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Yep, and the parallels to Nazi Germany, where the same kinds of people supported the Nazi party, are hard to miss. Equating people who didn't finish college with the "working class" is missing the picture. By that defintion, Sean Hannity is working class. https://twitter.com/lromeranth/status/1348258754781978624
In my last conversation with a Trump fan I know, what came across strongly was the petty bourgeois resentment and even hatred of the government employee, who is invariably portrayed as a leech who doesn't work for a living (though they do and have low salaries for their resumes.)
This dovetails with white supremacist urges. For petty bourgeois that want to trap people of color into low-paid service work, seeing Black and Latino people at government desk jobs makes them irate. Nothing will get them raving about "wasting" taxpayer money faster.
That's what a lot of Cletus safari pieces are missing that those of us who actually know Trump voters aren't: The anger that is stirred every time they see a Black firefighter or a Latino county clerk, that rage that these folks have secure middle class jobs on "their" dime.
When Trump talked about the "deep state" out to get him, that's the bone he was tickling. That, and anger at the D.C. high level bureaucrat class that is well-educated and stirs the constant jealousy over people that are more cosmopolitan and sophisticated.
Needless to say, Obama was both in the eyes of these people: A Black government employee (which they view as leeches) and a sophisticated, well-educated high level employee who made them feel small and stupid and jealous. Which explains the white hot nature of the hate.
Yes. I have known a lot of government-employed Trump voters. They are the most vicious in their hatred of government employees, and quickest to rate those who are not white as "lazy" and "worthless" tax leeches. https://twitter.com/Fat_DTEA/status/1348322627094515713?s=20
Folks want stats, so here's some: 60% of small business owners approve of Trump, which is 13-15 percentage points above baselines.
But that hyper focus misunderstands how many people in the Trump coalition my not be small business owners, but WANT to be. https://news.gallup.com/poll/284396/small-business-owners-highly-engaged-2020-election.aspx
But that hyper focus misunderstands how many people in the Trump coalition my not be small business owners, but WANT to be. https://news.gallup.com/poll/284396/small-business-owners-highly-engaged-2020-election.aspx
One reason that conservative America is awash in grift is the valorization of the entrepeneur. It leads a lot of people to get sucked into multi-level marketing schemes or peddling snake oil, so they can say they're "entrepeneurs". It's an aspirational category.
(None of this is to say entrepeneurs are inherently bad. As a former freelance writer, I was one! Just it's critical to understand the role that these forces play.)
A lot of Trumpers who are salaried employees, if you talk to them, they have dreams of being their own boss.
A lot of Trumpers who are salaried employees, if you talk to them, they have dreams of being their own boss.
And, as some folks astutely noted, previous incarnations of this ideology led to lynchings, most notably the Tulsa massacre, which targeted Black entrepeneurs, and were about sending the message that the petty bourgeois class is white-only.
I'll add one more thing: Notable that Betsy DeVos (Amway) and Trump (Trump University) have made money exploiting these kinds of entrepeneur yearnings, by promising "be your own boss" opportunities, which are in fact likely just going to lead to going into debt.
