Here's what I've personally noticed over the past 50 years.
America used to be dominated by WASP men.
Then Catholic men and Jewish men entered that 'power structure'.
At that point, America became dominated by white men.
Now I sense an increasing role for Asian-American men.
So America, in the near future at least, will be dominated by white and Asian-American men.
Or am I missing something here?
8
No all white men are evil, in fact no more so than the evil people of all races. I wonder if the author would agree? I wonder if the NYT would agree? How about the Democratic Party? It seems the left is bent on demonizing all white men, are they really sure that's a winning strategy? They sure aren't going to get my vote- 3rd Party anyone?
29
Over and over I see references to how Republicans will not accept election results. Their tool? The Electoral College. The eradication of this outdated, anti-democratic institution should be the first goal after gaining control of our government. But to return to the enabling goal, we need minorities to wake up and get on board and we must snap the lazy liberal white voters out of their lethargic complacency; otherwise, nothing will get done.
3
I am a white male and I deeply resent Mr. Blow's condemning me because of the color of my skin. I did not vote for Trump, have never knowingly discriminated against anyone, and have raised my two sons to treat all people with dignity and respect. Where Mr. Blow goes terribly wrong is not recognizing that every human being is entitled to be treated with care as a unique individual. That involves compassion and concern for everyone, including poorly educated white males whose life spans have been steadily decreasing over the last several years. Mr. Blow, I say to you that I am your moral equal and that fact that you are black and I am white does make me a lesser person.
37
Yes. Same old obligatory quota filler without any substance. It's always the white man's fault!
I'm a visible minority from a poor family who went through many years of schooling paying my way through school, sharing a basement apartment before building a career, starting my own company, grew it to go public and for decades I have travelled to nearly every corner of the world to spend time working with engineers of other cultures.
The entire white privilege or patriarchy excuses are nonsensical crutches put up by people with evil intention that is done to enslave distressed minds. If I was to spend my youth angry at the colonial masters (who are now all dead) or their great grandchildren (what did they ever do to me?) or new immigrants who happen to have the same lack of melanin as these people, I wouldn't have any energy left to work.
The formula sold by the progressives is an opiate that will keep you in eternal servitude.
I've seen wealthy Africans and billionaire Chinese entrepreneurs up close and I've also seen poor and middle class white families.
The attempt to frame privilege as an intersectional skin color issue is worse than bad science, it is evil. No deca-millionaire black gay actor has a right to call out some white plumber as having any privilege. Privilege comes from acquisition of wealth, and decency demands that those with wealth have enough humility to be kind to those who have less of them, regardless of skin color.
38
"...white men were the only group in which a majority voted for Donald Trump — 62 percent...We are living through a flagrant display of a white male exertion of power, authority and privilege, a demonstration meant to underscore that they will forcefully fight any momentum toward demographic displacement, no matter how inevitable the math..."
Blow starts with a majority, 6 out of 10, and ends with a consensus, 10 out of 10, of those who share one characteristic with that majority, stereotyping. Anyone see where that kind of thinking leads?
60% is a landslide in an election but 40% is too big to regard as insignificant. It also means that if white men are supporting Trump to preserve white privileges and to repress non-whites, then why are so many not in support of Trump? Is Trump not racist enough for them?
I think may be Blow is not presenting a clear picture of what is going on. But, he may be right. At least, he feels that he is.
10
It really does matter whose arguments win the day among the growing voter blocs - Hispanics and Asian-Americans. Will it be those of African-Americans like Obama or those of old white men like Trump?
This is the thread of our time : dwindling majorities in fear of the"other" . In Britain and western Europe it is the immigrant, eastern Europe it is the Jew and the Muslim and in Israel it is the Palestinians . Entrenched privilege is being challenged by the tide of change and the reaction is fascism. Many of the patterns of the late 19th century that presaged the wars of the 20th century are here however the bombs are even bigger and the populations denser and more desperate. It is ugly and going to get uglier.
