22 August, 2016

How Donald Trump Exposed America’s White Identity Crisis - POLITICO Magazine

How Donald Trump Exposed America’s White Identity Crisis - POLITICO Magazine:

Living in the South has taught me that it is all too easy to take your eyes off the prize, to become distracted by the shining object, away from what’s truly important. I don’t care how many times Trump supporters declare they aren’t racist, don’t care if they are or not. I don’t care how many times a J.D. Vance or a Ross Douthat reminds us to not be too hasty in labeling them. In fact, I agree with such attempts; it serves no one well to build caricatures of fellow Americans or to pretend that they don’t have real concerns that need to be remedied, no matter how much we disagree with them.
I just know that no matter who wins this economic angst-vs.-racism debate 151 years from now, one fact would not have changed: They tried to put a bigot in the White House. That’s why the primary focus between now and November should be about making sure that bigotry doesn’t win the country’s biggest political prize. Only afterward will debating and dealing with the motives of Trump supporters and teasing out real hurt and harm from baseless fear make sense.


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