The more you call white working class voters "racist" the more you will LOSE elections.

[RBInMaine]

Just because someone voted for Trump doesn't mean he or she was a "racist." In fact, labeling someone you don't even know just based on how he or she voted is so simple-minded and ridiculous that anyone who would say such a thing needs a brain transplant.

MANY people voted for Trump not because of the race politics but on ECONOMICS and/or other cultural issues beyond race. Some voted for him because they are lifelong R's so stuck with their party. Others because they perceive him as a strong leader. Others because they are fed up with the establishment and want to shake up Washington. Others because they didn't like Hillary. Others because they are sick and tired of elitists who don't respect them and because of political correctness on steroids. MANY because they are beaten down economically and Trump is a business guy who promised job creation.

Please, don't be simple-minded. People vote for a given candidate for a variety of reasons.

Want to win back MANY white rural working class voters who used to vote with us? First, LISTEN to them and RESPECT them. Next, give them CONCRETE and TANGIBLE benefits for their votes, such as infrastructure jobs, a good plan for bringing back manufacturing if even on a small scale, a good plan to ACTUALLY drain the swamp in Washington, etc.

We are supposed to be "The Party Of The People" right? Well, that means ALL the people including white working class folks. Ignore them, as we just saw, at our PERIL!

[Tiggeroshii]

1. ...for the next 4-8 years.

Until white voters are no longer a dominant voting block in this country. They barely made up a majority of voters in this election. They won't in the next.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

6. Whites were 71% of the voters.

You might need to GOTV or wait a bit longer.

[jonno99]

8. Imho, yours is a losing argument. There is no guarantee that playing identity politics in

the future is a winning strategy for the Democratic party.

Unless, (as some here have suggested) you consider "class" to be an identity.

[Tiggeroshii]

11. Not playing identity politics. Just not constantly trying to cater to the anxieties of white people.

My estimate was way off. More like, the next 20-30 years. Barring the unforseen, white people will be a minority relatively soon and their demands will no longer be an issue on the minds of most voters.

[Demsrule86]

109. Supporting civil rights and not throwing Democratic constutency under the bust is not identiy

politics...it is fair and just. I say we do what we can to appeal to all voters...but now special sauce for the White male unicorn vote...it may be there or it may not be there.

[Ace Rothstein]

13. This isn't going to happen for a few decades.

Did you even bother to look at any data before posting this?

[Tiggeroshii]

14. No.

If you read my next post, you will see I admitted to such

[brush]

62. Not a few decades. It's been pretty well reported that we will become a majority minority . . .

nation in 2-3 decades — the late 2030s to the 2040s — not far off at all.

[Ace Rothstein]

69. Do you know what a few means?

[brush]

73. Since a couple is two, I've always thought a few meant at least 4 or more

[jfern]

82. You must really want to lose badly

[mike_c]

2. that demographic is utterly tired of "hope" and "change"...

...being all slogan and no substance. Honestly, I think that was Mr. Trump's primary appeal to them. Whether things will change remains to be seen, especially whether they will change for the better, but I think a significant number of Trump voters already have the change they wanted the most-- an outsider that isn't part of the political establishment.

[mythology]

42. Because obviously make America great again is all substance and no slogan?

Trump doesn't have a plan for anything other than making money for himself.

[mike_c]

47. you're preaching to the choir....

[Squinch]

3. The white working class isn't racist. It is the white working class people who voted for Trump.

They are racist. And sexist too.

You say people vote for a candidate for a variety of reasons. But if you vote for someone who is a proven racist and sexist, you are saying you are OK with racism and sexism. That means that you are racist and sexist.

Then you say, "Next give them concrete and tangible benefits for their votes" by giving them a detailed plan for bringing them jobs.
Which candidate did that? Was it the one who they voted for? Nope. It was Hillary. Who was the candidate who showed them respect by telling them the truth and vowing to work with them on practical plans? That was Hillary too. Who was the candidate who made them ridiculous promises that fell apart with even a few minutes investigation but who also appealed to their racism and sexism? That was the guy they voted for.

I'm not about to go a-courting on racists and sexists.

PS, I am a member of the white working class.

[sheshe2]

32. 1000!

[DemonGoddess]

45. Thank you Squinch!

Well said!

[mcar]

55. Exactly!

Why is this so hard to get?

[lunamagica]

60. Well said! Thank you!

[AgadorSparticus]

68. +1000!!!! Well said!

[gollygee]

89. Yes!

Why does every thread about a group of white people need a "not all white people" disclaimer?

[lumberjack_jeff]

95. What about the ones who voted for Obama or Sanders?

In our eagerness to shove the people we don't like into the other tent, we're missing the point of elections.

I was called a racist by a DU'er just yesterday because I'm not thrilled with Hillary Clinton.

The next two years will be a war for the heart and soul of the party. If you agree with the poster I linked above that this is a useful tactic to win the votes and support of the people who live in the country's poorest communities, then we're on opposite sides.