3
As a white man I am getting pretty tired of all the gleeful handwringing that anticipates our descent into minority status and the comeuppance we will surely receive for all of our racist crimes over the centuries. The nasty warnings and "look out here we come" commentary is old hat for Mr. Blow who doesnt seem to write about much else. But what are the real facts, is the US really seeing a resurgence in a white male power grab, not really - What I see is minority and even radical voices are very present and very loud, if the white patriarchy really wanted to come down hard they could, yet they are not. Instead, I think most white males (and probably most Asian and Indian males, so dont count on them to take you over the top in the census!) are scratching their heads wondering what the new reality will be, what great ideas do non white males have that will raise civilization to a rainbow utopia hitherto unseen or suppressed. Every non white male has the same opportunity as any white male, that has been true for half a century. Have non white males fully taken advantage of this freedom, I dont think so, I still see many segments of the population such as young black males, still engaging in very self destructive and anti social behavior that has nothing to do with a white patriarchy forcing them to do so. So don't blame us for keeping you back go ahead do better, succeed, but it will take more than just sheer numbers and loud voices it will take results, will you get them?
19
The point is that once white people become a minority in America, the country itself will move from a majority rule ideal to a minority rule one......
Come on Charles. The recent US Census shows white people represent 77% of this country. Black population is 13%, Latino 18%.
The real point is that this country is majority white. That said, the only acceptable outcome is that we treat each other with respect 100% of the time.
18
“Very fine people on both sides.”--We all know who.
“Charlottesville wouldn’t have occurred without Trump.”
--Richard Spenser, White Nationalist Leader.
We're in the midst of the death throes of this country's white majority. And it's only going to get nastier, uglier and far worse before there's even a hope that it will get better.
The dog whistles of racism have morphed into bullhorns, condoning, sanctioning and spewing out the vilest cruelties to be inflicted on the most vulnerable in our country. The G in MAGA never meant Great, its silent meaning was both H for Hate and W
for White. Unfortunately, parts of this majority's end game could very well end up in the streets.
Yet I disagree with Mr. Blow's prediction, 'that once white people become a minority in America, the country itself will move from a majority rule ideal to a minority rule one.'
Because by then it will be too late.
Vote.
2
What does race and gender have to do with peace and prosperity? That's what Donald Trump promised to deliver and that's what, in my eyes, he is delivering.
If a mixed-race, nonbinary person has the right ideas and the track record to show they can execute on those ideas, they will get my vote. Results matter. What kind of person you are doesn't.
56
You people have this beautiful passage in the US constitution:
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself.
In the Netherlands we have a similar provision in our constitution, But yours is poetic, inspiring. I wish people would act like it.
87
@Dutchie: Your quote is extracted from the Declaration of Independence that formalized the rebellion against rule by England, not the Constitution that set up state-optional liberty to enslave. It is only an unrealized letter of intent.
47
@Dutchie That is a wonderful sentiment from the Declaration of Independence, which also refers to Native Americans as Merciless Indian Savages. This opened the way to segregate them onto reservations, which the US government then criminally mismanaged to the detriment, if not the demise, of those who lived on them. In every nation the politicians talk a good story. Reality never seems to catch up.
15
@Dutchie
That is the Declaration of Independence. In our original constitution before it was amended slaves were 3/5 a man.
10
Sounds like the point of the op ed piece is that Trump’s brand of racism is the opiate for the masses of white supremacists because Trump is not helping those that hate, other than asking them to hate more.
2
How insulting. The basic premise is that the only possible reason a person would have voted for Trump is that they're racist and want to maintain "white male power" dynamic. Great job boiling down a complex dynamic to a single attribute...one that you want to see. Basically, if I disagree with you, my motives must be the worst that you can imagine! That's nonsense.
The fact of the matter is, Trump voters were/are tired of politics and politicians as usual. We oscillated between Republican and Democrat presidents...and not much changed.
