The Politics of Losing: Trump, the Klan, and the Mainstreaming of Resentment

Synopsis

The Ku Klux Klan Has Peaked Three Times In American History: After The Civil War, Around The 1960s Civil Rights Movement, And In The 1920s, When The Klan Spread Farthest And Fastest. Recruiting Millions Of Members Even In Non-southern States, The Klan's Nationalist Insurgency Burst Into Mainstream Politics. Almost One Hundred Years Later, Once Again The Pent-up Anger Of White Americans Left Behind By A Changing Economy Has Directed Itself At Immigrants And Cultural Outsiders And Roiled A Presidential Election. In The Politics Of Losing, Rory Mcveigh And Kevin Estep Trace The Parallels Between The 1920s Klan And Today's Right-wing Backlash, Identifying The Conditions That Allow White Nationalism To Emerge From The Shadows. White Middle-class Protestant Americans In The 1920s Found Themselves Stranded By An Economy That Was Increasingly Industrialized And Fueled By Immigrant Labor. Mirroring The Klan's Earlier Tactics, Donald Trump Delivered A Message That Mingled Economic Populism With Deep Cultural Resentments. Mcveigh And Estep Present A Sociological Analysis Of The Klan's Outbreaks That Goes Beyond Trump The Individual To Show How His Rise To Power Was Made Possible By A Convergence Of Circumstances. The Experience Of Declining Privilege And Perceptions Of Lost Power Can Trigger A Political Backlash That Overtly Asserts White-nationalist Goals. The Politics Of Losing Offers A Rigorous And Readable Explanation For A Recurrent Phenomenon In American History, With Important Lessons About The Origins Of Our Alarming Political Climate.0exhibition: The Ku Klux Klan In American History -- Power And Political Alignments -- Economics And White Nationalism -- Where Trump Found His Base -- Politics And White Nationalism -- Status And White Nationalism -- White Nationalism Versus The Press -- The Future Of White Nationalism And American Politics. Rory Mcveigh And Kevin Estep. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.