The real reason the Trump debate is uninteresting is the simple fact that if we weren’t dealing with hysterical outrage over his words about Mexican immigrants, we’d be dealing with hysterical outrage about some other public figure who said something — real or imagined — that once again “proves” that Republicans are horrible people who despise African-Americans, Latinos, and single women. The Democrats can’t win in 2016 without their so-called “coalition of the ascendant,” and that monolith is held together by the necessary margins only so long as each minority group can remain convinced that Republicans hate them.

Note that I said “by the necessary margins.” I’m under no illusions that any of the core Democratic constituencies are secretly conservative — ready to join the Tea Party but for Democratic demagoguery. It is true, however, that the Democrats’ key voting blocs are less liberal than the numbers would suggest. Take the black vote, for example. On even the most hot-button issues, African Americans are less politically monolithic than one might expect. According to some polls, a majority of African-Americans support voter ID. In some jurisdictions, black support for school choice — anathema to teachers’ unions — is overwhelming. And African-Americans have even voted to end affirmative action at rates that far surpass their support for Republican presidential candidates…

The pattern with Trump is thus depressingly familiar. A Republican makes a controversial public statement, popular culture and its corporate adjuncts respond with the kind of hysteria reserved only for conservatives, and the battle lines are drawn: You either disown the statements, or you’re racist. But conservatives can’t win this game. As with the Confederate flag debate, it’s “heads I win, tails you lose.” Disown Trump, and the Left doesn’t give you credit for tolerance. Regardless of your motives, you’re still the enemy — you can just be shamed. Defend him or act indifferent, and you’re the kind of shameless racist who proves America is growing more hostile to blacks every day.