Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Public Notice: Trump ran on identity politics and won [View all]
Public Notice - Trump ran on identity politics and won
He united voters around shared grievances, not plans to solve their problems.
Anna Gifty
Dec 04, 2024
Trump’s reelection has prompted many to wonder, How did we get here again? One under-discussed factor is the role identity politics played in his campaign.
This might sound counterintuitive. Pundits, after all, have attributed Kamala Harris’s loss to identity politics, accusing her campaign of being too “woke” — a term that refers to any position intended to specifically benefit marginalized people.
In reality, Harris went to painstaking lengths to avoid campaigning on identity issues, including downplaying the significance of her possibly becoming the first woman president. Trump, by contrast, ran a campaign that associated Harris with the outgroups his supporters are united in despising — among them migrants, trans people, and anyone who spends time thinking about their pronouns.
Trump kept his coalition together by stoking shared grievances. In this way, his presidential bid represented a type of inverted identity politics. He didn’t campaign on making life better for certain identity groups. He campaigned by mobilizing people against ones they loathe and fear.
Throughout his campaign, Trump proposed three core sets of policies that are steeped in this form of identity politics: mass deportation, law and order, and policing gender identity.
First, Trump championed stricter immigration policies, including mass deportations and completing a wall along the US-Mexico border, framing them as essential for keeping America safe and protecting jobs. These policies appealed directly to voters, both white and non-white, who view immigration as a threat to their economic and cultural status — recall Trump regularly talking about migrants purportedly “taking Black jobs.” This relentless fear-mongering was not just about security or economic concerns, but also about the reality of changing demographics.
/snip
He united voters around shared grievances, not plans to solve their problems.
Anna Gifty
Dec 04, 2024
Trump’s reelection has prompted many to wonder, How did we get here again? One under-discussed factor is the role identity politics played in his campaign.
This might sound counterintuitive. Pundits, after all, have attributed Kamala Harris’s loss to identity politics, accusing her campaign of being too “woke” — a term that refers to any position intended to specifically benefit marginalized people.
In reality, Harris went to painstaking lengths to avoid campaigning on identity issues, including downplaying the significance of her possibly becoming the first woman president. Trump, by contrast, ran a campaign that associated Harris with the outgroups his supporters are united in despising — among them migrants, trans people, and anyone who spends time thinking about their pronouns.
Trump kept his coalition together by stoking shared grievances. In this way, his presidential bid represented a type of inverted identity politics. He didn’t campaign on making life better for certain identity groups. He campaigned by mobilizing people against ones they loathe and fear.
Throughout his campaign, Trump proposed three core sets of policies that are steeped in this form of identity politics: mass deportation, law and order, and policing gender identity.
First, Trump championed stricter immigration policies, including mass deportations and completing a wall along the US-Mexico border, framing them as essential for keeping America safe and protecting jobs. These policies appealed directly to voters, both white and non-white, who view immigration as a threat to their economic and cultural status — recall Trump regularly talking about migrants purportedly “taking Black jobs.” This relentless fear-mongering was not just about security or economic concerns, but also about the reality of changing demographics.
/snip
15 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read