In all, politics in America is often made to feel and sound like something distant and sterile — matters for bureaucrats and political candidates to fight about. This is a veneer and a mask. The political is very much the personal, and the decisions of politicians impact our day-to-day lives and futures in a myriad of ways. But Trump did something relatively novel in recent American politics: He was able to take the naked anger and rage of members of his public and successfully direct it at their fellow Americans.

During his presidential campaign, Trump often spoke about enemies abroad and “fat cats” on Wall Street or in Washington who hustle the system. But the real enemies were actually elsewhere — groups like Latinos, Arabs and Muslims and black folks, who are not at the top of America’s social pyramid but much closer to the bottom. Driven by authoritarian leanings and what social psychologists call “social dominance behavior,” Trump’s voters could not resist the chance to put their boots on the backs of other people in order to lift themselves up, psychologically and perhaps materially as well. Ultimately, Trumpism is an opportunity for angry white conservatives and their allies to do violence and harm to other Americans.

By repealing the Affordable Care Act, Donald Trump will quite likely shorten millions of people’s lives. It is estimated that lack of health insurance kills at least 45,000 Americans a year.

Trump has promised to forcibly remove millions of “illegal aliens” from the United States. Beyond the actual physical violence involved in this grand plan, this would also inflict emotional, economic and psychological harm on countless people.