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1. Summarize the analogy Wilkerson makes between the thawing of the Siberian permafrost and the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Wilkerson compares the release of anthrax during the thaw of the Siberian permafrost with the release of racism during the 2016 election. Wilkerson suggests that racism, like the anthrax, lies dormant and yet still potent and dangerous, beneath the surface of American life and can erupt at any time.

2. To what cause does Wilkerson ascribe the election of Donald Trump?

Wilkerson suggests that although other factors may have contributed, the main cause was that for years ahead of the 2016 election, a "silent earthquake" was taking place: right-wing media was stoking fears about the coming demographic shift away from a white majority, and then a Black president was elected. She suggests that the 2016 election was a backlash in which the historic majority sought to reestablish its hegemony.

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