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Gideon Rachman

Donald Trump, race and the arc of history

On the surface, the current unrest and violence look like a disaster for the US President. Yet one lesson of the past is that chaos often drives voters to the right.

Gideon RachmanColumnist
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Calculations about how the killing of George Floyd will affect the 2020 US presidential election will seem coldly rational – even offensive – to the thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets of America.

They, and many others, are haunted by the appalling footage of his dying moments, as he choked to death under a policeman’s knee. The protesters know that the US has a history of racial violence that goes back centuries.

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Financial Times

Gideon Rachman is chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times. His particular interests include American foreign policy, the European Union and globalisation.

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