[Squinch]

115. If they voted for Obama and Sanders, and then voted for Trump, then clearly they voted for Trump

to make a point, that being that they didn't get the candidate they wanted this time and were going to show the rest of us.

That means they had their little hissy fit at the expense of people of color, women, seniors, all the unwanted children raised in the post Roe v. Wade world, and anyone within nuclear range. And if they voted for Obama and Sanders, they KNEW that's what they were doing. They weighed their pique as being more important than everyone else's life.

They are the worst of all. Racist fucks. Among other things.

[lumberjack_jeff]

118. So, they're racist fucks because they voted for the black guy...

...but not the white woman? Okay, bear with me because I'm not yet fluent in NewSpeak.

[Squinch]

121. Clearly there are a lot of things you aren't fluent in.

[billh58]

104. Hear, hear!

One look at the racist, bigoted, misogynistic people that Trump is surrounding himself with speaks volumes about those who voted for him. White supremacists from the rust belt are his "base," and he pandered to them.

[ProfessorPlum]

107. fucking right

fuck the fucking racists who voted for that fucking racist. and fuck trying to be nice to them to win elections. Instead, we need to be STRONG - denounce racism, really get behind progressive policies, and stop being so GD WEAK!

This OP is just another appeal for weakness.

[msongs]

4. step one is to have democratic candidate in every contest in every election....

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/11/29/1605255/-Building-A-Party-Of-The-Future-Part-1-Before-You-Advocate-A-Rural-Strategy-Try-Visiting

[TygrBright]

5. I am a white, working voter with plenty of "class" and NO ONE has called me racist.

Well, not recently.

Not since a black co-worker took me aside forty years back and had a little talk with me.

I *am* racist, of course. Because I was born white in a culture that privileges that status, and I live with that privilege even while I try to be aware of it and work to END it.

But I am getting fairly hacked off at the attempt to equate "white working class" with "buffoon asses."

So excuse me, if I C&P from my own post in another thread on this very topic:

Pretty much everyone I know works.

Pretty much all of them are classy, for what that's worth.

And a lot of them are white, too.

And all of them, I'm pretty sure, believe that pretty much everything the Nuclear Cheeto said on the campaign trail is toxic, vapid, divisive, opportunistic bullshit.

So where does that leave these "white working class" people in a world where we're redefining "white working class" to mean "people who want the power structure to reward them for having white skin, being Christian, and hating on people who live in cities, people who live on the coasts, people who appreciate education, diversity and progress, and people who understand that it's not our great-grandparents' world anymore"?

Sorry, fuck that noise.

I have lived in rural areas. I have lived in small towns. Living in a rural area or a small town does not automatically entitle you to some kind of special victim status just because you hate dealing with a world that's increasingly diverse and urban.

Yes, I *get* that rural areas have special problems and challenges, holy FUCK, do I get that, I LIVE IN A FRONTIER STATE and we have, like ONE nurse practitioner for whole counties that cover hundreds of square miles and have no towns larger than a few hundred people. And grotesquely polluted waterways and toxic land thanks so much to the extraction industries that extracted, dumped, and then moved on to places where labor was even cheaper. But wanting the mining companies and the gas and oil companies to come back and pay big wages for a few years while extracting some more and dumping more toxic crap into the soil and water to give our grandkids cancer is NOT going to solve our problems.

Yet the dumb shits in the oil and gas fields expect the Democratic Party to stand respectfully back, bow, and say "oh, okay, we'll stop trying to clean up the earth so everyone's grandchildren can live, just so Y'ALL can get back an oilfield job and buy a new truck, no problem"?

Well, fuck THAT, too.

Except, yanno...

...they don't.

Not the ones I know.

Oh, yeah, there's some that think like that, and I have no sympathy for what they're going to feel when they realize they're not only going to get buttreamed again, but they dropped their own trousis and bent over for it.

But, honestly, I don't really know who these "white working class" people that are the salt of the earth- you know, MORONS- are, other than a noisy, willfully ignorant bunch of nativist, racist dickheads that I want no truck with anyway. Sorry.

I'm really, really, REALLY sorry that there appear to be so MANY more of them, than I ever imagined-- enough more of them to provide cover for a putsch that is installing a parliament of putzes into the Executive Branch of our nation's government.

I'm damn' sorry about that, indeed.

But if it comes down to a choice between brownnosing a much larger group of mean, ignorant, fearful assholes than I suspected existed, or sticking with people who care about my grandchildren's future, the air they breathe, whether they can marry anyone they love no matter what gender they are or where they immigrated from-- that's a damn' easy choice for me to make.

So, yeah, if it comes down to treating racist buffoon asses all kissy-kissy just to win elections?

FUCK THAT.

I'd rather LOSE and have integrity.

But in the long run, we won't have to.

"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice."

proudly,
Bright

[DemonGoddess]

46. Thank you!!

[mcar]

57. I want to save this

Thank you!

