What's a racist? There is no longer a consensus. So frankly it's kind of pointless to debate over who is and isn't a racist in America.
That said, no one will ever accuse me of being a Trump apologist. Trump makes me sick and Trumpism makes me sicker. But if you asked me, "Is Donald Trump a racist?" I would likely hesitate before answering based on MY definition of the word.
But I wouldn't hesitate for one microsecond over whether or not Donald Trump--at a minimum--winked and nodded at White nationalist themes and perspectives. He did that. NO doubt about it.
If you don't believe that, you're probably naïve about White nationalist themes and perspectives.
And I must insist on clarity here. I did NOT say "WHITE perspectives". Nor did I say "conservative" or "rightist" perspectives. I said "White NATIONALIST" perspectives, which do exist in real ways in the US and throughout the Western World.
People sympathetic to White nationalism were energized by Trump's campaign because of this. He spoke to them in their language and they expressed their excitement and love accordingly. That's just fact.
For what it's worth, I don't think Trump played this card because of his own personal beliefs about race, which may or may not be racist by whatever definition. (Frankly, who knows and who cares?) He did this to become POTUS. That's it.
He saw a market, seized it, and being the self-serving, self-aggrandizing blankety-blank that he is, why choose a higher path?
Having said all of that, if you wanna argue that the time had come for something like Trump to emerge, as a kind of blowback against the maniacal excesses on the left, that's one thing. But to say or think that this **** wasn't going on during Trump's road to the presidency is naïve beyond words.
Curious about this point. I think you’re right many people are unaware of the boilerplate “white nationalist rhetoric.” As such, whatever nods there may have been toward them, how do you divine whether they were intentional or not?
It’s is conceivable to me that you can make an argument that is pro-America, pro-traditional values, etc and have some overlap with whatever points white nationalists might make. Just as you can make arguments critical of the US on race and equality and echo some of the boilerplate BLM and woke rhetoric. Just because there’s overlap or similarity doesn’t mean It’s a direct reference or the now-hackneyed
I think our generalized inability to recognize that extremists on both sides are not necessarily 100% wrong about everything. The issue with extremists and fanatics is the fact that they push both causes and proposed solutions to their absurdist extremes (hence the label).
Anyway, I’m curious how you can KNOW that’s what he was doing. Since I’m totally unaware of what constitutes boilerplate white nationalist rhetoric I wouldn’t know it if it bit me. Based on all available data on these things, I believe that’s true for 95% of Americans.
What's a racist? There is no longer a consensus. So frankly it's kind of pointless to debate over who is and isn't a racist in America.
That said, no one will ever accuse me of being a Trump apologist. Trump makes me sick and Trumpism makes me sicker. But if you asked me, "Is Donald Trump a racist?" I would likely hesitate before answering based on MY definition of the word.
But I wouldn't hesitate for one microsecond over whether or not Donald Trump--at a minimum--winked and nodded at White nationalist themes and perspectives. He did that. NO doubt about it.
If you don't believe that, you're probably naïve about White nationalist themes and perspectives.
And I must insist on clarity here. I did NOT say "WHITE perspectives". Nor did I say "conservative" or "rightist" perspectives. I said "White NATIONALIST" perspectives, which do exist in real ways in the US and throughout the Western World.
People sympathetic to White nationalism were energized by Trump's campaign because of this. He spoke to them in their language and they expressed their excitement and love accordingly. That's just fact.
For what it's worth, I don't think Trump played this card because of his own personal beliefs about race, which may or may not be racist by whatever definition. (Frankly, who knows and who cares?) He did this to become POTUS. That's it.
He saw a market, seized it, and being the self-serving, self-aggrandizing blankety-blank that he is, why choose a higher path?
Having said all of that, if you wanna argue that the time had come for something like Trump to emerge, as a kind of blowback against the maniacal excesses on the left, that's one thing. But to say or think that this **** wasn't going on during Trump's road to the presidency is naïve beyond words.
Curious about this point. I think you’re right many people are unaware of the boilerplate “white nationalist rhetoric.” As such, whatever nods there may have been toward them, how do you divine whether they were intentional or not?
It’s is conceivable to me that you can make an argument that is pro-America, pro-traditional values, etc and have some overlap with whatever points white nationalists might make. Just as you can make arguments critical of the US on race and equality and echo some of the boilerplate BLM and woke rhetoric. Just because there’s overlap or similarity doesn’t mean It’s a direct reference or the now-hackneyed
Term “dog whistle.”
I think our generalized inability to recognize that extremists on both sides are not necessarily 100% wrong about everything. The issue with extremists and fanatics is the fact that they push both causes and proposed solutions to their absurdist extremes (hence the label).
Anyway, I’m curious how you can KNOW that’s what he was doing. Since I’m totally unaware of what constitutes boilerplate white nationalist rhetoric I wouldn’t know it if it bit me. Based on all available data on these things, I believe that’s true for 95% of Americans.