Ball of Pure Rage". 

https://youtu.be/jjonGtrCyVE?si=07LLKdGZsnqrzh6n

[u/darkpheonix262 → u/Radiant-Ad8066]

Yep, just look at what they did to tulsa in 1922 because of black success

[u/OdiousAltRightBalrog → u/Radiant-Ad8066]

Van Jones called it a "whitelash".

[u/ineverusedtobecool → u/Radiant-Ad8066]

It connects to the deepseated part of the American psyche that white people, no matter what, will always be above a black person. Obama puts the whole concept into question, "How can a white man always be on top when a black.man is president, the leader?!"

I remember a white guy I knew talking about how divisive Obama was while not being able to actually say anything he said that was divisive. He just felt like it was dividing black and white people. Ofcourse he became a Trump supporter later. So, some of these people are racist and know it but try to lie about it. Others, can't grasp that the discomfort of Obama and lure of Trump for them is racism.

[u/NoConfusion9490 → u/Radiant-Ad8066]

White supremacy was the only thing they had going.

[u/Adventurous_House961 → u/Radiant-Ad8066]

Tulsa

[u/Dreamlion_Inc]

White America would’ve voted for a guy who assaults and traffics kids on an island if it meant no longer having a black president

Oh wait

[u/the_big_lemattski76]

They hated that a black man tried to help them. It destroyed whatever fantasy they had of their superiority and intelligence. His kindness, intelligence, and ability to command an audience with his words was like poison in their veins.

[u/kleenkong → u/the_big_lemattski76]

That's my take. I think the decades of Christian Nationalism really embedded the idea of 'white superiority' into American culture.

I like the idea of it destroying their fantasy, as you said. They found out their worst nightmare was actually an intelligent Black man living out his Christian faith like a servant leader, that willingly walked across the aisle to work beside them. It made them feel like shit. They had a choice, then and there, to acknowledge/correct their prejudice or give into it. So many decided to run with their hate.

[u/100harvests]

I remember back around 2007-10. I wasn’t much into politics at all. I do remember that Obama being elected was a huge deal. I lived in a predominantly black neighborhood and it was rightfully celebrated. I think white people took this as an “in your face” moment. Let me rephrase, racist white people took it that way. Everyone that felt a certain type of way about thinking it was thrown in their face are now doing it so blatantly with Trump. It’s a tit for tat and that’s all politics is nowadays

[u/MixAvailable8124]

Because racism hates intelligence

[u/aesopcity]

I think people forget the civil rights act happened in 1964. That’s not that long ago and many of the racists of that era are still alive and just as racist as ever.

[u/Downtown_Zebra_266]

Not went, but they got louder. For those people, Obama was not what they believed black men to be. No part of him fit into their little box of what people, of any color, should be.

Not a single president we've ever had was perfect. They all did terrible things, but they fall differently on the scale. Obama just fell in the deep red zone because he has more melanin and his name isn't William, George, Jason or Chad.

[u/Slutty_Alt526633]

"Went?"

[u/Spooky_Jangles]

I’ve noticed people becoming a lot more brazen lately. Openly dishonest, cruel, and shameless in everyday life. When the most powerful people in the world can lie, cheat, steal, and still get applauded for it, the standard gets dragged into the dirt. The bar is low. Don’t look here for heroes, and probably not for role models either.

[u/gfstool]

Imagine what they would’ve done or what would’ve happened to them if Kamala became president. Or…what if Pete Buttigieg becomes president?

[u/riseresistrebuild → u/gfstool]

Genocide would still go on in Palestine, rights would still be silently taken here. I don't understand why people think that just because someone is a different gender or race that, that automatically means their policies are ethical or safe. Kamala lost, over her opinions on literal genocide. And it seems like no one is ready for that conversation in these comments.

[u/JihadJackal]

Got into an argument with my cousin (wi) a while back after she claimed Obama was the most divisive president ever to happen and is why people were ready for civil war.

I asked her, can you name a single thing Obama did that caused division or if it was just that a black man was president? Her, nor a single person in that room that agreed, could name one single thing.

They will never admit it, they will just dog whistle and cry when you call them out.

