The political utility of the “great replacement theory” is that it combines two potent, emotionally charged issues on the right. That “theory” — that there is a nefarious group of people hoping to bring immigrants into the United States to shift the nation’s politics to the left — overlaps with Republicans’ mistrust of Democrats and with often visceral opposition to immigration.
But there’s an important, barely veiled subtext as well, the subtext that explains why the “theory” is embraced by white nationalists. The opposition to native-born Americans being “replaced” isn’t opposition to blond-haired Swedish migrants sneaking over the border into Vermont. It’s opposition to non-White migrants edging out White U.S. residents. That, too, makes the “great replacement theory” espoused by people like Fox News’s Tucker Carlson valuable: It’s a way of talking about race without explicitly talking about race. CONTINUED
Philip Bump, Washington Post
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