Racism Is The Only Campaign Promise Trump Has Kept

The assault on the government dealt an especially big blow to Black workers, who are overrepresented as federal employees because public sector jobs have been traditionally more welcoming to people of color.

Trump also signed orders that dismantled DEI in K-12 public schools and higher education institutes, while demanding elite colleges turn over their race and admissions data. The administration has been using allegations of antisemitism or claims race is being illegally used as an admissions factor to pressure schools into favoring a more right-wing agenda, even as it puts similar pressures on students themselves. Thousands of international students have lost their ability to study in the U.S. 

And DHS officials began targeting college students with opinions it didn’t like, including Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student who led pro-Palestinian protests on campus and was arrested over his beliefs last March.

It’s all happening with at least the excuse, if not genuine belief, that Trump has a mandate from the people. He made it very clear throughout his campaign that mass deportations, demonizing the other and accepting bigotry would dominate his second term.

This is what they voted for. And that is what has happened.

“It’s really emboldening people to treat folks however they want to,” Roberts said. “[His policies] will resurrect a lot of the racial animus that has always lived in America.”

Despite his lofty promises about the economy, affordable groceries and ushering in a new golden age, there appears to be only one true constant of the Trump administration.

“People sometimes have a tendency to overthink and overanalyze because we don’t want to accept the most obvious explanation that’s right in front of us,” Levi said. 

“But when the administration is tweeting out Nazi memes and songs, I don’t really think there’s a nuanced hot take on that,” he continued. “They’re being pretty clear about what some of their beliefs are.”

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.