Donald Trump is a “celebrity billionaire” who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017–2021. Some people believed that he was unqualified for the position, and his victory in the 2016 election came as a shock to many. But Isabel Wilkerson suggests that Trump’s rise to power stemmed from a nationwide panic of lower-class white people who believed that whiteness was endangered, and that the dominant caste would soon lose control of the country. Wilkerson believes that the white supremacist violence, anti-Semitic terrorism, and police brutality that took place during Trump’s presidency are examples of the dominant caste’s attempts to reassert their status following Barack Obama’s eight-year presidency.
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Donald Trump Character Timeline in Caste
The timeline below shows where the character Donald Trump appears in Caste. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Turning Point and the Resurgence of Caste
Caste, however, is a perfectly reasonable explanation for the ascendancy of Donald Trump to the highest office in the country. White voters across the U.S. were willing to...
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...perceived a threat to their survival and their domination acted in “white solidarity” by electing Trump. Meanwhile, Democrats focused on winning Republican voters—a lost cause—while ignoring the subordinate caste that has...
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