Race, Meritocracy, and Diasporic Conservatism among Asian Americans: Anti-Affirmative Action Campaigns in the Age of Trump

rus" to blame the Chinese government's handling of COVID-19 and Asian immigrants whom he claimed had brought the virus to the United States.The Trump administration thus contributed to the heightened vulnerability and suffering of many Asian Americans during this period.Despite this context, however, Asian Americans were more likely to support Trump and conservative candidates in the 2024 election than they were before.How, then, can we understand the rise of Asian American conservatism amid escalating anti-Asian hate and violence?In considering this conservative turn among Asian Americans, the interpretative frame through which anti-Asian hate is understood becomes critically important.In both social media and mainstream media in the United States, a powerful narrative emerged that portrayed anti-Asian violence as a form of interracial conflict, particularly as an Asian-Black conflict.Asian-Black conflict has a long history in interracial relations in the United States.For example, in the aftermath of the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans, Black Americans and Japanese Americans were often at odds over housing and employment opportunities on the West Coast.Perhaps the most widely cited example is the conflict between Korean Americans and Black Americans during the 1992 Los Angeles uprising.During the COVID-19 pandemic, some media outlets framed anti-Asian hate as the latest Race, Meritocracy, and