Excellent post from The Establishment Bar:
Fear of Another Dark President
Posted by Proud Establishment Dem
May 11, 2026
Barack Obama broke the Republican Party.
The election of the first Black man to ascend to the presidency of the United States was a watershed moment in our history. It was celebrated far and wide by those who understood just how much Black people in this country had to overcome to reach that moment. Obama himself had to toe the line in everything that he did. He had to be smart, but not too smart. He had to be passionate but couldn’t be an angry Black man. He had to be a man of faith, but not one whose values were somehow skewed by the more radical elements of the Black church. In a sea of White faces on the classroom wall of presidents, Barack Obama was always going to stand out. The question was always going to be whether he was the start of a new movement of people of color ascending to the presidency, or simply an anomaly who would revert to the same race and gender as our first 43 United States presidents.
Republicans openly rooted for the latter.
And in doing so, they outed themselves and their previously repressed racist urges. Because from 2009 on, Barack Obama needed to fail, even if it meant that the country itself would struggle. From the onset, when not a single House Republican voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, it was clear that the Republican Party would oppose everything Barack Obama wanted to accomplish. At a time when there was a needed 60-vote threshold for the Senate to pass legislation, Barack Obama gambled the entirety of his political capital during a six-month window to pass the Affordable Care Act, which was not supported by a single Senate Republican. At a time when 40 million Americans lacked sufficient healthcare, the Republican Party chose itself over the people in an effort simply to deny Barack Obama and Democrats a political win. After Democrats lost the House in 2010, Mitch McConnell famously stated that the GOP’s goal was to make Barack Obama a one-term president. Because in their eyes, they’d rather have the Black man fail than the American people succeed. The GOP-led 112th Congress passed a mere 283 acts, making it the least productive Congress on record and helping deny Barack Obama any political capital leading up to his re-election campaign. They were more than happy to deny the American people, and more importantly, Barack Obama, any kind of substantive win that would improve their everyday lives.
Of course, it wasn’t just elected Republicans who were against the Obama presidency. Conservative media knew the outrage their listeners had about seeing Barack Obama and his family reside in the White House, so they willingly chose to belittle them throughout the duration of his presidency. Their goal was to imply that Barack Obama was somehow beneath the honor of office, and they attempted to portray him as such time and time again. No “scandal” was too small, whether it was Barack Obama with his foot on the Resolute Desk, or him wearing a tan suit, or him saluting a Marine with a coffee in hand, or him bowing too far to the Japanese emperor. When it came time for Obama’s re-election, the birther movement was in full effect, a clear effort led by none other than Donald Trump to delegitimize the country’s first Black president. Between do-nothing Republicans in Congress and a conservative media hellbent on restoring the normality of having a White man in the Oval Office, Barack Obama faced a challenging political landscape for re-election in 2012. It seemed as if Mitch McConnell might be able to accomplish his goal after all.
But Obama overcame this to win re-election.
And in doing so, broke GOP strategist Karl Rove, who had a legendary meltdown on election night when an Obama win in Ohio clinched his re-election. Because, like so many of his ilk, Rove couldn’t fathom that his beloved country would elect a Black man not once but twice to the presidency of the United States of America. This meant that Obama was more than a curiosity; that he was a legitimate politician who could not only win as a relative unknown but could also win with four years of governing under his belt. Obama’s re-election meant that the country now had a baseline for what Black people could do in the nation’s highest office, and this terrified the country’s conservatives. Gone were their long-held stereotypes about Black men being “lazy” and “uneducated.” Gone were their stereotypes about Black men and those around them being corrupt. Gone were their stereotypes about Black men being unfaithful in their marriage and absentee fathers. Gone were stereotypes about Black men being “low IQ” or uneducated. Barack Obama proved that Black men could be as successful as White men, and this fact alone caused the wiring malfunction of so many racists’ brains in this country. As his successful two terms ended, the conservative movement now had a choice: would they accept that their embedded racist ideas were wrong, or would they double down and try to elevate one of their own to undo all the “damage” that Barack Obama had caused over the previous eight years?
