Interesting when One will Not Shake Hands with Another
This is like going back to the fifties when it was painfully obvious and overt the separation of people by race. I wonder what her stance will be as a Republican in the Senate. Her old goat husband is having a racist hissy.
“What an absolutely pathetic display of fragility and hate,” said one observer.
‘Racist’ and ‘Classless’ Husband of GOP Senator Won’t Shake Kamala Harris’ Hand, Common Dreams
Video of the husband of a Republican U.S. senator rebuffing Vice President Kamala Harris‘ attempted congratulatory handshake during the lawmaker’s swearing-in ceremony. It went viral Monday, with observers calling the move “classless” and “exactly what is wrong with American culture right now.”
Bruce Fischer, husband of third-term GOP Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska, dodged Harris’ outstretched hand during Friday’s swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., offering a mere nod and curt “thank you” in return after his wife took the oath of office.
“It’s OK, I won’t bite . . . don’t worry,” Harris said in response to Mr. Fischer’s apparent reluctance to even stand close to her.
Liberals—and some Republicans—dragged Fischer’s departure from decorum, which came just weeks before Harris and President Joe Biden leave office and Republican President-elect Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, his vice president, take the reins.
“Bruce Fischer is exactly what is wrong with American culture right now,” filmmaker Princella D. Smith said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “We have put civility on the shelf.”
The group Republicans Against Trump also took to X, calling Fischer’s move “truly classless.”
Former longtime CNN host Don Lemon called Fischer a “racist piece of shit” in a video posted on TikTok.
Liberal social media personality Xander Xjork Anderson called Fischer a “classless asshole” adding, “Vice President Kamala Harris has more dignity and class than every MAGA Republican asshole combined.”
“America really screwed up,” Anderson added. “Enjoy Trump making America a laughingstock again.”
“‘Racist’ and ‘Classless’ Husband of GOP Senator Won’t Shake Kamala Harris’ Hand,” Common Dreams, Brett Wilkins
I grew up in the American South at the end of apartheid. This sort of casual racism is familiar and was more overt then, but it hasn’t gone away, it’s just been hiding. America was only “great” then if you were an affluent White male. Trumpism is about giving permission for this kind of overt racism. Flying the Confederate flag of treason and throwing Nazi salutes come from the same hateful source. Shame.
@Joel,
It would only be shameful of one that was capable of feeling shame, but it is disgusting although not shocking or even surprising. However, it is a small part of a much broader problem that has evolved from the erosion of the progressive movement after the New Deal and WWII that concealed the collapse of liberalism into its classical market freedom and personal liberties without personal responsibilities roots behind a fig leaf of special interest pandering. Much of US has become comfortably numb and comfortably dumb while much of the rest have become uncomfortably marginalized except for the privileged and entitled elites. In such a self-involved environment then misogyny, xenophobia, and racism are normalized as typical self-centered behavior. If you pay attention to the smart kids (e.g., Jon Meacham, Frances Fukuyama, several columnist from the Guardian and Institut Montaigne and the authors that they report on, practically the entire commentator cast of Morning Joe) , then Trump is merely a symptom and not a cause. Many of these authors had been predicting someone like Trump since the change of the century and a few far longer than that.
@rc,
I agree with all this.
One thing you omitted to mention is the collapse of unions in America. Unions were one way that people of different ethnicities could find common cause. They could create a tribalism to compete with the tribalisms of race, gender, religion and geography.
@Joel,
Yes sir. I agree and glad you filled that omission. The best part of my omission was finding yet again that we are not as far apart as I had once believed. Thanks.
Another way was the draft. The integrated military contributed to tolerance. At least that was my impression while serving and observing afterward.
@Jack,
I registered for the draft in 1973 and my lottery number was assigned (207), but the draft ended before I might have been called up. At the time, they called up 1-95 for military physicals. I’m not sure whether I would have gone to Canada. I’m glad I wasn’t drafted. From what I’ve read, there was a lot of racism among troops serving in Vietnam.
I don’t pretend that the draft ended racism. I do say that it made a start in that direction and improved matters. It certainly didn’t solve them. My contemporaries who went to Vietnam (I didn’t; I had a lucky discharge from active duty date that spared me) confirmed my statements. My own experience was in Germany in an artillery unit and I observed what I reported there. Again, far from perfect but better than before. And it wasn’t just racism that was impacted but also classism. Not all the affluent took the Trump way out.