TO UNDERSTAND THE rise of Donald Trump, you don’t need to go to a diner in the Midwest or read “Hillbilly Elegy,” J.D. Vance’s memoir.
You just need to know these basic facts:
In 1980, white people accounted for about 80 percent of the U.S. population.
In 2024, white people account for about 58 percent of the U.S. population.
Trump appeals to white people gripped by demographic hysteria. Especially older white people who grew up when white people represented a much larger share of the population. They fear becoming a minority.
They fear becoming a minority.
They operate under the false beliefs that they already are and that “the libs” bring in foreigners to tilt the vote (which is litteraly not possible) and then “those people get free everything” to feed further into racism. The imaginary bussed in people can’t vote or get benefits but thier social circle says so and thats all they need to believe and repeat it.
The triangle of rhetoric is appeal to authority, appeal to emotion, appeal to logic. They don’t accept any of it thay didn’t come from within thier social group so there is no convinving them and that is why Tronald Dump can say he could shoot somebody on 5th avenue and have them call it fake news despite being recorded.
(Edit x 5 :Why oh why can’t spellcheck just work?)
This is exactly what my neighbor stopped me to tell me recently. About bringing in immigrants to vote and what not. I tried to tell him none of that information is true and show him where and why, but it’s really hard to do without making them dig further into their position.
Anne they are now conditioned believe that any media that doesn’t align with them is fake.
Even when you do manage to get one to think and realize the truth their peer group will come down on them HARD for “falling for leftist propaganda” and they will 180 immediately.
Of course it’s not just racism. You got to throw in sexism and other kinds of discrimination. This is not just targeting elderly white people, all this certainly it is targeting many of them. It’s also targeting younger white people, and men, for example.
The other thing we should never forget is that Washington is full of sleazy politicians. In 2016, Trump was campaigning as a reformer, and people were hoping that maybe he would magically address some of that corruption. Of course he didn’t, but he played on that hope, as reform candidates always do. And once people buy into him, it’s easier for them to stay bought in than it is to admit that they got played.
Yes, Trump’s shit talking was extremely entertaining during the Republican primary. He brought that up against one of the most despised establishment figures in Hilary Clinton and it was a recipe for victory.