[brush]

64. Woohoo! Great rant. You sound like a good, oldfashioned leftist that I'd be proud to march with.

[radical noodle]

77. Bravo!

Well said Bright!

[billh58]

105. +1000 n/t

[gollygee]

117. Woo!

Love it!

[yallerdawg]

7. "Not all Republicans are racists...

but all racists are Republicans."

There is no way any liberal, progressive Democrat can give a pass to the people who enabled Corrupt Trump to do what he has promised - his policies and appeal is racist.

[Joe941]

84. I hate to break it to you...

but there are racists in all ethnicity's. I am white and have been a victim of verbal racism by people of color. It's a disease that knows no racial bounds. The democratic party is and needs to continue to be the party that opposes racism against blacks, racism against whites - all racism and sexism.

[Demsrule86]

110. agreed.

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. It's hard to not vote for the ice cream man.

Promises that can't be fulfilled are a dime a dozen, but it gets their attention.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

10. Clinton would have won the white vote IF none of the "born again" ones had voted.

http://edition.cnn.com/election/results/exit-polls

Trump won the white "born again" voters by 80% to 16%!!

They made up about 26% of the voters. The white people who didn't identify as "born again" were about 71% - 26% = 45% of the voters.

So we had over 36% of all white voters, identifying themselves as "born again" or "evangelical" Christians, who voted for Trump by a huge 80% to 16% margin!!

Are they mostly racist? Maybe, I don't know. I bet many of them put abortion above all else in their decision to vote, though.

[Freethinker65]

12. Who is this post addressed to exactly?

Very few progressive/liberals I personally know think this way. It is not in our nature to stereotype a socioeconomic group of people. We fully support the working class by supporting unions, affordable healthcare and housing, consumer protection laws, etc. The working class Trump voters I personally know were single issue voters...pro-gun, anti-abortion, anti-Clinton or some combination....which is not to say that he did not get a majority of the single issue racist vote as well.
IMO, the very effective demonization of the Clintons by the right for countless years,and the media's cooperation in the demonization, lead to her loss (if she did indeed lose)

[Buckeye_Democrat]

17. Single issue voters.

I worked with a couple guys in 2000 who voted for Dumbya simply over the gun issue because they assumed Bill Clinton's gun restrictions wouldn't be renewed under him.

They even admitted that they thought he was a moron! They didn't care! Fewer gun restrictions was THEIR main concern. It kind of blew my mind at the time.

A lot of Americans assume that a President alone can't cause much trouble too. I've heard that a lot! Uh, they have the nuclear football, folks!

[Hoyt]

24. Except guns are often a racial issue. Look at the NRA and the white wingers who are the biggest gun

nuts in our country.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

30. Those guys might have been racist, but they didn't strike me that way.

It's hard to tell sometimes, though.

[lumberjack_jeff]

21. You should read the post immediately after yours. That's who. nt

[Freethinker65]

28. I get your point but

...it seems pretty obvious that the poster below will never change their mind. I stand by my anecdotal post that I personally know very few, if any, progressive/liberals that feel this way.

[lumberjack_jeff]

96. Did you read DU for any length of time before joining?

They think it's effective politics.

[Freethinker65]

100. I have been reading DU since early Air America days...

I finally joined in 2009. To be honest, I probably spend too much time here reading posts. I liked DU primarily for links to things that might interest me (learning about ALEC, PNAC, TRAP laws, Sam Wang, etc.). In the past I would seldom post, but often recommend posts. I also put many people on ignore in the past from the thread you linked to (since the hacking, I reset my ignore list to none, to see what I was missing). I have just begun to comment after the last election. There are probably more people like me on DU that lurk and have low post counts than those with high post counts and rhetoric. The infighting and flame wars confined to DU does not really concern me, if the infighting happens to the Democratic Party as a whole, that concerns me greatly.

[boston bean]

15. They voted for a racist. FACT.

What that makes them you tell me.

[NWCorona]

26. Stupid, feed up, want to see the world burn

There's many methods to madness.

[frazzled]

27. I was just going to post the same thing.

He made openly racist statements; they voted for him despite that. It's not acceptable. They are tarnished by their support for him, whether they themselves think they are not racist. They put self-interest over the interest of all people.

What about all the people who supported Hitler and brought him to power. Do we say it's okay that they ignored the racist, anti-Semitic, and other deplorable positions he openly held ... because they thought it would bring them some economic benefit? No, we do not.

[MrScorpio]

16. What about when they actually say racist things...

Can we call them racist then?

[gollygee]

116. We'd have to wait for the facts to come out

I wonder what was happening before the camera started filming.

/sarcasm

*sigh*

[jalan48]

18. Maybe it's not really about winning elections at this point.

Perhaps it's about increasing the power of the identity group within the Democratic Party itself.

