Prominent racial historian Ibram X. Kendi said he is now confident enough to make a claim he once held back on — that “great replacement theory” is the driving ideological force behind President Donald Trump’s second term.
Kendi, the 2016 National Book Award-winning author of “Stamped From the Beginning,” made the declaration in a new interview promoting his latest book, “Chain of Ideas,” a global examination of racial authoritarianism and how replacement theory is used to justify it.
“In Chain of Ideas, I didn’t make a definitive statement that great replacement theory is the principle animating the political theory of the Trump administration. Now, I feel like I’m at a much better place empirically to make that claim, particularly based on what’s happened in the last year with mass deportations,” Kendi said.
Kendi also took aim at academics and political pundits who continue to deny the role of racist propaganda in the administration’s agenda, arguing they’re motivated by self-interest rather than truth.
“What I’ll also state is that you have people who, despite the criticality and the centrality of great replacement theory as being used by this administration, are still denying the role that racist propaganda plays. You have people doing that because, frankly, for them to acknowledge that and admit that, they’re also going to have to acknowledge and admit that they have been shouting scholars of racism down for decades. And so people, unfortunately, whether it’s academics or even political pundits, want to continue their agenda as opposed to publicly admitting that they were wrong.”
In “Chain of Ideas,” Kendi traced replacement theory from its origins with French novelist Renaud Camus through its adoption by authoritarian leaders worldwide — arguing the playbook being used on Americans is far more global than most realize.
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