As we all know, they went the latter route. And in doing so, they completely removed the hoods they had been so desperately trying to hide throughout their lives.
Starting in 2015, Donald Trump gave them the permission they so desperately needed. To say the quiet part out loud. To proudly display the Confederate flag. To legitimize and empower White supremacist groups, which had grown exponentially during the Obama presidency. The red Trump hat became synonymous with hate. Hate against people of color. Hate against Muslims. Hate against immigrants. Hate against gay people. Hate against “wokeness” and DEI. Violence against protestors was encouraged at his rallies. Those asked to speak frequently provided overtly racist talking points and rhetoric. Republican voters who saw their beloved country slipping away under Obama now felt that there was a chance to return to normality under someone like Trump. For them, Barack Obama wasn’t an inspiration; he was an aberration. An error that shouldn’t have happened. The One Big Ass Mistake America (OBAMA) bumper stickers were proudly portrayed on the pickup trucks of Trump supporters and became a common sight in rural areas. Barack Obama wasn’t on the ballot in 2016, but his legacy was. And like Donald Trump himself, Republicans wanted nothing better than to do everything they could to erase or diminish what Barack Obama accomplished during his two terms in office.
The pendulum of history always swings. How hard it swings depends on the grandness of the moment. The first election of Barack Obama was one of our country’s grandest swings, and the swing back is being felt as forcefully as we’ve ever felt anything in our history. What we’re seeing in our current political climate is the continued fallout of Barack Obama’s presidency as it relates to Black power. Because it was Black voters who led the charge in electing him twice. It was Black voters who saw through the racism and incompetence of Donald Trump three separate times and have overwhelmingly voted against him. It has been Black political leaders, specifically Black women, who publicly challenged and held Donald Trump accountable for his actions, from Leticia James to Fani Willis to, most recently, L. Louise Lucas and her efforts in the Virginia redistricting fight. Trump’s all-out war on Black leaders hasn’t gone unnoticed and is quite obvious when you look at the places he’s targeting for his ICE enforcement actions. Cities like Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Chicago all have mayors of color. Insisting that these mayors “need help” in preventing violence in their cities is a clear dog whistle attempting to link leaders of color to crime. This type of racial targeting has been a pattern throughout the Trump administration’s second term and is a clear signal to his base that their fears of the “other” are being heard and acted upon.
Last week’s VRA ruling has simply been a continuation of the policies handed down by the Trump administration. Under the guise of rigging the House to keep Republicans in control, what it has done is
give southern Republicans permission to attack Black political power through redistricting. Their mission is simple: to dilute Black power in a way that keeps them and other people of color from working their way up the ranks. Ultimately, they firmly believe that doing so will prevent any future Barack Obama from ever again ascending to the nation’s highest office. But it has also served as a way to overtly assert their dominance over Black men and women. The message these state legislatures are giving is out and proud: we don’t think Black men and women are deserving of political power. Because of that, we are going to eliminate districts that provide that power. It’s no longer simply about giving Donald Trump a GOP-led House, but instead has become an opportunity to disenfranchise Black voters by carving up their communities and no longer allowing them to be represented in Congress by a fellow Black man or Black woman.At its core, the redistricting war is a battle to reinstate Jim Crow. This is a battle that Republicans are all too happy to revisit. But unlike Jim Crow 1.0, we now know what to look for. We know the end goal Republicans have in mind. But the toothpaste is out of the tube. Black Americans know what it’s like to have political power at the local level. They know what it’s like to have one of their own in the White House. No matter how hard Republicans try, they cannot erase the fact that 21st-century America has experienced a Black president. The pushback has been hard. It has been intense. In many ways, it has been devastating to see our country return to pre-Civil Rights Act protections for Black voters. Yet this is now our fight. Redistricting is a microcosm for a Republican Party that wants people of color to once again serve as permanent second-class citizens. But they won’t. Not in Tennessee. Not in Alabama. Not in Louisiana. Not anywhere.
