“Divide, Divert, & Conquer” Deconstructing the Presidential Framing of White Supremacy in the COVID-19 Era

Based on the analysis of President Donald J. Trump’s social media, along with excerpts from his speeches and press releases, this study sheds light on the framing of white supremacy during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Our findings reveal that the triad of divide, divert, and conquer was crucial to Trump’s communications strategy. We argue that racist nativism—or racialized national threats to American security—is key to comprehending the external divisiveness in this strategy. When Trump bitterly cast China as the cause of America’s pandemic fallout and Mexico as the source of other key American problems (i.e., crime and low-paid jobs for U.S.-born Americans), he sowed clear racialized divisions between the United States (U.S.). and these two nations. We further argue that nativist racism—or the framing of descendants from those nations as incapable of ever being American—is key to comprehending the internal divisiveness in the former President’s pandemic rhetoric. Trump’s framing of China and Mexico as enemies of America further found its culprits in Asian and Latino Americans who were portrayed as COVID-19 carriers. Trump’s narrative was ultimately geared to diverting attention from his administration’s mishandling of COVID-19, the dismal structural conditions faced by detained and undocumented Latinos, and the anti-Asian bias faced by some of his Asian American constituents. In the conclusions, this article makes a call for countering white supremacy by developing comparative approaches that pay more attention to how different racisms play out for different groups.

Unpacking Resilience and Trauma: Examining the “Trump Effect” in Higher Education for Undocumented Latinx College Students

In response to the “Trump Effect”, or the negative climate in education following President Trump’s election, we examine the ways in which anti-immigration rhetoric from the recent election cycle and the elimination of DACA has influenced college experiences and trajectories of undocumented Latinx students. Using critical race theory, along with literature on trauma and resilience, we based our findings on three focus groups with 16 undocumented student participants, and highlight four emergent themes: (1) citizen fragility seemed pervasive and finding hope was deemed as challenging; (2) students experienced an increase of emboldened racist nativism on their college campuses; (3) the exploitation of undocumented student labor; and (4) shared solidarity was beneficial for student resilience. Findings illuminate how colleges and universities need to reconceptualize the notion of resilience by addressing systemic racist nativism in higher education.

Mapping Intersectionality and Latina/o and Chicana/o Students Along Educational Frameworks of Power

This chapter reviews scholarship using intersectional analyses to assess how Latina/o and Chicana/o youth navigate imbricated systems of privilege and oppression in their educational trajectories. Scholars have explored the navigational tactics Latina/o and Chicana/o students use to negotiate their intersectional identities and the institutional practices that amplify or negate experiences of privilege or disenfranchisement. Others have articulated distinct forms of overlapping oppression, such as racist nativism, gendered familism, privilege paradox, and citizenship continuum. Researchers have also developed a methodology for intersectional analysis that combines both quantitative and qualitative elements, as well as a conceptual model that maps out the micro, meso, and macro levels of intersectionality to account for both structure and agency within multifaceted dynamics of power. This chapter notes the reliance on race- and gender-based frameworks, on interviews and focus groups, and on college-age or graduate students for intersectional analysis on Latina/o and Chicana/o students. Together, the chapter reveals the complexity of capturing the multitiered planes of privilege and power that intersect in dynamic ways to disenfranchise and empower Latina/o and Chicana/o students.