How To Stop Trump by Robert Reich
https://www.socialeurope.eu/how-to-stop-trump
Why did working class voters choose a selfish, thin-skinned, petulant, lying, narcissistic, boastful, megalomaniac for president? With the 2018 midterms around the corner, and prospective Democratic candidates already eyeing the 2020 race, the answer is important because it will influence how Democrats campaign.
One explanation focuses on economic hardship. The working class fell for Trumps economic populism. A competing explanation which got
a boost this week from a study published by the National Academy of Sciences dismisses economic hardship, and blames it on whites fear of losing status to blacks and immigrants. They were attracted to Trumps form of identity politics bigotry.
If Democrats accept the bigotry explanation, they may be more inclined to foster their own identity politics of women, blacks, and Latinos. And theyll be less inclined to come up with credible solutions to widening inequality and growing economic insecurity. Yet the truth isnt found in one explanation or the other. Its in the interplay between the two.
Certainly many white working class men and women were and still are receptive to Trumps bigotry. But what made them receptive? Racism and xenophobia arent exactly new to American life. Fears of blacks and immigrants have been with us since the founding of the Republic.
Stagnant Incomes...............
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