race-baiting

[ reys-beyting ]

noun

1. acts of racist provocation, especially in speech and writing, including racial dog whistles, hate speech, threats, and other forms of harassment targeting one or more racial groups or members of such a group, often in the context of political or cultural polemics.
2. any rhetoric or act that pits one racial group against another or incites racial hatred.

Other Words From

• race-bait·er noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of race-baiting¹

First recorded in 1940–45; race ²( def ) + -baiting ( def )

Example Sentences

His campaign message was a shambolic tapestry of fearmongering, race-baiting, transphobia, dishonesty, and increasingly irrelevant mumbling.

From Slate

He was inflammatory and race-baiting in a way that made his previous two campaigns look positively statesmanlike.

From Slate

Any American who was halfway paying attention to the news could have concluded that Trump was a race-baiting nutcase when he lied about Muslims celebrating the 9/11 attacks and pushed his crackpot "birther" theory that Barack Obama hadn't been born in Hawaii.

From Salon

“In this year’s race, a non-choice ignores Trump’s singular unfitness for office,” Greene wrote, “demonstrated time and again through his dishonesty, his false claims to have won the 2020 election, his criminal convictions, his impeachable offenses, his race-baiting, his threats of retaliation against his opponents, and many other features that make him a danger to the nation.”

From Los Angeles Times

In any case, Muir didn’t just have a journalistic obligation to call Trump on his race-baiting lie.

From Los Angeles Times