Thread by @SethAbramson

If there was any doubt left in anyone's mind about whether Trump is a racist, his recent racist tweets permanently ended it.

The question that now must be asked (whose answer I'm still thinking through): can a person vote for a racist to run America and say they're not a racist?

1/ I don't like the idea of saying, "If you vote for Trump, you're a racist," as I don't doubt there are people who for some reason vote for Trump who have kindness and love in their hearts. And of course I know we're *all* racist in some way, given America's culture and history.

2/ But Trump's *openly* a racist—meaning, it's not a matter of habit, instinct, received bias, or other things we try to extirpate in ourselves. He's *self-consciously* racist. So unless you don't watch *any* news, how could anyone who's not self-consciously racist vote for him?

3/ So my question—and I really do ask it as a question—is whether we now must say that if you vote for or support Trump in any way, you *are (and *self-consciously*) racist—meaning you *knowingly* want to *advance* racist thought and ideology by entrenching it in the White House.

4/ I can only imagine how many commentators will say "Of course!" and "It's been that way from the beginning!" but more careful political analysts will say, actually, there's *long* been numerous *other* justifications provided in media and political science for voting for Trump.

5/ What I'm asking, therefore, is whether that era of political analysis is officially over now and we must publicly say—including on major media—that there's a Democratic Party on the one hand and an openly racist government on the other, and everyone must choose eyes wide open.

6/ If this *really* were a new era in political discourse, we'd have to start saying that support for Trump is the new dividing line for willing, knowing, self-conscious racism: if you support Trump, the thinking would go, you're a willing, knowing, self-conscious racist. Period.

7/ So when I ask, "Are we there yet?," I mean it, as the implications for our political history, political discourse, and political environment broadly are profound if the country is hereafter divided into two camps: those who want an openly racist government and those who don't.

8/ For those who say, "Well, I think he's a racist, which I don't like, so the only thing I support is his racist policies," that's not a solution to the dilemma. But even if you say, "I dislike his racism, but like his policies, which I don't think are racist," why aren't you...

9/ ...on Twitter right now saying, "I want Trump to be primaried"? If you hate Trump's racism but love his policies, shouldn't you be seeking *actively and aggressively* for a new "non-racist" champion within the Republican Party to advance those policies? But it seems no one is.

10/ This last point is therefore key: Any American can have a "non-racist" reason for supporting most policies (even, say, a border wall). But can *anyone* have a "non-racist" reason for wanting an *open racist* to be the one in the White House *implementing* those policies? /end