JD Vance And Republicans Don't Think Democrats Are 'Real Americans'

A common liberal summary of 21st-century American politics is: America elected a Black president and Republicans went crazy. Sometimes the end of this sentence is and white people went crazy. But the conclusion is still the same: The rise of Donald Trump (and, prior to that, of the Tea Party) can be explained exclusively by racism.

I've always had a problem with this argument. I agree that racism is a prime motivator for Republican voters. I just don't think it's the only motivator. I've seen the right-wing hatred directed at Bill and Hillary Clinton for the past thirty years. I've seen the hatred directed at Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, John Kerry, and Joe Biden, not to mention Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, as well as a long list of non-politicians: in the Bush years, Dan Rather, the Dixie Chicks, and even Barbra Streisand; in our own time, rage targets ranging from Taylor Swift to left-leaning college professors to ordinary trans teenagers.

All are deemed un-American, and maybe subhuman. The real America doesn't include them.

And then there are plain old liberals, who apparently shouldn't be allowed to serve on juries, according to the possible next vice president of the United States, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio.

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