[throwaway0a5e]

Isn't that exactly how you'd expect racists to act?

[tolbish]

The difference is that racism is not a secondary motivator. Racism would be baked into the desire for power, as it would then be a desire to instill white supremacy.

[jhgb]

Why couldn't racism be either primary or secondary motivator for something?

[tolbish]

It absolutely can be. It just is not in this case. They were not merely "acting like racists". I hope this distinction helps.

[jhgb]

The present simple "is not" seemed to be a general statement to me (but that just may be my L2 English).