Matt Taibbi Quotes
It would be inaccurate to say the Tea Partiers are racists. What they are, in truth, are narcissists.
Taibbi, Matt. "Tea and Sympathy: How Middle America Fell in Love with Wall Street." Rolling Stone, 28 Sept. 2010.
When Dole was the Republican Congressional Leader, the Republican Party had a spectrum of liberals and conservatives and Dole was considered to be at the conservative side. However, right wing extremists first gained much influence in the party and then gained control. They then tried to purge the party of those Republicans who were not as far right as they were and were successful in many cases. Liberal Republicans found themselves isolated and tended to retire, become independents, or switch parties. This drove the party even further to the right stimulating Dole’s quip.
Clinton is referring to Donald Trump.
President Trump did not personally believe in the tenets of White Supremacism, but a significant part of his political base did. His public approval in his first year in office was the lowest in history since such were measured, and he was desparate to hold on the the support of his base. So, unlike most Republicans who castigated and condemned White Supremacism and other hate groups, and the alt-Right, Trump not only remained silent, but actually tried to create a moral equivelence between some of the White Supremacists and some of the Left Wingers who were protesting the White Supremicists. Trump insisted that he did not condone or encourage hate groups or white supramacy advocates, but most of the public did, and, most importantly, they thougth that he did and gave him public credit for that as in this quotation. See {645359}.
Matthew C. Taibbi is an American author, journalist, and podcaster. He has reported on finance, media, politics, and sports. He is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone, author of several books, co-host of Useful Idiots, and publisher of a newsletter on Substack.
