Illiberal America and Democratic Resurgence

Donald Trump’s reliance on racial resentments and coercion are not new to America but familiar to its history. Slavery and enduring racial disparities, the expulsion of immigrants including legal residents, and suspension of constitutional rights are recurring themes since the Republic’s founding. America is not defined, however, by repression alone. Again and again, Americans recovered by fighting for the rights to speak, assemble, and vote and demanding civic inclusiveness and representative institutions of governance. What are the lessons of America’s history of illiberalism and democratic resurgence in the age of Donald Trump?