The Leopards And The Faces
Image unrelated to post - I'm just a photographer and I don't like posting without images lmaoI've been (for my sanity) mostly avoiding political news in the US because it ultimately isn't going to be of service to me; I know who I'm voting for, I've done leftist political outreach for undecideds and donated to grassroots organizers.
...but an article about the Trump house of cards falling apart because [checks notes] a podcaster at a rally made racist remarks about Puerto Rico came across my field of vision today and like -
I think this hit me so hard because SO much of the GOP platform is built upon hate and othering and bigotry - the racism's kinda been the point? Right? Maybe as a mixed race Chicano I'm keenly stuck on this but like - did we all forget that Trump kicked off his initial presidential aspirations with "Mexicans are all rapists and drug dealers" (and of course the evergreen "black man cannot possibly be a US citizen")??
How is anyone - especially his supporters, mad or surprised that he'd platform racists in service of his political power? BBC had a quote from Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar(R- FL) that took me out of my seat:
US congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar said she was "disgusted" by the "racist comment". She said on X that it did not "reflect the GOP values", referring to the Republican Party, and noted thousands of Puerto Ricans served in the military.
The GOP has been following the racism death march for - hell, at least my entire lifetime.
I hate how often I think about the "I never thought the leopards would eat my face" song but holy fuck what did you all think when you aligned yourself politically with the party that gets hard over the mere notion of a cis-het white 1950's patriarchal theocracy?
What kind of self delusion do you do to think "ahh yes but I'm one of the good ones", boot-licking your way to a modicum of 'respectability' in their eyes as they pass laws to criminalize your ethnicity.
It's fucking weird, man. I'm glad I don't get it?? I think that's the takeaway? That this is so bizarre to me is probably a good sign?
Oh and that I was right to not read the news.