Whereas his Republican rivals were reluctant to use openly racist, nativistic, or demagogic appeals, Trump readily crossed those lines. His unique willingness to say and do things that other Republicans rejected as bigoted, racist, or cruel allowed him to dominate the market for white grievance votes. As the political scientist Ashley Jardina writes, Trump’s campaign signaled to white voters that he intended to “maintain the racial hierarchy.” Indeed, studies show that white Republicans who perceived their group’s status to be threatened were most likely to support Trump in the primaries. As
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