As for the fact that most white men voted for Trump...so what? What percentage of African Americans voted for Obama? Not sure what the exact percentage is, but I'm positive it was MUCH higher. Was that a sign of racist intent?
As for judge appointments, these should be based on MERIT...not on gender or race. Have you studied how large the acceptable candidate pool is for Trump to choose from? That is...qualified and experienced conservative judges (or do you really expect any president to appoint judges with whom he's ideologically opposed?).
Again, the author chooses to cherry-pick statistics which fit his underlying assumptions...then chooses to flag the most egregious motivation.
If you don't like Trump, fine. If you don't like conservatives, fine. But it's patently unfair to paint us all with the same "white power" racist brush. That's lazy...and a little racist of you.
95
One must not forget dwindling birth rates of all ethnic groups,if it happens at the same pace
as last year,the decline was the worst historically all groups will retain the status quo and no
ethnicity will change places.
1
Yesterday, after commenting on a different op-ed, I was told I was biased for stating Mr. Trump only wants white and educated immigrants.
The world, or at least the United States, is topsy-turvey. We need to be just to all, not just the privileged.
@Barbara
You aren't "biased". Mr. Trump is.
4
People of color are not all the same.
Women are not all the same.
Young people are not all the same.
Immigrants are not all the same.
White men are not all the same.
If it is racist to lump all members of some group together and treat them as the same, then it is racist to lump all white males together and treat them as the same.
The problem is not the whiteness (or some other color) or the maleness (or some other gender). The problem is beliefs and behaviors.
Let's rail against racist beliefs and behaviors. But let's not fall into the beliefs and behaviors we rail against.
19
Although whites men voted for Trump it wasn't entirely because he was white, more it was because he was a man and she was a woman. Trump voters fear progressive multi-culturalism, which includes same sex bathrooms, access to abortion services and most importantly the rise of women of any color to positions of power. Republicans don't attack Nancy Pelosi or Elizabeth Warren because they aren't white, it is because they are women. So Mr. Blow's rhetoric is a little overblown, Millennials overwhelmingly are more accepting of diversity than older white males.
2
The most flagrant example is here in Florida, where judges are paid not by taxes but by "court fees", essentially shaking down anyone accused of a crime. Anyone charged with a felony who cannot afford an expensive lawyer ends up with a conviction and can _never_ vote again. Over a million minorities are disenfranchised for life. The voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment to restore ex-felon's right to vote, and the Republican (gerrymandered) legislature promptly passed a law requiring them to first pay thousands of dollars in "court fees". The legislature has a clear goal. If you don't vote for us we will not let you vote at all.
9
Trump unveiled his immigration proposal today. Nothing in it suggested he values “white nationalism above all”. People will be judged on merit and skills. Not race, or the country they migrated from. Unemployment numbers and wage growth for minorities since 2016 don’t suggest Trump, or the Republicans, have the concerns, or maintain the positions on race that you state.
Trump has continually maintained that “anyone” is welcome in this country “legally”. And that once here, they are expected to be productive and law abiding whether they’re a visitor, or seek citizenship.
Mr. Blow, you see what you want to see in order to keep selling the supposed racial divide in this country. What I see is a country full off people of all races who are better off now then they were under the previous administration. You, and others in the liberal MSM keep trying to sell us on the idea that race relations are somehow worse now because of Trump. And that’s patently untrue. But, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.
15
White people are not becoming a minority. This is something that people on the left and the right keep repeating despite the fact that it's been debunked many times. Most Hispanic people mark white on the census, and interracial marriage is at an all time high. A century ago Italians and Irish were considered dangerous outsiders, and now their descendants are not considered separate groups at all. 50 years from now there will be millions of people with some Mexican or Chinese ancestry living in the suburbs, and for some reason the left just assumes that these people will forever consider themselves to be oppressed brown people fighting the white man. This description isn't even true for minorities now. The ideal situation is one in which race/color doesn't matter, not one in which society is divided into two camps of whites and people of color and then people of color beat the whites. The left seems to increasingly think this second vision is the one to strive for.
