Trump supporters grow bolder in their racism

Perhaps this is too small an incident to matter much, a paragraph of history rather than a page. Nevertheless, the recent decision by a Virginia school board is telling: Its members voted to rename two schools for Confederate officers after different board members removed them four years ago. This is a microcosm of our current political moment — a nation engulfed in a vicious conflict over the past and the future, a battle fueled by bigotry.

The Shenandoah County school board voted this month to rename a high school for General Stonewall Jackson and an elementary school for General Robert E. Lee and Commander Turner Ashby. The Confederate names had been removed in 2020, when the nation appeared to be undergoing a period of racial reckoning.

Never mind that the Confederate officers were traitors who rebelled against their country in order to preserve “states’ rights” to enslave Black people. One school board member declared his deep respect for Lee: “When you read about this man — who he was, what he stood for, his character, his loyalty, his leadership, how Godly a man he was — those standards that he had were much higher than any leadership of the school system in 2020.”

Since Donald Trump’s surprising election in 2016, public intellectuals and political prognosticators have struggled to come to terms with what his political dominance portends. As polls show that Trump, who is seeking a return to the White House, is judged more favorably than incumbent President Joe Biden, analyses of voters’ preferences are even more confusing. Is this a rejection of the so-called elites? Is this merely skepticism over Biden’s handling of the economy or concerns about his age? Or is there something deeper and more unsettling here?

Having grown up in the Deep South before Jim Crow was finally abolished, I’ve seen clearly what so many seem eager to dismiss: Racism is resurgent in this country. Too many Americans are more than willing to toss aside democracy because it demands equality for all people, regardless of race or ethnicity or religion. The election of the first Black president provoked a vicious backlash by white Americans deeply agitated by demographic changes that will lessen white political and cultural dominance. Trump surfed that backlash right into the Oval Office, whipping it up along the way.

During Barack Obama’s tenure, Trump announced himself on the political stage as birther-in-chief, propagating the racist claim that Obama was not born in the United States and was therefore an illegitimate president, a usurper. It came as no surprise, then, when he rode down the golden escalator to announce his presidential campaign by denouncing Mexican migrants as drug dealers and rapists. Throughout his campaign, he mimicked the rhetoric of George Wallace, copying the rage and resentment of one of the nation’s most notorious segregationists. He pandered to the ultra-right, including violent white nationalists. It’s worth noting that he opposed a Pentagon plan to rename military bases that had honored Confederates, though the plan eventually passed anyway.

Though Trump lost his second campaign to Biden, he actually garnered more votes than he had the first time, by pulling in occasional voters who found something to like in Trump’s unconventional approach and explicit bigotry. Now, his third campaign has once again found broad support. Not all Trump voters are racists, of course. Some are more or less conventional conservatives who want a less powerful federal government and lower taxes. Some are moderates who are unhappy about the state of the economy.

Still, it’s impossible to ignore Trump’s routine bashing of migrants who attempt to cross the southern border — a campaign staple so important to his reelection that he ordered his sycophants in Congress to kill a bipartisan plan that would have strengthened border protections. If the problem were solved, Trump wouldn’t be able to use it to rouse his supporters.

Many polls show voters turning to Trump partly because of the toll of inflation. Don’t be fooled. It’s not the economy that undergirds Trump’s support. It’s the bigotry.

Cynthia Tucker won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2007. She can be reached at cynthia@cynthiatucker.com.