Brett Easton Ellis's new book is White.From his Q&A with Isaac Chotiner at The New Yorker:
You have a section in your book where you talk about President Trump’s comment about Mexicans being rapists. And then you have another section where you talk about Michelle Obama being “breathlessly condescending” when she said, “When they go low, we go high.” I am trying to understand why one of those things sets you off and the other you seem kind of neutral about.--Marshal Zeringue
You know, I think “sets me off” suggests that I am enraged, and I think the voice in the book is pretty chill and neutral. And what I am talking about is all in context. With the Trump thing, that is true. He said that once, in his very first speech, and didn’t say it again, and there were people who had picked up on it and were still repeating it a year or two years later. Without putting that in context, yeah, I guess that bothered me.
O.K., but Trump says lots of racist things. We can all agree on that, right?
[Pauses] Sure.
So he says lots of racist things. This thing was only said once. Why does people being upset about it, or people being upset about the fact that we have a President who regularly says bigoted things, bother you?
No, no, no, no, no. That just twisted up what I meant.
Tell me what you meant.
You think I am defending a racist.
No, I asked why liberals repeating Trump’s remark about Mexican immigrants being rapists bothers you so much.
Because it didn’t seem to be truthful, and it seemed to be exaggerated and said over and over again. You think I am defending Trump somehow? I am bothered by people using that one thing two years later.
There are a lot of things to get angry about: children being separated from their parents, Trump saying nice things about marchers in Charlottesville. What is it that bothers you about this?
You do know that plenty of people don’t think that? You do understand that?
Don’t think what?
Don’t think all these things you are saying about Charlottesville. What does he have, a ninety-three-per-cent approval rating, or, let’s say, a hundred per cent, from his base? Let’s say it is, over-all, way up, from thirty-eight per cent to fifty per cent, or even higher. And let’s say Latinos are now fifty-per-cent approval for Trump.
That’s not true, but O.K.
Well, whatever.
I am looking at the FiveThirtyEight average. He is at forty-two per cent.
O.K., but whatever. There is another side of the aisle.
I am not arguing that people don’t support him. You aren’t denying Trump says racist things regularly. I am just trying to understand why liberal opposition to Trump bothers you so much.
I don’t know if he does think racist things so regularly. I...[read on]