Southern racism isn’t fancied up or often camouflaged. It’s raw and unambiguous. Northern versions — and God knows the versions one finds in places like Portland, Seattle, or the Bay Area — come with so many layers of defensiveness and cloying assurances of progressivism that they can be smothering. Sometimes it’s just better to know where you stand.

Shorter version: if you’re going to deal with racists, sometimes it’s best if they’re just racists rather than being both racists and liars.

The same is true when it comes to the immigration debate. I have far more respect for the David Dukes of the world who say they seek a border wall and deportations to maintain a white majority than I do for those who insist their nativism is devoid of racial antipathy and stems solely from concern about the legality or “illegality” of migrants to the nation. And the reason is simple: David Duke may be a Nazi, but he’s not a prevaricator as to motivation. Those who say racism plays no role in their opposition to immigration, however, are, almost without exception.

And I prefer my bigots straight up, no chaser. They’re easier to deal with, easier to expose, and far easier to defeat.