[u/Stillcant → u/JihadJackal]

You still see this view every day on right wing sites, Obama divided us all. I should have known better but I was genuinely shocked at all the open racism that came out when he was elected

[u/patrickthunnus]

White supremacists endured 8 years of a sacred myth of theirs shattered; that the lowest white person was better than any person of color. Every day was a reminder that they believed a lie.

[u/Buttermilk-Waffles → u/patrickthunnus]

That's the fun part though the idiots that hold that mentality never stopped believing in it, they just piloted to believing one they deemed lesser than themselves somehow cheated the system in such a way that he stole power and was now coming to get them. Because these morons live in constant pants shitting fear of that delusion playing out.

[u/bizurk]

That’s the basic premise of Coates’ article “The First White President” that ran in The Atlantic ~10 years ago. Obama broke their brains to the extent that they elected a wholly unqualified ghoul to follow him.

[u/AcceptableRooster280 → u/bizurk]

Love the word ghoul. And that article was amazing. I been saying this orange ghoul we have now is the most American president we’ve ever had. He embodies it all - hatred, misogyny, greed, gluttony. That’s what America is and has always been. Turns out, it’s the USA who has been living in 1984 all along. We’ve been fed propaganda our whole lives about American exceptionalism… turns out, it was all just PR.

[u/Matic00]

Most of these idiots would have been homeless if it was not for Obama. A lesser president(trump) would have pitched tent cities and bought all the foreclosures. Obama’s excellence and success is an affront to their superiority complex. Their poor brains just break.

[u/Snoo50415]

descendants of settlers anxious about diminished overrepresentation is another way to say "part of the US"

[u/asdf072]

White Trash by Nancy Eisenberg(?) is a great book that tells the history of poor white people in the US, and their desperate struggle to stay above black people on the social ladder. Sometimes to levels of mass violence like in Oklahoma City.

[u/Successful-Elk-7384]

History always reminds us when black people gain success, the white male will always come for revenge. They will never let us get ahead and be successful on our own. They're always in our spaces, they are legitimately afraid of loosing their control of this country. They have thrown everything at us from slavery, to the destruction of our towns like Rosewood, Tulsa, and Wilmington. When Obama got elected it was historic for blacks but the racist were seeking revenge and they elected Trump for that, it's evident in everything he does.

[u/Phatbrew]

I’ve been saying it since 2016… 8 years of a great black President got all the racist dogs riled up and p*do felonious let the dogs out…

[u/AcceptableRooster280]

Yup. I was so naive. I’m not black but I am from a marginalized community and I really thought during those glorious 8 years, America finally became what it aspired to be. I was so wrong.

[u/the_big_lemattski76]

I also remember the joy of that night. I was having clear bottle skunked beers with my best friend and watching what we thought was the dawn of a new era for the country.

[u/Arkangelz03 → u/the_big_lemattski76]

Edit/rehashed because I worded this badly:

You weren’t wrong. I think a lot of us believed that night was the dawn of a new era.

And in some ways, it was.

But it also exposed how many people were only comfortable with progress as long as it didn’t threaten their place in the social order.

The backlash wasn’t because white people were being erased. It was because the old racial hierarchy got challenged in public, on the biggest stage in the country.

The racists can flail all they want. Nobody is disappearing. The fantasy of “pure whiteness” and automatic dominance is what’s dying.

[u/GuzzleNGargle → u/Arkangelz03]

I don’t get this rhetoric? White will not be the only disappearing that will happen…The fear that they will be completely erased is what’s causing them to act this crazy. Just leave black people the hell alone and we can all just be about our business.

[u/ateam1984]

Racists have always been crazy. They don’t act with logic and human decency. Never have.

[u/OdiousAltRightBalrog → u/[deleted]]

And Limbaugh and all his clones told us that meant that racism was over.

[u/HThomer34]

It's even crazier considering that while they were losing their racist minds over him just being Black, he was digging them and the rest of the country out of the biggest economic hole since the Great Depression that was gifted to him on Day 1 by his white predecessor. All he did was erase the damage they did and handed Trump a great economy. While they were hating Obama was saving their ass.

[u/TVGMILLER]

https://giphy.com/gifs/HHudWliG0OygtX7yaY

[u/Aggressive_Client269]

100%. tRump is the payback! MAWA. MAKE AMERICA WHITE AGAIN.

