Donald Trump's dangerous demagoguery

The racialised and nativist hostility Trump has exploited will not evaporate with his defeat. Supporters of Donald Trump shout at anti-Trump demonstrators outside a campaign event for Republican presidential candidate in San Diego, California on May 27 [Reuters] by Lauren Carasik Lauren Carasik is the Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Western New England University School of Law. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's recent attack on a federal judge presiding over fraud lawsuits against Trump University ignited a firestorm of controversy. The bigoted attack on the judge's heritage was hardly surprising since white nationalism is part of his appeal. His vitriol also elicited condemnation for his flagrant disregard for judicial independence and the rule of law. Yet, the Republican party is largely circling the wagons, privileging party loyalty and reclaiming the White House over principled resistance to the pernicious politics of hatred and exclusion and the authoritarianism Trump's demagoguery threatens to usher in.