There is a Marist poll out today that shows that Mr. trump's approval rating among white Americans is 48%, and his disapproval rating among the same group is 48% as well. This is after his most recent racism tour.Personally, I am not surprised, I have always suspected that there are a lot of white folks in this country who approve of everything that Mr. trump is doing. They just choose to keep quiet about it because it's not cool to support an openly racist individual in polite company.
I was watching David Gregory on CNN yesterday, and he really brought the point home. He summarized it in a way that a lot of white pundits have been afraid to do. He basically admitted that a lot of white American voters are happy with the economy and they will look past --and compartmentalize-- trump's racism if it helps them economically in the long run.
This all makes sense because racism isn't personal to white folks. Sure it would be nice if it didn't exist, but let's be honest, it's never going to affect their lives. "I'll teach my children not to be racist, but if a racist is my president, and I still have my job, and my 401k is doing alright, I will ride with the racist until he does something so outrageous that I just can't ride with him anymore."
Black folks are sitting on the sidelines and wondering, how much more outrageous do things have to get before everyone (not just people of color) say, enough? And it's not just that he is a racist. He is also possibly a rapist, and someone who colluded with a foreign government and obstructed justice as well. If he is getting away with all those things, he will certainly get away with being a racist.
No matter how much we say that racism antithetical to American values, it is not something that causes us to lose sleep at night. Even if our leader is a racist.
To his credit, trump understands this, and he understands that he can round up just enough openly racist folks and secret admirers to get enough votes to hold on to power. It''s why he is not letting this latest beef with "The Squad" go. They are the perfect boogeywomen for his base and his secret admirers. Every time some of our fellow Americans sees these women they see a future that terrifies them.
Mr. trump and his handlers have figured this all out. Which is why, in spite of the great economy (thank you Obama), they want to focus on immigration reform. They know that that there is one thing that is guaranteed to always fire up the racist: The thought of letting more people in who don't quite look like they do.
Of course we are learning these days that the racists among us might not be alone when it comes to these thoughts.
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