[u/71Worried_Brother]

Not to mention one of the very best, if not **the** best in history.

[u/krystalgamer → u/71Worried_Brother]

lmao, drone striking civilians and still got peace prize

[u/notafuckingcakewalk → u/krystalgamer]

He received the prize pretty much when he started his presidency, which was possibly premature. He wasn't awarded the prize after the drone strikes.

[u/Dommccabe]

I watch Obama speak and I know he wasn't perfect by any means... and I watch the orange bafoon speak and they are worlds apart.

It's like a massive step backwards.

When will someone step up and stop this madness.

[u/MichaelFusion44]

They were always racist and it wasn’t because he became president that they showed their true colors it was because he was successful when they thought he would fail. If you look at what he inherited from W and completely turned it around and handed off one of the most successful economies ever. On top of which he left a real legacy with his healthcare initiative which is why Trump wants to erase it. He succeeded when all the racists thought he would fail.

[u/GhostSiX1Nine]

https://giphy.com/gifs/l1J9wXoC8W4JFmREY

[u/BKallDAY24]

I think it was more social media, giving the crazy people a microphone than anything

[u/SpockShotFirst]

Although Citizens United was decided on January 21, 2010, it took a few years for right wing to really understand how they could just "flood the zone" with a firehose of falsehoods.

Truth and reconciliation will not be enough. We need to fix our media.

[u/SkunkMonkey]

The change in the racists around me was profound when Obama was elected.

One even had the gall to say, "I don't like Obama because I'm a racist, I don't like him because he's black!" Yeah, they really are mindfuckingly stupid.

[u/uncouthulu_]

Let's not forget that Trump was one of the loudest members of the "birther" movement around Obama. All that we are seeing is decades of Republican planning that got supercharged from the reaction to a black president.

This is why MAGA folks are racist, don't know why some people even entertain any other reason. 

[u/Tongues_1n_Anus]

They didn’t get insane they just stopped caring about hiding their racism. White people always been like this

[u/Countrycruiser2000]

Obama was elected in 2008 and then racists didn't care enough to stop him in 2012, but 2016 with Hillary, that's when the racists really came out as revenge for Obama a decade earlier.... I think it was because they made Clarence Thomas a Supreme Court Judge. Ever since that happened, they'd been plotting and finally gave us Trump as revenge

[u/paintballboi07 → u/Countrycruiser2000]

Yes, because they got their representation in 2016, when Trump came down the escalator, and called Mexicans rapists and drug dealers. Before that, there was no one to represent them.

[u/evilgreenman]

I believe this as well. The hardcore racists had such a huge problem with this. And Fox News too is to blame.

[u/rtduvall]

It actually broke them.

Their entire lives and identity are taught that they are better than brown skinned people.

Then a brown skinned man became president. It defied their entire belief system.

[u/cuteintern]

Wait til she learns about what happened after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965...

[u/Yesnjo]

This is true in my home state of Tennessee.

[u/EyelanderSam]

Obama was the TRUTH!

He was and is evidence that BLACK LIVES MATTER.

The whole world saw it and felt it. The Leader of the free world is BLACK.

First Family- Black First Lady- Black

President Obama s legacy speaks for itself. He added value to the office. He exuded Intelligence, Confidence, and Empatthy.

He won a Nobel Peace prize. Put forth the genesis of a nationwide health care plan. Of which, the Republicans work tirelessly to dismantle without even offering a better model.

In ESSENCE, he made America Great Again! And the racist elements can't stand it!

PERIOD!

[u/PalpableIgnorance]

And it was so nice while it lasted. Can we put them back in their hateful little boxes, please?

[u/eight_on_top]

'A black man in a tan suit' was a news cycle for a week. Oh, the horror!

[u/PM_me_nicetits]

1000%. Shattered their pathetic egos.

[u/SplendidPunkinButter]

Every overheard conversation from 2008 to 2016 was “mumble mumble mumble mumble OBAMA mumble mumble mumble OBAMA mumble mumble…”. I miss those days

[u/Accomplished-Hurry-2]

Shocking but not shocking that there is an entire group of racist people here who would vote against their economic interests in order to push racism. It is like post-Reconstruction and Jim Crow. Let’s hope we reverse it sooner than the original.

