Trump wasn’t attacking identity politics. He was practicing it, without apology.
The distinction is absolutely crucial. In several other posts on the JAG site, including a nuanced response to Goldberg’s critique, one senses a longing for Trump to use multicultural means to smite the multicultural left so that the colorblind rule of law might be reinstituted in American public life. They want Trump to fight fire with fire and beat the left at its own identity-politics game — not because identity politics is good, but because identity politics is the only thing that can beat identity politics.
The only problem is that there is no evidence whatsoever that Trump sees things this way. He’s not an adept in the “jujitsu overthrow of liberalism.” He’s just a ruthless businessman ready and willing to say or do anything to win (or in the case of a loss, to assure that the blame is fixed on somebody, anybody but himself). If that end will be furthered by impugning in ethnic and racial terms the impartiality of a judge, then he is perfectly willing, and even eager, to do so.
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