Trump's Racism Fuels The Never-Ending White Grievance Industry

A new documentary "White With Fear" reveals how the GOP's embrace of racism and the Southern Strategy directly leads to Trump admiring Hitler's generals and being rewarded for it.

“It doesn’t cost $60,000 to bury a fucking Mexican! Don’t pay it,” Trump told his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows upon learning how much it would cost to bury 20-year-old American private Vanessa Gullen, who was murdered by a fellow soldier.

That’s one of the numerous bombshells dropped by General John Kelly in a report by The Atlantic published earlier today. This shouldn’t be shocking to anyone who’s been paying attention to Trump’s racism ever since he descended the fake golden staircase and called Mexicans “rapists” and criminals.” In the final month before the 2024 election, instead of outlining a health care plan, Trump has instead promoted racist, neo-Nazi conspiracies about Haitian immigrants eating pets and undocumented immigrants with “bad genes” allegedly raping everyone in the suburbs

Speaking of Nazis, General Kelly shared another whopper of a Trump quote in The Atlantic: “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.” For those who aren’t students of World War 2, please know that Hitler was the final boss-level bad guy. The Nazis, led by his generals, were his no good, terrible, awful army that set upon a genocidal path of fascist domination and were thwarted thanks to the heroism of US and allied soldiers and veterans who risked their lives to defend democracy and freedom. Those are the very same soldiers that Trump routinely mocks as “suckers and losers” while he brags that his personal Vietnam was avoiding STDs.

Meanwhile, Trump for some strange, odd, peculiar, random reason can’t stop himself from admiring and quoting Hitler, such as blaming immigrants for “poisoning” the blood of America. He also seems to have a lot of affinity for people who admire Hitler, such as white nationalist Nick Fuentes whom he dined with at Mar-a-Lago and whom he has still refused to condemn. He also said the assortment of tiki torch-carrying white supremacists at Charlottesville were “very fine people.” Maybe it’s just economic anxiety. Or, hear me out, maybe, it is and always has been racism and white supremacy.

But don’t take my word for it. Just watch the new documentary White With Fear by award-winning director Andrew Goldberg which charts the modern right-wing hate machine that kicked off in 1968 with Richard Nixon’s deliberate exploitation of white fear and resentment against African Americans and the Civil Rights movement. He begins the fast-paced and sobering documentary with footage of white suburban women in 1968 Detroit arming themselves to protect their communities from “urban crime” (Black people). Their talking points and fear could easily be copy-pasted into Laura Ingraham’s weekly rant. They echo the suburban rage and white fear of the McCloskeys, who illegally brandished firearms against peaceful BLM protestors in 2020 and were rewarded with a primetime spot at the RNC to warn Americans about the “invasion”.

Mark McCloskey is interviewed alongside an impressive array of interview subjects including Hillary Clinton, Steve Bannon, and Rep. Jamie Raskin. Former right-wing operatives, Stuart Stevens and Tim Miller, openly describe how the GOP has refined and evolved the Southern Strategy for the past 50 years culminating in MAGA finally taking the hoods off and using a bullhorn instead of a dog whistle. Authors and researchers, such as Ian Haney Lopez, Jean Guerrero, and Carol Anderson, provide their expertise into how Trump and MAGA have carried the white nationalist tiki torch forward in the 21st century.

Full disclosure: I also pop up in the documentary looking much younger and slimmer considering I was interviewed about two years ago. I wasn’t paid for my involvement and had forgotten about the project until I was sent the finished movie last week. I appreciate the filmmakers spending significant time on the 9-11 terror attacks and the subsequent War on Terror as a pivotal modern fork in the road that accelerated the influence of Fox News and the radicalization of American politics. The acceptable Islamophobia and bigotry of the time, along with the expansion of the military-industrial complex, directly led to Trump’s ascension according to journalist Spencer Ackerman in his book Reign of Terror. Recall Trump gained momentum during his 2016 race by promising a Muslim Ban. He was also one of the loudest promoters of the racist and Islamophobic “birther” conspiracy against “Barack Hussein Obama.” Even last week at the repulsive Al Smith Dinner, he couldn’t help himself and repeated the dog whistle.

As the documentary makes clear, Trump’s embrace of full-throated Nazi talking points, conspiracy theories, and racism is neither a shock nor a surprise to anyone willing to pay attention to the racist dog whistles the GOP has embraced and unleashed for the 60 years. With Trump, the modern GOP realized they don’t need the subtleties. The more cruel, belligerent, violent, ugly, racist, and misogynist Trump behaves, the more his base loves him. The reason why 46% of the country will vote for a 78-year-old, twice impeached criminal who talks about Arnold Palmer’s penis is because racism works and fear sells. As the film reveals, this is part and parcel of American history and American politics. It ain’t economic anxiety, it’s always white cultural anxiety and racist fears.

Take time to watch the documentary and get caught up to speed on how the GOP has deliberately promoted racism, division, and hate to win elections over the past 60 years. However, the story is still being written and the bad guys haven’t won yet. Instead of sanewashing the truth or engaging in “both sides” framing to pander to MAGA voters, it’s time for the rest of us to call out Trump’s racism and decisively vote against it.