12
"There is a simple answer to every complex problem that is plausible, attractive, and wrong."
While it is possible to assert that horrible decision making at the national level is caused by male white supremecists--this assertion is likely to be wrong. Really, truly bad decision making and policy is an equal opportunity "feature" of way too many voters and politicians.
For example, anti-vaxers are found across the political, geographic, racial, and social spectrum. The only thing they have in common is anti-fact bias, and overwhelming self-centeredness.
"Religious beliefs over physics, math, and science" is a position held by many (and crassly expolited by a smaller, but louder group). There is no avowed atheist serving in Congress today. This position (along with the "devine right of capitalism") permits ignoring all evidence that puts the lie to these beliefs.
Male, white supremecy appears to be more something to be cynically exploited, rather than the goal.
1
Mr. Blow's article reflects a larger reality of the authoritarian Trump Administration. Trump only serves the most destructive populist impulses of his base, playing to their ignorance, racism and spite against the religious beliefs and cultural traditions of their fellow Americans . As a consequence of his disregard for everyone who isn't white and at least a little bit racist (consciously or unconsciously, it doesn't make any practical difference), Trump is forcing the majority to submit to the will of the minority of his supporters. Democracy in the US no longer has any substantive meaning. The United States of 2019 bears a far greater resemblance to dictatorships and authoritarian regimes such as those of Russia, Turkey, and Iran than to any of our democratic European allies. At this point in history, it is difficult to be optimistic that the US will ever bear any resemblance to a democracy ever again.
3
And make no mistake, even while trying to maintain white dominance, most white people will get screwed just like to rest of us. It's fascinating that so many of them have not figured that out yet.
6
Blow's entire argument rests on an epochal impending change from a white majority to a non-white one. Supposedly, anxiety about this inevitable transformation has pushed white men into a frenzy.
The frenzy then makes for crazy economic beliefs, racist attacks on immigrants, controlling women's bodies, and much more.
But, the central assumption, that the white majority will become a minority, soon, is false.
It is false, because it counts one large white group as non-white. This group is White Hispanics.
Those who think "they're technically white, but really they're more non-white," should ponder that some members of this group are Martin Sheen (background Spain), Pope Francis (Italian background, but Argentine), Thomas Mann (German Nobel Prize novelist: mother Brazilian). Ricardo Eichmann (son of Adolf Eichmann, born Argentina).
Numbers. The Majority-Minority enthusiasts base their vision on studies that argue that in say, 2045, the population will become 50% white and 50% non-white.
But, there is a ringer. 12% of our population will be White Hispanic, and Blow's studies count it as non-white.
When you correct the totals to put whites where they belong, as whites, the White Hispanic 12% shifts over to white, making the totals: 62% white, 38% non-white.
This suggests that not only will there still be a white majority in 2045, but for decades afterward.
Thus few white men need fear becoming part of a minority.
7
Could just one person reply to this.
Do you fully embrace the Census Bureau's system for putting us in politically constructed "race" boxes.
A simple yes or no will do.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
1
I’m afraid all that I can say is that I had hoped it was merely the Right that issued demands for me to answer badly-phrased questions with one side of a simplistic binary opposition.
1
@Larry Lundgren no
3
Mr Blow,
I have bad news for you. You are part of the problem. It is patently clear from this, and so much in your other work, that you think of an entire swath of humanity in the most caricatured, negative and contemptuous terms. Yes, there may be truth in your view of the moivation of the "other", but it is not the whole truth in any way. Isn't it possible that many white men were motivated to vote for President Trump by reasons other than a purely racist desire to remain on top? You give no consideration to that possibility, and as far as I've ever seen, you never do. I have never read in your work once of any attempt to hear the "other." It's always just the most simple and negative assumptions.
