You can connect those dots back a little further, if you try.

"Okay smart guy, so Nixon?"

Yes, but...

"Ah, you're about to mention the southern strategy."

Which happened because?

"Alright, but it's pretty tenuous to attribute the modern rise of fascism to failed reconstruction!"

I wasn't. I was going to attribute it to the existence of slavery in America. The seeds of this destruction were already planted at the beginning.

(Sorry for this writing style, it started as a joke and I couldn't make it properly funny while also making my point.)