Year ender: 2025 is the year racism became 'normalized'

ANALYSIS

One of the most unsettling outcomes of Donald Trump's second term is the normalization of racism. 

In less than a year of Donald Trump, the American political landscape has shifted dramatically, and for many in the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities, the "view from the edge" is one of increasing alarm. The start of Donald Trump’s second term has brought a resurgence of overt racial tension, merging old tropes with new federal mandates that threaten decades of civil rights progress.

Trump's Cabinet applauded him this week after he described Somali immigrants as "garbage" who "contribute nothing." He unapologetically condemned an entire community, with no fear of political backlash.

Societal guardrails against racist, xenophobic or dehumanizing rhetoric have all but vanished on the American right. What was once disqualifying — or the exclusive domain of online trolls — is now a fixture of national political discourse, write Axios' Zachary Basu and Russell Contreras.

Rise of White radicalism

Before Trump came on the scene in 2015, it was common in modern American politics for elected or appointed officials to face consequences for making racist or bigoted comments.

In 2002, GOP Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott stepped down from leadership after praising Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist presidential campaign.

Even during Trump's first term, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) was censured and removed from committees for questioning why terms such as "white nationalist" and "white supremacist" had become offensive.

But Trump's blatant racism doesn't appear to affect his MAGA base and conservative-leaning voters.  Public outrage over his caustic language growing more muted year as the public reaction and media see his racist statements as simply:  "Trump being Trump."

        RELATED: Trump's preference for white immigrants

Trump vaulted into political prominence by promoting the racist conspiracy theory that President Obama wasn't born in the U.S. — a playbook he revived in 2024 against other rivals of color.

His 2016 campaign-opening claim that Mexico was sending "rapists" into the U.S. triggered weeks of national uproar, as did his leaked complaint in 2018 about immigration from "shithole countries." Trump being Trump.

Then came the 2024 election campaign, which blew open the Overton window on race and identity.

Trump discarded any lingering restraint, declaring that unauthorized immigrants were "poisoning the blood of our country" (language taken directly from Hitler speeches), and amplifying false claims that Haitian migrants in Ohio were eating pets.

. Photo by Shutterstock, Jason Leung/Unsplash

Conservatives mobilized around backlash to the 2020 racial justice movement, the Biden administration's immigration policies and perceived censorship of political speech by the left.

Trump's MAGA movement treated his 2024 win as a sweeping cultural mandate (though the close vote was not a mandate) — and grew more explicit in its mission to "defend Western civilization," which in the view of his followers, that message means "white" civilization.

Nearly a year into Trump's second term, language that once led to denials, clarifications or resignations now circulates freely online and at the highest levels of government.

Dismantling equity

It isn't just about rhetoric; the machinery of the federal government is being rewired.

• The War on DEI: Following through on campaign promises and the Project 2025 blueprint, the administration has moved to purge Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs from the federal workforce, characterizing them as "anti-white racism".

• The Retreat from Civil Rights: Key appointments, such as Harit Dylan as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, signal a pivot away from traditional oversight. Federal investigations into racial discrimination in schools have largely stalled as the Department of Education shifts focus toward "merit-based" opportunity.

• GOP members of Congress reacted to New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's election by posting images of the 9/11 attacks and calling for the Ugandan-born Democrat to be denaturalized and deported.

• DHS and White House social media accounts now routinely mock immigrants targeted for deportation, deploying trollish memes on official channels.

• White nationalist Nick Fuentes has edged into the mainstream, with Trump defending the Holocaust denier's interview with Tucker Carlson as legitimate political dialogue.

• A February 2025 report from Stop AAPI Hate documented a 59% spike in online threats and a 66% rise in anti-Asian slurs in the months following the vote.

• The administration’s continued use of xenophobic rhetoric has been linked to a rise in offline harassment, reminding many of the historical scapegoating that led to the darkest chapters of AAPI history.

• Beyond the AAPI community, Black and Latino Americans across 25 states reported receiving disturbing, anonymous text messages referencing "plantations," a wave of digital violence that civil rights groups say characterizes the current era's normalization of bigotry.

In a Thanksgiving post on his Truth Social, in an outright falsehood, Trump claimed that "most" of America's 53 million foreign-born residents are "on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels." Reaction? Trump being Trump.

Fighting racism can be wearying.

He blasted Americans who have been "politically correct" on immigration, labeled Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz "seriously retarded," and mocked Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) as "always wrapped in her swaddling hijab." Reaction? Trump being Trump.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Axios in a statement: "It's not racist to want secure borders and to deport illegal aliens who are undermining our sovereignty and destroying our country. Trump has never been politically correct, never holds back, and in large part, the American people re-elected him for his transparency."

        RELATED: Asian Americans demonstrate against Trump

Immigrant and civil-rights advocates say the president's incendiary rhetoric on race has manifested in policies that strengthens the historical privilege of White people.

After slashing the US refugee cap to a historic low of 7,500, the Trump administration said it would prioritize White South Africans for nearly all available slots and appealed fro more immigration from predominantly White Scandinavian countries.

The administration has gutted major pillars of America's civil rights protections and racial equity infrastructure, wiping away public data, slashing research funding, and rewriting history from a White perspective and erasing contributions of people of color in textbooks, museums and other media.

'Human rights emergency'

While some within the AANHPI community have found appeal in the administration's "America First" agenda, the broader reality in 2025 among AANHPI is one of heightened vulnerability, no matter if you are American-born or first-generation immigrants and especially those who are not yet citizens.

With the threat of mass deportations and the potential reinstatement of the "Muslim Ban," advocacy groups like the ACLU and Human Rights Watch are calling this a "human rights emergency." The fight to maintain a multiracial democracy has never felt more urgent, as those on the edge of society face an administration intent on redefining what it means to belong in America.

Racist rhetoric and policies is being baked into our institutions. It could take years to undo the damage Trump has done to the Federal government that sets the standards for that for over half century have protected the country's health, economy and education. And if you include the judicial system, recovery could take decades. 

This time of year when there is so much talk about brotherhood, peace and good will towards all, it is perhaps a good time to reflect how our Trump and his supporters have changed our country. We have to remember that just  because racism has come out of the shadows and become acceptable in some sectors of American society, that doesn't mean "normal"  is acceptable. It is not OK.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge.