For the past couple of weeks, I have read former some (supposedly) Bernie supporters say over and over and over that HRC did not address the working class- oops, sorry- The White Working Class(tm). Always in capitals, because you know, important. And of then course the ever so sleazy backslide to appeasement with calling for an end to ‘identity politics’.
Never mind that identity politics is absolutely tied to economic betterment, especially for POC and gay/lesbians/transpeople- somehow, it was ALL ABOUT POC*, and so the White Working Class(tm) voted for Trump. It was all about #jobsinohio
Bullshit.
As the numbers of votes have come in and some of the auditing, it is clear that ALL OF THE WORKING CLASS- not just Whites, but all of the working joes across the rainbow- voted for HRC. Those who voted for Trump heard HRC message, and because of their own sexism and racism voted for an asshole, because that asshole promised goodies for them, AND ONLY THEM. Trump promised to punish poor and working class brown/black people, and those who for Trump lapped that up like cream.
This brings me to a very clear and insightful essay in The Atlantic: The Dangerous Myth that Hillary Clinton ignored the Working Class. Read it here:
www.theatlantic.com/…
The key takeway:
“….The more frightening possibility for liberals is that Clinton didn’t lose because the white working class failed to hear her message, but precisely because they did hear it.
Trump’s white voters do support the mommy state, but only so long as it’s mothering them...”
Please do read all of it, look at the numbers distribution. Consider the fact that a lot of Trump supporters actively lied to pollsters, friends and family. Trump supporters are not by and large the left behinds- they want to have other people, black and brown people, left behind. The Trump supporters knew that Trump was incompetent and wrong for the job. They were not tricked or swindled or bamboozled. These voters actively chose themselves, and their feelings, over the rest of country.
This is passive nihilism, and it needs to be actively confronted.
Let me know what you think.