Trump’s popularity with his base isn’t the result of economic anxiety, as many claimed in 2016. It’s about race and demographics.

Lots more good stuff with citations in the article, but this bit really ties it all together:

 

The right-wing obsession over racial demographics becomes obvious in the “pro-natalism” movement, which advocates for conservatives to have more children to take control of society. The mission of the movement is “to build an army of like-minded people, starting with their own children, who will reject a whole host of changes wrought by liberal democracy,” according to a fascinating recent story in Politico.

For the right wing, pro-natalism means looking for every possible means to increase the white percentage of the nation’s population. Through this lens, it’s not hard to see why Republicans remain virulently anti-immigration and strictly opposed to abortion.

Those two issues may appear unrelated, but in fact Republican positions on both stem at least in part from white demographic fears. Republicans want to halt the rise in the nonwhite population by curbing immigration. At the same time, they hope their abortion bans will boost domestic birth rates — staving off white demographic decline. They also want to ban contraceptives and no-fault divorce, forcing women to stay in marriages and have more children.

The Republican Party’s white nationalism is often justified in religious terms, since much of this agenda designed to enhance white power stems from the party’s Christian fundamentalist base. Along with Protestant evangelicals, the Republican religious base now includes fundamentalist Catholics, who stridently oppose abortion.

  • kikutwo@lemmy.world
    101·
    3 months ago

    That and there is just a huge amount of stupid lemmings that are dumb as rocks.

    • IninewCrow@lemmy.caEnglish
      18·
      3 months ago

      Everyone including the media paint a picture that’s it’s just Trump … it’s just his followers … it’s just a political party …

      None of what they are doing or saying would be possible without the full support and financing of very wealthy and rich elites… and none of it would be possible without the support and sometimes encouragement, acceptance and justification of a very pliable media, who are all owned by the same wealthy and rich elites.

  • rsuri@lemmy.world
    39·
    3 months ago

    Racism is not the reason Trump is popular, it’s part of why he’s not popular. Obviously, a premise of the article’s argument is that Trump is popular in the first place, which is demonstrably not true. He lost two popular votes against 2 candidates who were themselves already extremely unpopular. In fact he lost so badly that of the 12 major party candidates to run in the 21st century, he came in 10th and 11th, only beating out John McCain’s 2008 chaotic performance against the popular Obama. And according to some polls, he may give McCain a run for his money this year.

    So we shouldn’t be asking why Trump is popular, we should be asking why he’s unpopular. I’d argue racism is no longer popular in the US, in fact there’s been majority support among white people for interracial marriage since 1995. Trump grew up and became popular in a much more racist era than today, and that harms his popularity.

      • CascadianGiraffe@lemmy.world
        2·
        3 months ago

        I think what they may be trying to say is that the majority of Trump supporters are not the rabid followers. This is why they are so dangerous. The majority of his support is not the crazy people you see on TV. They are your friends, family and coworkers, your neighbors, people you know.

        Trump is selling a solution to the political corruption that nearly EVERYONE is sick of. This is what makes him popular. The people voting for him will tolerate non-direct racism but they aren’t choosing that side because of it. What you hear about from the media is the crazy people that make good stories.

        And yes, Trump brings along a con-crew with their own agenda who are just as corrupt as those that Trump complains about. They’ve been scheming long before Trump, he’s just the current tool.

  • mad_asshatter@lemmy.world
    32·
    3 months ago

    Trump’s helicopter story is a different black dude:

    “Willie is the short Black guy living in San Francisco,” Holden said. “I’m a tall Black guy living in Los Angeles.

    “I guess we all look alike,” Holden told POLITICO, letting out a loud laugh.

    • worldwidewave@lemmy.world
      37·
      3 months ago

      Trump’s absolutely losing it, and we’re seeing his flailing and failing brain on display more everyday.

      My theory on why he thinks Kamala “was Indian” and “turned Black one day” is that he’s fully confused Nikki Haley and Kamala Harris in his brain, and has conflated the two into one person.

  • MagicShel@programming.dev
    7·
    3 months ago

    I wonder how well this even works. I’ve seen a lot of folks who grew up in weird cults who rejected the whole thing.

    • De_Narm@lemmy.world
      12·
      3 months ago

      Generally speaking, you’re more likely to stay within a cult your were born in than joining one you weren’t. Having as many children as possible is cult founding 101.

    • nickiwest@lemmy.world
      4·
      3 months ago

      But for every one of them, how many of their peers are still in it? I’m the only one from my generation who got out of my terrible religious upbringing.

      • MagicShel@programming.dev
        1·
        3 months ago

        I don’t know. It’s a legitimate question because for every story I hear about people walking away, how many stayed and never told their stories. That’s not a question I’m in a position to answer, just pose.

  • Tiefling IRL@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    37·
    3 months ago

    The Republican Party’s white nationalism is often justified in religious terms, since much of this agenda designed to enhance white power stems from the party’s Christian fundamentalist base.

    Wait til they learn that Jesus wasn’t white

    • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      5·
      3 months ago

      Heh. 😀

      They think an election was stolen and that climate change and covid are hoaxes, so I’m doubtful they are capable of believing that no matter what evidence was provided.

      When someone believes those things, it’s probably not even the work of their conscious mind to just dismiss it out of hand when someone tells them Jesus wasn’t white.

    • ours@lemmy.worldEnglish
      16·
      3 months ago

      And nothing says “love thy neighbor” like racial supremacism.

      Their white supremacist, conservative, hateful, supply-side Jesus is weird. I’m an atheist but I much prefer the hippie, anti-materialist, socialist, anti-establishment Jesus I was grew up hearing about.

    • nickiwest@lemmy.world
      5·
      3 months ago

      That’s because many of them are old enough to remember a time when you were supposed to be quiet about your racism because you knew the rest of society would shame you for it.

      Unfortunately, America has never reached the point where a majority of people felt shame about their transphobia, so in their minds it’s okay to be more open about that.

  • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
    211·
    3 months ago

    So, what color is Trump? White or orange? He needs to make up his mind. I’m confused.