Republicans believe that by splitting up Black districts, they can dilute political power and elect their own in the newly drawn districts. But if history is any indication, the latest efforts to bring back Jim Crow won’t go down without a fight. Black people aren’t about to give in to a political party that sees them as subhuman. Try as they might, Republicans cannot stop a free and fair election where each and every voter, regardless of race, can cast a ballot in the year 2026. In an effort to rig the game, Republicans have awoken a new generation of radicalized Black Americans who see the party for what it truly is: racist to the core and doing everything possible to prevent them from attaining political power. The fact that the GOP doesn’t believe that Black voters in Memphis and Nashville should have consolidated power or that Alabama deserves a second majority Black congressional district tells you all you need to know about how they actually view representation. They are more than happy to divide these districts in a way that expands them well into the rural suburbs, where they are much more likely to be represented by a Republican rather than a Democrat. Republicans are banking on these gerrymandered districts to not only help Donald Trump but to help themselves continue to abuse one-party control for years to come.
What we’ve seen over the past week is the clearest indication yet that Republicans are out of fucks to give when it comes to pretending like they believe in our democracy. They want power, and they want it at the expense of Black people. Donald Trump may be the figurehead, but the modern Republican Party is right there with him in wanting to implement White supremacy policies that take our country back to a time when it was only land-owning White men who made the decisions. The greatest political battle of the century is now out in the open: Is America a land of opportunity for all or only for some? If this past week is any indication, we’ve seen the Republican answer to that question. They are terrified of Black political power in Tennessee. In Alabama. Anywhere where non-White people dare to run for and win political office. This is a political party clinging to life, trying to maintain its power in a country whose demographics will consist of a majority of people of color in a generation. Until then, they will do whatever they can to prevent the next up-and-coming Black congressman or woman from being seated. Because, as they learned two decades ago, sometimes that young, scrappy politician can rise through the ranks, working their way up through state government, the United States Senate, and even become president. Republicans refuse to allow the second coming of Barack Obama at any cost and are willing to rig the game to ensure that it does not happen.
All because they fear the 21st-century power of Black men and women at the voting booth.
It really is that simple. Not one lie told.
The Editorial Board
@editorialboard.bsky.social
Another way of seeing this pattern: for the third time Americans punished a Democratic president for economic politics that benefited everyone. That’s the problem. Black prosperity is a crime that demands that a Republican president restore “justice.”
https://bsky.app/profile/editorialboard.bsky.social/post/3mm5h37oklk2z
Sarah Ironside 💙
@SarahIronside6
I hope Americans are paying attention to the fact that while millions are struggling to put gas in their tanks and food on their table, Mike Johnson is fighting to make sure members of Congress can still do insider trading because they only make a measly $174k annually.
8:29 AM · May 17, 2026
https://x.com/SarahIronside6/status/2056004138786299912?s=20
Democracy Docket
@DemocracyDocket
Courts have handed the GOP massive wins in the gerrymandering war launched by Trump.
But the GOP likely won’t realize all the gains that its gerrymanders were intended to secure by this fall. Democrats have a chance to fight back ahead of the 2028 elections.
Here’s our analysis of where things stand:
https://x.com/DemocracyDocket/status/2056404565168107816?s=20
Terry Lee Watkins Jr. 王瑞民💜💙
@TerryWatkinsJr1
White “Leftists”don’t know how to critique:
-Black politicians without falling in tropes of anti Black racism✊🏿
-Israeli State operations without antisemmism✡️
-Female politicians without sexist standards♀️
-White males with problematic histories without undeserved forgiveness🙃
2:41 AM · May 18, 2026
https://x.com/TerryWatkinsJr1/status/2056279067255841018?s=20
The United States versus Elon Reed Musk
@Needle_of_Arya
Commentary account
We always have to remind especially the whites among the far left that the only issue they’ve ever cared about, from climate change in 2000 to “the billionaires” in 2016 to Gaza in 2024: they don’t care about any of these issues as much as they do their dynastic white privilege.
