Nancy Isenberg is the author of White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America (2016), and is the T. Harry Williams Professor of American History at Louisiana State University.
If not minimized as an aberration, mob violence is often justified as the legitimate expression of popular will.
In the words of retired Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy, “a people confident in its laws and institutions should not be ashamed of mercy.”
What historical category truly contains a Trump?
American politics thrives on exploiting confusion about real and perceived interests, whether those interests are tied to region or class, or both.