There's a story (and I can find only a sketchy reference to it with my Google skills) that after she had seen "Birth of a Nation," D. W. Griffith's maid said to her employer, "Mr. Griffith, you should be ashamed."

I hadn't realized until reading your essay here why the recent crop of Republicans is so anti-China. China doesn't represent communism; they are the dog whistle for "non-white." When Marjorie Greene claimed last month that Mitch McConnell sided with Chinese communists (“Every ‘Republican’ that isn’t fighting for @realDonaldTrump’s 2020 landslide victory is supporting the Chinese Communist Party takeover of America.”), she was actually referring to the ethnicity of McConnell’s wife. Putin, for these bigots, is no communist — he’s white (and not Jewish).

Choosing between Douglas Jones, who fought to protect African-Americans, vs. Tommy Tuberville, who vowed to protect Trump, was a no-brainer, and the racists contingent of Alabamians chose the no-brainer as their leader.