Ethnonationalist Engagements, Historic Norms, and the Politics of Sport in American Culture

Abstract Activism and political mobilization in and around the athletic world in the last decade have given rise to a renewed interest in the relationships among sport, politics, and social change. Much of the analysis so far has been driven by public reception of left-leaning activism; curiously missing from these discussions, however, has been the impact of more conservative and populist engagements. This article takes up that topic by examining the ways in which Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement dealt with sport and race-based athlete activism during his presidential campaign and term in office. Starting with their attacks on Black athlete activists, I will set ethnonationalist uses of sport in historical and theoretical context and explicate the ways in which these engagements challenge long-held cultural norms and established social conventions about the role of sport in social and political life. Ultimately, I argue that a critical, historically informed analysis of recent ethnonational populist engagements can enhance theories of both populism and the cultural status and political functioning of sport itself.