Donald Trump Is the Result of White Rage, Not Economic Anxiety

[OKNancy]

http://time.com/4573307/donald-trump-white-rage/?xid=time_socialflow_twitter

Obama's election was a major trigger for the policy backlash that led to Donald Trump

White rage got us here. While the economic anxiety of Trump supporters is often touted as the driving force behind the mogul’s electoral college victory, that rationale is just a ruse, a clever red herring. The median income of a Trump supporter is more than $70,000 per year, which is well above the national average, and a 2016 study noted that it would take African Americans 228 years to equal the wealth of whites in the United States. Clearly, Trump’s pathway into the Oval Office is not really about white economic angst. Rather, Barack Obama’s election—and its powerful symbolism of black advancement—was the major trigger for the policy backlash that led to Donald Trump, and which has now put America’s national security at risk.

Republicans carved out this trench shortly after Obama’s 2008 victory. The GOP pushed through a number of laws at the state level to block as many of his voters, primarily African-Americans, from the polls as possible. North Carolina targeted black voters with nearly “surgical precision.” Wisconsin Republicans were “giddy” about disfranchising African Americans, especially in Milwaukee. Florida’s GOP cut particular days of early voting to nullify the political participation of black churchgoers. Texas required certain types of government-issued photo IDs to vote and then ensured that nearly 1.6 million black and Latino citizens would have very limited access. Ohio skewed its early voting laws to diminish the turnout in the cities while also implementing a literacy test that officials applied only to those in urban counties.

rest at the above link....

AND SANDERs WOULD NOT HAVE WON. Probably would have less votes actually.

[guillaumeb]

1. And the 41% who did not bother to vote?

Some undoubtedly were the victims of suppression and deliberate disenfranchisement, but not 41% of the electorate.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

3. Has there ever been 100% turnout

[guillaumeb]

7. Of course not. But the fact that this many registered voters did not vote

might indicate a lack of enthusiasm for both platforms.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. Indeed

Still I'd like to know how many states which we lost (those that voted for Obama the last time) had to deal with long lines, fewer polling places and voter ID laws.

Truth is I think the loss was a confluence of multiple things.

[guillaumeb]

12. Agreed. Michigan and Wisconsin targeted minority voters for removal from voter rolls.

Both states are also controlled by the GOP, making the Democratic Party decision to take these states for granted a very costly decision.

Blame the Robert's SCOTUS also for gutting the VRA.

[bullimiami]

20. How many impediments to voting do you think are in all these rural areas? And how long the lines?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

22. What's your point?

Have we ever carried those areas?

[bullimiami]

24. my point is its easy to vote in rural areas and hard to vote in cities. by design.

[BainsBane]

16. In Mn, over 70% of the electorate votes

because we make it easy to do so. We want people to vote. We have same-day voter registration. We defeated an amendment for voter ID, and they have now implemented widespread early voting and no-excuses absentee voting. Turnout was down slightly, but not in Minneapolis/Hennepin County, while it was up in some of the rural regions.

Voter turnout could be that high nationwide if states actually wanted people to vote rather than working to suppress it. Clinton proposed automatic registration at age 18, but then she was defeated.

[guillaumeb]

50. Nice points.

The GOP treats voting as a suspicious activity, the Democrats treat it as an inalienable right.

[TeamPooka]

28. Which means citizens bought into the negative dirty bullshit Trunmp spouted every day for 18 months

[duffyduff]

45. You can thank the NEWS media for endlessly promoting this idiot

that fellow idiots identified with.

[guillaumeb]

51. Yes they did. The GOP spends billions on negative advertising because it does work. eom

[leftofcool]

4. Get what they deserve in a Trump Presidency.

[guillaumeb]

8. Unfortunately we also will get much the same.

But we should not write off all of these people.

[duffyduff]

47. Yes, we should write them off.

I have said they cannot be reached because of years of a mindset that was instilled in them from the time they were children. Their beliefs were further hardened because of hate radio and "news" outlets like Fox. They can't change. They keep voting against their self-interests time after time after time.

They haven't been "one of us" in the Democratic Party since the 1960s.

