Its conceits

"Donald Trump has won the presidency – not because of the “white working class”, but because millions of middle-class and educated US citizens reached into their soul and found there, after all its conceits were stripped away, a grinning white supremacist. Plus untapped reserves of misogyny." (Paul Mason in The Guardian.)

Does "its conceits" refer to the "millions of middle-class and educated US citizens" or to "their soul" in the above?