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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrumps Great American Whitewash
http://prospect.org/article/trumps-great-american-whitewashTrumps Great American Whitewash
Derrick Z. Jackson
January 25, 2018
Why do so many white people believe that the president has their best interests at heart?
snip//
Why do Trump's racist messages have so much appeal? Trump deliversloudlywhat the Republicans have long promised in code. He offers up bonus time for white privilege in a changing America by tilting the Supreme Court in a conservative direction, in order to keep chipping away at equal protections in education, voting, and jobs. He has unleashed bloodhound Jeff Sessions on the Justice Department to hunt down reverse discrimination against white folks and stand down on police brutality against black people.
But Trumps and the Republican Partys traditional promises of lower taxes and less taxing government oversight can no longer hide the cost to white people themselves. As Trump continues to scapegoat black and brown developing nations, America has become the doo-doo hole of the developed world.
The US has the third-highest GDP on Earth, but the third-highest levels of poverty and income inequality among the 30 most advanced nations, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). We are 49th in gender equity and the only rich nation with no form of universal health care or paid parental leave. The Republicans rollback of air and water protections and the attack on climate science erodes the quality of life for white Americansand everyone else.
snip//
With hundreds of thousands of white people dead from guns and drug overdoses alone since September 11, there are some signs that many white Americans see a cost to white supremacist politics (particularly after Trumps comments about neo-Nazis after a white woman died during the Charlottesville riot). Recent Democratic victories around the country suggest that Trumps actions may yet unleash a tidal wave of support for anyone with D beside his or her name in November.
But it will have to be a monster wave to dislodge Trump, since he will surely keep reminding white people that they sit at the apex of the American society. The seduction of white privilege has sent Caucasians of all classes rushing to the castle to help the white elites pull up the drawbridge of opportunity against the mongrel hordes.
Martin Luther King Jr. famously said poor Southern white people were placated against their own poverty by Jim Crow, which gave them the illusion of still being better than the black man. White America is now absorbing the cost of that illusion and experiencing the socioeconomic fragility that is second nature to African Americans, Latinos, and other people of color.
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Trumps Great American Whitewash (Original Post)
babylonsister
Jan 2018
OP
dalton99a
(81,566 posts)1. What LBJ said
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
babylonsister
(171,079 posts)2. He had that right; we see it every day. nt
unblock
(52,286 posts)3. after decades of foxnews brainwashing, they're suckers for empty rhetoric.
they're more than happy to take real hits to their health and welfare if they see themselves as elevated in the social hierarchy.
this is the grifter's classic patter. blow smoke up the mark's bum while you lift his wallet.
point out that their wallet is getting stolen and they'll still defend the grifter because they value the flattery they receive more than the money they lost.
the key point is that these people are not actually getting anything tangible. they're just getting told they're higher up on the totem pole.