8 March 2023

President Joe Biden loves to talk about so-called "good Republicans." These are the ones who aren't the "ultra-MAGA Republicans." These are the "good Republicans" Biden can work deals with. He never actually names any of them. Biden just loves to put out the message that there must be some good Republicans out there. They can't all be that bad, right? Wrong.

His old buddy Strom Thurmond apparently raped a black girl who worked at his family home. Thurmond was 23 at the time of the rape. Carrie Butler, the victim, was between the ages of 14 and 16, but more likely, she was 14, according to reporting. She worked as a maid in the Thurmond home. To avoid a scandal, Butler sent her baby away to live with her sister in Pennsylvania.

Think about that.

This mother had to send her baby away because Strom Thurmond raped her. And no, it doesn't matter if she "consented." Children can't consent to sex with an adult. That baby was raised by Butler's sister and husband as her own. She didn't learn who her mother was or father for years. The things this family had to do because of Strom Thurmond are absurd.

While it's true that a lot of this stuff came out after Thurmond died, it's also true that Thurmond was a virulent racist his entire public life. That was no secret.

It was Thurmond who led the Dixiecrat revolt over civil rights. The parties effectively flipped on race over civil rights and Thurmond found his home in the overtly racist Republican party.

Biden gave the eulogy at Thurmond's funeral in 2003.

To Biden, Thurmond wasn't just a racist, he was someone Biden could make deals with. It didn't matter to Biden that Thurmond was an obvious racist - deals were getting done. And as one opinion columnist wrote in 2020, Biden's relationship with Thurmond was an example of Biden as the "institutionalist." The institution in this context was the US Senate. For Biden, rather than standing on strong morals, ignoring Thurmond's hatred of black people was better for the institution - the senate. And as the columnist noted in his piece, because of Biden's institutionalist ideology, Biden is in fact a conservative.

So ignore Biden when he refers to himself as a "liberal" or a champion of "civil rights." He is none of those things. He's a salesmen. He's selling everyone a story about Joe Biden that is pure fiction. Biden's own border policy includes locking up entire families who seek asylum. That's what Trump did.

So while Biden may have been to the left of Strom Thurmond, it wasn't by much.

Perhaps I'm wrong and Biden is referring to Mitch McConnell when he looks for a "good Republican" to work a deal.

Sources and Methods

• The Nation. Was Strom a Rapist?
• History.net Strom Thurmond Meets His Daughter
• Chicago Tribune. There is little known about Carrie Butler
• Washington Post. Biden will need partners to restore our institutions. Where will he find them?