{"id":8366,"date":"2016-11-17T11:59:22","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T11:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=8366"},"modified":"2016-11-25T19:03:24","modified_gmt":"2016-11-25T19:03:24","slug":"the-real-reason-trump-won-white-fright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/the-real-reason-trump-won-white-fright\/","title":{"rendered":"The real reason Trump won: White fright"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christopher Sebastian Parker<\/a>, University of Washington<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Many presidents have assumed the reins of a divided nation, but we\u2019ve never seen anything like the reaction to Donald J. Trump\u2019s 2016 presidential election. <\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t happen to Richard Nixon while the country was bitterly split over race and war. <\/p>\n

Half of the country believed Al Gore was cheated out of his shot at the White House in 2000, but the run-up to George W. Bush\u2019s presence in the Oval Office offered nothing like what we are seeing now. <\/p>\n

President Barack Obama, by turns believed a socialist and African national, among other things, was feared by some on the right, but didn\u2019t face what the current president-elect now faces: a country whose division is exceeded only by Civil War-era America<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If Trump is so divisive, why did he win? <\/p>\n

The conventional account<\/h2>\n

If we are to believe the emerging consensus, Trump won with the support of working-class white voters<\/a>, people anxious about their economic prospects in a globalizing economy. The theory goes<\/a> that the automation that has replaced workers, and the pull of capitalism that pushed manufacturing jobs overseas, squeezed the white working class. As a result, the white working class supported Trump<\/a> and his promises to blunt globalization and curb free trade, moves that will preserve working-class jobs. <\/p>\n

Hogwash. <\/p>\n

Reasonable people may disagree on the definition of \u201cworking class,\u201d but let\u2019s agree that it resides in the US$30,000 to $50,000 range<\/a>. Even if we add in those classified as poor \u2013 that is, households earning less than $30,000<\/a> \u2013 this group constitutes only about 36 percent of the electorate. Substantial, but not enough to hand Trump the election. <\/p>\n

Especially not since Hillary Clinton actually beat<\/a> Trump among poor and working-class voters: 52 percent to 41 percent.<\/p>\n

So, where did Trump beat Clinton if income is the criterion by which we\u2019re judging the election? Even if not by much, exit polling indicates he bested her among those earning at least $50,000 \u2013 that is, the middle and upper class. <\/p>\n

But for the fact that much has been made of the white working class riding to Trump\u2019s rescue, it\u2019s not entirely shocking that the GOP standard bearer won the middle- and upper-class white vote: It\u2019s been this way for some time, for several decades<\/a>, in fact. <\/p>\n

Instead, what\u2019s most arresting is that middle- and upper-class whites voted for this particular candidate. College-educated whites tend to be more tolerant<\/a> than those without a college diploma. In a nutshell, a college education is generally tied to a commitment to democratic values<\/a>. But Trump\u2019s brazen misogyny, racism and navitism run afoul of these values. <\/p>\n

By the way, I\u2019m not the only one<\/a> to conclude that Trump\u2019s victory had at least as much to do with support from voters who remain unencumbered by economic anxiety as those riven by it.<\/p>\n

The real reason he won<\/h2>\n

If social economic status \u2013 especially education \u2013 is a gateway to a more tolerant, democratic society, why did middle- and upper-class voters back someone who represents the antithesis of such values? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s actually pretty simple, in my opinion. My reading of history suggests that the boundaries of American identity intersect with whiteness, patriarchy, xenophobia and homophobia. This means that anyone, any group that falls outside of such a definition of American identity, is considered beyond the political community; they\u2019re aliens. <\/p>\n

Rapid social change, which poses a threat to this truncated version of American identity, activates anxiety and anger on the part of those who lay claim to this identity. The America with which they\u2019ve become familiar is changing too fast. Hence, the slogan for the Trump campaign: \u201cMake America great again.\u201d This suggests that America, in its present state, is defective in some way and needs to return some previous version of itself. <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s consider what could be \u201cwrong\u201d with America circa 2016. <\/p>\n

Rapidly changing demographics means that America will transition to a \u201cmajority-minority<\/a>\u201d country no later than 2044. Women are now more visible in public life than ever. Three serve on the Supreme Court. One even ran for president \u2013 twice. Same-sex marriage is now the law of the land<\/a>. Last, but not least, we\u2019ve had a black president for almost eight years. <\/p>\n

With this in mind, many Trump supporters believe themselves to be losing \u201ctheir\u201d country, something that leads them to prefer a social milieu more consistent with days gone by \u2013 one in which primarily white, middle- and upper-class, heterosexual, native-born men reigned supreme. <\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t the first time America has witnessed something like this. Rapid social change spurred the growth of the Ku Klux Klan<\/a> in the 1920s and the John Birch Society<\/a> in the 1960s. <\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n Ku Klux Klan members supporting Barry Goldwater\u2019s campaign for the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention, San Francisco, California in 1964.<\/span>
\n United States Library of Congress<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like Trump\u2019s supporters, economic anxiety had next to nothing to do with why people supported the KKK or the John Birch Society. These people were relatively well off. Instead, it was the perception of existential threat that pushed people to join each. The KKK felt threatened<\/a> by the \u201cNew Negro\u201d and religious minorities; for the JBS, it was about the civil rights movement joining forces with the Soviet Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But we needn\u2019t look back as far as the 20th century to identify the most recent example the reactionary sentiment that fueled Trump\u2019s stunning victory. <\/p>\n

As I have written elsewhere<\/a>, the Tea Party movement formed in reaction to the election of the first black president. He represented social change in which 20 percent of white voters couldn\u2019t believe. <\/p>\n

When one considers the extent to which these groups overlap, these similarities come as no great surprise. My analysis of existing polling data<\/a> suggests 83 percent of those who identify with the Tea Party also supported Trump\u2019s candidacy during the campaign. In other words, Tea Party supporters are now Trump supporters.<\/p>\n

More importantly, if the policy preferences of Trump supporters are even remotely similar to those who supported the Tea Party, progressives have reason to be concerned. Tea Party types are far less inclined to support progressive policies than establishment conservatives. <\/p>\n

Still, a silver lining may exist. Trump\u2019s victory, in light of all of his antics during the campaign, makes it all but impossible to deny the continuing currency of racism, sexism, xenophobia and homophobia in the United States. It\u2019s on display for all to see. <\/p>\n

This could be a good thing: It forces us to reckon with who we really are. Is America really about the democratic, progressive values professed in the founding documents? Or, are we really the small-minded, bigoted place Trump\u2019s election represents? <\/p>\n

If we hope to maintain a claim to exceptionalism, we must find our way back to the values on which this country was founded, ones that include equality and freedom. <\/p>\n

If Trump and his supporters really wish to \u201cMake America great again,\u201d perhaps they should go all the way back to these founding principles. Only this time, they should leave behind the racism, sexism and nativism.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Christopher Sebastian Parker<\/a>, Professor of Political Science, University of Washington<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christopher Sebastian Parker, University of Washington Many presidents have assumed the reins of a divided nation, but we\u2019ve never seen anything like the reaction to Donald J. Trump\u2019s 2016 presidential election. It didn\u2019t happen to Richard Nixon while the country was bitterly split over race and war. Half of the country believed Al Gore was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":8367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,38],"tags":[479,1540,1538,1539,1537,1536],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8366"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8368,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8366\/revisions\/8368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}