The fact of the matter is that we have arrived at the threshold of a unique opportunity to generate equaity unprecedented in human history, right here in the United States. People of color, women, everyone has the chance for freedom. Our history of racism has left pulsing scars on our national spirit, and white men are not the victims. However, white men are part of the American family, whole and legitimate children of God. Their voices must be heard, equal to, but no greater than those of any other group. Mr Blow, you have covered your ears. Your mind is closed.
20
@Fremont Very well put, I'm glad the NYT actually posted your comment. Surprised, but glad. Mr. Blow, the NYT, and the Democratic Party need to read this.
7
It's ironic that the reason why the demographics are changing in the first place is because people from countries not run by evil patriarchal white men clamor to come to a country that is. As others have pointed out, maybe the evil patriarchal white men are not too eager to be replaced. Is there any group that would be?
10
As Mr. Blow writes, "the point is that once white people become a minority in America, the country itself will move from a majority rule ideal to a minority rule" reality.
Is this not simply the definition of Apartheid?
3
Well argued and well written. The only hope is to crush Trump and the GOP in 2020. The US Senate is the real problem since McConnell has a majority from sttes where the GOP has a majority. The only solution is for a mass migration from the east and west coast of the US to the center of the country. That is meant to be a joke, but it may be the only solution.
3
I do think that the zealotry to end abortion and modern, effective birth control is related to resentment of women's increasing successful competition with white men for advanced education and well paid careers. What better way to destroy a woman's ability to live her dreams than forced birth. And what better way to ensure unwanted pregnancies occur than to ban effective contraception that is within the woman's control.
4
Not just white males. Straight cisgender well-to-do Christian white males who vote Republican. If there were a reliable way to disenfranchise the gay, the trans, the poor, the Jewish or Muslim or Buddhist or atheist, and the Democrat white male, the GOP would be trying to make it happen.
The Trump/McConnell power play will go down in our history as the shameful exercise it is. These two men are getting a lot of what they want right now, but it's comforting to know they will be eternally reviled long after they are gone.
3
We need to make sure that we progressives pay attention to local as well as national politics. The ascent of many progressive congresspeople in the House in 2018 is encouraging, but we need to affect local politics; the actions of Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri show why. Most of us are multiracial and multicultural -- we need to recognize this and refuse to accept others' descriptions of our identities.
1
"The point is that once white people become a minority in America, the country itself will move from a majority rule ideal to a minority rule one."
I am a white male and I already feel we're in an era of minority rule. Not because of racial demographics, but because I am a progressive Democrat. I have to believe that the majority of our nation does not support the ugliness that is Trumpism. Not to mention the popular vote in the past 2 elections.
3
@Patrick G.
The overwhelmingly liberal base of the New York Times fails to see that we are not a progressive country. We are a center country and I would say more of the center right country. Are people that poorly educated when they keep on mentioning the popular vote? Do they not understand that the popular vote has absolutely no meaning in how we pick our presidents? Do they know that if one deducted Hillary’s plurality In either NY or CA, Trump won the popular vote in the other 49 states?
8
Doug Jones won the Alabama senate reace 51% to 49%.
If those same votes had been counted for the US House of Representatives, Republicans would have won 6 seats and Democrats would have won 1 seat.
2
There most certainly are many white males who support Trump because they feel threatened of becoming just another minority, that is clearly proven. What is not proven is the assertion that a white patriarchy is trying to retain control, that is speculation and opinion, and it does not actually conform with the evidence. There are too many non-whites who support Trump as enthusiastically as his white male ones. In addition, if 4 out of 10 white males don't support Trump, that indicates the plausible conclusion that they are not concerned about becoming a minority nor about preserving white privileges. The contradictions require clarification or the entire argument does not convince, logically.
