CGC Journal - October 2024
We're Building a Co-learning Community of Empathetic Societal Change Agents
OCTOBER 2024 | ISSUE 15
WHITE AMERICA’S COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP WITH DONALD TRUMP, RACE RELATIONS … AND THE TRUTH
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Current Events - White America’s Complicated Relationship with Trump
Emily’s Corner - Curiosity is Key
Talking With Kids - Spontaneous learning opportunities
Barbara’s Perspective - Consider Developing a Proximity Path
African Insights - Healthy Life Choices
Recommended Resources - New resources recommended every month
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White America’s Complicated Relationship with Trump, Race Relations … and the Truth
In 2016, Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States. It was the first time he had ever run for any public office. Trump received a majority of votes cast by the White electorate, the largest demographic group in the electorate population. On the flip side, Trump failed to receive support from any majority of nonwhite demographic groups. A majority of White American voters were alone in their adoration of Trump among the voter population groups then … and now.
Today, Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris remain deadlocked in a statistical tie according to the latest polling data.
TRUMP’S PERSISTENT POPULARITY
Rather than shrug our shoulders and express incessant incredulity with each devolving stage of the Trump candidacy that strengthens support among his base of White supporters (and even attracts an increased number of tiny percentages among nonwhite voting populations), we seek to gain a better understanding of those who demonstrate such strong alignment and support for Donald Trump’s leadership. That requires us to dive into the psyche of White America, which appears to have a complicated relationship with Trump, race relations in America, and the truth behind each. And since White voters represent the largest share of the electorate, how White voters vote can have huge implications at every electoral level. The declining share of White Americans in the population is also a factor in elections.
WHITE WOMEN FOR TRUMP
What does the voting data tell us about who supports Trump? White women voters are the largest demographic group. On the flip side, Black women are the largest nonwhite voting demographic. Black women opposed Trump by at least 90% in 2016 and 2020 … and that trend continues in 2024. But Black women are just a fraction of the population of White women voters.
White women helped Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, a White woman who was a former U.S. Senator and former Secretary of State. Trump received 47% of the support of White women compared to Clinton’s 45%, according to Pew Research data.
It is instructive to note that Trump had never run for public office before, and yet secured more support from White women (the largest voting demographic in America) despite dozens of White women accusing him of sexual assault … and Trump’s own admission on a hot mic that he routinely engaged in the actions of a sexual predator. Trump substantially increased his support among White women in 2020, 53% to Biden’s 46%, despite a tumultuous tenure as president and historians ranking the Trump presidency as the worst in American history.
SO … TRUMP SCANDALS DON’T MATTER?
During his time in the White House, Trump accumulated a scandal-a-week reputation, too numerous to list in this Journal. Here’s a New Yorker article, titled “So Many Trump Scandals, So Little Time,” if you’re curious.
Here are more of Trump’s biggest scandals, with his response to each. And here is an entertaining Daily Show video counting down the top 100 Trump scandals while he was still in office.
Beyond Trump’s headline-catching scandalous activities, there are the very serious legal matters. Trump has been involved in more than 4,000 legals cases, which seems preposterous to fathom for anyone, much less a candidate for the presidency. Last year, Forbes published a concise list of some of Trump’s most serious investigations and legal cases.
KAMALA HARRIS VS DONALD TRUMP
Today, the polls show that Trump is in a statistical tie with another woman candidate for the presidency. This time Trump is facing Kamala Harris, a woman who identifies as both Black and Asian. She is also a former elected San Francisco District Attorney, a former elected California state Attorney General and a former elected U.S. Senator in addition to being the current Vice President of the United States. But to a majority of White women voters, Kamala’s gender, race, extraordinary background, and leadership at each level of elected office takes a backseat to their unwavering support for Trump.
The persistent resistance by a majority of White women voters to supporting an extraordinary much younger woman candidate in favor of a much older White man whose views on racial hierarchy and white supremacy align with David Duke, a former KKK Grand Wizard, is worthy of exploration and analysis.
The only demographic group in 2024 that has a majority support for Donald Trump remains the White voting population. Particularly, the White Christian conservative population. The Brookings Institution offered comparison data between 2020 support for Trump among White evangelical voters and current 2024 data.
Of course, there are a wide range of reasons given by both White men and White women who continue to support Trump today … after a seemingly unending stream of new scandals after he left office.
Today, Trump stands as a convicted felon facing more criminal trials. Undeterred, a majority of White American voters, particularly White evangelicals (regardless of educational level) remain resolute in their strong support of a man who has vowed to exercise the powers of a dictator on day one, should he be elected in November.
