The G.O.P.’s Ties to Extremism Go Beyond the Confederate Flag
The point of this isn’t that senior Republicans are racist, or that they were in any way responsible for the actions of Roof, a hate-filled individual. But Republican candidates and operatives, who rely heavily on the votes of white southerners, and particularly southern white men, have sometimes been driven to cultivate support among gun groups, anti-immigrant groups, “patriot” groups, and other inflammatory organizations that cluster around the right fringes of their party and beyond. And even when they aren’t actively courting these entities, many prominent Republicans have been reluctant to say anything that could incur their wrath.