How a White Nationalist Sold White Nationalism as Nationalism

Donald Trump’s four years as president taught us many things. Very few of these things are fun to remember. We learned that a sitting president can hit the links during a national and global health crisis without repercussion. We learned that, with enough members of a particular party in the United States Senate, a president can get away with murder, dishonesty, and total incompetence. We also learned, or perhaps were reminded, that millions of Americans will blindly support and espouse white supremacist ideals so long as they are candy-coated with buzzwords like “patriotism” or promise to “make America great again.”

When Trump announced that he would run for president, he helped white nationalism take up one of its most ambitious projects yet: successfully masquerading as regular old nationalism. And the project was so incredibly successful that millions of residents in the twenty-five states that voted for him last November, I am sure, do not believe they have a racist bone in their bodies. How could they when the man controlling the show is the self-proclaimed “least racist person anyone is going to meet”?

In the mind of a Trump supporter, it is positively unfathomable to believe he may be a white nationalist. I cannot count the number of times I have heard them deny this claim by regurgitating Trump’s belief that he has done more for Black Americans than any president “since Abraham Lincoln.” It is understandable that he should try to corroborate his pro-Blackness by mentioning Lincoln. After all, I could see Trump empathizing with Lincoln, who stated clearly that he was “in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race” while campaigning in 1860. Trump also sported the support of two Black Republicans in Ben Carson, who is famously fraudulent, and the late Herman Cain, who died from complications of the virus Trump failed to control or even take seriously.

So, some Black Republicans like him and he claims to be, more or less, the savior of Black America. You will not be surprised to learn that the statistics suggest otherwise. But one does not need to consult statistics to know that someone who believes the statement “Black lives matter” is “discriminatory” as opposed to self-evident does not have the best interest of minorities at heart. Or who courts the support of white nationalist domestic terrorist organizations like the Proud Boys and the Ku Klux Klan. Or who temporarily banned migration from what seemed to be randomly selected Middle Eastern and African countries to thwart “foreign terrorist entry into the United States.” Or who did so after referring to a vague and unsubstantiated “Muslim problem” multiple times, effectively indicting an entire religion for the actions of extremists.

But the clear racially antagonistic elements of these facts are usually packaged by Trump and others on the far right with a hefty dose of American pride and the suggestion that you hate your country if you disagree with their bigotry. One such example of this misdirection, which I have mentioned before, was Trump’s insistence late last year that the nation retool its education system to promote “pro-American” and “patriotic education,” because the teaching of slavery and Jim Crow constituted “left-wing indoctrination.” That really happened.

One would struggle to find a more perfect example of white nationalism strategically wearing the clothes of nationalism—to be true patriots, we must forget the nation’s bitterly racist sins. Sins that implicate wealthy white people (sound familiar?) and profoundly damaged the potential for the future prosperity and wellbeing of African Americans. Naturally, telling the true story of slavery hurts the motives of white nationalism and white supremacy. The then-white nationalist and white supremacist-in-chief responded to this issue by beginning to map out the dirty work required to protect the interests of himself and his kind.

Trump remains idolized after leaving the White House, and this means that his cleverly packaged racist ideals still resonate with millions of Americans. And I could not use “idolize” more literally, considering his immortalization by a golden statue at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference. We should not expect this racism-that-doesn’t-believe-it’s-racism to fade any time soon, either, since the election results told us he has the support of half the country. A word to the wise: do not be fooled. The signs have always been as clear as can be. The only thing left to wonder about is whether his dangerous spell will ever wear off.