… The alt-right is not a large movement, but the prominence that it is enjoying in the early days of the Trump era may tell us something about the way the country is changing. At least since the end of the Cold War, and certainly since the election of a […] Read more »
What’s the Matter With Kansas? aptly describes the 2016 election — but was written in 2004
Thomas Frank’s 2004 book What’s the Matter With Kansas? ignited something of a firestorm within political science. It was attempting to explain recent trends in American politics, but its analysis wasn’t reflected in much actual data. Yet that book explains the 2016 election far better than it did the election […] Read more »
Donald Trump has every reason to keep white people thinking about race
There’s a growing body of research in political science and political psychology suggesting that even very mild messages or cues that touch on race can alter political opinions. The landmark book on the subject is Princeton professor Tali Mendelberg’s 2001 book The Race Card, which marshaled a wide array of […] Read more »
The revolt of the dispossessed
… Turnout, fake news, voter suppression, emails and a hundred other things also mattered. But Donald Trump succeeded in eliciting support from a large minority of Americans, and it’s worth understanding why. … To say this election was just about the economy or culture though is to miss its broader […] Read more »
Racism in the U.S. runs far deeper than Trump’s white supremacist fanbase
Nicholas Guyatt, University of Cambridge Donald Trump’s astonishing rise to the presidency has put racism at the heart of American politics. From the very start of his campaign, Trump called Mexicans “criminals” and “rapists” while pledging to build a wall between the US and its southern neighbour. He shocked the […] Read more »
The End of Identity Liberalism
… A convenient liberal interpretation of the recent presidential election would have it that Mr. Trump won in large part because he managed to transform economic disadvantage into racial rage — the “whitelash” thesis. This is convenient because it sanctions a conviction of moral superiority and allows liberals to ignore […] Read more »