In the aftermath, some rally goers were identified and fired from their jobs. Gillian B. White explored the ethics of getting people fired for attending racist rallies, pointing out that many matters of public opinion play out in the business world. And Alexis C. Madrigal warned that targeting the individuals could further radicalize them. But even as the nation was still absorbing what it had just witnessed, the Confederate monument debate raged on.

The Debate Over Confederate Monuments

After Charlottesville, calls to remove Confederate statues grew. Memorably, in Durham, North Carolina, protestors pulled one down themselves. Baltimore also took down its monuments. Yoni Appelbaum wrote that the white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville accelerated the collapse of the statues they sought to defend. And Vann R. Newkirk II reflected on the moment, comparing it to his own childhood in North Carolina, where Confederate statues were “as immovable and immutable as the hills and the lakes.” In some states, lawmakers stood in the way of local officials that wanted to take down monuments, a move Memphis, Tennessee, recently maneuvered around.

Adam Serwer provided an in-depth description of the man at the center of the debate: Robert E. Lee. The retelling of the Civil War became a recurring theme on the right. In a one-on-one interview in October, Chief of Staff John Kelly revealed he shared many of the same beliefs as Trump about the Civil War. Serwer argued that Kelly missed an essential point about the Civil War. In an attempt to chronicle the enduring debate over rebel flags and monuments, Lena Felton and I compiled highlights from The Atlantic’s coverage on “how these symbols are perceived, and whether Americans should still preserve them.”

Defining White Supremacy

In The Atlantic’s September cover story, “The First White President,” Ta-Nehisi Coates argued that race propelled Trump to the White House. Chloé Valdary countered that there’s no single explanation for Trump’s election. Vann R. Newkirk II called for the need to define white supremacy, claiming that giving it too narrow of a definition allows it to flourish. And Adam Serwer argued that efforts to highlight non-racial explanations for Trump’s glaringly racial appeal is a long-standing political tradition in “The Nationalist’s Delusion.”

Angela Nagle looked back on the progression of the alt-right over the year: how it attracted a broad audience and sowed confusion about their off-screen threat, and why Charlottesville was a breaking point. And in “The Making of an American Nazi,” Luke O’Brien profiled Andrew Anglin, the publisher of the world’s biggest neo-Nazi website, The Daily Stormer.

Toward the end of the year, a few high-profile elections tested the viability of racial appeals in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections. After leaving the White House, Bannon vowed to fight against the Republican establishment. In Virginia, Corey Stewart, a Republican candidate for governor who adopted Trump-style politics, challenged Republican Ed Gillespie in the GOP primary but eventually lost. Democrats ultimately took the seat for governor. In Alabama, Bannon backed Trumpist candidates like Roy Moore, who later faced allegations of sexual misconduct. Moore’s defeat in the Alabama Senate special election was a stunning blow to Trump and Bannon. Going into 2018, McKay Coppins wrote, the GOP’s future is uncertain now that, among other things, Trump’s racially coded rhetoric has attuned his base to be more attracted to divisive candidates.