In many ways this potential Trump catastrophe was decades in the making. Just go back to Ronald Reagan launching his first campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi. No, he didn’t start his “Morning in America” campaign there to symbolize that he was supporting brotherly love in the South, like the city’s Northern namesake.
Reagan was there to signal that he supported the segregationist racist legacy of the South (using the coded words “State’s Rights”) because Philadelphia, Mississippi, was the site where three civil rights workers from the north were killed by the klan during the height of the civil rights movement in the South. Actually, that makes the origins of the salient Trump racism against immigrants, Blacks and Brown people harken back to the end of Reconstruction in the South when “States Rights” became synonymous with the suppression of Blacks, segregation and lynching. Trump may be a deranged, aberrant, vulgar racist and misogynist, but he represents two forces that have been brewing for some time.
1) The nation has increasingly become a multiracial and multicultural society. By 2050, whites are projected to be in the minority. The DNC convention, which I thought was handled pitch perfect, especially for fractious Democrats, appeared very Black to the white viewer who resents minorities (soon to become majorities) and thus Democrats are a threat to white privilege.
But this reality makes Trump out to be the savior of particularly working-class and rural whites, who feel left behind by a multicultural society. They forgive Trump his addle-brained Hannibal Lecter unhinged vulgar, law-breaking, demented nonsensical statements because he is a defender of not Make America Great Again (MAGA) but of Make America White Again (MAWA). And don't forget the basic fact that a Black (Indian) female candidate for president directly appeals to the Trump supporter on the basis of overt or subtle racism.
For these whites, the chant is not “The Jews will not replace us,” it’s “The non-whites will not replace us.” 2) Harris is polling very high among women voters, but Trump is getting an almost equally high percentage of the white male vote. His misogyny is paying off among white males who believe women have replaced them in the workforce.
This election is all about going forward with the resilient changes in our society or going back to a regressive patriarchal society, which Trump epitomizes. However, don’t underestimate the fierce feeling of grievance among the rural and working-class voters. Why would some white women support Trump even though he's a crass, churlish misogynist? Because they fear losing white privilege more than they are concerned about their gender.
Furthermore, many of them live in patriarchal marriages where the man is king or are in the Christian nationalist movement that is patriarchal. To me, these are the overarching issues that will decide this coming pivotal election. And, yes, “We won’t go back!”.
