Friday, July 10, 2015

GOP Scrambles to Address Racial Issues Amid Trump, Flag Debates

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus called Donald Trump to urge him to stop making controversial comments about Mexicans and immigrants on Wednesday, hours before legislators in South Carolina voted to take down the Confederate flag from the state's capitol grounds.

Those two incidents happening at almost the same time are not an accident. The establishment of Republican Party is scrambling to address the perception that the GOP is not sufficiently diverse and racially-tolerant.

But they are facing resistance. Trump is rising in polls, with support from Tea Party conservatives who are wary of immigration reform, even as more moderate Republicans bemoan his candidacy. South Carolina legislators struggled to develop a plan to take down the flag, with protesters in the state saying its imagery is a part of the state's heritage. Leaders in the GOP-led U.S House of Representatives were forced to pull a bill from consideration after reports that an attached amendment would have allowed the Confederate flag to be displayed on federal grounds in some cases.

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