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.@rodrikdani dismisses "out of hand" the focus of "many commentators … on Trump’s appeals to racism," because racism has always been present and thus cannot explain Trump's rise. project-syndicate.org/commentary/eco… 1/
Here's the full paragraph of Rodrik's that concerns me: 2/ 
I have seen many similar efforts to minimize the role of racism and bigotry in Trump's election, so I guess this merits a rebuttal. 3/
Yes, there has always been racism and various forms of bigotry. My sense is that, overall, the situation improved from the 1970s to 2016, and we were in a better place (although still a bad one). 4/
But there was a resurgence in 2016 when Trump came on the political scene. That resurgence was due to Trump's explicit, loud, and confrontational bigotry. 5/
Here's one example (but there are plenty of others): vox.com/2015/9/17/9349… 6/
While there was plenty of racism in the recent past, Trump riled people up and consolidated them all in one party. He was their voice and their inspiration, and was unlike any credible presidential candidate in recent memory. 7/
For all the legitimate criticisms of George W. Bush, he did not talk about religious, ethnic, or other minorities in the harsh and hateful way that Trump has done. 8/
If videos of Trump saying awful things are not enough for you, you can also try these studies: pnas.org/content/115/19…, vox.com/policy-and-pol…, piie.com/publications/w…, thenation.com/article/econom… 9/
Now, anyone who has been paying attention to US politics knows all this. It's pretty obvious. 10/
So why make the effort to diminish it in this way? I suppose because of a policy agenda, which is understandable, I guess. Everyone does this sort of thing to some extent. 11/
But what I would say to them is, please don't "dismiss out of hand" the importance of Trump's racism and bigotry. Doing so is really harmful. 12/
I would also say, if you really don't understand why Trump is different than what came before, you should look more closely at what he has been saying. Racism may not be your field of study, but recognizing its resurgence is important nonetheless. End/
