In a remarkable display of self-assuredness — entirely unjustified after uniformly failing to predict Trump’s victory — our professional commentariat immediately began putting forward theories to explain Trump’s success. Disregarding explanations that tend toward the bogus — FBI director James Comey handed Trump the election — or the conspiratorial — Russian hackers — the more reasonable of this group settled on the narrative that racism, and to a lesser extent sexism, are to blame for Trump’s victory.

The “racism elected Trump” take became the preferred explanation almost instantly. The Washington Post’s Jim Tankersly penned a column on November 9 headlined “How Trump Won: The Revenge of Working-Class Whites.” Slate’s Jamelle Bouie ran a piece under the more succinct title “White Won.” Damon Young wrote in the Nation that “Trump voters didn’t vote against their own interests, they voted for the preservation of white privilege — their paramount interest.”

Cosmo’s Brittney Cooper rightly noted the ways in which racism overlaps with sexism and class, but decided to blame “whiteness before gender” because a majority of white women — 53 percent — voted for Trump. Vox, hedging its bets, ran both stories, publishing a piece exploring how Trump won because of misogyny and another on how Trump’s win is a reminder of the power of racism.