Racism as Self-Inflicted Harm: The Institutional Costs of White Supremacy in the Second Trump Presidency

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Abstract

Racism in the United States is often framed as individual prejudice, obscuring its deeper reality as a system of institutional power. In Impacts of Racism on White Americans in the Age of Trump (2021), we argued that racial hierarchy not only disadvantages people of color but also produces material, democratic, and psychological costs for many White Americans. This paper extends that argument into the second Trump presidency (2024–2028), examining how racialized governance reshapes institutions in ways that ultimately undermine broad segments of the White population.

We conceptualize racism as a political technology—mobilized to secure elite power by reshaping public policy, civil rights enforcement, and democratic norms. During both Trump administrations, explicit and coded appeals to White identity intensified polarization while reorienting federal priorities. Efforts to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, narrow systemic interpretations of discrimination, and recast civil rights enforcement around claims of “reverse discrimination” signal an institutional recalibration rooted in racial grievance politics.

Drawing on research across housing, labor markets, health policy, and democratic participation, we show how racialized opposition to redistribution and public goods weakens labor protections, limits healthcare access, and reduces economic mobility in segregated regions—harms borne disproportionately by working- and middle-class Whites. Survey data further indicate a growing alignment between racial resentment and anti-democratic attitudes, raising concerns about institutional trust and stability as the nation approaches the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election.

We argue that racism functions as a self-reinforcing but self-damaging system: while it preserves symbolic racial hierarchy, it erodes the institutional foundations necessary for democratic governance and shared prosperity. Understanding racism as structurally self-injuring reframes anti-racism not as moral charity but as democratic necessity.

Authors

• Duke W. Austin, California State University-East Bay

• Benjamin Paul Bowser