The president's speech tonight was heavy on racist tropes, including multiple broad-brush references to rapist immigrants and a mention of the "kung-flu." These remarks go far beyond the rhetorical bounds of immigration policy disagreements in Washington. 1/

In 2016, Trump used "us vs them" as a key theme in his campaign to significant effect, in which "they" were immigrants, particularly Hispanics. Today, in a speech littered with references to "our heritage," he has also framed protesters as a threat to "our communities." ... 2/

These characterizations were delivered with a broad brush, as Trump has often done. Who are "they"? The power of Trump's vague accusations is that listeners can fill in the blanks according to what they want to hear. The racist insinuations are clear, but there's deniability. 3/

Tonight's remarks were...much clearer than I can recall in recent memory. "Kung flu" should not be treated as a cultural flare in the PC wars. It is racism. Dark public fantasias about "bad hombre" rapists are racist. 4/

It's also important to emphasize what the president did not discuss tonight — 120,000 people dead since March because of covid-19, millions of people unemployed, a massive *and popular* protest movement accompanied by a shift in public opinion on structural racism. 5/

One of the few references to the pandemic during the speech was an offhand remark in which Trump appeared to admit that he asked his team to slow down the country's testing capacities so that the covid-19 counts would be lower. I have no idea if that's true or why he said it. 6/

Amid a national reckoning about race and anti-blackness in particular, it was interesting that there were no words of reconciliation. No mention of George Floyd. No scripture. At the end of the speech he mentioned an honorary park of some sort going up in Tulsa. 7/

Zoom out. In 2016, Trump could run on an abstract idea, against abstract enemies & Obama. "Make America Great Again." Today, his reelection prospects rest on distracting from the major crises that have unfolded during his admin and the botched fed response to the pandemic. 8/

Cultural & racial grievance are powerful tools in elections. Part of Trump's dance in the past has meant speaking to 2 constituencies at once — those w racial animus (who often don't consider themselves racist) and others who are uncomfortable w the rhetoric but took a chance 9/

We'll see how the president navigates this tense national moment, in which people on both sides of the aisle have lurched toward a new consensus on racism in America. Dog whistle racism may play more like a foghorn today than it did in 2016. 10/

Tonight's speech promised a dark few months in terms of our national divisions. How will it play this time around? Trump also tested attacks against Biden, mocking his mental capacity, & calling him a "puppet" used as a rubber stamp by the "radical left." We'll see. 11/

Alright, those are all my observations for now, as someone who covered Trump's campaign in 2016 and then spent the next 4 years out in the country, mostly away from politics. 12/12