The Disenfranchised American
Not a day goes by when I don’t hear someone on the left make the comment that goes something like this “But 74 million Americans voted for him.. what does that say about this country?”. This comment typically comes at the end of a long conversation about how Donald Trump is wrong on so many levels, how he is unfit to lead, lacks empathy, is selfish and only cares about himself, etc. These conversations are happening in liberal households and groups every day. Joe Biden’s election win has done nothing to reduce their surprise on how so many of their fellow Americans could vote for Trump.
If you looked at 74 million as one block of voters, you are oversimplifying a complex base. In my opinion, three blocks make up this large support base. There is overlap between these blocks. While the first two blocks are justified in their thinking, and their grievances need to be addressed if any party wants to get their support. These blocks represent good Americans who may differ with me on many issues, but that does not mean they don’t deserve a voice or representation. The third block is wrong in their thinking and has no place in modern society. There are no “good people” in this block, regardless of what President Trump may like you to believe.
Let’s start with this third block. It’s the “whitelash” block. This group comprises people who have negatively responded to other ethnic groups’ racial progress in rights and opportunities, their growing cultural parity, political self-determination, and dominance. The fact that the United States of America had a Black president for not one but two terms has rocked this group. They yearn for the good old ways when America was more white and white men controlled things. I am not sure how else to tag this group but as a bunch of racists. Dare I say that if Barack Obama was not the 44th president, this group might not have been as energized as it is today. If Hillary Clinton, a woman, was not the Democratic nominee in 2016, maybe some of these people would still be masquerading as conservatives.
Then there is the Christian Evangelical group. Those who believe President Trump is doing God’s work. This block is what we would consider the more traditional conservative base. The evangelical base has been steadfast in its support of President Trump. Pointing faults in President Trump’s character will get you nowhere with this group. Past infidelity, that’s okay. Lack of empathy, that’s okay. Not remembering that Jesus said,” ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”, that’s okay. You will get the “God uses flawed men to do his work” argument from this block.
Get ready for a biblical refresher on characters such as Moses, Noah, Job, Paul, and Jonah. This group has clarity about what matters to them, and salvation and eternity are way more important to them than some temporary social or global issue. One cannot fault this thinking because if you are a Christian believer, then these are more critical issues than social equality. It does not mean that Evangelicals do not care about social issues; they prioritize salvation in the form of deliverance from sin and its consequences over everything else. This group votes on the party platform, and issues of abortion and traditional marriage trump everything else. You can have conversations about why being a two-issue Christian is only seeing half the picture; you will quickly be shut down as everything begins and ends with life and human beings having no right to take it. In conversations, you will hear evangelicals talking about the Republican party being God’s kingdom party. When asked why God may not be using another flawed man in Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. to do his work, you will be met with either incoherent answers or something that goes like, “let’s wait till Jan 6th to see if God is done with his work with President Trump.” It seems God only works through flawed republicans.
The next group is the Disenfranchised American. This is probably the most complex of the three groups. It is complicated because the last 50 years have created this group, and the changing world order impacts them directly. It is a zero-sum game; for them, everyone cannot win and talk about progress for the whole world, and all societies are met with America first retorts. This group represents Americans who feel that their way of life is being taken away from them and not because of the whitelash we saw earlier, but because of increased immigration and the impact on American jobs, business policies that impact free enterprise, and regulation stifling innovation. Make America Great Again addresses this group directly. The nationalism, nation first politics that we see not just in America but in countries like India is catering to this disenfranchised block. Globalization is a bad thing in their minds. This group also considers college-educated liberal elites who look down on their blue-collar professions as the same people taking away their livelihood. Big bad technology companies that control the internet and airwaves are mostly seen as liberal. They look at what impacts them now, not fifty years from now. What affects their livelihood today. Talk of melting glaciers is met with statements about glaciers still being visible in Alaska!
Surprisingly there is a large sub-group within this block who are social liberals and fiscal conservatives. These are successful business owners, white-collar professionals who think with their pocketbook first and lean republican. If you caught them at a bar after a few drinks, they would tell you how backward some conservatives are on social issues. Much like the abortion issue for evangelicals, lower taxes and less regulation are most important for this group. This also makes up the largest group of closet Trump followers. They would not be caught dead in one of those red MAGA hats, but they love their lower taxes. Penalizing wealth creation through higher wealth taxes keeps them awake at night. The very mention of socialism gives them fits, and they will conflate social support programs with socialism all day long. To them stimulus checks, not socialism, Bernie talks about healthcare, socialism.
No one is changing the whitelash block, at least no single political party. The evangelicals are steadfast in their beliefs, and while their moral double standards when it comes to turning a blind eye on the character of leaders is disappointing, they have a basis for their beliefs. They vote on a platform, and that is not changing. The Disenfranchised American block is up for grabs. Policies that the Biden administration puts forward around immigration, jobs, regulation, climate, taxes, healthcare, defense, and social programs will directly impact this group. If any in-roads are to be made by the Democrats, it will have to be to this group. The increasing influence of the progressive wing of the democratic party will make this challenging.
