Gender, Ethno-Nationalism, and the Anti-Mexicanist Trope

This article presents the anti-Mexicanist trope as a cornerstone of American ethno-nationalism wherein linguistic processes of racialization produce a derided Mexican otherness necessary to the project of white supremacy. Emphasis is placed on the discursive productions of "masculinity" that uniquely undergird this tropic construction's past and present forms. In view of its pervasiveness in the contemporary American political landscape, the author offers rhetorical analysis of President Donald Trump's political speech concerning ethnic-Mexicans as an exemplar of this trope's broader sociological purchase. The gendered dimensions of this well-worn discursive genre of racial talk, it is argued, make possible the generalized social incrimination of ethnic-Mexicans by thrusting upon them gender identities in excess as the basis for their unlawfulness.