Trump v Nixon on Race: Why 2020 Isn't Quite 1968

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🗓️ 9 June 2020

⏱️ 27 minutes

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Summary

2020 is '68 all over again. But not the '68 you think. Yes, 1968 also saw protests, racial divisions and political polarization. Adam Serwer covers politics for The Atlantic, and he says you can certainly draw comparisons between Trump and Nixon – in that Trump is actually a backlash to the policies that came out of 1968. But Serwer says 1868 is a better point of comparison – it was a moment of hope, when white Republicans had been fighting for black rights for years, before ultimately abandoning them to pursue white voters. Serwer sees Americans coming together in this moment, as they have in the past, but as a student of history, he says the backlash always comes eventually.

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0:00.0	Hey y'all, Sam Sanders here. You are listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR.
0:11.6	Alright, if you like me, right now you are looking for something to explain the crazy
0:17.6	that is 2020. A global pandemic, a near-great depression, and the largest wave of protests
0:23.4	we've seen in this country for years, if not decades. I find myself wanting someone
0:29.1	anyone to tell me if it's ever been like this before. And if it has, what can that moment
0:34.8	teach us about now? To find answers, I called up an old friend of the show, who as it happens
0:40.7	actually lives right now in my hometown. And Sam knows this. It's summer in San Antonio,
0:46.0	so basically I just, I wear pants and a tank top every day of my life now, that I don't have
0:51.1	to like go to work because it's like 105 degrees every day, so... That is Adam Cerber,
0:56.0	Newish Texan, he covers politics for the Atlantic. And he has been thinking a lot recently about
1:01.6	race and America and history. I mean, he always is. Adam's actually been on this show before.
1:08.4	He talked to me about white nationalism about a year ago. Tough topic, but a good listen,
1:13.0	go back and check it out if you haven't already. Any who I wanted to talk with Adam about how race
1:18.4	in politics is playing out in 2020. And about this thing a lot of people have been saying,
1:24.4	that if you want to know how race is working here, now look at 1968. That was a moment in our
1:30.8	history when race and protest were also unavoidable. As 1968 is happening, we've had the Civil
1:38.1	Rights Act, we've had the Voting Rights Act in 1965, we've had the most liberal domestic policy
1:46.0	since Roosevelt, and we've had that unfortunately combined with an expansion, a very bloody expansion
1:53.3	of the Warren Vietnam, which has, you know, seriously weakened Lyndon Johnson's support on the left.
2:00.0	And in 1967 and 1968, you see a lot of urban unrest, you see a lot of riots and violence,
2:06.3	and these incidents are far more... And Adam and I talked about how in this other big way,
2:11.6	1968 is a lot like today, because both the president and then, just like President Trump now,
	...

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