The Politics of Losing

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Book Review
The book titled The Politics of Losing: Trump, the Klan, and the Mainstreaming of Resentment by Rory McVeigh and Kevin Estep demonstrates middle-class White Americans as the most significant influencers and victims of identity politics in the United States. The central idea that McVeigh and Estep advance is that there is significant similarity between the 1920s Klan and the administration of former President Donald Trump. The authors argue that the most remarkable similarity is that both contexts promote and exhibit a high degree of white nationalism. Therefore, historical evidence helps to support the characters of the 1920s Klan. On the other hand, an evaluation of the decisions and strategies of Trump assist in understanding the promotion of white nationalism in his tenure. The book explains that the rise of racism when Trump was president is a derivative of encouraging fascism. The former president's strategy to promote fascism and white nationalism is an over-emphasis of the negative economic impacts of globalization and migration. The middle-class whites are the majority, rendering them the most influential population segment in American politics. Withal, historical comparison and the power devaluation model are the tools that the book authors use to argue that middle-class whites perpetuate white nationalism by avoiding leaders who do not cater to their economic needs.
The strength of the book is the comprehensive comparison between right-wing politics and the 1920s Klan. The comparison brings forth the notion that white nationalism is a product of social classifications. Therefore, their affiliation with either the liberal society or the right-wing supporters. McVeigh and Estep argue that the origin of fascism was evangelical Christianity, which waged intellectual, faith-based, and sometimes violent wars against Semites. As a result, the Ku Klux Klan and other right-wing movements used nationalism-based arguments to protect their "entitlements" of using violence and other subjugating tactics against various minorities and maintain political and economic control. Therefore, identity politics played a significant role in the division of Americans. In this regard, right-wing movements used political arguments concerning redistributive policies for minorities and poverty. Therefore, there is a sense in which the policies informing the wellbeing of the minorities in America have determined how citizens vote.
However, the focus leads to a reduced concentration on middle-class white Americans. Therefore, a rivalry was established between democrats, who are pro-minorities, and middle-class whites. The book demonstrates that the set precedent informs that reason for middle-class Americans to support right-wing movements and ...