[ucrdem]

13. That's kind of surprising.

More people than ever voted early this time, and the polls were crowded with long lines in some cases, speaking personally and from accounts of friends in CA and MA. Hmm..

[guillaumeb]

14. I provided a link here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512609726

And undoubtedly a certain number of early voters voted for Trump. And perhaps a significant number of early voters lied to exit pollsters about who they voted for.

[ucrdem]

17. Thanks, yes that's what I'm referring to.

Factoring in early voting which was widely reported in the weeks before election day I'd have thought the turnout would be on the high end. And when you think about the actual numbers, even if 58.6% is accurate, 134,562,600 is still a huge number of ballots.

[bullimiami]

21. Its absurd that someone who voted for Trump would tell an exit poll they voted for Hillary.

Either the exit poll methodology is way out of line or the actual ballots are not what the tabulators resulted.

I wish some exit polling org would hand recount some locations to verify the count.

[guillaumeb]

48. The "Bradley effect" in action?

We also have to consider the effects that voter suppression and possible voting machine tampering had.

[treestar]

41. No reason to care about people that apathetic

It seems there is nothing that will get them to care.

[guillaumeb]

49. It does seem that way. Or they truly believe that there is no substantive difference

between the two parties. And some might be in solid red or blue states.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. Tend to agree

Not all Trump voters were racists. They just weren't disturbed about voting for one. White privilege at its finest.

BTW I'm a 59 year old white guy.

[elleng]

5. Ohioans, Tired of Status Quo, Flipped to Trump for Change.

*The seeds of the biggest upset in American politics in recent memory were sewn here, in the Midwest, where decades of economic decay largely ignored by Democrats came back to haunt Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Trump’s populist economic message electrified blue-collar workers in ways that those of previous Republican candidates had not.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/us/politics/ohioans-tired-of-status-quo-flipped-to-trump-for-change.html

[Wilms]

18. Hey, wait.

That doesn't fit the narrative. Wuzup?

[elleng]

19. You got it!

But I'll repeat it.

[SMC22307]

26. In PA, Obama beat McCain in 2008 by over 10%...

and in 2012, Romney by over 5%. In 2016, however, Pennsylvanians are racists. DUers need to spend some time researching Rust Belt decay. And let us know what their big plan is for 2020, especially if Trump manages to push through a massive infrastructure bill, employing God knows how many Americans. Democrats need the Rust Belt. Florida and NC sure didn't come through for us.

[elleng]

27. Exactly.

While 'racism' undoubtedly plays a role, there's MUCH more to what's happened. and Dems sure as hell must get a handle on it. I'm glad to see that Senators Sanders and Warren have significant roles in the Senate and, presumably, within the party decisionmakers.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

35. makes no sense. the black guy won in those states. n/t

[SleeplessinSoCal]

36. voter suppression ain't going away soon. how to reject neo-nazi's if they rig the system? n/t

[DemonGoddess]

56. and what a change they got

they can all sit in this pile of shit they've dumped on us and ROT

[MyNameIsKhan]

6. I tend to believe this was mix of both... yes white nationalist agenda did resonate to this section

of voters... maybe that played more than economic anxiety, but then exit polls show this orange man even manage to to get 6% of AA votes and 29% Latino votes. We can say all polls were wrong as they showed HRC winning FL, MI, PA and WI.

I donot know what happened here, how can every one be wrong...

I even consider the possibility this is all a conspiracy

[northoftheborder]

9. I agree with this post..

[OKNancy]

10. another article on the exact same subject

http://www.mtv.com/news/2955353/working-class-nero/?utm=share_twitter

[ucrdem]

15. No doubt about it.

Truth be told, the economy is doing well, gas prices are down and unemployment is low. Michigan I can see but PA? No rational reason to go for the nutjob.

[duffyduff]

25. That is because these Trump white dudes are stupid

They were too dim to realize they had been had by not just this huckster, but also by the media hucksters who promoted him 24/7.

And now some people around here are asking the DP to abandon their constituency to pander to people who cannot reason, who keep voting GOP time after time while voting against their own interests. I just shake my head.

