Our identities — and how we perceive the identities of others — have helped to inform, define and construct human politics for thousands of years. In its modern American form, “identity politics” is essentially the belief “that the most profound and potentially most radical politics come directly out of our own identity.” Identity politics is controversial in the U.S. today, with various factions across the political spectrum either supporting or condemning it.
Watch the above video as Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben Navarrette traces the roots of U.S. identity politics from America’s founding to the present day, then argues that Donald Trump has once again reaped the benefits of U.S. white national identity politics — this time with a Latino twist.
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The following is an excerpt from the above video:
Donald Trump is a great example. He’s the nation’s victim-in-chief. He’s constantly aggrieved because as a white man, life has apparently been unbearably difficult. Imagine how much more he could have accomplished in this world had he been born a Latina with a disability. Man, some people just have all the luck!
But let’s go back and examine what’s happening in the aftermath of Harris’s defeat. In a word, it’s opportunism. You see, there are those on the cultural Right who oppose anything that gives a leg up to anyone who doesn’t look like them. They oppose affirmative action, DEI, multiculturalism, race-based scholarships, critical race theory and yes, identity politics. Those folks were chomping at the bit to make the case that when Americans voted against a woman who was half Black and half Indian American, well, what they were really doing was delivering a vote of no confidence in identity politics. Hmm, that’s taking the long way home. All right, I’m not sure those dots connect anywhere other than in MAGA world.
Also, I gotta say, I would find the argument that Trump’s victory repudiated identity politics much more persuasive if the Trump campaign hadn’t printed up all those cool “Latinos for Trump” yard signs, organized so many events targeting Latinos, put Trump before a town hall organized by Spanish language network Univision, and moved quickly to disavow an anti-Puerto Rico joke by a racist comedian at a Trump rally. I’d also find the “identity politics is dead” argument much more persuasive if Trump and the entire Republican Party were not currently gloating over the fact that all that Latino pandering seems to have paid off handsomely. Trump got 46% of [the] Latino vote in the 2024 election, the largest share of the Latino vote earned by any Republican presidential candidate in history. But who’s counting? Why, that would be identity politics.