Are these voters sincere? Are they expressing deeply held convictions that they believe Trump represents? Again, we turn to the comedic talents of the Daily Show to expose hypocrisy in the rationale offered by many in the White electorate for their unwavering support of Donald Trump.
TRUMP’S TRUTH
To be fair to Trump and those who support him, there is a consistent throughline that provides an insightful understanding of what truly motivates support for Trump no matter what he says or does to inflame controversy.
In 2016, I wrote an essay on Medium titled, “Unwrapping Donald Trump’s Unwitting Gift to America” in which I analyzed his campaign messaging, public reaction, and media coverage. Here’s an excerpt:
Political correctness is the enemy of the whole nation. Hidden behind polite speeches and appeals to America’s declining white middle class population are historic battleground issues that define how America treats all of her citizens and interacts with the world. Behind these issues are strong attitudes in the Republican Party that many pundits refer to as “white supremacy,” “white nationalism” and “ethnic nationalism.”
Trump compels national discourse on myriad issues that many white Americans on both sides of the political aisle find uncomfortable and fear talking openly about: demographic shifts in America, race relations, economic inequality, systemic institutional biases, abuses of authority, xenophobia and the incremental loss of white leadership and power.
By the time the November election rolls around, perhaps the nation will have realized the significance of the Trump campaign as a catalyst for kicking aside political correctness that undermines honest discourse Americans need to have about our future and the soul of this nation.
Trump’s attacks on political correctness and political compromise are the two battlefronts where he is winning Republican voter approval convincingly.
Trump continues to defy every prediction of doom and gloom by GOP strategists and pundits. He appears to understand the battleground fault lines on political issues better than any of his competitors, political strategists, pundits and seasoned journalists. And without a hint of consideration about how he might fare among the general electorate, Trump is trumpeting the concerns of tens of millions of conservative white Americans who wax nostalgic about the pre-Clinton era and a time when the nation could easily ignore the problems of nonwhite populations with impunity. Trump is their hero.
Since the 2016 to the current election, the nation has witnessed the relationship between Donald Trump and the Republican Party grow to the point that the GOP has become known as the P.O.T. (Party of Trump). But media continue to emphasize the small percentage of growth Trump has gained among nonwhite voters while ignoring a key fundamental fact: only a majority of White voters support Trump.
Trump has become the presidential candidate wherein a confluence of factors that have long flowed as an undercurrent in American politics have surfaced: Race, religion and economics.
It appears that once again, White women, the largest voting demographic in the nation, will be in a prime position to determine the outcome in November. And that outcome continues to be difficult to predict, because no matter what Trump says or does (which no other candidate could ever say or do with impunity), a majority of White women continue to give him a pass…even to the point of disowning one of the top women leaders in the Republican Party, Liz Cheney, who refuses to embrace him. Trump attacked her, calling Cheney “one of the dumber people in politics.” Cheney called Trump “petty, vindictive and cruel.”
On October 5, Newsweek published a new polling report with the headline, “Donald Trump Gets Polling Boost Among Women Likely to Decide the Election.” The report reveals an increase in White women voters without a college degree. Trump enjoys a 55% to 42% advantage over Vice President Kamala Harris with non-college degreed White women.
I’m reminded of what Trump said back in January 2016:
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?”
Among White American women voters, Trump’s outrageous statement appears to be true. And I’m not sure if it’s any more complicated than that.
EMILY’S CORNER
Emily Corner is a place of honest sharing; of reflections and insights and experiences that are unfolding in my journey as a co-learner. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas - feel free to reply to this email. I will read all that you share.
Curiosity is Key
In the midst of an art tutorial about nature journaling this week, I was caught by the instructor’s encouragement and suggestions (my paraphrasing below):
Be curious about your subject.
Write down questions that arise as you focus your attention on your subject.
The forming of questions stimulates deeper curiosity.
Lean into the questions … because when we are curious, we are primed to learn.
Did you catch that?
My mind was absolutely illuminated and inspired by this beautiful and simple clarity: curiosity primes us to learn.
Is curiosity the fertile ground that is needed for true and deep learning to happen?
If it is, how can we stimulate curiosity?
I think of learning settings and I am inspired to focus on the ways that I might cultivate and stimulate curiosity.
I wonder: what role does caring have in this process?
Do we need to first care - about a group of humans, for instance - in order to be curious and begin to form questions that prime us to become learners?
I am pondering these things and sitting with the inspiration that there is power in asking questions; that the simple step of asking a question can open up our minds to receive input and information.
Have you experienced this in your life? I’d love to hear.
TALKING WITH KIDS
Each month, we share a glimpse into a conversation that happened in our home with our children or with others in our community. During their earlier years, these conversations formed the basis for our workshop: “How to Talk to Kids About Race in America.”