Compelling piece, as always! However, I jump off here. Blacks are only 14% of the population. Hispanics go both ways. I agree with your analysis. Republicans are using these issue to get elected. But I believe the forces behind it are not racial--they're based on status and economics.

The solution to the housing problem (which I'm not sure there really is one, anyway) is to tax wealthy homeowners more and those who have empty properties. Instead, Democrats do everything to protect their investment game. The solution to education is for Democrats to re-allocate money from wealthy places to the unwealthy. The solution to health care is to make pricing competitive. There are many things the Democrats could do to inspire poor white Republicans, but they don't. They let them get picked off by radical Republicans and write off those communities through gerrymandering.

I hear it argued the Republicans don't have a plan, a strategy to improve the country. It's like the Mark Twain quote. What's worse, not being able to form a plan or being able to form a plan but not doing it?

The bitter truth is Trump was good for wealthy Democrats. Did they repeal his tax cuts? In the end, it's that greed that lets the racism you talk about take center stage.