Working class, that is. Though Trump himself doesn’t have a working-class background, he has focused his campaign on white, working-class voters. This is appalling to both middle-class progressives and middle-class conservatives because they don’t understand what it means to be working class.
Remember, the working-class includes people (and their families) who earn their incomes through physical labor while the middle-class is made up of people who earn incomes through mental labor. In general, members of the middle class have a bachelor’s degree or better while members of the working class don’t. As it happens, only about 30 percent of working-age Americans have a bachelor’s degree or better, so the vast majority of potential voters are working class.
Economists have excellent arguments in favor of free trade. Most intellectuals (who by definition are middle class or better), whether progressive or conservative, support free trade, so they can’t understand how many people support Trump’s “xenophobia.” But the economists who make those arguments are middle class, while it is working-class jobs that are threatened by the export of manufacturing jobs to other countries, so the working class is thrilled by Trump’s rhetoric.
Similarly, it is working-class jobs that are threatened by illegal immigrants, so naturally they have the greatest animosity to amnesty or other immigration reforms. Trump’s mythical wall is almost certainly an impossibility, but the fact that he is willing to talk about a wall attracts working-class voters.
On many different issues, working-class interests differ sharply from middle-class interests. Middle-class urban planners have deliberately made cities more congested in order to encourage more people to ride downtown-centric transit systems, but working-class jobs are less likely to be located downtown, or to offer flex-time schedules or allow telecommuting, so traffic congestion harms the working class more than the middle class.
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Many people without college educations start small businesses: construction, repair, restaurants, retailing, and other services. This makes them especially aware of government regulation, artificially high real estate prices, and double taxation (first we tax the profits on your business then we tax the income you pay yourself out of what’s left of those profits).
Donald Trump’s working-class rhetoric disagrees so much with things Trump said before he was running for office that it’s hard to tell what he really believes. It is somewhat easier, however, to suggest what he doesn’t believe.
For example, despite leftist scare-mongering, Trump is not a fascist. Fascism was a form of socialism in which government experts controlled both the public and private. In this respect, it is much closer to social democrats and progressives than to Trump’s view, which probably could be better described as crony capitalism in which private businesses decide what to do and then get government support for their projects. Thus, even though I probably disagree with Trump on a lot of things, I wouldn’t be afraid of a Donald Trump presidency any more than I would be afraid of a Hillary Clinton presidency.
Trump will have a hard time winning in November, however. The working class may outnumber the middle class, but working-class whites don’t outnumber the middle class plus working-class minorities. Trump has so far made no effort to appeal to minorities and, unless he does, he can’t win against any Democrat.
Regardless of his chances, I am disappointed by the reaction of the middle-class intelligentsia to Trump and his supporters. Both left and right leaders claim to care about the working class, but in fact they regard the working class with contempt. One progressive writer calls Trump “the revenge of the lower classes” and then spends the rest of his article badmouthing those lower classes. A conservative writer says that white, working-class communities “deserve to die,” no doubt partly because they support Trump rather than a conservative intellectual. The truth is both parties have forgotten or ignored the working class and they deserve the kind of shake-up Trump is causing.
Excellent perspective. Just about everyone wants “to be heard” and “somebody to care”. Politicians strive to communicate that “they care” and that “they listen” in a believable manner to as many people as possible. Changing accents/languages/clothing/vocabulary/facial expressions to fit the audience. Anyone (like Trump) that doesn’t play that game will get a huge following from people that are tired of the “Chameleon” routine. Of course, they think that since Trump isn’t a chameleon he’ll get stuff done in Washington – unfortunately I fear the opposite is the case.
Actually, Trump has significant support among educated middle class peope,
http://anepigone.blogspot.com/2016/03/trump-continues-to-win-among-educated.html
The fact is that the economic consensus re immigration and trade has lead to a substantial reduction in working class income and a moderate reduction in middle class income. Deindustrialization of the economy means that high-profit, high-wage manufacturing is replaced by low-profit, low-wage services. The result is that the economy does not generate enough tax revenue (despite growth) to cover federal expenditures, giving us every increasing deficits. Moreover, in the event of a major war, the deindustrialized economy would not be able to replace combat losses.
The only beneficiaries of our trade and immigration policies is the Ruling Class. Trump is the only sane candidate in the campaign.
“Trump is the only sane candidate in the campaign.”