[treestar]

19. well they sure voted for someone who endorsed racism

misogyny and xenophobia. How they can make excuses for that is the beyond all. They can claim they aren't racists all they want and as loudly as they want but we can still wonder. The Orange Beast's behavior shows he is unfit. They have no excuses. How do they think he and the Rs are going to make their lives better? And at the expense of POC, etc.

[sheshe2]

36. They are NOT RACIST!

Come on treestar these guys aren't racist, they just like to wave the American Flag. Ooopsie wrong flag.

Do I need this?

[lumberjack_jeff]

20. The modern D party tolerates the working class...

Provided they aren't straight, white and male. Those guys are privileged oppressors who are gonna be sorry when they lose their food stamps.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

22. I'm sure that several auto workers who kept working due to the bail out...

... were straight white males.

I personally don't like it when Democrats aren't focused enough on class issues, though. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

[Fichefinder]

33. Amen Brother or Sister!

There is only one issue that matters in America today and that is the transfer of wealth to the 300 Spartan Billionaires that are guarding the valley hiding trillions of dollars that could be building our roads, feeding the hungry, educating our children and healing our sick.

90% tax on all income over 10 million a year!
No protection for so-called "American" companies that hide their obscene profits overseas.
15% Corporate flat tax

TANSTAAFL!

[Buckeye_Democrat]

39. Inequality apparently isn't healthy for maintaining a civilization!

There's a professor in Connecticut named Peter Turchin who's made an effort to "quantify" civilizations throughout history. He was supposedly flabbergasted by the 200+ different conjectures from historians about why the Roman Empire collapsed, so he started assigning values to all kinds of variables to apply statistics to the problem. Those "values" might have been subjective in themselves, but I still applaud his effort to make historical questions more scientific.

The analysis indicates that the main cause for civilizations arising and gaining power was OUTSIDE THREATS. Before that, most people lived in very small family groups (for the majority of humanity's existence).

The main cause for the collapse of civilizations when not caused by outside threats? INEQUALITY of resources.

[DonCoquixote]

37. "Provided they aren't straight, white and male."

I do not remember any banning fo straight white males from the Affordable Care act.

I do not remember any banning of them when General Motors was saved from the Gop that wanted to let China buy it.

I sure as hell do not remember any banning of straight white males from food stamps.

Unless of course, you consider the food stamp people the democratic party, in which case, you hoping they starve is kind of not only oppressive, but it makes sure that you won't get any.

I will admit that we needed to actually reach out to people in the midwest. The Blue wall idea was a disaster, but, your words (and I admit text can lose a lot of meaning) seem to speak of straight white males as a class the Democrats hate.

Just because others want their issues to be addressed does not mean yours cannot. Indeed, the GOP wants all of us, all of us...one.

Unless you think that the default for all attention should be straight white males, like in the good old days. In which case, thankfully most straight white males do not think like you, certainly not Bernie sanders.

[SpareribSP]

74. Just a note

Not disagreeing with you here, however wanted to tack something on:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/health/death-rates-rising-for-middle-aged-white-americans-study-finds.html

There are people out there in white America who are clearly suffering. Clearly they need some attention, but they do not need all the attention. It's not a zero sum game.

[DonCoquixote]

78. oh I do nto deny they need help

what i get angry at are people from both the coasts and the midwest that act like we can play a zero sum game, which we will always lose.

[SpareribSP]

79. Absolutely agreed.

[lumberjack_jeff]

99. We're playing a game that the Republicans chose for us.

At one time, we considered ourselves the party of the working person. Then Nixon used his southern strategy to demonize blacks and we took the other side. Then Reagan used the caricature of the welfare queen, and we took the other side. Bush created the spectre of radical muslims... and we took the other side.

Now Trump. Clinton's entire general election campaign was about not being Trump. We've completely forgotten how to articulate an attractive world view independent of the one that Republicans created for us. So much so that when Sanders did exactly that, it scared the living shit out of the establishment. The DNC worked harder to obstruct Sanders than they did to elect downticket democrats.

Meanwhile, all of the working class voters who once guiltily peeked into the Goldwater tent are now being kicked into it by us. Racists! Sexists! Misogynists!

Of course we should take the other side, but that's not a replacement for having our own mission.

Our base is now suburban college educated liberal arts graduates. We think this makes us cool because we have a certificate (and $100k in student loan debt) that tells us that we're smarter than the people who elect presidents.

[DonCoquixote]

102. I will give you the credit

for saying "of course we should take the other side." However, there is a question..why did the southern strategy take off, and still pays dividends.

[lumberjack_jeff]

103. Because it occupies airtime.

I have a better idea; instead of reacting to strawmen created by the right wing (Hordes of mexican rapists!) perhaps we should do some of our own.

Martin Schkreli and his ilk should be the next Willie Horton. It's not enough to criticize him as a person but criticize him as a class.

Put those fuckers on their heels for a change. Eat the rich.

[DonCoquixote]

112. true, hiowever

If we are going to do that, we cannot depend upon the media, because hey were able to blast Horton. To be frank, we need our own answer to Breitbart.

