so it's an open field for the lee atwaters. of course they'll wrap a whole agenda around a racist appeal because they know we can't defend it as long as we abide by the idea if we don't speak it and don't hear it and say it, it doesn't exist. that is not an approach to deal with racism. we saw that on january 6th. right? the confederate flag marching right back into the capitol. if we don't have the ability to address racism, we won't be able to save our democracy. >> there was a line doing the rounds on twitter that the panic over critical race theory is a reminder of why we need critical race theory, which i thought was rather apt. isn't it funny the books they're always offended by or consider explicit are books like "beloved" from toni morrison. it always seems to be books from black authors or black historical themes. funny, that. >> well, that and also if you look at the list of 800 books texas is reviewing to determine whether or not those books should be taught because they cause discomfort, those books are all about so

the only difference on the timeline from atwater to protegee karl rove in the bush jr. white house to former partner paul manafort on the trump 2016 campaign is that as president, the donald didn't even bother using coded language. he said outright that white nationalists were very fine people and told freshmen congresswomen of color the squad they should go back to where they came from. openly and crudely racist comments. it became clear that the modern day post republican party if we can call it that has returned to the safer shores of the lee atwater playbook. glenn youngkin who like bush in 1988 came from behind in the polls to win last tuesday in virginia didn't campaign with trump or call african countries s hole country atwater style he went for the racist dog whistle not the bull horn. because he went all in on critical race theory, which is nothing if not a buzz word for all the words you aren't allowed to say and for all the history you aren't allowed to teach about america's racist past. as a wedge issue it really motivated white voters. according to exit pol

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going to where voters are, and to the critical race theory point, look, critical race theory is a lee atwaters trafficking in that undercurrent or using racism as a political currency to boost your turnout amongst a certain group. when you don't know how to talk about race, democrats, then republicans will fill that void. and what happened yesterday in virginia was that we didn't give particularly black voters a reason to come out in numbers that would have pushed or been able to offset the numbers -- >> but also independents, as well. you didn't give independents a reason to come out, as well. >> that's the larger point and so when i say that democrats have to do something, it's the same thing that was echoed today by tim kaine. it the same thing echoed today by james clyburn and the same thing that kind of sort of was echoed by joe manchin. still today we had a vote where we actually weren't able to pass voting rights reform and the white house came out and said the soul of the nation is at stake or something, blah, blah, blah, blah and didn't mention filibuster one time. so people are out

this is an old playbook going back to lee atwater. in the 2016 election we saw it done about crime.uburbs, they're going to destroy the suburbs. this type of fear mongering is how republicans traditionally shepherd white well back into the fold when hay stray to the democratic side. that is what was in play in virginia, and it will happen again. let's talk about one more environmental factor that benefited republicans which may not exist in 2020. they needed president trump to stay off of the stage -- molly: there's one more thing i want to get to -- >> so there were a lot of parents that would argue that crt was taught in virginia schools -- [inaudible conversations] >> toni nebraska morrison is not crt. molly: i want to move to the defund police issue as well because that seemed to have had an impact on tuesday. very quickly, did it have an imimpact on tuesday, and what are the messages going forward as various candidates start to make their play for the hid termsesome laura? >> well, i think all of those issues had an impact. you have to look at it and say, yes. that said, when y

a vaccine mandate, but the race stuff is so potent in american politics, it always has been, lee atwaterit, ronald reagan played that game with welfare reform. it is such a powerful argument for people who are not traditionally right-wing voters, but that it gets at an emotional toll that people feel that talking about race takes on them. and they -- that means they're available to the republicans. >> do you think that the race, the way that youngkin harped on race so much as his closing message is potentially motivating to black voters and to anti-racist voters. did he overplay that hand in a way that may have turned out people in reaction to it? >> i think he was being subtle and being really tricky and slick until he dropped that tony morrison ad. the tony morrison ad might have been -- he might have gone -- that might have been the point at which he went too far. a lot of the people that heard the ad -- that were maybe his maybe voters, maybe didn't even know who tony morrison was. but i promise you black people know who tony morrison was. she's the reason i wanted to be a writer. th

lee atwater, wherever he is, is smiling.ern strategy, the race-based political ideology and politics of identity, that the republicans ran in virginia, was a master class. and i think the combination of the master class of identity politics, plus the ineptitude of congressional democrats, led to glenn youngkin to pull this off. >> this is a messaging problem for democrats. if democrats messaged it properly, they could have gotten it across. >> we haven't done anything right. >> here's what was a success for the youngkin campaign. he started out in this race making sure that the people of virginia understood who he was. he demonstrated that he showed them that he cared. people don't care -- aren't concerned with what you know until they know you care. once he conveyed that to him, that was a key emphasis. he wasn't focused on the issues. he was focused on jobs, the pocketbook issues, education. >> anytime you say you're going to ban critical race theory, is something that glenn youngkin doesn't know what it is. it is not taug