About ten years ago I wrote:

I find that I am bracing for a very ugly debate which will only serve to associate all of my Hispanic friends with the evils of drug trade from the south of our federal border. I can just imagine how racism will attempt to cloak itself in the “stars and stripes”, as it seeks some sort of national justification.

I have used this blog to chronicle my shift away from what the Republican Party was becoming.  For me this journey began about ten years ago with what I then called the “new racism”.  It was clear to me, but others just didn’t see it — clear enough for me to dissociate myself from the party.

It is not a coincidence that I had just started teaching English as Second Language (ESL) classes and was personally interacting with our growing Hispanic community.  In addition, I also volunteered at a local Latino Resource Center.

I became very aware of the growing negative energy that was expressing itself in racial terms.  I clearly recognized the references to “those people” as worth less than good white folk.  I heard the same “they should go back where they came from” sentiments that were a normal part of my southern segregation experience when I was young.

I heard white supremacist arguments that I had not heard in years.  So as the George W. Bush presidency came to an end, I removed my name from Republican roles.  All this I have referenced for years in the posts in this blog.

It appears that I am in some pretty good company.  

• George Will, well-known conservative columnist commentator, left the Republican party and was registered as an unaffiliated voter In June 2016.  

• Gordon Humphrey,  former Republican Senator from New Hampshire and a leading conservative lawmaker from 1978-90, revealed in July, 2016 that he would change his party registration to independent.

• Joe Scarborough, former four term Republican U.S. Representative announced on July 11, 2017, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that he was leaving the Republican party to become an Independent.

• Nicole Wallace, a former senior communications staffer for the George W. Bush White House and senior advisor in the John McCain campaign, described herself as a “non-practicing Republican” in April, 2018.

• Steve Schmidt,  John McCain’s presidential campaign director  and Republican for 30 years, publicly renounced the Republican Party in June, 2018 .

There have been other Republican politicians, strategists, and columnists who have renounced the party.  Of particular interest was Max Boot, prolific Republican author, consultant, editorialist, lecturer, and military historian, who recently wrote:

After a lifetime as a Republican, I re-registered as an independent on the day after Donald Trump’s election. … I am more convinced than ever that I made the right decision.

The transformation I feared has taken place.Just look at the reaction to President Trump’s barbarous policy of taking children away from their parents as punishment for the misdemeanor offense of illegally entering the country.

While two-thirds of Americans disapproved of this state-sanctioned child abuse, forcing the president to back down, a majority of Republicans approved. If Trump announced he were going to spit-roast immigrant kids and eat them on national TV (apologies to Jonathan Swift), most Republicans probably would approve of that, too.