11:37 AM · May 18, 2026
https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/2056413829215769057?s=20
Brian Allen
@allenanalysis
🚨 While DOGE cuts food stamps, Medicaid, and federal jobs — Trump is building a helipad on the White House South Lawn.
The Wall Street Journal broke the story Sunday. Multi-outlet confirmed.
The reason: the federal government spent $5 billion on a fleet of 23 new Marine One helicopters. Delivery was completed two years ago. They have never been allowed to land on the South Lawn — because their exhaust scorches the grass.
So now the government is building a helipad to accommodate the helicopters it already bought.
https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/2056419577433555319?s=20
Be A King
@BerniceKing
On this day in 1896, 130 years ago, the Supreme Court handed down Plessy v. Ferguson and gave legal sanction to the lie of “separate but equal.” That decision helped entrench racial segregation for generations. The Supreme Court has gotten it wrong before, and when it does, the consequences are profound.
In this moment, as voting rights are again being weakened, we must remember that justice cannot depend on courts alone. We must stay vigilant, organized, and committed to protecting our rights and our democracy.
#MLK #VotingRights #PlessyvFerguson #SupremeCourt
https://x.com/BerniceKing/status/2056416908191187415?s=20
Brennan Center
@BrennanCenter
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority used outdated examples to say the racial gap in voter turnout has closed, but in reality, the gap is growing — due in part to the Court’s past assaults on the Voting Rights Act.
https://x.com/BrennanCenter/status/2056376054097350963?s=20
Democracy Docket
@DemocracyDocket
UPDATE: In one of the first rulings outside the South in response to the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act, a federal judge in Washington rejected a GOP effort to overturn a decision that created a majority-Latino district in the state.
The judge denied the request for lack of standing.
https://x.com/DemocracyDocket/status/2056420437538550159?s=20
Be A King
@BerniceKing
I am one of the children of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that David Banner said would agree with his opinions about my father. Please see my response here.
While David Banner is certainly entitled to his opinions, he is off base regarding the comments about my father that he recently shared with Cam Newton.
Harry Belafonte said that my father supposedly told him “he feared he had integrated his people into a burning house.”
I can only reference what we have record of my father saying, including what he shares in this 1967 interview with NBC News: https://youtu.be/2xsbt3a7K-8?si=fP1zmgP2rJJsVK_Z
It is important to understand that Daddy’s goal was never assimilation or Black people simply being in the same spaces as White people. In fact, in “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?”, he wrote:
“Let us, therefore, not think of our movement as one that seeks to integrate the Negro into all the existing values of American society. Let us be those creative dissenters who will call our beloved nation to a higher destiny, to a new plateau of compassion, to a more noble expression of humaneness.”
He was leading and a part of work for equitable distribution of resources, fairness and justice in housing, banking, and education, and other outcomes of the eradication of what he called the Triple Evils of Racism, Militarism, and Poverty.
Conquering these Evils was a part of that “dream” he spoke about on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. In the seldom read, heard or shared parts of “I Have a Dream,” Daddy spoke about police brutality, reparations, economic disparities, and voting rights. Please listen, watch, and read it fully and with keen attention.
His dream was never weak, about acquiescence to injustice, or centered on a colorblind society in which negative peace (void of justice) prevails.
His dream was that we would work together to rid our World House of the despair of poverty, the destruction of war, and the degradation of racism.
He believed that the principled approach and bold, strategic methods of nonviolence would get us to that goal and dream, and continued to proclaim this belief the night before he was assassinated in his final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” I encourage you to listen to that entire speech, in which he shares about economic justice, a “bank-in” to support Black banks, and supporting Black insurance companies.
He had increased his focus on dismantling “the inseparable twins of economic and racial injustice” (Research SCLC’s Operation Breadbasket), while at the same time courageously challenging the U.S. government on militarism, with attention on the Vietnam War.
