this article is part of the opinion today newsletter. you can sign up here to receive more briefings and a guide to the section daily in your inbox. last summer, in the innocent time before sexist comments from donald trump had become a near daily occurrence, he vulgarly insulted megyn kelly of fox news, with a reference to <u+201c>blood coming out of her wherever.<u+201d> hours later, the conservative activist erick-woods erickson disinvited trump from the annual gathering that erickson hosts. he invited kelly (with whom he had previously clashed ) in trump<u+2019>s place. the reason was simple, erickson said: decency. it is a standard that few republican leaders have met this year. even as trump has unfurled one form of hateful language after another <u+2014> even as he has bragged about sexually assaulting women <u+2014> most republican leaders have stood with him. in today<u+2019>s times, erickson has written an op-ed calling out those leaders, including pastors, and noting the personal price his family has paid for his willingness to confront trump. in the article, erickson also charts a post-trump path for the party. it<u+2019>s a serious one, organized around school choice, market-based economics, religious freedom and local communities. but i think it<u+2019>s also missing at least one big item: equality of all americans. today<u+2019>s republican party is built in part on fear of people who are not white. there<u+2019>s no other way to say it. the party is committed to reducing voting rights for african-americans. it has a history of alienating african-americans that long predates trump, stretching through richard nixon , ronald reagan , george h.w. bush , george w. bush and mitt romney . lately, it has begun alienating asian-americans and latinos as well. obama won at least 70 percent of each group in 2012. i<u+2019>m willing to guess hillary clinton will do even better this year. i understand that many conservatives see themselves as inherently supportive of equality for all americans <u+2014> so supportive that they don<u+2019>t like to mention race (or gender) and foster divisions in the process. but their party is not starting from scratch. it needs to overcome a long history of discrimination. and in 2016, it seems to be losing more ground every week. thoughtful conservatives, like erickson, need to start pushing for a radically different approach. you can join me on twitter (@dleonhardt) and facebook . i am also writing a daily email newsletter until the election and invite you to subscribe . follow the new york times opinion section on facebook and twitter (@nytopinion), and sign up for the opinion today newsletter .
race, and the g.o.p.<u+2019>s future
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