The racist theory that is animating some Trump backers (opinion)

Editor’s Note: Michael D’Antonio is the author of the book “Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success” and co-author, with Peter Eisner, of the book “High Crimes: The Corruption, Impunity, and Impeachment of Donald Trump.” James Cohen, PhD, is assistant professor of media studies at City College of New York and co-author with Thomas Kenny of “Producing New and Digital Media.” The opinions expressed in this commentary are their own. Trump has voiced racist paranoia about today’s new immigrants, referring to immigrants as rapists, drug traffickers and criminals, complaining of people coming to America from “sh****** countries” with large Black populations and suggested four Black and Brown women in Congress “go back and fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” Trump was, of course, imprecise. Add Trump’s musing about wanting more immigrants from Norway and his vow to “take back our country” and it’s easy to see he has already stepped up to the thin line that separates him from White Replacement Theory. In 2018, she said “In some parts of the country, it does seem like the America that we know and love doesn’t exist anymore.” She added, “Massive demographic changes have been foisted upon the American people and they’re changes that none of us ever voted for and most of us don’t like.” Although she subsequently said she wasn’t referring to race, and White nationalism is “antithetical” to her beliefs, Ingraham was embraced by racist agitator David Duke and later claimed on her show that a White supremacist was being “censored on social media.” Before Ingraham and others mainstreamed it, Replacement Theory bounced around the internet. Slightly more than half agreed with the notion “God intended America to be a new promised land where European Christians could create a society that could be an example to the rest of the world” and most of them agreed today’s immigrants are “replacing our cultural and ethnic background.” A shrewd politician who is willing to use fearmongering and racism to energize his supporters might use the language of Replacement Theory in an election campaign.