Hard White examines the mainstreaming of racism in American politics today. It analyzes how racism has changed in an age of globalization, immigration and ethnic and racial diversification to take the form of a new kind of white ethnocentrism that manifests itself in “outgroup hostility” toward the Latinx and Muslim populations as well as African Americans. The book analyzes how the white nationalist movement became a key force in intensifying outgroup hostility and how it became a crucial player in conventional politics in recent years, by assimilating itself in first the Tea Party and then the Republican Party itself. The book details how Donald Trump first as a candidate and then as president made the white nationalist movement a key part of his political base of support and how he used a transformed media landscape to fan the flame of outgroup hostility, gain electoral support and ultimately to mainstream racism in its new form right into the White House and conventional politics more generally. In conclusion the book examines how the Blue Wave of the 2018 midterm elections holds the key for understanding how to respond.
