we were eight years in power an american tragedy

Now, there were people like me who were somewhat frustrated with some of those attempts and how that came out.

'Obama always had to find some way to somehow represent the community he came from and speak to a broader country at the same time. Unlike President Trump, who seems to prioritize maintaining support within his base, President Obama didn't focus on the African-American community as much as Coates might have liked. Ta-Nehisi Coates explores America's racial divide in new book 06:58ĭespite the fact that significant policies of Obama's presidency like Obamacare and the Iran nuclear deal remain intact, Coates said, 'That doesn't give me much comfort.' Trump had become more 'presidential' after taking office. The subtitle of his new book of essays is 'An American Tragedy,' which he said might have been different if Mr. I think is a bit naïve.'Īs for President Trump, Coates had some harsh words. The expectation that with the election of a black man to the White House that would somehow disappear and we would no longer have to grapple with that. We have a very, very long and regrettable history in this country of racism and white supremacy. And to some extent, we should expect this. 'I think it was kind of a revanchism against this idea, the very symbolism of having a black man lead the country. Trump were a symbolic rejection of Obama – retaliation, even. 'I think Donald Trump had the wisdom – if you want to call it that – to see that that was not some fringe movement, that it could be the basis of launching a successful political career.'Ĭoates explained that people's votes, in part, for Mr. His (Donald Trump's) political career actually begins in birther-ism,' Coates said. 'I don't mean that in a particularly symbolic way.

We were eight years in power an american tragedy