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Trump’s Use of State Power Is a Work of Whiteness
What his use of state power reveals about whiteness
He’s emblematic of whiteness. By observing Donald Trump, one gets a full view of whiteness. That’s why Trump seeking state power to aid his campaign is a white move. Without the aid of state power, neither Trump nor whiteness could continue.
The political facts to support the argument are public: Russia and other state actors aided Trump in 2016; Trump’s campaign welcomes help, and Trump extorted and bribed Ukraine to help him in 2020. Trump’s use of state power is a work of whiteness. This is less about dirt on an opponent; this is about whiteness for a candidate. For his white base, Trump must remain the whitest option; his attempts to use Ukraine, his use of the US government, and his appeals to other nations, are efforts to meet his need for whiteness.
Because Trump knows his political fate is fragile, he instinctively grabs power to boost himself. Trump cares about staying in power. And whiteness is the basis for his power. State power is critical because state power can make or break whiteness.
It’s clear from history that whiteness depends on state power.
Steve Martinot writes in his book “The Machinery of Whiteness” that “Domination is always a social relation whose existence requires a state for its continuance.” Likewise, many historians agree that whiteness takes its shape and shade in the modern state. It’s clear from history that whiteness depends on state power. Whiteness makes itself and its meanings through all kinds of laws, lawlessness, institutions, policies, arrangements, structures, and state-sanctioned violence.
Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom is insightful with her statements that “[w]hiteness can only be defined by state power,” and that “[w]hiteness necessitates Black subjugation.” To that point in the present tense — there’s no way to name or claim whiteness without a cost to Blackness. Just being white today all by itself — came by an abuse of power and remains by an abuse of power. Whiteness is an abuse of power that continues by state power.
So, it’s no surprise that the president of whiteness would abuse his power. It’s no surprise that the president of whiteness would use the power source of whiteness for more whiteness. Trump’s use of state powers — to include state powers from the region that wrongly inspired the misnomer “Caucasian”—isn’t a coincidence. That’s how whiteness stays and that’s how whiteness is made.
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