Michael Harriot files this dispatch at The Root under the byline WHITE PEOPLE ARE DUMB:
White People Will Believe Anything...Except Facts
It’s becoming painfully obvious that the Democratic Party somehow convinced the Republican legislatures of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to throw the elections in their respective states. And, after bellyaching for five years about Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, obstruction and three stolen Supreme Court seats, for some reason, the Democrats didn’t even bother to give themselves a Senate majority by rigging the elections for Jaime Harrison, Amy McGrath and Cal Cunningham.
There isn’t a shred of evidence of rigged election, and no one has explained how Democrats convinced their nemeses to commit a felony in exchange for ___ (we’ll fill in this blank when we can figure that part out) but everyone knows how shrewd Nancy Pelosi can be, never mind those lost House seats or that failed impeachment bid.
What else could explain it?…
For legal reasons, I could not title this article White People Are Dumb. (I didn’t want another lawsuit from dumb people for comparing them to white people). Even if you disagree with me condensing the name of the Stop the Steal movement down to its shorter, more pronounceable nickname (pronounced: “WHY-it-pee-pull”), maybe you can agree on three indisputable facts:
- White people like Donald Trump: According to Gallup, 55 percent of white people approve of his performance as president while his latest job approval rating stands at 24 percent among nonwhites.
- White people will vote for Donald Trump: When Pew Research examined the verified votes for the 2016 election, they found that 54 percent of white voters cast ballots for Donald Trump. Preliminary exit polls for the 2020 election show that Trump earned 58 percent of the white electorate
- White people are the only people who will for Donald Trump: In 2016 and 2020, white voters were the only racial or ethnic group in America with a clear majority of support for Trump. Black, Hispanic, and all other non-white groups voted for Trump’s challenger…
So, what’s behind this susceptibility to being perceived as vile, deranged morons, and to vote for vile, deranged morons?
Could it be *white supremacy*?
Their inherent dumbness leads them to believe that the Civil War was about “states rights” in spite of the word “slave” making 10 appearances in the Confederate Constitution. Why do you think they called themselves the “slaveholding states?”
They accepted Jim Crow because they dumbly believed it was possible to be “separate but equal.” They believed that civil rights activists who openly espoused nonviolent resistance actually caused violence. They ignore unequivocal proof that majority-Black school districts are underfunded while still believing that Black people are inherently less intelligent than their white counterparts. They don’t believe in racism, white supremacy or white privilege but believe that anti-white discrimination is real that every successful Black person benefitted from affirmative action.
They refused to accept that Barack Obama was born in the United States even when they saw his birth certificate but—with no proof whatsoever—insist that Donald Trump actually pays taxes. They believe Obama was only elected because he was Black but Trump’s election had nothing to do with whiteness—it was “economic anxiety.”
They don’t believe the data about the disproportionate racial impact of police brutality, poverty, criminal justice, voter suppression, employment or healthcare. They believe that Black people are just lazy, violent, sickly whiners who want government handouts. Meanwhile, they scoff at anyone who connects them to right-wing extremism, mass shootings, medical discrimination or inequality as they take their government handouts euphemized as “subsidies” or “tax loopholes.”
Ok, so, the thing is…
GOP rank and file voters are white supremacists.
GOP rank and file voters are fascists.
That’s why white supremacist fascists are in Congress, the White House, in the Federal Judiciary, and in state houses and courts across the land. That doesn’t just happen. The GOP voters aren’t duped, and they don’t vote out of ‘other concerns’. Those narratives are simply fiction.
GOP voters choose those that reflect their worldview, and act accordingly. GOP voters are the cause, not the effect.
But sure, let’s find the right messaging to speak to their concerns.