White angst keeps Trumpism alive in Macomb County

[TexasTowelie]

Democrats were in trouble.

It was November 1984, and white, working-class voters in Macomb County had overwhelmingly voted for President Ronald Reagan for a second term. The Dems were losing their suburban, blue-collar base, and nowhere was the loss more pronounced than in Macomb County, home of the white, unionized autoworker.

Just 20 years earlier, three-quarters of Macomb County voters turned out for President Lyndon Johnson, making it the most heavily Democratic suburban county in the U.S.

To figure out what happened, local Democratic Party leaders hired Yale professor and pollster Stanley Greenberg. In March 1985, Greenberg sat down with Macomb County's Democratic defectors in hotel rooms and restaurants. After more than a month of interviews, Greenberg came to a startling conclusion: White, working-class voters who long identified as Democrats were fed up, fearful, and increasingly xenophobic. Their manufacturing jobs, which provided decent, middle-class wages to generations of autoworkers, were drying up.

They complained that Democrats had turned their backs on blue-collar workers in favor of liberal social causes, such as abortion, gun-control, LGBTQ rights, and racial disparities.

Read more: https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/welcome-to-maga-country-white-angst-keeps-trumpism-alive-in-macomb-county/Content?oid=26946615

[Scrivener7]

1. Ugh. This really just amounts to another "red-hatted imbeciles in diners" article, but this

time with hindsight to show how REALLY stupid they are. This topic becomes more and more irrelevant as the republiQan party membership numbers drop like a stone.

We know why these guys support Donny Bodybags. We have been told over and over and over again. And you know what? I'm sick to death of hearing about their lost manufacturing jobs.

What about the retail jobs, which have been lost at a rate of about 10x the manufacturing jobs, but which were mostly done by women, so no one talks about them.

And you know what? I was in an industry that became obsolete. I had a decent middle class salary from it. When it went under, guess what I did. I CHANGED JOBS and got another one. I'm sick of hearing about how miners and auto workers have lost their jobs. The writing was on those walls 20 years ago!

I don't care what they think. We won't win them back. They are irrational and butt-hurt, entitled and lazy AF. They vote against their own interests at every turn while spewing hate and lies about those who would actually make their lives better.

We have other demographics that can make up for the loss of these morons.

Where are the articles about the droves of people leaving the republiQan party and the droves of new Democratic voters??

PS: This rant is aimed at the article author, not you, Texas!

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

2. +1000

👍🏼

[tiredtoo]

3. Well, they were sorta right

The manufacturing jobs have gone. Either overseas or Mexico. Cheap labor and poor union support. The Democratic party did slide to the right. Corporate money convinced them to do so. Many here have lamented about "establishment" Dems. Only to be chastised by "the powers that be here."
Fortunately our current President Biden is showing some real Democratic zeal in regaining the support of working people. Maybe better days are coming, who knows?

[Scrivener7]

4. Read the article. Manufacturing jobs were booming under Obama. That tanked under

Donny Bodybags. Gosh. How ever could we have avoided that?

And tell me which policies are on the 2020 Democratic platform that you think represent this "slide to the right?"

Maybe if the Democratic party got consistent support from those who lament about the "establishment" we wouldn't have had 4 years of disaster.

[tiredtoo]

5. Like I said

Many here have lamented about "establishment" Dems. Only to be chastised by "the powers that be here."
The party has slid to the right since Bill Clinton ran for president.
The Democratic party did not get support from those who lament for the reasons stated in the op. I was one who lamented, however I have always voted for the Democratic candidate since Reagan started screwing the working class.
Off the top of my head I can only recall one incident which I think demonstrates the slide to the right. It was a debate between Hillary and Bernie in Flint, Michigan. The moderator asked if fracking should be banned. Bernie said yes, Hillary said well it depends on what the local people want .

[Scrivener7]

6. I'll take that non-answer to mean that there is not a thing in the party platform that

is "lamentably" right leaning. Or actually right leaning at all.

And at least HERE we should be able to be accurate about what has happened to manufacturing jobs, given that Democrats always increase them and republiQans always send them overseas.

[tiredtoo]

7. Apparently you don't remember the good ol days

When, under Democratic control, a man could work 40 hours a week and support a family. He could join a union. He didn't need an assault rifle to feel safe. He was protected against corporate bankruptcy taking his pension. His job provided him with health insurance, paid sick leave and paid time off. Most of those have been taken away over the last 40-50 years with both parties in control. There are other things, we the working class have lost, that escape me at this moment but that should be enough.
Hopefully this will help you understand where I am coming from.

[Scrivener7]

8. Good Christ. I bet you don't even understand which things in your post absolutely glare

out at me and certainly do help me to understand where you are coming from.

And it ain't no place I want to be.

[tiredtoo]

9. I know that

That is what I am trying to change. Join me for a better future for ALL Americans.

[Scrivener7]

10. Not a clue.

[tiredtoo]

11. Your ambiguous replies make that obvious.