Donald Trump built his political base on a foundation of racial agitation, from birtherism to labeling Mexican immigrants “rapists,” to proposing a ban on Muslim travel and immigration to the U.S.
So it is fitting in a way that the most closely fought stretch of this campaign, the moment when polls are closest, coincides with Trump’s racist history and racist campaign coming most to the fore.
The confluence is alarming to all Trump foes, but perhaps especially so to religious and ethnic minorities who, among other things, have been subjected to debates over whether Clinton’s efforts to highlight Trump’s racism will hurt her politically.
Slate’s chief political correspondent Jamelle Bouie is here to help us see this campaign through the eyes of a journalist of color.
Further reading:
- In Slate, Jamelle explains why Hillary Clinton’s claim—that “half” of Trump’s supporters can be placed in a “basket of deplorables” was “close to the truth.
- Ta Nehisi Coates argues in The Atlantic that many journalists haven’t come to grips with the implications of Trump’s popularity with whites and thus rushed to protect “white consciousness” from Hillary Clinton’s critique.
- In the New Republic Brian Beutler notes the significance of the Republican Party rushing to gaslight the country and the press about the origins of birtherism.