Let’s visit one of the original thirteen colonies and a battleground state still. North Carolina! In Fayetteville Earl Phillip,
the state director for the Donald Trump campaign, was about to give a speech
when he spied an enemy of the state seated in Golden Corral, a convivial setting
for a political rally. Motioning toward a reporter for the Triad City Beat, Phillip banished him from the room. Phillip also declined to be photographed by the
subversive muckraker. “I can really do some talking, but I can’t
because we have a member of the press here,” I will leave it up to you: If you
want to know the real deal, he’s gonna have to leave. If you want me to speak
PC he can stay,” Phillip said. By acclamation, the supporters opted for some plain talk.
Phillip had good reason to eject the Triad City
Beat, a paper known for its weekly entertainment listings and green politics. They don’t follow the Code, as explained by Phillip. But you don’t
have to take his word for it. Look at the kind of seditious, untrustworthy,
unpatriotic audience TCB admits to having and actively courts.
“Our
readers have a few things in common: They’re smart, and know the value of
staying informed. And they’re engaged — they go to the theater and to museums,
restaurants, concerts and shows. They vote. They use greenways and parks.
They care about their communities and want to help make things better.” These so-called “readers” have nothing but
trouble in mind. What swine. Those corralled must not have been TCB subscribers.
Phillip is a seasoned operator in North
Carolina Republican politics. He is the former North
Carolina African-American state director for the Republican National Committee.
While in that office, he inadvertently stated his opinions on the record. Democrats cannot be Christians, and vice
versa, he declared in a regrettable moment of candor. He further embarrassed himself by revealing
to the American people that President Obama was not black. His father was
African, Phillip explained, and he did not grow up in a black
neighborhood. Phillip, born in the
Virgin Islands, grew up in urban Baltimore. Telling North Carolinians that the President was not black must have confused a lot of people.
Earl Phillip is a man who has learned about plain talk the hard way. Now, when Philip wants
to talk smack, he clears the room of reporters, who will print what he says
without sanitizing it. Those who
remain apparently have no ethical dilemma.
