Trump’s America being destroyed by its own racism

Donald Trump’s return to power is not a political revival but the inevitable consequence of a nation consumed by the racism it refuses to confront, writes Dr Victoria Fielding.

THE DAY THE US PRESIDENT WAS Donald Trump swore ban all immigration from third world countries — code for non-White countries — it’s time for the entire world to call a spade a spade: Trump’s movement uses White supremacist racial resentment and hatred to wield political and economic power for the benefit of the billionaire class.

Every action, every word, everything the Trump administration and its supporters do and say must be seen through this prism and called out this way. Anyone who fails to do this helps normalize and continue the spread of racism, bigotry, and hatred. Calling out racism is not controversial; It is debatable whether he is racist or not. The world seems to have forgotten this.

Let’s not forget that Trump came to power with the support of the birther movement; His political career is based on racist lies about the former President Barack Obama. Trump’s birther movement’s attacks on Obama were not just a political rival undermining his rival. This wasn’t just a publicity stunt, an attention-getting strategy, a way to get his name in the news (although embarrassing, it was a great strategy to achieve this).

It’s time to be honest about what happened here. Embers alleged Obama is not a legitimate American who will allay the fears of insecure White Americans who watched record numbers of voters turn out to support America’s first Black president twice by heralding a new America where multiculturalism and diversity are not only normal but accepted and celebrated.

The symbolism of Obama’s presidency—the fact that a Black president could create a large, multicultural, and economically diverse constituency large enough to win two elections—frightened insecure White people.

It’s time for us to talk openly and honestly about where white people’s insecurities and fears come from, because that’s the only way we can adequately understand and deal with what it could be like to have someone who is clearly corrupt, cruel, intellectually incompetent, inept, unstable, unfit, a criminal, a sexual deviant, befriended a pedophile, brought a literal wrecking ball to the White House, who ended up being a complete failure as President in his first term. He was re-elected for a second term, allowing him to destroy American institutions and democracy, pushing America into an unstable, authoritarian state.

There I said it. America is being destroyed by its own racism.

Despite racism being so clearly central to Trump’s rise, you’ll hear people repeat the old, tired, false story that Trump won by promising to solve insecure economic concerns. This orthodoxy is a shameful attempt to ignore and belittle racism.

In fact, as my analysis of Trump’s polls shows, it is not economic concern that explains Trump’s political support, but rather whites’ assertion of their own racial and sometimes gendered and religious dominance.

What if Trump’s rise was driven solely by economic anxiety? Does this explain why? Trump and Kamala Harris Was he neck-and-neck with voters under $50,000 in income, and equally neck-and-neck with voters over $50,000? Of course, it’s not low-income Black people who voted for Trump; 83% of black voters cast ballots against Trump (including 92% of Black women) – instead White, low-income voters.

Some also like to argue that educational attainment explains Trump’s rise; 56% of those without a college degree vote for Trump, and 56% of those with a college degree vote for Harris. But there is a stark racial divide among those without a college degree. 66% of white non-college graduates (who make up 38% of the electorate) voted for Trump, while 64% of non-college-educated whites (who make up 18% of the electorate) voted for Harris.

These poll numbers actually reveal that it’s not just race, income or education that explains Trump’s support, but rather the interaction between them. In reality, Trump won the support of the majority of non-college-educated, low-income White Americans not because he better served their economic needs and aspirations, but because these people were White and their insecurities in their educational and income status made them susceptible to fear and resentment of losing their racial privilege.

To put it bluntly, historically the only thing they have had to make them feel good about themselves is their racial privilege, and so they hold on to that privilege (the privilege that Trump promises to protect and amplify) because they perceive that they have no other power to hold on to.

Obama frightened their sense of self, and Trump promised to assuage their white supremacist feelings. This is what is happening and this is what is destroying America.

If you needed further evidence of how central the hurt feelings of white supremacy are to Trump’s power, consider what 89% of Trump voters claim are their top issues. 2024 Election There was migration. This is higher than the 81% who describe the economy as more important. Ironically, only 18% said democracy was important to them; Which is appropriate, given that racism is destroying American democracy.

When the truth of the Trump movement is laid bare in this way, it becomes even clearer why it doesn’t really matter what Trump does: How badly he behaves, how much his agenda serves the billionaire class at the expense of ordinary Americans, how corrupt he is, how much he uses his presidency to enrich himself and his family, how destructive his agenda is for jobs and the economy. Because as long as he assuages White people’s defenseless-snowflake-White-supremacist anxieties, they’ll support him.

Of course, no Trump voter will ever accept this, probably not even to themselves, and so America’s descent into Trump’s authoritarian dystopia will continue even as it continues to hurt the people who voted for him.