8
Well, I for one plan to stop noticing them pix of the Cabinet, SupremeCourt, Joint Chiefs, the Republican Senate, the Republican House, all the major Wall Street brokerages, FOX News and the Blaze and Rush...
Thank you for your just chastisement. I feels just awful now.
1
This piece keeps more firmly entrenched than ever the divisions in this country.
What you are doing is as wrong as what you are accusing the other side of doing,
And it wont work.
In fact, it will work in the opposite. You have your choir and are preaching to it all the while turning off the congregation.
The author would be ashamed, if he had any shame, and likewise the employer/propaganda outlet granting him his voice.
Be sure to look for the thank you card from the reelection team of the President for the solid assist you have given them.
22
If you let hispanics choose their racial rather than ethnic characterization there would be enough to identify white/caucasian that white majority would not be an issue. Stupid to have it become one
I have talked this issue with lots if white republicans. None had any fear if becoming a minority. They are worried about America.
The biggest concern they raise about increasing numbers of African American Hispanic and southeast Asian in the US is that we have found no way to bring their educational performance meaningfully closer to that of whites despite massive spending. They fear the risk of them becoming a huge permanent underclass that drag American competitiveness down. Most are enthusiastic about bringing highly talented immigrants in at high levels.
And the answer cannot just be throwing more and more money at it. No one from the outside Has any idea how to fix it. And as schools become more integrated the gap in both attitude and performances grows mire obvious.
13
Oh.
They’re not worried about becoming a minority, they’re just worried about becoming a minority.
Piece of advice: don’t tell ‘em what the test scores look like when them “SE Asians,” go toe to toe with your basic Trump voter. It’s not pretty, and that’s before we get to the fact that by my standards, all y’all are ill-educated semi-literates who maybe should be deported but certainly shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
It’s the poor intellects and the refusal to assimilate, dontcha know.
This is a general post to white males “offended” by Mr. Blow’s opinion piece.
I am a straight, white male. Whites are still the majority in this country, so it’s *our* duty to make sure that minorities are not discriminated against. Similarly, straight people are the majority in this country so it’s *our* duty to make sure LGBTQ people are not discriminated against.
If we are not standing up to intolerance then *we*, as the majority, are part of the problem.
I am reminded of an article in a local paper a while back. The topic was a city council meeting discussing how minority folks did not feel welcome (it’s a predominantly white, liberal town). Some people related incidents about being called racial slurs and other incidents. A white guy left the meeting early and a reporter asked why. His answer was, basically, “I am not racist and I don’t appreciate being called one” (which was never done, by the way). This guy completely missed the point of the meeting! As the majority, it’s up to us to teach our kids to respect those that are different. It’s up to us to yell at kids behaving badly. It’s up to us to make people from different backgrounds feel welcome.
For those afraid of losing “power” because whites will not always be I say, “Think about how you treat minorities today. If you treat them with respect, you will get it back. If you oppress them, expect the same.”
3
@Phobos
I wish there were more straight, White males like you! Keep fighting against injustice!
1
Lincoln said:
"Four score and seven years ago our Fathers brought forth
on this continent a new Nation, conceived in Liberty and
dedicated to the Proposition that all men are created
Equal."
Christ said:
"Love thy neighbor as Thyself."
Supposedly Republicans believe in both these men.
Really?
Prove it.
5
Agree with Charles that Trump and GOP are supported by white supremacists who are desperately trying to retain white control of the political levers. However Blow and many Democrats continue to look at Black voters as a monolith who will vote Democrat in any election. Hillary made that mistake.
Face it Black economic opportunity has improved greatly under Trump. Any opponent will have difficulty overcoming that fact to get minority votes and can only hope for a recession. Then we get the White disenchantment with Obama on grounds other than just his race. Obama interjected civil rights into police brutality cases and as a result race riots kept occuring. Same situation when Nixon was elected. I haven't seen that occurring since Trump got elected. That is a fact. Violence by Black teenagers from broken homes is rampant here and other cities and in particular Chicago. That is a fact. So yes that is a legitimate concern for white voters. How a Democrat candidate convinces all voters that despite their color they will be tough on crime and not encourage mob violence is crucial. Mr. Blow is part of that process.
