The Rise of the Modern White Nationalist Movement

Chapter 3 traces the rise of the modern white nationalist movement and the process by which it was mainstreamed in American politics. The chapter describes the ideology of white nationalists and the variety of racialized political narratives utilized by movement leaders to foster white racial consciousness. These narratives became increasingly resonant among white racists due to observable increases in racial diversity, which was portrayed as a threat to white supremacy. Nonetheless, because of the relatively closed nature of the political opportunity structure, white racists had few vehicles open to them to express their frustration. From the 1980s until the election of Obama in 2008, white racists became increasingly disillusioned with contemporary politics. Most white racists sat out of politics altogether as an increasingly angry minority fueled a rapid growth in white nationalist groups that were relegated to the extremist fringe.

The Mainstreaming of Racism in American Politics

This chapter frames the book’s analysis and provides an overview of the subsequent chapters. It explains how racism today is manifested most significantly in white “outgroup hostility” toward Latinos and Muslims as well as African Americans. It highlights the importance of race-baiting elites in exploiting a transformed media landscape to stoke white outgroup hostility and thereby mainstream racism in American politics today. The chapter introduces and defines a number of key terms, including “racialized political narratives” that operate to racialize selected groups of people to be constructed as threatening “outgroups” in opposition to whites as the “ingroup.” It emphasizes that the “political opportunity structure” for white racial extremists became more open, especially with the rise of the Tea Party movement, leading to their increased participation in conventional politics. The chapter argues that these factors had already converged prior to 2016 for Donald Trump to exploit in winning the presidency, thereby accelerating the mainstreaming of racism in American politics by putting it at the center of public policymaking in the White House.

Outgroup Hostility and the Mainstreaming of Racism

Chapter 10 reviews the major findings of the book and draws conclusions about what is to be done to respond to the mainstreaming of racism in the current era. The findings suggest that U.S. politics has become extremely polarized, with the Republican Party becoming disproportionately comprised of whites with high levels of outgroup hostility. While Donald Trump was central in making this happen, white outgroup hostility is likely to have an enduring influence on American electoral politics for some time to come. In the current era of extreme polarization, the hopes for an inclusive democracy can be derailed for dictatorship. Whites increasingly are expressing declining support for democracy given that it means to them a stronger government that supports outgroups. Given the high levels of racialized outgroup hostility, it is futile to try to convert them or achieve common ground. Mobilization of an opposition and resistance to white racism is more likely to prove effective than trying to persuade those whites to switch sides. Evidence from the Blue Wave in the 2018 midterm elections suggest that is indeed likely to be effective.

From Tracking to Trolling to Tribalism

Chapter 6 focuses on the role of a changing media landscape in disseminating misinformation to a disproportionately underinformed audience to support Donald Trump. It shows how the Trump campaign and its allies, including the contract firm Cambridge Analytica as well as Russian operatives, exploited the changing media landscape to spread misinformation to sow racial division and stoke white outgroup hostility. The chapter examines the nexus between Fox News, fake news, and Trump to provide evidence of the specific connection that demonstrates the key role of the mass media, social media included, in disseminating misinformation about outgroups and sustaining high levels of outgroup hostility among whites.

The Mainstreaming of the White Nationalist Movement

Chapter 4 documents the rise of the Tea Party movement (TPM) and how it evolved into an attractive vehicle for the expression of outgroup hostility and the pursuit of racist policy priorities. We show that the TPM not only mobilized a significant number of previously inactive white racial conservatives but also co-opted a significant portion of the white nationalist movement, especially the traditional white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. In many ways the TPM set the stage for Trump by bringing more white racists and racial conservatives into electoral politics. Yet this newly energized constituency lacked a national leader. Trump’s emergence as a presidential candidate thus represents the second critical change in the political opportunity structure. With Trump, white racial extremists and racial conservatives now had a national leader who spoke directly to their outgroup hostility and their anger.