[lumberjack_jeff]

113. Most of the media airtime in 1984 was handwringing about how low and irresponsible the ad was.

Played over, and over, and over.

I want the same kind of reaction. "Are democrats overreaching in their calls for internment camps for Pharma CEO's?"

[spooky3]

40. What BS. People who vote for Trump are rightfully

Criticized here. If a disproportionate number of members of a group such as white males without a college education are shown in exit polls to have overwhelmingly (compared to other groups) voted for the Republican candidate, what is your problem with that being noted and interpreted here?

[SaschaHM]

48. I see that you're feeling victimized tonight. nt.

[lumberjack_jeff]

71. You watch the news and don't feel victimized?

We lost because identity politics didn't work.

Only republicans should feel comforable with our tactics.

[LanternWaste]

87. Cool story, guy.

Cool story, guy. Three words too ling for another bumper sticker, so you may want to truncate your unsupported allegation. Bless your little oppressed heart.

[gollygee]

90. Insert eyeroll emoji here. N/t

[Fichefinder]

23. If you refer to anyone who works as "they",

you might, just might, be part of the problem.

If you think that the most important word in the expression "white working class" is "white", you might be part of the problem.

There are issues that unite ALL working people from laborers down to doctors and lawyers. such as..

Good roads
Good schools
Net Neutrality
Clean Air
Clean Water

Union Today!
Union Tomorrow!
Union Forever!

[meow2u3]

25. I have an excellent infrastructure idea which would benefit firefighters all over the country

which would also be a big time job creator: a nationwide water pipeline that would pump flood water from flooded areas to drought-stricken and/or wildfire-prone areas so firefighters wouldn't have such a hard time trying to put out wildfires. The details would have to ironed out and debated and the costs could be a deterrent that repukes would try to use for an excuse to shoot the idea down, but the benefits would be enormous for the whole country.

The pros: rural people, whose jobs have been eliminated by outsourcing and/or automation, would have a chance to make a decent living laying down pipes which would leak only water if they burst.

The cons: the project could be very expensive and the costs would have to be shared nationwide, providing repukes with a convenient excuse to shoot it down because it doesn't line the pockets of their paymasters.


I'm just scratching the surface, but it's high time Americans started to think big again and quit being pessimistic. Some cynics might sneer and ask me "Why should we have such a big project"? I'd answer them: "I don't see why we shouldn't. You never know if it'll work unless you try."

[Fichefinder]

35. I love that idea!!

The same areas get flooded every year. The same areas are in drought every year. Why do we let all that water get flushed down the Mississippi every year. At least a leak in a water pipeline doesn't poison anyone.

[brush]

67. Great idea. This is the kind of grand scheme project that America used to be able to do

The interstate highway system, the TVA, the Hoover Dam, the space program. Your idea could work and get greenlighted if the Republicans would stop obstructing everything.

[Garrett78]

29. Those who voted for Trump voted for someone who was openly bigoted and endorsed by the KKK.

And Trump's candidacy, instead of being laughed off as a bad joke, picked up steam precisely when he made horribly bigoted remarks (about Mexican immigrants and women).

Does that mean racism was the primary reason each and every one of his supporters voted for him? No, and I don't see anyone claiming that.

Is anyone claiming all "working class whites" are racists? Not as far as I can tell.

But racism, sexism, misogyny, heterosexism and xenophobia do take precedence for a large number of voters.

Anyway, I refer you to the following:

1) http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512632931

2) http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512630903

3) http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512621513

[Coventina]

41. I'd rather lose elections than tolerate racism.

That is a bridge too far for me.

If you voted for Trump, you voted for racism.

So, prove to me you are NOT a racist if you voted for Trump.

The burden is on those who voted for a racist.

Not me.

[boston bean]

43. Who is the you in your OP? And does it include you?

[DonCoquixote]

44. it is not a matter of ignoring them

But ever since the days of Bill Clinton, many times when the Democrats tried to help them, they attacked even a straight white male like Bill, because the churches and the talk radio told them to. Right in my Florida, there was a plan for hi-speed rail that would have given jobs, especially to the very same panhandle folks that turned Florida from blue to red. What happened, Birtherism took root here in Florida, with a then political novice named Trump. There are attempts to do many things such as solar power (which would make jobs) to repairing infrastructure , but who shouted it down, the oppressed straight white males who had it in for Obama.

Now, I want the Midwest and south to be humming again. Between solar energy and high-tech, there is no reason that yesterday's mills should not be today's mills, but the one thing I see when I hear some (and thankfully I do not mean all) some speak is the very demonizing of a false frame called "identity politics" which is really nothing more than saying "let people who were put in the inferior category get an equal shot." But the language that is used speaks as if we need to abandon reaching out to anybody not white and go back to the "good old days" when the labor unions were happy, but they did not give a damned about the blacks and browns, where Trump's grabbing of you know what was considered lock room talk, or what a secretary should have expected if she dared work outside the home.

I want to walk WITH my fellow Americans, but I should not have to expect, as was the case until very recently, to have to walk behind them, and consider myself thankful they only called me racial names ever so often, or made sure that the people who get promoted are their true "friends" who just happen to be white straight males. No, the vast majority of straight white males do not repeat, not want to perpetuate that system, especially as it will be bad for the economy in the long run, but sadly, the most vocal are often the people who will insist they are not bigots but are more than willing to let the furnaces keep burning, especially as they rationalize that it helps bake their bread.

If I can risk hides telling people that the DNC, at the very least, made some errors in judgment, placing why too much reliability on polls, traditional media, celebrities, and the idea that you could ignore the economy provided you hit other points, the least you can do is try to avoid encouraging the meme that to win the next election is to ignore the minorities, as if we needed to be put in our place. I will say that you may not be meaning to do that, but it is coming across that way.

THEGOP WANTS ALL OF US TO BE POOR

ALL OF US.

and if we do not hang together, we will hang separately, and then the Chinese and Russians will gnaw the bones that litter what was once called "The united states."

[Skidmore]

49. Perhaps the expectation

should be that the needs and desires are basic to all humans. That white person who is "beaten down" is no different or more special than those of color who suffer likewise. Reframe.

[DemonGoddess]

50. Those in the "white working class"

who voted for Trumpenstein voted for an openly racist, homophobic, misogynist creep. They KNEW what they were voting for.

Does this mean all people in the white working class are racist? No, it doesn't. But it certainly points to the fact that many of them, are, in fact, racist. It also points to the fact that having a woman in power scares the bejeezus out of too many of them, particularly where the "culture" of the area approves of and encourages keeping a woman in her "place", as property. Yes, those places do still exist.

[bravenak]

51. We won the working class. He won the white men

Should I as a black woman be comfortable not expressing my opinion that voting to deport millions of fellow americans based on race and religion is racist as fuck, and that if you voted to build a fucking wall because you think mexicans are scary as hell and you want to keep them out and round up the rest, you are racist?

I notice you defend these people who committed this racist act by saying they are hurting. Like it is okay to sell the rest of us out for a few dollars.

We won more votes.

Which group of lifelong democrats of color are you willing to throw under the bus based on this FANTASY of getting white men to vote democratic? Let me know so I can change my registration, because I refuse to sit down and shut up and not call and spade a spade or a racist a racist, just so this delusion of getting white men back can come to fruition.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

52. Jimmy Carter won the majority of white rural Southern voters in 1976.

He also overwhelmingly won among African Americans.

I'm not totally sure, but I bet Carter won those rural white voters because he of his open religious beliefs. Those evangelical whites bailed on him just 4 years later, though.

I'm not religious at all, and I support women having the right to abortions, so I'd prefer not to make strong appeals to them on religious grounds. I also wouldn't want to appeal to them on racist grounds, of course.

In contrast, Trump won white evangelical voters by 80% to 16%! If none of them had voted, Clinton would have won the white vote too.

[bravenak]

54. That was forty years ago and shit has changed alot

[Buckeye_Democrat]

56. Do you think white people are more racist today? n/t

[bravenak]

63. Same as they were, just embracing it right now because they are resurging

[Buckeye_Democrat]

61. Article about a fast change that happened between 1976 and 1980...

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/25/jimmy_carters_evangelical_downfall_reagan_religion_and_the_1980_presidential_election/

White evangelicals seem to be more racist too, but there's more to it than that. I think they're more sexist/misogynist/homophobic since the Bible pretty much says that's okay.

By early summer, according to Robert Maddox, the White House liaison to the religious community, “all kinds of anti–Jimmy Carter/pro-Reagan pieces of literature were being cranked out and mailed all over the country, supposedly bipartisan but always painting Reagan as the paragon of Christian virtue and Jimmy Carter as kind of the antichrist.” The Reagan campaign took a brief hit when George H. W. Bush, a pro-choice Republican, was chosen for vice president. After an extended flirtation with Gerald R. Ford, Reagan selected Bush, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and Reagan’s rival for the Republican presidential nomination, as his running mate. Bush immediately repented of his pro-choice views and pledged fidelity to the Republican platform, which, in a departure from 1976—and one that signaled shifting political sentiments—condemned both abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment...

Abortion now topped Falwell’s listing of the five “sins of America,” followed by homosexuality, pornography, humanism, and the fractured family. “There can be no doubt that the sin of America is severe,” Falwell wrote in his manifesto, Listen, America! “We are literally approaching the brink of national disaster.”

[Garrett78]

80. Link?

Carter lost the white vote overall, as has every Dem candidate since LBJ, so I'd be curious to see the evidence that Carter won the "white rural Southern" vote.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

83. Here ya go...

Overall white Southerners:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1976

White South
Carter 46%
Ford 52%


Non-urban white Southerners:
https://books.google.com/books?id=BwOmCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA241&lpg=PA241&dq=%22rural+white%22+carter+1976

"In 1976 Carter won working-class Southern whites but lost upscale, urban Southerners. Thus, the Georgian's victory signaled the reality of black-white political coalition transcending racial issues."

[Garrett78]

91. Thanks.

That certainly wouldn't happen today.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

92. It was mostly about religion. Carter wore it on his sleeve in 1976.

It changed dramatically four years later.

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/25/jimmy_carters_evangelical_downfall_reagan_religion_and_the_1980_presidential_election/

By early summer, according to Robert Maddox, the White House liaison to the religious community, “all kinds of anti–Jimmy Carter/pro-Reagan pieces of literature were being cranked out and mailed all over the country, supposedly bipartisan but always painting Reagan as the paragon of Christian virtue and Jimmy Carter as kind of the antichrist.” The Reagan campaign took a brief hit when George H. W. Bush, a pro-choice Republican, was chosen for vice president. After an extended flirtation with Gerald R. Ford, Reagan selected Bush, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and Reagan’s rival for the Republican presidential nomination, as his running mate. Bush immediately repented of his pro-choice views and pledged fidelity to the Republican platform, which, in a departure from 1976—and one that signaled shifting political sentiments—condemned both abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment.

White "born again" Christians voted for Trump 80% to 16%, and they constituted over 36% of the white voters if the national exit polls were accurate. The other white people voted more for Hillary, although still not in the high percentages of various minorities.

[Garrett78]

93. The "Moral Majority," founded in 1979, changed things.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

94. Yeah.

I wish those people would've stayed out of politics like they supposedly USED to do. I'm not quite old enough to remember since I was a young teenager by the time Reagan came along.

[NCTraveler]

53. Enough straw to build a bonfire. Nt

[fleabiscuit]

75. +1 That's for damn sure.

[NRQ891]

58. This is particularly true, given possible developments of parties in the future

Think how much things have changed since Bill Clinton ran in 1992 - entities that are now large institutions, hadn't ever been heard of - Yahoo (arguably, has come and gone), Google, Facebook - and even the internet itself

Compare this to the 'old guard' of American companies:

Ford - created 1903

General Electric - 1892

But both of these companies are 49 and 38 years (respectively) newer than the creation of the last political party, the GOP.

Trump didn't just defy the expectations of the Democratic party, he defied the GOP as well, breaking every rule known to politics to do it, at a fraction of the budget. Howard Dean was the first social media candidate, President Obama perfected it. Trump created news cycles with Tweets. Sanders went a very long way with mostly small donors. Jeb Bush had perhaps the largest war chest, yet went nowhere and out with record dispatch. So much so that many have already forgotten him

This election wasn't left vs right, it was populist vs establishment. I remember being bored in 'flyover' territory years ago, nothing but fundamentalist Christian radio for the drive, and tired of my own CDs. But it was interesting, a guy talking about how evangelicals were being 'played' by the GOP, strung along for social issues, but sold out on economic ones, the issues they raise their families on, and pointing out that the biggest 'family value' is feeding it. They're not all as dumb as you think. And they could be shaken out of the GOP, not into this party perhaps, but something else. (a lot of them have already become independent, George Will, for instance)

With the advance of technology, the 'proof of concept' of Trump's completely unconventional campaign style, I would not be shocked to see the rise of a 3rd populist party, somewhat libertarian on social issues but populist on economic ones. I think it could pull 1/4 of Democrats, 1/4 of Republicans, and 1/4 of Independents, giving it parity with other parties almost overnight. Please understand I'm not advocating such a thing, I'm stating that such a possibility is out there and must be considered, when assessing next elections. They say generals always fight the last war, but true preparation means some vision of a possible landscape. Ross Perot tried this in 1992, but it was 15 minutes before the internet, and still in the 'old rules' era. I don't see the 'Reform party' coming back, as it went FUBAR, but something fresh could start up

[heaven05]

65. are you trying to normalize

our racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic POTUS in waiting? ALL who voted for him, 99.8% white overlooked david duke never being disavowed by our POS POTUS in waiting. They ignored, thusly throwing PoC, Muslims, Gays under the bus driven by Breitbart racist anti-semite white supremacist Steve Bannon that the media is now calling just a conservative who is an avowed racist enemy of Jews, PoC, Muslims and immigrants. This white nationalist will have his hands on the levers of power to the detriment to all non-white americans. Please don't try to take the stink from the voters who love trumpfuhrer. I know exactly why the voted for the POS POTUS in waiting and it spells trouble for all non white americans and 'resisters' of white, racist nationalism. No amount of lipstick and/or rationalizations or whining about names thrown at these racist voters is going to change the fact that they don't care if PoC end up under the wheels of steve bannons trumpfuhrer bus. Period. So they have no compassion deserved. Period. Please don't you be simple minded, its offensive to this PoC who sees through your attempts to take the elephant in the room out, won't work. It had EVERYTHING to do with RACE. Your RW MSM talking points and rationals are extremely offensive to someone who because of having brown skin expects nothing but grief from the new fuhrer and his henchmen and women, again, from the New Nazi Party of AmeriKKKa, aka....republiKKKan party.

[TheDebbieDee]

66. "Please, don't be simple-minded. People vote for a given candidate for a variety of reasons."

I will try to keep this in mind when white, working-class people feel emboldened to call me an -n-word to my face!

[brooklynite]

85. All of them?

And that's the point. Bottom line is that a share of Obama voters in 2012 chose to vote for Trump OR NOT VOTE, because they were frustrated with their economic status, and felt that "establishment" politicians and "Government" weren't doing anything about it.

[Quixote1818]

72. Sanders has the perfect tone in this interview on how to handle this.

2 minute mark

[Demsrule86]

111. I listened to part of that and it made me so angry at Bernie I had to take an aspirin...not

all of us care what Bernie Sanders says...cheap hit...from a guy who lost the primary...news to Bernie...you lost the primary by over three million votes.

[dflprincess]

76. If Trump's constant spewing of hate an endorsement by the Klan

weren't deal breakers, then whoever voter for him has some serious soul searching to do.

[Ell09]

81. Strongly disagree with most of your post

"Just because someone voted for Trump doesn't mean he or she was a "racist." In fact, labeling someone you don't even know just based on how he or she voted is so simple-minded and ridiculous that anyone who would say such a thing needs a brain transplant."

Someone who voted for Trump may not be racist, but they did VOTE FOR a man who had demonstrated the behavior of both a racist and a sexist multiple times during the campaign. I agree that outright calling people racists is not in the best interest of the party.

"MANY people voted for Trump not because of the race politics but on ECONOMICS and/or other cultural issues beyond race. Some voted for him because they are lifelong R's so stuck with their party. Others because they perceive him as a strong leader. Others because they are fed up with the establishment and want to shake up Washington. Others because they didn't like Hillary. Others because they are sick and tired of elitists who don't respect them and because of political correctness on steroids. MANY because they are beaten down economically and Trump is a business guy who promised job creation."

This paragraph is where I strongly disagree with you. I don't disagree with your theory that many people voted for Trump for ECONOMIC reasons, but guess what? That doesn't make their vote any more acceptable. If people voted for Trump despite his blatant racism and sexism because they felt it would help them economically, then they chose their own financial situation over their own moral code or beliefs. That's something to be ashamed of and I expect more of humans. It's fine to not like Hillary Clinton, but she wasn't the only other option on any ballot. If a person to chose to vote for Donald Trump, they were choosing to put the country in to the hands of someone who had spent the better part of six months race baiting and was caught on tape admitting to sexual assault. If you can look past those things and still cast a vote for Trump, that says a lot about you as a person.

[LanternWaste]

86. I'm seeing a consistent pattern this week on DU indicating addressing racism is worse than racism it

I'm seeing a consistent pattern this week on DU indicating addressing racism is worse than racism itself. Thankfully, I see this bias from precisely only those who I expect to see it from... and no one else.

[HughBeaumont]

88. Sorry, I have yet to hear a viable or logical reason . . .

. . . why Donald Trump should have ever been taken seriously as a Presidential candidate to begin with.

This choice isn't just a shortcut to thinking, it's a teleportation.

[Fast Walker 52]

97. they sure showed us!!! They proved they weren't racist, by voting for the racist, right???

[Fast Walker 52]

98. How about we call them liberals! Maybe then they'll vote for Democrats!!!

[BlueMTexpat]

101. Trump voters voted for

a racist who made hatred, racism, misogyny, bigotry and all other evils cornerstones of his campaign.

Screw them! Every single one!

[BobbyDrake]

106. Except economics IS a racial issue. Systemic racism prevents the benefits of our economy from

being shared equally among all our citizens. To this day, in fact! Racism didn't magically disappear just because a recession hit. If anything, all it did was make the white working class more aware of the fact that Democrats were trying to correct the historic imbalance between white men and everyone else when it came to economics.

White people backed Trump because they believe he will deliver government benefits to their pockets while denying them to minorities and women. Trump voters are human garbage, and the idea that we should open our party to them is {potential Terms of Service violation here}!

[Demsrule86]

108. Have you seen the racists come out of the closet so to speak...

Many of Trump's supporter were racist and misogynistic also...not all but more than a few.

[okieinpain]

114. i disagree, they are racist. n/t.

[BlueStater]

119. Here's what I do know.

They voted for someone who mocked a disabled man, someone who wanted to ban an entire religious group from coming into this country, someone who calls women "fat" and "pigs" and brags about sexually assaulting them, etc. Despite the dozens upon dozens of things that should rightfully disqualify him from holding any sort of office, they still cast a ballot for this repugnant human being.

I don't know what the fuck that makes them, but it isn't anything positive.

[pstokely]

120. they may not be pure racists

but many are indifferent to racism