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Republicans know their war on voting is racist — so they're barely bothering to defend it
What it all boils down to is precisely what Sen. Ted "Cancun" Cruz (R/TX) stated in a GOP party call ..... that with expanded voting Republicans will never win another election.
3/25/21
This week, Congress finally started work in earnest on the topic of voting rights. On Monday, the House of Representatives held a hearing on the topic of making Washington, D.C. a state, granting its 700,000 residents actual representation in Congress. On Wednesday, the Senate held a hearing on the House-passed H.R. 1, called the For the People Act, which would reform democracy in a multitude of ways, including protecting the right to vote against a series of anti-voting laws in red states known collectively as the "new Jim Crow." It would be an understatement to say Republicans are panicked by both the ideas of voting protections and D.C. statehood. After Donald Trump, the GOP understands their party exists because of racism and white grievance. Rather than try to moderate those views and appeal to more voters, they instead are laser-focused on trying to prevent people of color from exercising their right to vote. That means keeping D.C. from becoming a state and enacting a series of laws in states to make it harder for people, especially people of color, to vote. Clearly, separating voters of color from the ballot is a top priority for Republicans. And yet, all week, Republican arguments against both bills were a joke, ranging from outright denials of reality to arguments so ridiculous that it was surprising they were able to keep a straight face while making them.
The arguments made by Republicans and conservative activists against D.C. statehood, for instance, were so bad that even junior high school debate kids would be embarrassed to offer them. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., in tones of maximized faux outrage, complained that D.C. would be the only state "without an airport, without a car dealership." That's not true, however, it does have a car dealership. What D.C. has is people — more people than states like Vermont and Wyoming. Congressional representation, after all, is not about car dealerships or farms, but about people. And despite their goofy arguments about airports and yard signs, it's the people of D.C. — who are 46% Black — Republicans really object to letting vote. But they know that outright saying so reveals their true motives, which are deeply racist and anti-democratic. Discussing a Georgia proposal to ban Sunday voting, an obvious effort to end the "souls to the polls" Sundays practiced by many Black churches in the South, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., decided to God-splain Christian ministers. She claimed Republicans are just interested in forcing people to "remember the Sabbath and keep it holy." A quick perusal of her Twitter feed shows that she's only too happy to cheer on college basketball games held on the Sabbath.
What it all boils down to is precisely what Sen. Ted "Cancun" Cruz (R/TX) stated in a GOP party call ..... that with expanded voting Republicans will never win another election.