Mexican-ness, at a guess.
It’s always hard to pin down what Trump actually stands for; he does seem to have some beliefs if you look back to things he said in the 80s/90s that he’s been fairly consistent on, but nothing that he’s not willing to put aside in the interest of his own narcissism.
I’ve been analyzing my conservative friends over the last few years though, trying to figure out how “community-minded” and otherwise decent people can vote in a manner that seems horrifying.
I think there’s 2 kinds of racists on the right, and it’s confusing until you look at the Jewish situation.
There’s the eugenicists who think that white people are genetically superior, and really think it’s important for the human race to purge anyone without proper white ancestry. I sincerely think that Elon Musk is in this camp, and that’s why he’s not really popular with a lot of other oligarchs. These are the Hard R racists.
The other camp genuinely doesn’t think white individuals are anything special, but they think that Western culture is. These racists know that there are dumb, worthless white people, and smart, successful brown people. A lot of the time they know this because they grew up in small towns full of ignorant burnouts and wastoids, or they saw in their own families – people who “failed to launch.” They’re not blind to global progress – anyone can see that China is crushing it, the Middle East is full of successful wealthy people, India is a nuclear power, etc. And they can compare that against, say, Appalachia or Mississippi.
They’re Western chauvinists, though – China was only able to be successful because they took away personal freedom, India is taking forever to overcome its cultural deficiencies, Africa is going to take longer still, and the Middle East is perpetually a mess. The West, though, by which they mean the White West, took off for a reason, but that reason to them is cultural, not genetic.
Why does that matter? Because to them, America must remain mostly White, Western European, and Christian in order to continue its success, because only White, Western European (by descent) Christians understand the culture they need to maintain. They will not compromise on this. They’ll allow immigration because they don’t necessarily hate people of color, they just don’t want people of color diminishing what they see as American culture. So Mexican immigrants from the 90s who are now fully assimilated are OK, really, but El Salvadorian immigrants living in a Hispanic community are bad. Haitians living in a Haitian community, or Somalis in a Somali community, those are bad, but Black business owners having a beer and watching football are fine.
And to them Jews are OK as long as they’re in Israel. Because they think it’s perfectly fine for other races to exists as long as they don’t bother Americans. China is for the Chinese, Japan for the Japanese, India for the Indians, Pakistan for the Pakistanis, and Israel for the Jews, see?
I worry that when people accuse Trump (who’s the latter type of racist here, if that wasn’t clear) of being a racist, they fall into the trap of not specifying which kind of racist. Or maybe it’s not even the right word. Because, really, how can Trump be a racist if he has people of color in his orbit? It’s because the people in his orbit are bending over backwards to prove that they’re the right kind of Americans – they’re also Western chauvinists, they’re also Christians, they’re also in love with the greatness of White culture.
Why is Hegseth getting rid of people of color in the military? It’s not because he thinks they’re genetically inferior, it’s because by and large they’re leftists, and leftists (to them) believe that there is no American culture worth defending – America is a melting pot, it’s whatever it happens to look like today, or tomorrow, based on who’s living here.
And likewise, Jews in America are fine as long as they’re not leftists.
I realized this when I suggested to a friend of mine that America in 100 years might look completely different – white people may be a minority, English may not be the dominant language, Christianity might not be the dominant religion – but the important thing would remain. That is, a system of self-governance built upon peaceful transition of power. See, I thought this was a universal American belief. But no, he recoiled and said that wouldn’t be America anymore.
That’s why we’re careening towards a second civil war, for what it’s worth. Because Americans can’t agree at the moment what our country even stands for. Some people will say that our current political climate was caused by the South not being properly punished after the civil war, which is probably true. But the civil war happened because after the constitution was ratified, the people who objected because the constitution was “took woke” never went away.
It’s because he’s a racist and the guy that’s running his policy, Stephen Miller, is a white supremacist. They don’t want non-White people in the country. The problem is not anything they’re doing, it’s who they are.
Excellent analysis. I also suspect that your second type of racism is common in every country in the world - if not predominant.
Indeed, more so. And that provides “justification” for that type of racist in America. “If Sweden, Japan, etc are all allowed to be racist ethno-states, why can’t we?”
(Of course, that doesn’t make it OK. Ethno-states are bad, ya know? Something we’ve got a long way to go towards making a universal sentiment).