dan carlin talks about grading the racism of historical figures on a curve. for example, teddy roosevelt was outrageously racist by today's standards but a progressive on race for his time. the same goes for plenty of other dudes from Jefferson to LBJ.
i doubt that any president and cabinet has been composed of individuals whose views on race lag behind those of the average voter. it's going to be interesting to see.
Dan Carlin is great.
This is really a global snap back against globalization. You're seeing this everywhere. Brexit, obviously. France is struggling right now because they're trying to figure out how to get a liberal through to the final election without potentially losing to Marine LaPen. Odds are, Sarkozy will actually be the potential candidate, so you'll have a center/right vs. far right election in France.
I've seen more than one article saying that Angela Merkel and Germany are now standing alone as the beacon of liberalism in Western Society, and that they aren't strong enough to do that. Germany isn't strong enough to keep the EU together and handle the immigration crisis on their own. The fact that we'll most likely weaken NATO and promote Russian aggression will only make matters worse and promote the destabilization of Europe that will promote this far-right populism.
I read something, somewhere (Time, Politico...I can't remember) that said that society is basically equating liberalism and globalization, and by snapping back against globalization, you are regressing socially because you're pushing back against the liberalism that promotes secular globalism. Seems plausible/likely.