And the more he considered the utter moral and legislative failure of this nation to turn from the Triple Evils, the more he felt compelled to declare a prophetic warning about the consequences of that failure. Had he not been assassinated, the sermon Daddy would have delivered that Sunday was “America May Go to Hell.”
Because of my father’s profound love for this country and the world, he was profoundly disappointed by inhumanity and injustice.
Yet he was still committed to “making of this old world a new world.” That’s why he was in Memphis to work on dignity and livable wages for sanitation workers. That’s why he spoke in “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” of “nonviolence or nonexistence.” That’s why, in that same speech, which would be his last, he powerfully proclaimed, “I believe that we as a people will get to the Promised Land.”
These are not the words of a man who had lost hope or who “disliked” the progress he worked on and led.
I encourage you to read Daddy’s writings and listen to his speeches. Please do critical analysis of people’s comments and don’t take sound bites and run with them.
I know that my father’s life, activism, and teachings remain of great interest to people. That’s good. What would be truly impactful is if that interest and deeper study were used to drive out hate, eradicate the Triple Evils, and create a humane, just global society.
https://x.com/BerniceKing/status/2056390523204641218?s=20
TRUTH
The United States versus Elon Reed Musk
@Needle_of_Arya
Commentary account
The rest of America now sees what it’s like to live in a red state, where the capital becomes a hotbed of incestuous business dealings, rampant corruption & general incompetence, the latter arising from dynastic white mediocrity going unchallenged because of structural racism.
11:01 AM · May 18, 2026
https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/2056404723553681746?s=20
Jesse The Free 🏴
@Jessethefree
Racism is a low-effort, low-intelligence shortcut, the lazy man’s answer to complex social problems that actually demand intelligence, effort, and honesty.
2:32 PM · May 17, 2026
https://x.com/Jessethefree/status/2056095601368899712?s=20
John Birch Society
@The_JBS
Normalize repealing the Civil Rights Act.
3:25 PM · May 17, 2026
https://x.com/The_JBS/status/2056108753163071744?s=20
Longtime Black Man Here
@groove_sdc
When you boil down the conservative movement and their anti-government stance it all comes down to the fact they’re still angry legislation was passed to stop them from discriminating against Black people like they really wanted to.
https://x.com/groove_sdc/status/2056385051667943641?s=20
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center
@TheKingCenter
“Many legal experts see this change as a threat to representation of racial minorities and an incentive for more partisan gerrymandering at all levels of government — including state legislatures, county commissions and school districts.“ #VotingRights #SCOTUS #LocalElections #Gerrymandering
https://x.com/TheKingCenter/status/2056407414321131804?s=20
Fly Sistah 🪷
@Fly_Sistah
Many NYC kids from like 4th grade upward spend their weekends doing test prep to get into specialized PUBLIC schools where lobbyists were hired to keep Black & Latino kids out. It boggles the mind that PUBLIC schools basically ban Black & Latino kids. https://www-wsj-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/stuyvesants-admissions-test-backers-hire-lobbyist-1541112407?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCCAE%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fstuyvesants-admissions-test-backers-hire-lobbyist-1541112407
7:12 AM · Mar 19, 2019
https://x.com/Fly_Sistah/status/1107978056247988226?s=20
CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP
Forbes
@Forbes
From teen phenom to business powerhouse: Six years after her legendary Wimbledon upset, Coco Gauff has amassed two Grand Slam titles and nearly $30 million in career prize money.
But her game is just getting started. At 21, she’s the highest-paid female athlete globally, leveraging her estimated $25 million in annual off-court earnings into smart ventures—including an investment in the women’s basketball league Unrivaled.
Read more: https://forbes.com/sites/brettknight/2025/12/02/30-under-30-sports-2026-meet-the-athletes-and-executives-changing-the-game/?utm_campaign=ForbesMainTwitter&utm_source=ForbesMainTwitter&utm_medium=social #ForbesUnder30 (Photo: Guerin Blask for Forbes)
https://x.com/Forbes/status/2056314042453762552?s=20
Left of Black
@LeftOfBlack
Knox County Schools adds Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Roots’ to list of banned books
Knox County Schools recently took Alex Haley’s influential novel, “Roots,” off library shelves under the Age-Appropriate Materials Act
L E F T, PhD ⚫️
@LeftSentThis
In the book Roots, Kunta Kinte was about 16 years old when he was captured, purchased, enslaved, and tortured.
