If I see another “study” attempting to describe the different motives of those who support Donald Trump, I will once again engage my (not-so-inner) potty-mouth.
The most recent example I’ve come across was a description of a study purporting to describe four different varieties of Trump voter. Here’s the crux of the study’s “scholarly” conclusion:
About 29 percent of 2024 Trump voters are what we call the “MAGA Hardliners.” These are the fiery core of Trump’s base, mostly composed of white Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, who are animated by the belief that God is on their side in America’s existential struggle between good and evil. Then there are the “Anti-Woke Conservatives” (21 percent): a more secular and affluent group of voters deeply frustrated by what they perceive as the takeover of schools, culture, and institutions by the progressive left. Another 30 percent are the “Mainline Republicans”: a more racially diverse group of middle-of-the-road conservatives who prioritize border security, a strong economy, and cultural stability. Finally, we have the “Reluctant Right” (20 percent). Members of this group, unlike the other three, are not necessarily part of Trump’s base; they voted for him, but have ambivalent feelings toward him. Only half identify as Republicans, and many picked Trump because he seemed “less bad” than the alternative.
Any reasonable look at those “differences” will note the common thread that unites them, the overwhelming grievance that allows them to ignore–or even cheer–Trump’s ignorance and venality, his increasing dementia, and his destruction of America’s constitution at home and influence abroad.
That common thread is a deep-seated racism.
Let’s look at all four of those categories. The first, the MAGA Hardliners, are described politely; they are rather clearly White “Christian” nationalists. Project 2025 mapped out their preferred society–a society where God has installed White males in positions of authority, where women are returned to the kitchen and bedroom, and people of color who are allowed to remain in the country are properly subservient.
“Anti-woke conservatives” are assigned to a second, presumably separate category. Everything we need to know about them is in the “anti-woke” descriptor. They are only different from the White “Christian” nationalists because they don’t attribute their racism to a god. They may be more educated and more secular, they may even be more circuitous when expressing their hatreds, but they are every bit as racist as the MAGA Hardliners.
Calling the third group “Mainline Republicans” is a slur on those who could formerly have been described that way– genuinely traditional “mainline” Republicans have mostly departed from today’s GOP, leaving the “mainline” moniker to those who were formerly on the fringe. They are, according to the description, concerned with “border security, a strong economy, and cultural stability.” Border security and “cultural stability” are the give-aways here: securing the border means “keep Black and Brown folks out of the U.S.” “Cultural stability” is code for keeping White Christian male status dominant.
And that fourth group–the voters who chose to give the nation’s nuclear codes to a clearly unfit buffoon who had been found guilty of multiple felonies and rape because he was the “lesser of two bad choices?” Come on! Kamala Harris was only a lesser choice to people who could not bring themselves to vote for a Black woman (a Black woman married to a Jew, no less!)
These aren’t different constituencies. At most, they’re different varieties of racists.
And credit where credit is due: the one promise Trump has kept is his promise to emulate the Nazis. He hasn’t brought down the price of eggs or other groceries, hasn’t kept America out of foreign military engagements, and certainly hasn’t made America great. He and Stephen Miller and the assortment of clowns, misfits and outright psychopaths he has assembled have pursued an unrelenting attack on DEI, on “wokeness,” on accurate history, and on anyone perceived as an enemy of the would-be King of (some) White folks.
Now, Trump’s administration has unleashed its very own Gestapo–directed at cities in Blue states that failed to vote for him. Actually, Trump has gone one better than Hitler– Gestapo thugs didn’t wear masks.
Sane-washing takes lots of forms. For far too long, the media has tried to portray insanity and corruption as just one set of political positions, while academics have attempted to “slice and dice” MAGA supporters into more and less reprehensible categories. Those efforts are another kind of mask–one that keeps us from seeing the extent of the fascism we face.
Purveyors of “making nice” need to cut the crap and face up to the very ugly evidence of where we are right now.
Thank you for your last paragraph!
I have read articles from The Guardian and AP that has so many versions of gaslighting, I now use them as a muckraker exampling yellow journalism. Quite frankly, that’s what it is. They are trying to normalize the events we see coming from the White House while nothing is normal and hasn’t been for a long time.
