WHITE WITH FEAR (2024)
Featuring Hillary Clinton, Steve Bannon, Jamie Raskin, Rick Gates, Rick Perlstein, Steven Miller, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Ian Haney López, Aasif Mandvi, Tim Miller, Brian Stelter, Stuart Stevens, Leah Wright-Rigueur, Kevin Kruse, Joe Peyronnin, Aasif Mandvi, Wajahat Ali, Katie McHugh, Carol Anderson, Jean Guerrero, Sally Bradshaw, Sean Trende, Sam Nunberg, Carter Wrenn, Terry McAuliffe, Kristi Draper, Jason Van Tatenhove, Rev. Horace Sheffield and Garnell Whitefield.
Directed by Andrew Goldberg.
Distributed by So Much Film. 86 minutes. Not Rated.
There are a lot of reasons why Donald Trump has been able to return to power a mere four years after many Americans had believed that he had been voted out of the US presidency. One of the most blatant reasons is the fact that after decades of politicians disguising the fact, Trump has been comfortable in being quite obvious in using fear – mostly exploiting racial and sexual differences – as a selling point for his views.
After all, it used to be called a “dog whistle” for a reason. Trump has turned it into a bullhorn.
However, while Trump is more obvious about it than most have been, he is far from the start of this kind of political tactic. Director Andrew Goldberg speaks with many people on both sides of the political aisle exploring how the issues of race and fear have become major talking points for the Republican Party, and for politics in general.
While it certainly is something that has been going for years and there are many people who arguably responsible for this horribly cynical political maneuver – Lee Atwater, The John Birch Society, George Wallace, Charles Lindbergh, Joseph McCarthy, Father Charles Coughlin, David Duke – for years these people were eventually shouted down and kept in line by the more moderate voices in their own party.
In fact, after Mitt Romney was soundly beaten by Barack Obama in 2012, the Republican Party created a very critical “autopsy” for the party, in which they acknowledged they needed to be more open to other points of view and court other races than simply the whites. Then, within the next few years, they switched from this new course and doubled down on spreading fear and playing to the base.
White With Fear generally looks at the past 50 years, in which the whole concept has gained more and more traction amongst the electorate. This has changed to the point that – gulp! – the world is stuck in the early phases of a second Trump term.
The film looks at many of the causes for this policy shift – Richard Nixon, resistance to The Civil Rights Act, Rush Limbaugh, Ronald Reagan, Rupert Murdoch, the voting in of the first African American president, FOX News, The Tea Party, 9/11, Black Lives Matter, fear of immigration, “the axis of evil,” Strom Thurmond, Steve King, undermining Critical Racial Theory, Stephen Miller, blaming COVID on China, the January 6th insurrection, Elon Musk, Project 2025.
And, of course, there is Trump himself. A life-long liar and con-man, he has convinced just enough people that he’s a smart businessman who just “speaks his mind” that he was able to squeak into the Presidency – twice. Of course, he also gives his fans permission to state and act on their own personal prejudices and anti-social tendencies.
None of this is totally news to people who have been paying attention – and this is such a huge subject that in 86 minutes White With Fear only scrapes the surface of the whole situation. Still, it has some extremely fascinating and disturbing information that more people should know about.
No one likes to be called a bigot, so the potential audience for this film is probably somewhat limited. Needless to say, there is a big swathe of the population which will write the movie off as “fake news.” Still, there is enough vital information shared here – from people from both sides of the argument – that the world would be a better place if more people opened their eyes to it.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2025 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: March 19, 2025.
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