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.
While the Census Bureau says there are still 195 million white people in America and that they are still the majority, the white population actually declined slightly in 2023, and experts believe that they will become a minority sometime between 2040 and 2050.
Every component of the Trump-Republican agenda flows from these demographic fears.
The Trump phenomenon and the surge of right-wing extremism in America was never about economic anxiety, as too many political reporters claimed during the 2016 presidential campaign.
It was, and still is, about race and racism.
First off, it’s certainly possible that everyone in their family absolutely does love their interracial kids, but it’s also very possible they don’t; that is a dynamic I’d need to see to know. Behind closed doors, people change.
But either way, that would still be anecdotal, and not prove or disprove the tracked and statistically-validated rise in racist rhetoric in conservative spaces online, in conservative candidate platforms, in conservative legislators’ bills, etc etc etc.
but it’s not racism, it’s in more ways a sort of nostalgia for a time period when life didn’t involve so many complex and nuanced topics
I hate to burst your bubble, but “life was simpler when white people were 80% of the population, and we didn’t have to deal with Black people, we just let the cops do their thing, pre-phone-cameras” IS racism, whether they realize that or not. We know what was actually happening to Black people (lynchings, murder, sundown towns, Jim Crow laws used to imprison and enslave, etc). If your argument is, “well they just don’t care to think about that all, they want what was a better society for themselves, even if it was much worse for people of other ethnicities”, then you are acknowledging that they are (whether they realize it or not) making an argument for their (racial) comfort at the expense of others’.
Ignorance to the harm you’re advocating is not an actual defense, and it’s highly suspect when it’s very readily-known information. Willful ignorance at that level borders on malice (and once again, it’s not like the Republican platform isn’t absolutely rife with racist rhetoric, so it’s not like they’re just in a bubble where race isn’t discussed).
the tracked and statistically-validated rise in racist rhetoric in conservative spaces online, in conservative candidate platforms, in conservative legislators’ bills, etc etc etc.
While this may be true, it doesn’t mean that trump supporters must be bigoted. Remember, America is a two party system. People are often forced to vote for who they disagree with less.
If you “disagree less” with vocal racists who have personal ties with White Nationalist groups… I might have some bad news for you.
Try and be more open minded. The world isn’t black and white and the issues that are important to you are not universally the priority for everyone. For instance, imagine if you were an immigrant from a country that was heavily drone attacked by the US. You might make your voting decisions based on the party that bombed your homeland less. The world will make more sense if you can invest time in understanding other people in stead of labelling them.
First off, it’s certainly possible that everyone in their family absolutely does love their interracial kids, but it’s also very possible they don’t; that is a dynamic I’d need to see to know. Behind closed doors, people change.
Yeah, I’m done, you’re blocked. You don’t get to tell me about my own family.
EDIT (for anyone else that actually wants to engage in good faith): Furthermore, yearning for the effects of a time period doesn’t mean you’re in favor of the effects that caused that time period. Someone saying “I miss when gas was cheap” doesn’t mean “they miss exploiting and bullying people internationally to get the cheapest possible oil” … they just want their cheap gas (and that’s assuming what you miss is even directly related to the other thing, you can, e.g., miss how there used to be more drive-ins in the 60s while acknowledging it’s great that we got rid of leaded gas).
Trump’s a conman, he won’t give them what they feel they’ve lost back; but they believe he will. This doesn’t equate to middle America being filled with racist. You can’t write off an entire time period as exclusively being good for some people because it was bad for others. People can (as an example) like things about the 50s and 60s without liking Jim Crow.
Furthermore, yearning for the effects of a time period doesn’t mean you’re in favor of the effects that caused that time period. Someone saying “I miss when gas was cheap” doesn’t mean “they miss exploiting and bullying people internationally to get the cheapest possible oil” … they just want their cheap gas
The lie here is that you can engage with Republican rhetoric and only see this message. If you watch any Trump speech, he says racist things. The argument that you only care about the gas and house prices still inherently means that you’re choosing to ignore the racist stuff, even if you disagree with it personally.
edit:
You don’t get to tell me about my own family.
You don’t get to turn your family into an argument, but then also decide it’s unassailable. They’re not your “instant win” button against racism in the GOP.
Suggestion: don’t use your family when discussing politics.
There are also, as they say, five levels of “truth” to any person:
- Public: the persona they project outwards
- Private: what they say when “no one is listening”
- Intimate: what they only let their closest family know
- Secret: what they don’t tell anyone
- Subjacent: what they don’t even realize about themselves
You may or may not know their secret thoughts, and you usually need to spend a lot of time with them (years, decades) to learn about why they hold them.
And following my initial suggestion, I won’t tell you how I confirmed this to be true.
I know you mean well, but it’s fine to discuss your family at a level you feel comfortable. Your family is part of your experience in the world and that is fundamentally a part of your political perspective.
It’s not my problem that some people on the Internet want to insist they’re the expert on everything, even people, people they’ve never met.
When it comes to people, we should all try and keep an open mind about what perspectives might exist. These narratives that people are so divided, that Republicans are racist, greedy, and narcissistic, and that Democrats are handout seeking, weak, and naive … they need to be challenged (and first hand testimony is important but often seriously lacking).
If we’re just going to deny another person’s experiences are real anytime they don’t align with our world view … what’s the point of even being on a forum?