What this allows is the right-wing to venture further to the right into fascism while the left-wing follows. Both parties occupy the right-wing of the political spectrum. The CIA has worked diligently for the oligarchs to replace anything resembling leftists or socialists around the world. Keir Starmer was presented as a “progressive” from the labor movement. LOL
Once again, the underlying theme from the Davos crowd was fear. The oligarchy (kleptocrats) are worried that the people are starting to catch on and want to deoligarch the oligarchs (expropriation). When the people get there, which they should, this country has a chance to salvage itself. Cali and NY are models that are considered a decade ahead of the nation’s middle ground. However time is speeding up. In NY, we have a socialist mayor. In Cali, the state wants a ballot measure to tax the billionaires one time to replace what Trump took from the people.
Sadly for Hoosiers, we are always the last house on the block to make changes.
Absolutely on-point! This administration encourages the racists to be out of the closet. And boy, they are!
Being deaf, I see things that hearing people usually miss; facial expressions, especially eyes and body language. I have noticed a sudden strutting walk and a level of stronger self-assurance in our naked Emperor and Czar Homan regarding the deadly Minneapolis situation. It appears they know something we don’t know; makes me wonder what new Crap they have devised for us to cut through in the general ICE situation and the possible looming full military takeover in all states. Trump’s campaign frequently rallied around his putting the weight of most responsibilities on the State governments if elected but he is now overriding their powers using ICE and National Guard troops against the public. Does the sudden FBI investigation into the Georgia 2020 election results, and possibility of other state elections being investigated, have anything to do with new posturing of our mentally and morally questionable “leaders”? The Trump/Supreme Court “pillow talk” connection is keeping all of the Republican officials above all laws; the targeted First and Second Amendments, which are the foundation of the Constitution and this nation, are systematically being eliminated from all but those Republican officials…whatever description they fall under in the blog today.
I have forgotten which political issue was being discussed where the term “cognitive dissonance” was used but I immediately recognized the problems I am having with that issue. I have questioned my own sanity level at times due to the confusion caused by current lack of actual leadership, disguised by dictatorship, at all levels. Republicans have little or no question regarding their current lack of reasoning regarding why or who they support; it all adds up to a near total lack of democracy, Rule of Law and determination to destroy the Constitution of the UNITED Sates of America.
My current personal Cognitive Dissonance is regarding God, one of my granddaughters and the entire Democratic Party. No idea who or what I am praying to or why, my granddaughter now has full membership in my enemy party and the loss of loyalty of the Democratic party which gave the 2024 election to Trump and the loss of loyalty to me as one of their constituents. I know I have been unburdening myself here recently but who else or where else can I go with this Crap?
Bigots all!
Holocaust Remembrance Day went by with nary a mention from the Trumpists, and MLK’s birthday? Right!
Homan is full of the same crap as his predecessor, and Trump lost Georgia regardless of what the now crappy FBI says.
Well of course we can now see that it has always been racism. We slept through the past decades since MLK thinking that the country was past all that. It was easy for those of us living in blue cities where mixed neighborhoods and workplaces became normalized to not realize that to the rest of the country we were living in some kind of sin, one they did not want to join in on. The question now is what do we do about it?
Standing up to the armed terrorism of the government is no way as difficult as changing the hearts of family, friends, and neighbors who harbor hatred as a part of their identity. Any suggestions, folks?
The seeds for this mess were sown many long years ago. Our major institutions such as our universities and other institutions of education and learning were in jeopardy when they accepted money from the federal government, money which can be withdrawn at any time, and now is being withdrawn or threatened to be withdrawn. Exactly the same with every formerly respected journalism publication. If a benefit can be granted it can be withdrawn. FAFO at it finest. So now the leopard is coming for any and every face it can find to eat.
Theresa Bowers. Yes, I have a suggestion but it won’t be easy. Engage in calm conversation with the people who are driving you crazy. Listen to them carefully while they are spouting pure bullshit. Keep your emotions under tight control when they are deliberately pushing all your buttons. Think carefully before you speak. Approach them as carefully as you would a terrified, growling dog. Do not contradict them. Instead, take time to identify the illogical underpinnings of their positions, then GENTLY ask a question that is designed to reveal a flaw in their argument. This is the hardest part. It requires critical thinking to find a good question that is non-threatening but plants a seed of doubt in their mind. If you cannot be genuinely interested in what they think, pretend to be. Be willing to settle for agreeing to disagree. You are not going to succeed quickly or easily but you will certainly fail if you cannot respect their personhood even as you deplore their opinions.