In the book Roots, Kizzy Kinte was about 16 years old when she was raped by the white man that purchased, enslaved, and tortured her.
Said differently, Kunta and Kizzy were the exact same age as some of the very students banned from reading this book when they were purchased, enslaved, and tortured.
https://x.com/LeftSentThis/status/2056200671712682227?s=20
GET.THEE.ENTIRE.PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.
404 Media
@404media.co
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University of Washington researchers planned to have preschool teachers wear cameras that would record everything they saw, including the children they were teaching, then use it to develop AI models.
@evystadium.bsky.social
has more.
Story by
@josephcox.bsky.social
: http://www.404media.co/researchers-...
https://bsky.app/profile/404media.co/post/3mm536obtcs2b
pissed-off-g.bsky.social
@pissed-off-g.bsky.social
Follow
Nearly 800,000 Louisianians voted yesterday and won, rejecting all five state constitutional amendments put forward by Gov. Jeff Landry…
https://bsky.app/profile/pissed-off-g.bsky.social/post/3mm4d5vta4s24
Fly Sistah 🪷
@Fly_Sistah
Many NYC kids from like 4th grade upward spend their weekends doing test prep to get into specialized PUBLIC schools where lobbyists were hired to keep Black & Latino kids out. It boggles the mind that PUBLIC schools basically ban Black & Latino kids. https://www-wsj-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/stuyvesants-admissions-test-backers-hire-lobbyist-1541112407?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCCAE%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fstuyvesants-admissions-test-backers-hire-lobbyist-1541112407
7:12 AM · Mar 19, 2019
https://x.com/Fly_Sistah/status/1107978056247988226?s=20
The United States versus Elon Reed Musk
@Needle_of_Arya
Commentary account
People outside of NYC generally do not know this, but those specialized high schools created in the city after 1968 to seek out Black & Latino kids in impoverished situations and pipeline them into university was hijacked by affluent whites & Asians seeking admission to Ivies.
https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/2056400107831169044?s=20
Jonathan Lemire
@JonLemire
“Whereas Biden noticeably changed, Trump appears largely to be the same. He’s always been erratic and bombastic. But as Trump ages, he’s becoming purer and less filtered. Because the changes are less obvious, they’ve drawn less attention. For now
https://x.com/JonLemire/status/2056326865590096366?s=20
Jamesetta Williams 💕
@jamesetta_w
The press is now trying to argue because Trump always looked like shit and is frequently incoherent, the lack of scrutiny on his age is justified. I call bullshit. Rumors of health issues have been around for years. Press is only touching it now that he’s becoming a lame duck.
https://x.com/jamesetta_w/status/2056351326527742405?s=20
So true, they can GTFOH with this bullshyt explanation.
Most people forget to include their daily per diem, when discussing their 174k salary.
Also, 140 days (only counting Monday – Friday)
Means they are working 7 months.
What are they doing for FIVE MONTHS.
Hoodlum 🇺🇸
@nothoodlum.bsky.social
Follow
Congress works 140 days a year and earns $174K annually, plus full benefits. How can anyone survive on that without a few stock trades and a little insider trading? They get 225 days off a year and think it’s okay to hold the federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour for 17 years.
https://bsky.app/profile/nothoodlum.bsky.social/post/3mm4yhutbzs2x
404 Media
@404media.co
Follow
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was booed throughout this commencement speech at the University of Arizona for his praise of AI. This comes just a week after another commencement speaker who mentioned AI was booed at a school in Florida.
Read more: http://www.404media.co/ucf-ai-comme...
https://bsky.app/profile/404media.co/post/3mm2ivguvq22x
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