In Texas, veteran GOP strategist Karl Rove sent shockwaves through his party when he called out a racist social media post by Bo French — Republican nominee for the state's railroad commissioner — and said he would be voting for Democratic nominee Jon Rosenthal. President Donald Trump responded by calling Rove a RINO (Republican In Name Only) and accusing him of "Trump derangement syndrome." But the conservative National Review, in a blistering editorial, argues that French deserves to be called out.
Following a Texas college football victory over the weekend, French posted photos of non-white Texas fans and wrote, "The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined."
"While other Texas Republicans criticized French — some vigorously, some tepidly — a retinue of online defenders ventured creative interpretations of what the problem was," the National Review argues in its editorial. "The university catered too much to foreigners. Never mind that the picture did not disclose the citizenship or nationality of its subjects, and the law mandates that 90 percent of students be Texans. Its admissions standards are unfair to white Texans. French himself retreated to this position, but the university has no preferential standards for Indian-Americans."
The conservative editorial writers continue, "In fact, French, in the past, joined the near-uniform chorus of Texas Republicans in supporting the university's admissions system, which was designed to eliminate consideration of race and was defended for years by foes of racial preferences."
The Review editorial goes on to lambast other MAGA arguments defending French.
"So, the rationalizers had to go farther afield," the Review writers explain. "Too many Indian-Americans are Hindu: another trait not discoverable from the photo, and also one that appears to pose no practical difficulties for America's republican institutions. They're not assimilating. But the photo bears every possible visible sign of assimilation. College football is one of the most uniquely American of institutions and is unknown in India. Indian-Americans are participating fully in U.S. life, generally know English, and have high intermarriage rates. Unless the test of assimilation is being white, they're doing it."
The Review editorial writers argue that French apologists who are offended by the fact that the Texas college football fans in the photo are Indian-American need to "get over it."
"Most Americans, of all races, find their repulsion itself repulsive," the Review editorial says. "And white Americans, by and large, have too much sense to believe that greater racial consciousness is the answer to any problems they have. The commenters who object to the picture are wrong about many things, but they are right to feel that their side is losing. Those harmlessly happy young people have found their perfect counterpoint in the toxically miserable."