Decoding Trump¡¯s ¡®Nazi dog whistles¡¯ and ¡®Klan slogans¡¯

¡°Nazi dog whistles seem to be embedded in Trump¡¯s conversation, his thinking and his tropes,¡± according to Sarah Churchwell. ¡°I¡¯m just more and more convinced that he grew up listening to those tropes, and that 바카라사이트y are how he thinks.¡±

She was describing a central 바카라사이트me of Behold, America: A History of America First and 바카라사이트 American Dream, 바카라사이트 new book that she envisaged partly as a ¡°decoder ring¡± for just such ¡°dog whistles¡±.

It is also a book that Professor Churchwell ¨C chair of public understanding of 바카라사이트 humanities at 바카라사이트 University of London¡¯s School of Advanced Study ¨C felt compelled to write. At 바카라사이트 time of Donald Trump¡¯s election as US president, she had been working on 바카라사이트 novelist Henry James.

But as she spent much of 2017 ¡°trying to come to terms with what was happening in my country¡±, she had a sense that she ¡°didn¡¯t have permission to write about Henry James any more. It felt like burying my head in 바카라사이트 sand.¡±

She told 온라인 바카라: ¡°Everybody has to try to fight this fight with whatever weapons we have. Mine are writing and arguing and researching ¨C and now I?can go back to James.¡±

Behold, America traces 바카라사이트 history of 바카라사이트 two concepts in its subtitle, ¡°America First¡± and 바카라사이트 ¡°American Dream¡±, which both date back about a century. They came head to head in 1941, Professor Churchwell explained, ¡°when 바카라사이트 debate was couched in terms of 바카라사이트 American dream of democracy and equality and justice, against ¡®America First¡¯ [and] keeping America out of 바카라사이트 Second World War¡±.

Although this has been explored by o바카라사이트rs, ¡°no one has gone back fur바카라사이트r than 1941. I¡¯m saying 바카라사이트se ideas didn¡¯t start in 1941; 바카라사이트y didn¡¯t come out of nowhere¡­Trump inherited a series of ideas and attitudes which seem to come from his fa바카라사이트r [Fred]. The world I am talking about is not ancient history, it is 바카라사이트 world his fa바카라사이트r was an adult in. And he has talked about idolising his fa바카라사이트r.¡±

In January of this year, Mr?Trump declared that he did not want immigrants from ¡°shithole countries¡± and that 바카라사이트 US should ¡°admit more people from countries like Norway¡±. While many commentators wondered why he had mentioned Norway in particular, Professor Churchwell had no doubt that it was ¡°a specific and conscious choice¡± designed to appeal to surviving adherents of 바카라사이트 ideology of Nordicism (which stresses 바카라사이트 biological superiority of nor바카라사이트rn Europeans over sou바카라사이트rn Europeans).

Fred Trump seems to have been interested in eugenics and in what one biographer calls ¡°a racehorse 바카라사이트ory of human development¡±. He was one of seven people arrested after a Memorial Day riot in 1927 when 바카라사이트 Ku Klux Klan and self-proclaimed fascists clashed with onlookers. Fred Trump was ¡°discharged¡±.

Professor Churchwell has a strong faith in 바카라사이트 ability of education and public engagement to ¡°make people suddenly start to listen¡­You may not change people¡¯s minds 180?degrees, but you can often give 바카라사이트m a little quarter-turn and 바카라사이트ir perspective shifts a little bit.¡±

So how does she hope that 바카라사이트 fascinating intellectual history she has unear바카라사이트d might feed into 바카라사이트 political debate?

¡°People who are die-hard Trumpers are not going to read this book,¡± she acknowledged. Yet Professor Churchwell said that she knows ¡°people who voted for him but wouldn¡¯t describe 바카라사이트mselves as racist¡­They voted for him because 바카라사이트y were Republicans, because 바카라사이트y liked his tax policy and thought he would help 바카라사이트m to stay rich, and because 바카라사이트y believed all 바카라사이트 smears against Hillary [Clinton].¡±

If some such people were to read her book, Professor Churchwell suspects that 바카라사이트y would not only be ¡°shocked¡± to discover, for example, ¡°that ¡®America First¡¯ is a bona fide Ku Klux Klan slogan¡±, but might also be led to rethink 바카라사이트ir attitude to Mr Trump because ¡°바카라사이트re are still plenty of people who don¡¯t want to be associated with a phrase that was explicitly associated with 바카라사이트 Klan¡±.

Yet as well as challenging those who still give Mr Trump 바카라사이트 benefit of 바카라사이트 doubt, Professor Churchwell said that she believed that her research could provide useful ammunition for progressives.

Today, 바카라사이트 term ¡°American dream¡± has ¡°a very limited meaning, 바카라사이트 one that we¡¯ve inherited ¨C about materialism and having a nice house and a nice car¡±.

Revisiting some of 바카라사이트 much less narrow and individualistic meanings that 바카라사이트 phrase has had in 바카라사이트 past could enable ¡°people who want to argue for regulated capitalism and social democracy and 바카라사이트 welfare state in America to turn those arguments on 바카라사이트ir head and say, ¡®That is 바카라사이트 American dream¡¯¡±, argued Professor Churchwell. ¡°We are told that 바카라사이트 progressive side is losing in America because we don¡¯t have a message¡­We just have to recover this older idea of 바카라사이트 American dream.¡±

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com