Description
Book SynopsisIn this book, John Ehrenberg argues that Donald Trump, as both candidate and president, represents a qualitatively new stage in the evolution of the Republican Party's willingness to exploit American racial tensions.
Works on Trump's use of race have tended to be fragmentary or subsidiary to a larger purpose. Ehrenberg concentrates his investigation on Trump's weaponized use of race, contextualized through historical and theoretical details, demonstrating that while Trump draws on previous Republican strategies, he stands apart through his explicit intention to convert the Republican Party into a political instrument of a threatened racial order. The book traces the Grand Old Party's (GOP) approach to racial matters from Goldwater's constitutional objection to federal activity in the South to George W. Bush's overtures to Black citizens. Ehrenberg examines the role of racial animus in prying loose a significant portion of the Democratic Party's electoral coalition and making p
Trade Review
"Ehrenberg has produced a beautifully written interdisciplinary study of Trump’s racism that is based on profound political insight and scholarly acumen. It should become a standard work."
Stephen Eric Bronner, Board of Governors Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Rutgers University
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Trumped 1. Barry and George Go Fishing 2. Dick’s Trick 3. Whistling for Plutocracy 4. The Wrecker and the Warrior Throw a Party 5. The Tribune Rides Forth 6. Toward White Minority Rule