Liberals have been in denial over why Donald trump is President ever since election day 2016. While the favorite conspiracy theory being advanced is that the Russians fixed the election and that Trump is Putin’s Manchurian Candidate, other excuses are being advanced. Hillary Clinton was pretty sure that a lot of misogynist people went to the polls and voted against her because she is a female. Now Leonard Pitts offers a similar theory. Citing a questionable study, he is pretty sure that all Trump supporters are racists.
Was 2016 a revolt of the bigots?
Pitt’s theory is that Trump supporters hate Mexicans and Muslims, gays getting married, and, above all, the black guy who was in the Oval Office. This assessment goes against most credible analysis that suggests that Trump voters went the way they did out of economic insecurity and resentment of left wing coastal elites who had disrespected them once too often. Far from being racists, a surprising number of Trump voters in the heartland, blue collar Democrats, had voted for Obama twice. They had just concluded that the “hope and change” trope had been a fraud and decided to go in a different direction. So they went with the brash, often vulgar businessman who can get things done.
‘Do you want more Trump? That is how you get more Trump!’
Professor Glenn Reynolds, when he notes the snotty ways the elites treat the ordinary people, will often conclude by saying, “Do you want more Trump? That is how you get more Trump!” By that statement he means that the more people get the lecture that they had better get with the program or else get labeled as racist, sexist, homophobe the more they turn away from those saying that.
People are ignoring Trump’s manifest character flaws because Republican presidents always get the personal attacks. Reagan was an “amiable dunce.” George W. Bush was a frat boy. Besides, didn’t Bill Clinton prove that character doesn’t matter so long as the economy is in good shape and there is relative peace abroad?
Protip: How to win back Trump supporters
The one way for Democrats to win back voters would be to treat them with respect. Do not sneer at them for clinging to their God and their guns. Do not try to sell something, like single payer health care, that people don’t want and would be demonstrably bad for them. Tell people how they will get jobs that pay enough to raise a family in relative comfort. Tell them how they can become secure again. The orange haired guy who is in the White House is certainly adroit at conveying that message. Perhaps it is time to learn from him rather than dismiss him.
