Actually, the role Thompson was playing was that of an unprincipled conman who was fleecing ignorant racists out of their ca$h by peddling racist lit and products. In the final episode of the series, the Rev. Pooley (or whatever his name was) admitted his only ideology was making a quick buck, and that racists were simply easy marks.
Just wait for the “scandal” of the week from the MSM over whether Fred ever smoked marijuana, or why he didn’t serve in Vietnam, or his divorce, or the reporters tracking down every woman he ever dated, or his lobbying activities for foreign and domestic entities, or for his time helping the Tennessee Savings and Loan Association (or whatever they were called) push for deregulation of their industry which led to the “savings and loan CRISIS.”
They’ll try to string this stuff out over months if they can. The only question is will it be republicans or democrats that raise these issues? Perhaps both.
Fred better be ready for a roller coaster and have the guts to fight back. I think he will.
Exactly. His character wasn’t even a real racist. He was advocating things he didn’t believe in in order to gain money and support.
The Democrats call that “running for office”.
-Eric
Knox Cooley. One of the most memorable "bad guys" on any TV show from the era.