Tale of the Tape: Lester Maddox v. Donald J. Trump

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Ladies and Gentleman! Tonight’s bigoted executive heavyweight fight is coming to you from lovely Atlantic City, New Jersey. The contest is brought to you by the Taj Mahal Casino and resort, The New Jersey Generals football team, The Apprentice TV show, and the Pick rick Restaurant.

Fighting in the blue corner, we have the man who refused to integrate his restaurant the Pick Rick and adhere to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This fellow said he would rather close down his restaurant than serve African Americans. The gentleman confronted three black Georgia Tech students who asked to be seated with a bare pickaxe handle. Ladies and gentleman, this fellow claims that his issue was not hostility towards blacks but constitutional property rights! Once a Federal Court ruled that the restaurant was in contempt of court for failing to obey the Civil Rights Act, this gentleman really did shut down his restaurant rather than integrate it. He claimed that President Johnson and communists put him out of business.

Shutting down the restaurant and all the public hoopla the events caused this fellow to gain the approval of segregationists. An unnamed Republican had this to say about this fellow “We have a populist revolution in its truest sense moving here. White people who work with their hands see in ___ ___ a man of their own kind and are fighting to elect him as Governor.” Time Magazine termed him a “strident racist”; Newsweek viewed him as a “backwoods demagogue out in the boondocks.” According to one account, the former restaurateur’s appeal transcended race to embrace a right-wing brand of populism, picturing government, rather than big business, as the villain.

In 1966 he ran for Governor of Georgia and won the Democratic Primary. He beat future U.S. President Jimmy Carter in the Primary. The gentleman quipped that he had been nominated despite having “no money, no politicians, no television, no newspapers, no Martin Luther King, no Lyndon Johnson, and we made it!” The general election went to a runoff, which meant the state legislature got to decide who won. Given the state legislature was overwhelmingly democratic, this fellow became Governor of Georgia. This fellow campaigned hard for state rights and maintained a segregationist stance while in office. Upon the death of Martin Luther King jr., he denied the civil rights leader the right of lying in state in the Georgia state capitol.

In 1968, he endorsed George Wallace, then pro-segregation candidate of the American Independent Party for President. He later became lieutenant governor of Georgia in 1970. Jimmy Carter was the then Governor, and he did not get along with this fellow. They feuded publicly the entire four-year term. In 1976, this fellow took up George Wallace mantle as a candidate for President of the American Independent Party. He ended up only receiving less than 1% of the popular vote and no electoral college votes. His former nemesis, Jimmy Carter ended up winning the election. Coming in with a political record of 2 wins and 4 losses, the pride of Cobb County, Lester Maddox!

Fighting in the red corner, this fellow worked for his father’s real estate development company. A property under the company’s control in Cincinnati, Ohio was sued for racial discrimination in 1969. The suit was “quietly settled.” In 1973 the U.S. Justice Department contended in a lawsuit that the company systematically discriminated against African Americans who wished to rent apartments. The Department alleged the organization had screened out people based on race and not low income. In the 1989 Central park jogger case, this fellow took out a full-page ad in all 4 of the major New York City newspapers. The ad advocated for the renewal of the death penalty for the case. He insisted the group of minority teens were guilty of raping a white woman long after they were exonerated by DNA evidence in 2002.

This fellow launched his political career as a leading proponent of the “birther” conspiracy theories. This theory alleged that Barack Obama was not born in the United States but instead born in Kenya. He claimed credit for pushing the White House to publish a long-form birth certificate, which he considered fraudulent. Then he started questioning Obama’s ivy league credentials. More specifically, how a guy like Obama could get into the Schools (Columbia, Harvard law school), he did. He later stated this stance had made him “very popular.”

According to an analysis in Political Science Quarterly, he made “explicitly racists appeal to whites,” during his 2016 presidential campaign. His campaign launch speech stated that Mexican immigrants were “bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists.” In the aftermath of the Charlottesville rally, he implied a moral equivalence between the white supremacist marchers and counter-protesters. In a January 2018 oval office meeting, this fellow reportedly referred to El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, and African countries as “shit holes.” Many of his supporters have tended to claim that his racist speech reflects his general rejection of political correctness. In July of 2019, he tweeted that four democratic members of Congress- all of whom are woman of color and 3 of whom are native-born Americans, should “go back” to the countries they came from. White nationalist publications and social media sites praised his remarks. Coming in at 6 ft 3 and 243 lbs, and a record of 1 win and 0 losses the pride of Queens NY Donald J. Trump!

Gentleman, touch gloves, I want a good clean fight! Who are we kidding we know neither one of you can fight fair.

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