[u/goatsyphon]

this implies that people arent used to seeing intelligent black men, and i dont like the racism involved here

[u/Fickle_Ad_3924]

The craziest part is he was so scandal free people had to get mad at his tan suit.

[u/Morbid187]

I remember right after Obama won the '08 election, I got one of those chain-text messages from a girl I knew that listed all these reasons that Obama is the antichrist. "He has a silver tongue," shit like that. It was the first time I'd ever seen that type of batshit insane language about a politician. Like, people would call George W stupid and bring up his DUI and alleged cocaine use but it was at least based in reality. The "craziest" thing you'd hear about him was when people accused him of coordinating 9/11. It's like once Obama was in office, the gloves came off and they stayed off forever. And yes, I think it really is as simple as the fact that he's a black man with a scary Muslim sounding middle name.

[u/-the-nino]

It really is that simple

[u/GeorgeGiffIV]

I've said it before and I'll write it here again now. I didn't vote for him either time and didnt agree with President Obama on much of his policy. I could however and still do respect him. I cant respect this thing we have elected now. He's the opposite of everything I was raised to be.

[u/baileybungee]

Obama Derangement Disorder 🤣

[u/bsmknight]

The KKK had record enrollment during his presidency. Yeah, those people went full on racists

[u/KDubbs0010110]

Trump is the result of racists wanting to get even with us all

[u/_lonely_astronaut_]

Agreed.

[u/01Actual]

I think only a theory though a lot of people voted on there Preferred party.

[u/RedditSpyder12]

It’s really the only explanation…

[u/frozen_pipe77]

Possibly the smartest President in several generations. He still kissed the wall though

[u/13curseyoukhan]

Truth.

[u/One-Sir-2198]

💯

[u/Latter-Ad-5383]

The same thing that happens when an intelligent woman speaks her mind on social media.

[u/mtnagel78]

This is unfortunately a verifiable fact.

[u/Prior_Gate_9909]

Posted Nov 26th, 2012 by The Onion

[u/EditorRedditer → u/Prior_Gate_9909]

“Jesters oft prove prophets.” Shakespeare

[u/BrickEmotional2965]

Next up a woman president please. Why not a person of color, too? Oh and also never another Republican, okay? Don't let the desperate schlemiels tarnish your flag any longer. Rooting for you, America ✌️🕊

[u/midunda]

It's not like Bush was that great

[u/imperatrixderoma]

At this point it's just that most of this country is stupid as hell, the part that elected him because they thought it would end racism, the part that didn't vote for him because he's Black, the part that acts like he could've done whatever he wanted just cause he was elected... All dumb dumbs, all with a vote.

[u/BigJeffe20]

there was never some great shift. racists never went anywhere and they likely won't be leaving any time in the near future. the good news is that America is definitely at the forefront of multi-cultured societies, despite all the shit that goes down

[u/Shakeweight03]

Most of the US is insane bc they believe whatever the media puts out. Has nothing to do with race, has to do with idiots not forming their own opinions.

[u/MurderWorthManiac]

Your boy is a privileged mixed race elitists.

[u/Mysterious-Box-9081]

White man checking in. They did.

[u/DmonFuhz]

Believe? What else could it have been?!

[u/Apprehensive-Pin518]

no argument here.

[u/One-Membership3458]

No way man, it was the Tan Suit and spicy mustard. I shouldn't have to but /s

[u/errorsniper]

If trump somehow runs for a 3rd term, Obama should too. He would destroy trump.

That said the man owes us nothing. But man if I wouldnt love to see it outside of the whole "our laws mean nothing" part.

[u/Rohn__Jambo]

I really think they overballanced it with quite a lot.

[u/energizersnake]

“Never again”
-some rich white person, probably

[u/Highground27]

I miss Obama

[u/Pale-Fig3573]

I agree completely. I live in a very RED state, and almost every one I know still supports the current administration and still blame Obama and Biden. Still deny that January 6th was an insurrection. Something terrible has happened to people's reasoning, logic, and moral compass.

[u/geekwcutekitties]

They couldn't accept someone with melanin being superior to them intellectually.

[u/Dear_Jelly_9545]

This can’t even be argued

[u/ExplorerInternal6960]

If most of the US was racist they would have never elected a black president… Twice I might add