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[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

You probably wouldn't call that particular relative Trump's most lurid follower. He's a regional president for a financial institution you would have heard of, with an Ivy League MBA. But he is a Charles Murray style believer that whites have superior IQs, thinks that is just a genetic fact, and objects to being called a racist because in his view he is not being discriminatory just stating facts. He feels broadly disgruntled that his own children have to compete with African Americans for college seats, and is convinced they are at a disadvantage because of it, and resents that he is expected to hire diversely in his own operation. And, sure, he also likes getting tax cuts for him and his buddies.

I also have some of Trump's most lurid followers in my gene pool.

This kind of white conservative victimization thing, with its attendant racism, is core to Trumpism and is often part of the Republican elite's perspective, not just the flannel clad Trump rally attendee you think of as lurid. Here's some good background on its historical roots, in a few short tweets: https://twitter.com/LarryGlickman/st...10326027976709

Sebby has this notion that economic insecurity and bigotry are two separate things. That link I posted yesterday says they are intertwined:

Two popular explanations have emerged post-election: 1) economic anxiety, and 2) racial resentment. Many commentators have argued that a sense of economic loss drove many white working-class voters toward Trump. Meanwhile, here at the Monkey Cage, Michael Tesler has explained that support for Trump was especially linked to racial resentment.

Examining our data from the GenForward Survey, we find a hybrid explanation. First, white millennial Trump voters were likely to believe in something we call “white vulnerability” — the perception that whites, through no fault of their own, are losing ground to other groups. Second, racial resentment was the primary driver of white vulnerability — even when accounting for income, education level or employment. ...

Contrary to what some have suggested, white millennial Trump voters were not in more economically precarious situations than non-Trump voters. Fully 86 percent of them reported being employed, a rate similar to non-Trump voters; and they were 14 percent less likely to be low income than white voters who did not support Trump. Employment and income were not significantly related to that sense of white vulnerability.

So what was? Racial resentment.

Even when controlling for partisanship, ideology, region and a host of other factors, white millennials fit Michael Tesler’s analysis, explored here. As he put it, economic anxiety isn’t driving racial resentment; rather, racial resentment is driving economic anxiety. We found, as he has in a larger population, that racial resentment is the biggest predictor of white vulnerability among white millennials. Economic variables like education, income and employment made a negligible difference.