Can we please stop coddling Trump Supporters and call them out for the ill-informed racists they are? Look no further than the recent New York Times piece that normalized a Nazi - cooking dinner with him and talking about ‘Seinfeld’.
News outlets have become a trove of euphemisms when trying to qualify this portion of the electorate. For the past year, there has been this effort to understand them. Disappointed politicos on both sides of the aisle caution everyone to not speak ill of this new and delicate sect of society. On the heels of President Barack Obama’s time in office, white became the new Black as previously left-leaning groups began exploring ways to “win back” this voting bloc. I was never so curious or mesmerized by this group. I’m a Black woman who grew up between Cleveland, Ohio and Atlanta, Georgia. I am very familiar with the varying types of people who united behind Donald Trump.
Trump supporters love to throw out statistics about how this president won Black and Latino men by larger margins than both Mitt Romney and John McCain. This is usually followed up with their second favorite fact -- the same states who elected Barack Obama also voted for Trump so how could they be racist? Okay, well let’s first establish that voting for Barack Obama does not absolve these voters from being a racist. And let’s also establish that there will always be self-hating people of color who, just like white working class people, will vote against their own self-interest.
While racism and privilege intersect at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the shadow it casts is wide and far reaching. Let’s start with the curious case of the Christian conservatives. That road leads us right to Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. Nine women have now come forward with varying degrees of accusations against Moore ranging from inappropriate behavior with a minor to sexual assault. Apparently, this is just par for the course for some Christian conservative voters in Alabama. “Take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus,” Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler told The Washington Examiner. “There’s just nothing immoral or illegal here. Maybe just a little bit unusual.” A little bit unusual and a whole lot of illegal.
But that hasn’t stopped Moore’s supporters from digging in their heels. A recent poll shows that nearly 40 percent of Evangelical Christians in Alabama say they're now more likely to vote for Moore after more accusations surfaced. And what these supporters share with millions of other people across the country? They are also some of Trump’s fiercest defenders. This, despite the fact that Trump is far from a bible toting, Proverbs quoting man of faith. Trump has insulted the Pope and Mexicans tweeting that the ladder was using the former as a pawn. During a speech at Liberty University, then candidate Donald Trump said “two Corinthians” instead of the more traditional “second Corinthians.” And, until recently, he was very pro-choice.
Then there are the people who support this president because, for some reason, they believe he supports the armed forces more than anyone else. Never mind that in 1968, at the age of 22, Trump played football, tennis and squash, and was taking up golf. But suddenly, once he was eligible to be drafted to Vietnam, his previously unblemished medical history changed when he received a diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels. This deferment was one of five Trump received during Vietnam. The others were for education. In case those facts don’t matter, let’s talk present day. Donald Trump has openly criticized former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan calling them political hacks and choosing, instead, to publicly side with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Does that sound pro American military to anyone? And let’s look at the way the Commander-In-Chief treated Myesha Johnson, widow of Sgt. La David T. Johnson who was killed earlier this year in Niger. No apology ever came from this “pro-military” president after she recounted their exchange saying she felt disrespected when he couldn’t remember her husband’s name and said, “he knew what he signed up for.”
Under this president, the FBI initiated a report – Black Identify Extremists – making the unfounded assertion that Black activists’ grievances about police violence and criminal justice system inequities have spurred retaliatory violence against law enforcement officers. He attacked NFL players for peacefully protesting those same inequities. He called Nazis and white nationalists ‘good people.’ His infamous comments as a candidate calling Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers has not softened post-election as he continues efforts to build a superfluous and expensive border wall. He accused a judge of being unable to perform his job because of his Mexican American heritage. He insulted American citizens struggling to rebuild the hurricane ravaged island of Puerto Rico tweeting inaccurately that they wanted everything done for them. And for those who say they support Trump because of his policies but don’t share his views on race — newsflash — his policies are rooted in racist beliefs. Moreover, being complicit to racism makes you part of the problem.
CNN recently aired yet another painful segment interviewing the rank and file of the Trump base and asking them questions on both domestic and foreign policy. Watching these ill-informed voters stumble through remarks that are neither factually accurate nor even intelligible at times highlights the point: These are the people the Trump camp were able to convince that 45 would not only get their kids off opioids, give them well-paying jobs, bring back coal, stop all the crime, and bitch slap China.
In the months following the election, people both criticized and hailed Trump operatives like Kellyanne Conway as though she were some sort of political genius who helped pave the way for an ill equipped tabloid TV darling to the White House. I disagree. The Trump operatives were not strategic as much as they were simply the beneficiaries of the declining intellect of the American electorate. This is not specific to Trump supporters. Being racist and ill-informed is not a bipartisan affliction. I’ve seen it up close and personal on both sides of the divide. But for now, let’s focus on the Trump base since policy being pushed from the White House is to keep their loyalty while working against their socioeconomic interest.
Here’s the good news: Trump supporters only represent less than 25% of American society. Here’s the bad news: they represent close to 40% of the American electorate. In 2018, let’s see who screams the loudest. Until then, we must scrap the euphemisms and call out this voting bloc for who they are.
Tiffany D. Cross is the Co-Founder & Managing Editor of The Beat DC.