There are two real problems. First, his base. They are basically the same people who opposed civil rights in the '60s. They just learned that they had to stop shouting the n-word, and so forth, because by following certain rules, they got to deny that they were "racist." This is the central problem with simple linguistic rules. Hence, dog whistle politics, and coded appeals to racism, or, what David Sears has referred to as symbolic racism. The thing is, this is like methadone to a heroin addict. They've been craving heroin for decades. That's why they're always whining about, "why do they get to say the n-word when I can't?!" By ramping up the racist rhetoric, Trump gives them what has been missing from their lives for years. That's why they love him. They are the problem, and the more empowered they feel to express their racism, the worse it gets.
And it's impossible to deal with them without the other part of the problem. That's Republican Party leadership. A while back, I did a series called "On power and corruption." Basically, it was about how institutions let themselves get twisted and compromised by horrible people who say and do indefensible things.
For decades, starting with Goldwater, the GOP made a calculated decision to welcome the racists into their camp with coded language, but to try to keep it from getting out of hand. This was best expressed by Lee Atwater-- Reagan's chief strategist-- in this interview.
The problem is that when Trump is the one turning the dog whistle into the bullhorn, the party is so terrified to confront him on anything that they just go with it. With a base that has been craving hardcore racism for decades, and a party leadership so corrupt and cowardly that it cannot confront the demagogue leading the charge...
There's no end here.
Instead, the Democrats are going full identity politics on everything, casually ignoring Ilhan Omar's anti-semitism, maximizing the ugliness, and American politics go further down the spiral.
More this weekend. If I can stomach it.
Links to "On power and corruption"
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI