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US Politics: Impeachment 2: Electric Boogaloo

Fez

By Fez,
in General Chatter

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Centrist Simon Steele Council Member

Centrist Simon Steele

Posted
Posted

@Varysblackfyre321 Sorry, I was replying to your response to me when the last thread closed, and I'm not sure how to quote your reply here. But I wanted to respond to you about economic hardship and instability re: Trumpers. 

Here's the post: 

 

Here's what I wrote:

 

I don't mean to say that a better quality of life fixes anything, only that this hatred and division, I believe, stems wholly from income inequality and insecurity. I truly believe that the hegemony of the elite has created, in the minds of Trumpers, reasons for their anger that are wholly misplaced. If we're fighting with each other, the oligarchs understand we don't unit against them. This is a complex issue. Even if Biden enacted every policy put forth by the left, this absolutely would not fix Trumpism. The cultural consciousness has been so marred and skewed that many Trumpers would see this help as a handout and anti-American.

In terms of Trump followers being more wealthy than Clinton, I have a few questions about the report that is linked. I don't doubt there is truth to this, so what I want to emphasize first is that whether truly poor people supported Clinton, and working class people who are better off supported Trump, both of these groups are victims of the neo-liberal policies that gutted and destroyed working class workers' rights. I'm not "poor"--but even with a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, and closing in on a PhD, I am month to month in terms of my finances. Lots of people who are considered to be doing fine are in the same boat. Recognizing this financial insecurity is something that the elite have worked hard to obscure. Instead, any issues we have are related to the other. Think about what the Trumpers are upset about. Broadly speaking, they are being phased out of society--a slow moving genocide, or so they believe. What (faulty) evidence do they use? People of color get preferential treatment on the job market, in college access, and many other things. They resist vehemently the notion of a gender pay gap. People from other countries come in and take jobs that used to belong to "hard working Americans." What's at the root of all this? They're afraid of losing the already shaky financial stability they have. Their financial instability looks far different than the working poor, no doubt, but it's still there.

The article you linked noted some things I am not clear on. "Although not highly statistically significant, the survey found that '[t]hose who reported being in fair or poor financial shape were 1.7 times more likely to support Clinton, compared to those who were in better financial shape.' This finding rebukes the common sentiment that poor white Americans came out in droves to put Trump over the top in 2016." I think it's worth noting that a single study that is or is not highly significant isn't evidence to make a full declaration on this issue. I'm sure there's a body of literature out there that might give us a better idea of how accurate this claim about the affluent nature of Trump supporters actually is. We also have to keep in mind that those who might skew the results away from the suggested findings in the linked article have been notoriously unwilling to participate in polling. Also, since I am unable to find the actual report itself (I might have time to search later), I have to wonder how the researchers operationalized the term "poor financial shape" vs "better financial shape."

Either way, the report suggests that many white working class see the quality of American life in decline since the 1950s. At the heart of this is economic instability. 

So, I don't mean to suggest this is an easy fix. We could return to the "prosperity" of the 1950s (for all Americans) and I think Trumpers would still see the US as in decline. Undoing this understanding of the world around them, at this point, is an issue I don't know how to solve. I do think the Dems have to work hard to reach out to these groups. I was listening to David Ost--a political scientist--talk about this issue. I'll see if I can dig it up. He makes some really interesting points about what we're discussing.

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Spockydog Council Member

Spockydog

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Posted
1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

There are more US troops in DC than there are in Iraq, Afghanistan or Syria. Combined.

A CNN reporter said earlier today that he felt like he was in Baghdad.

I mean, that's a good thing, right? Right?

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