Understanding Trump: Economic anxiety is racial anxiety

Published August 31, 2016 2:22am ET



Donald Trump, the story goes, won the Republican primary because he appealed to working class Americans who have taken the brunt of the globalization, immigration, and financialization of recent decades.

The counterargument is just as well-worn this election: Trump’s supporters aren’t really suffering economically. “Economic anxiety” is just a cover story for racism and bigotry. Trump Country is just bitter white people upset that Hispanics are moving into their country and that black people are increasingly on equal footing. They’re also probably sexist.

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