As the hecklers chant “racist, racist,” he gives a hearty thumbs-up and shouts: “Yeah, you got it!” Then he pumps his fist and shouts: “White power! White power!”Why did the president of the United States tweet a video of an old man in a golf cart shouting, “White power”? The “white power” shout happens eight seconds in — it is literally the first significant event — and it has the kind of formal clarity a film director might envy. A wide shot establishes the scene, and then the camera zooms in on the “white power” man, who, three seconds later, unmistakably shouts, “White power,” then repeats it to make sure everyone heard. The United States, today, is like a continent-size terrarium of Facebook arguments.

Source: New York Times July 15, 2020 20:03 UTC