Multicultural Incorporation in Donald Trump’s Political Rhetoric

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite living in a “post-racial” era, the election of Donald Trump seems to indicate the revitalization of racial anxieties through his deployment of figures such as the drug dealer and immigrant rapist. While scholars have examined his overt racism, fewer attend to his more inclusive rhetoric. This paper addresses Trump’s conservative rhetoric and his use of multicultural discourse. I argue it is in part through this seeming contradiction between Trump’s overt racism and claims to inclusion that he constructs a particular vision of “the American people” which harmonizes his white racial fantasy with a denial of his racism. In doing so, I seek to reveal that Trump is not antagonistic toward multicultural incorporation but rather an extension of its most insidious features; namely, the way multicultural rhetoric claims to include oppressed people while at the same time compounding their oppression.