The Critical Role of Outgroup Hostility in the 2016 Election

Chapter 8 offers a thorough analysis of survey research data from the American National Election Study (ANES), the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), and the Democracy Fund’s Voter Study Group (DFVSG) to show that white outgroup hostility had a uniquely strong effect on vote choice in 2016. It provides evidence that outgroup hostility was as important in predicting vote choice as party identification. Although many people have argued that a major factor in Trump’s victory was increasing economic anxiety within the white working class, the findings presented offer evidence that economic anxiety had a relatively small direct effect on support for Trump. Rather, its effect was largely exerted indirectly, filtered through the primary effects of outgroup hostility toward blacks, Latinx immigrants, and Muslims. The influence of outgroup hostility is even more compelling when we consider its indirect effect on vote choice through its effects on party identification and ideology. This chapter most significantly (1) specifies the causal pathways that are suggestive of a process by which white identity gets politicized as what has been called white racial consciousness; (2) discusses how white racial consciousness is the result of the dissemination of racialized political narratives as propagated by race-baiting elites; (3) examines how this dissemination of racialized political narratives agitates attitudes of outgroup hostility; and (4) explores how that outgroup hostility was a critical factor in producing a winning Trump coalition that furthered the mainstreaming of racism right into the White House.

A Leader Normalizes White Extremist Rhetoric

Chapter 5 provides evidence from Trump’s speeches to show that he was indeed the leading race-baiter and exploited the changed political landscape in ways that not only garnered him a loyal base of white supporters but also greatly facilitated in legitimating the mainstreaming of racism. The chapter provides evidence that Trump mainstreamed established white nationalist thinking by echoing the major themes of the new racial outgroup hostility through his repeated targeting of African Americans, Latinx immigrants, and Muslims in his campaign rhetoric.

How Trump Used Outgroup Hostility to Win

Chapter 9 shows that the Trump campaign’s explicitly stated strategy of mobilizing nonvoters through targeted, emotional appeals in swing states paid off. The chapter also provides empirical evidence that Trump benefited more from mobilizing nonvoters from 2012 than in persuading 2012 Obama voters to switch parties and support Trump, although both groups of voters were important to Trump’s success. We show that one of the most important factors that contributed to the success of Trump’s mobilization strategy was his rhetorical emphasis on outgroup hostility, which resonated among the most hardcore racists within the white nationalist movement, including the emerging alt-right, leading to an unprecedented level of interest from and involvement of white nationalism in Trump’s campaign. By providing a more attractive venue for white nationalists to channel their activism, Trump has essentially facilitated the co-optation of a significant segment of the white nationalist movement into the Republican Party, helping him mobilize white nonvoters with high levels of outgroup hostility and as a result accelerate the mainstreaming of racism in American politics.

Preying More Than Pandering

Chapter 7 examines the success of the Trump campaign and its allies in garnering the support of “low-information voters” who were more vulnerable than informed voters, especially in this changing media environment, to relying on emotions for making their vote choice. It shows that low-information whites who had a low need for cognition were most likely to have high levels of outgroup hostility and were therefore most likely to be responsive to Trump’s race-baiting and to believe Trump’s lies.

The Changing Face of Racism

Chapter 2 begins by surveying the literature on white racial prejudice and voting behavior. It shows that over the four presidential elections from 2004 to 2016, white hostility toward African Americans, Latinx immigrants, and Muslims became increasingly intertwined and formed the basis for what is defined here as a contemporary form of ethnocentrism as expressed in white outgroup hostility. The chapter confirms the results of other studies that have shown that while the effect of outgroup hostility on vote choice greatly increased in 2016, the level of outgroup hostility actually declined between 2012 and 2016. Therefore, to properly understand the political mainstreaming of racism over the 2010s, the chapter argues that one must not only consider the evolution of whites’ racial attitudes but also examine the processes by which outgroup hostility is translated into political participation. Chapter 2 introduces a theoretical framework that combines insights from social identity theory to understand changes in whites’ racial attitudes with theories of political participation originating from the social movement literature. The framework thus emphasizes the highly contingent nature of the relationship between white racial consciousness, outgroup hostility, and political mobilization. Specifically, the chapter outlines a model of the process by which racialized political narratives help activate a politicized white consciousness that leads to anger, expressed though outgroup hostility, and thus serves as the catalyst for political mobilization.