[duffyduff]

23. Sexism is far more a factor than racism. If race had been an issue, Obama would

never have been president.

Never underestimate the hatred many men, especially white dudes, have toward women.

In the end, though, entitled white dude rage had nothing to do with Trump. Media pimps like Jeff Zucker did, and the only honest appraisal of this election points to it being the only factor for Trump's rise and ultimate "win" of the EC.

[ErikJ]

29. I know Bernie woulda won big.

I have a friend who was all pro Bernie, then voted for Trump cuz "Hillary was soo crooked" which is total BS. Her being a woman prob didnt help for him I'll bet.

THe GOP has been skillfully attacking and eroding Hillary credentials ever since she proposed Hillarycare in 1994. They even invented Obamacare as an alternative to HC which finally got used by Romney in Massachusetts in 2005. Then they went WILD with all the BS of Benghazi and then her emails.

They didnt really have anything on Bernie except he was a socialist. But that didnt bother him in the slightest. He was at least seen as honest which counted for a lot.

Never underestimate the long term Republican "Big Lie" propaganda machine.

[Tarheel_Dem]

38. You guys keep making the same whack argument. Truth is, your anecdotes aside, you DO NOT "know.....

Bernie woulda won big". He couldn't win the primary. He got beat by 3.5 to 4 million votes. Further truth is that Hillary seems to be closing in on what may end up being a 1.5 million popular vote lead on Dump. You're an idiot if you think they had nothing on him. Do you think they were gonna just let him slide to victory, unscathed?

[hedda_foil]

30. It's not one or the other imo. It's both racism and economic anxiety.

[B Calm]

31. Many of these white voters voted for Obama, not once, but twice.

[Tom Rinaldo]

43. Exactly. And against two Republicans less disliked and mistruted than Trump

Another candidate and/or a different kind of campaign and the Democrats could have won this time.

[Yavin4]

53. Actually, they did not. Romney won the White vote by a bigger margin than Reagan did in'84.

It was Black and Latino turnout that won it for Obama.

[world wide wally]

32. I still think it was a coup

Only Comey knows for sure.
Which reminds me….. when ever you are trying to calculate what the future might hold, don't forget to work in the FBI variable.

They must be up to something.

[KingCharlemagne]

42. The FBI leadership cadre are enemies of the people. - nt

[JTFrog]

57. It was. nt

[SunSeeker]

33. K & R

[mountain grammy]

34. Only true thing donald ever said, the election is rigged.

[world wide wally]

44. Projecting again.

[callous taoboy]

39. One wonders how much the Obama admin. tried to intercede.

They had to be aware and alarmed that this end-game was going on, right?

[tavernier]

40. Perfect storm.

Racism, msm Trump 24/7 coverage, Comey, voter suppression, apathy.

I agree with article; economic anxiety was just a ruse.

[randome]

46. 4.9% unemployment rate. It's hard to think this equates to economic insecurity.

The only things associated with that are: 1) raising the minimum wage and 2) infrastructure spending.

Both are GOP obstruction targets.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[muntrv]

52. This paragraph from the article says it all.

"And, to be clear, it was not to make America great again, but to make access to America’s resources “whites only” again. The Klan recognized it, as did the white nationalists who gave Trump their full-throttled support. But, this wasn’t just a fantasy of the far right. The allure of a revived Jim Crow nation that proudly, willfully excludes and debases millions of nonwhites was so reaffirming and reassuring that everything else became secondary or tertiary. Everything else, including national security."

[Yavin4]

54. This article was spot on.

We don't live in a blue vs. red world. We live in an Adaptable vs. Rigid world. People who can adapt to different religions, races, ethnic groups, etc. tend to do better economically and socially, whereas those who live in the rigid world are doing better politically.

[phallon]

55. Add a little Salon, Nation, Amy, etc. oh, don't forget Cornell West

They all did a fine job of blowing up a coalition that MLK and Harvey Milk helped forge.

Thanks for all the false equivalency. Especially you Cornell, with your HBO crocodile tears rant against HRC as being personally responsible for the sodomy of a Libyan dictator.