Last year, New York magazine’s style site The Cut wrote an excellent storyabout the ways the alt-right uses style as a propaganda tool, with alt-right figures like Richard Spencer adopting so-called “dapper” style to add a veneer of respectability to deeply racist arguments. But the khaki-wearing demonstrators in Charlottesville weren’t trying to be fashionable—they were trying to blend in. And in doing so, they’ve turned the blandest items in our closets into a dog whistle. Is your neighbor wearing a polo and khakis because he’s a style-agnostic dad? Or is he just actively supporting the creation of a white ethno-state? …

It’s also worth pointing out that the new white supremacist uniform bears an uncanny resemblance to President Trump’s off-duty style. There’s not much visible difference between a demonstrator in a Make America Great Again hat, a white polo, and khakis and what the president bulges out of when he’s hitting the links.

Or maybe a shirt and pants is only a shirt and pants.