That’s a good one. When the irrational get to decide who is rational, we are in big trouble.
“For example, despite leftist scare-mongering, Trump is not a fascist.”
He absolutely is fascist both in terms of his economics and his extreme nationalism and xenophobia. His eminent domain abuses can also be characterized in a broad sense as fascist.
But if people balk at that label, just use “asshole” instead.
Thanks for writing an intelligent thoughtful explanation of why Trump is winning, so far.
The main stream media and establishment politicians continuously make fun of, disparage, insult and (when they are being kind) simply ignore the working class in America. And then they wonder why this group doesn’t love them in return.
I may not vote for Trump, but I am not going to demonize his supporters. These people have been treated with contempt for too long. I think more highly of poorer whites supporting Trump (who does not go around making believe he is a lower class worker) than I do the blacks who en masse support Hillary (who shows racist contempt for them by speaking in a fake southern black accent).
“I may not vote for Trump, but I am not going to demonize his supporters.”
They do a good enough job of demonizing themselves with their hatfeul rhetoric and initiation of violence against protestors.
“Hillary…shows racist contempt for [blacks] by speaking in a fake southern black accent”
Obama’s fake black “street” accent is far worse.
Hilary at least lived in the South for two decades, which might explain her tenancy to slip into that dialect. Even if phony, it comes nowhere near the contempt Drumph and his supporters show toward Muslims and hard-working immigrants. Not to mention his and their contempt for the Constitution and rule of law (banning Muslims from entering the country, advocating for illegal torture).
I’m waiting for any candidate to promise to disarm regulatory agencies.
It’s true. That’s why working class voters are so energized by Trump’s plan to finance our highways through electronic tolls. It’s going to be fantastic.
The typical white people who bitterly cling to their guns and religion and don’t appreciate the good deeds that Trayvon, a boy who could be my son performs.
For seven-and-half years people have put up with the man-child-asshole Obama. They’re mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore. Trump may well lose but the anger won’t go away.
Frank said: “He absolutely is fascist both in terms of his economics and his extreme nationalism and xenophobia. His eminent domain abuses can also be characterized in a broad sense as fascist.”
I agree. He does have a major difference from the prominent fascists. My feeling is that fascists generally have a laser like focus on ideological goals. Trump seems to be completely devoid of ideology. At first I found it amazing that Trump could hold every position on a policy or issue, sometimes in the same sentence. Then I realized the brilliance of it. By tapping into the extreme nationalism and xenophobia many of his supporters are hearing the part they like and ignoring the fact that at any give time he has and will say the exact opposite. People that are lured by his authoritarian shtick are hearing the parts they want to hear.
I don’t understand the Trump phenomenon, but rather than say that all his supporters are idiots I admit that I don’t understand it. I have far too much commentary by the pundits and know all the “rules” and “conventional wisdom”. In fact I could predict 95% of the political columns in all the major papers.
But that is why I am intrigued by Trump and am rethinking my understanding of the “rules” and “conventional wisdom”. It is very interesting to try that.
– Trump doesn’t get held to every word he says. But he also gives interviews to everyone all the time, while every other candidate is very guarded and gives limited interviews if they are ahead, and only become widely available when they are no longer news.
– Trump is by far the best communicator as he is direct about what he likes and doesn’t like, unlike every other politician who carefully concoct complex spin to try to be vague enough to please as many voters as possible. They have a position, probably a much more defined position than Trump, but they work hard to hide it.
– Sure Trump is never going to get Mexico to pay for the wall, or even build a complete wall, but the point is made clearly. Obama entirely based his health care argument on the need to control costs in the budget, and that was dropped very early after his election because it was never going to happen. Why is the Obama way better than the Trump way?
– Obama won by being the “best spokesman” for the country. Hillary is trying to win by have the “best credentials” for running the country. Trump is trying to run by saying he will be the “best deal maker” for the country.
Frank says that Trump supporters are guilty of “initiation of violence against protestors.”
The protestors are primarily paid stooges (see ads on Craig’s list) who get the magic $15.00/hour for protesting. Bill Clinton bragged about what Hillary’s people are doing (and they claim it is Bernie supporters who commit the violence). They threaten people, damage property, issue death threats, and try to incite Trump’s supporters into responding in kind. Fascism—this is what fascism really looks like.
But this is all okay because they are doing it to Trump and his supporters.