It is predictable that many will reflexively retort and take issue with that assertion, but that is of course, because many people are not really familiar with true American History and its lingering legacy, nor research on the voting patterns and preferences of white Americans. Consistently, the majority of white Americans support the candidates who they deem to be representative of the interests of solely white Americans while, conversely, a majority of white voters have reliably shown a strident rejection of candidates who espouse intent on expanding opportunities for all Americans (which does still benefit white Americans). And while white Americans typically justify their vote for Trump because of their “economic concerns” (as if other racial groups lack economic concerns), obvious facts prove time and time again how inaccurate that assertion is. For instance, if that were remotely true, the poorest regions of the country that are all in Republican-led states and all voted for Trump in every election, would not be as tightly connected to a Republican party that is clearly not meeting their economic needs. Also, if that were true, white populations with “economic concerns” in conservative states would demand a raise in their states’ minimum wages which remains $7.25 an hour still, or at least pressure their elected officials to raise the minimum wage that has not changed since 2009.
A major part of the problem that led to the resurgence of Trump and Trump-ism is our society’s unwillingness writ-large to call out racism, even if it is obvious, and instead look for sanitizing euphemisms that avoids what is plainly true. When 80% of Americans prefer the policies of Kamala Harris so long as it was not connect to her name, yet a majority of only white Americans still support someone who has shown a history of fraud, aligning solely with the wealthy and enacting tax cuts that benefit the wealthiest the most by far, while raising taxes on the middle and working classes, and cutting benefits for those in need, Trump has proven that he has scant interest in addressing the “economic concerns” Trump’s base of white voters consistently identify as their primary motivation for voting for him.
Largely, most white Trump voters are likely of the belief that as long as they don’t don a Klan hood, or call a Black person the N-word, then they are not motivated by racism or maintaining white supremacy. And it is because of that ignorance and myopic understanding, and our collective reluctance to unequivocally connect their vote to racism and the maintaining of white supremacy, that all of us are stuck with four more years of Donald Trump. Truthfully most of us, including Trump voters, will suffer through to the winter of 2029 regardless of our ability to link the outcome of 2024 to what is taking place outside our doorstep. But whatever the case, racism and maintaining it explains the reemergence of Trump and all the horrors that await.
(As of this writing, Trump has already lifted the caps on prescription drugs including the $35 cap on insulin) and reinstated the Muslim ban…and yeah, it’s gonna get much worse.)
