NeverTrumpers Should Be Blunter About Donald Trump’s Toxic Racism

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In the LA Times today, Jonah Goldberg pushes back against defenses of Donald Trump which rely on the claim that “populism” has always been a part of the Republican message:

Not all populisms are the same, because though they all claim to be the voice of the people, they invariably speak with a specific voice for a specific subset of the people….Populism is a bottom-up phenomenon, but it is shaped and defined by rhetoric from the top. And just as there are differences between left and right populism, there are different kinds of conservative populism.

I appreciate the small band of conservative NeverTrumpers. Really, I do. But I sure wish they could be a little more forthright about exactly what makes Trump’s brand of populism so poisonous: namely that the “specific subset of the people” Trump speaks for is explicitly white people. He routinely appeals to white resentment and racial bigotry with barely even a fig leaf to camouflage what he’s doing. This appeal has been a part of the Republican Party for decades, but in recent years its public face has dwindled, mostly taking the form of wink-wink-nudge-nudge innuendo. Trump doesn’t bother. His core base is white people who are mad at blacks and Hispanics and Muslims, and he’s happy to publicly stoke their anger.

Aside from his chaotic incompetence, this is what makes Trump different and toxic. It’s not his conservative heresies on trade or entitlements or Putin or NATO. It’s his racism. It shouldn’t be so hard to put that front and center.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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