4
This is the thrust of the book: “Democracy in Chains,” by Nancy MacLean. The radical right has been at this for over 30 years.
2
@B. Rothman So why hasn't the radical left stopped them?
4
People on the left should mostly be happy that white men are increasingly voting as a block because enmity of "white patriarchy" is the only thing keeping the "everything but the kitchen sink" coalition on the left together. And they know it. The instant "whiteness" ceases to be anything like a credible threat to be milked is the instant the Left has to present some unifying vision other than "#Resistance!" and they aren't prepared for it. They are precisely as prepared for this as the US was prepared to provide a unifying message to its citizens and the world after the fall of the USSR.
4
Why imagine that - power structures resist being dis-empowered. Who'd of thought?
5
Demographics are the enemy of the republican party and when brown folks ,women and progressives get out the vote to remove the white nationalists from local ,state and national govt offices. Coal is not coming back nor is 1950 style manufacturing the 2018 election could be the start of political change that would retire Trump and his henchman Barr to FOx news pundits. No democratic independent or progressive minded voter can sit it out as we may wake up to AG Barr using facial recognition technology to identify dissidents not applauding loud enough when Dictator Trump appears anywhere.
The irony of truth of this commentary falls on the fact that, one, almost every Trump supporter would vehemently deny this, and two, that the logic of this commentary is indisputable.
Why would white people want to give up the majority privilege that they have enjoyed in this country since its inception? Growing up during the pre-civil rights era in this country as a minority was far from ideal.
Why would they support a "Trump," if not for this? He truly has nothing else to offer.
1
@Big Tony
I don't know what he has to offer Tony, but let's recap:
Record low unemployment for blacks, hispanics and women.
GDP in excess of 3%.
Lower taxes.
Fewer regulations.
Other than that, I can't think of anything.
6
We have fallen into identity politics. Who are the ones that are like you is the idea. It's stereotypes x 20. Each group behaves in lock step. It's easy if someone tells you who you are. This isn't white men vs some other group but it is easier to think so. We are all unique and some us are very much NOT LIKE ME!
I can handle the diversity of the American People. What I don't like is the assumption that you can know groups of people with certainty. We are all different in subtle ways but we can agree on issues not because of what pigeon hole we artificially belong.
This is the revolt of the coming elections and and it is up to all of us to not be in a box. You are not who some pollster says you are! You don't have to take it. Think long and hard and decide who you are and what you want.
5
It is true that we are on a sure path to when whites will be a minority; however, the author is wrong in ascribing Trump or his supporters as being motivated by race or gender politics.
Unlike the author, most of the majority race and culture and most of the minority races and cultures, are not focused on race or gender as primary issues nor on being the primary determinates of decisions on other issues. Most people are focused on the policy or issue itself. The author has such a negative outlook, based on erroneous assumptions.
The reality is that most people disagree with liberals/leftists/NYT on the basic issues presented by day-to-day life and on political issues as well. Refusing to accept that reality, or pretending not to notice it, the author and NYT see everything through a racial lens. Too bad for all of us, as both the author and NYT are in a position to contribute to the formation of a post-racial society going forward. I wish they could see that doing so is the right thing to do and would also be good for their brand, albeit there may be a brief interim disappointment for that portion of their current readers who are also stuck in a racial virtual reality-not the real world.
8
While many of Mr. Blow's comments have some validity, they do not address the co-morbid influence of obscene-wealth-driven oligarchy that has replaced a healthy capitalism (think: Citizens United decision, corporations are people, money is free-speech) that underlies the current drive towards protecting a certain class. As the plantation owners and politicians did in the Civil War South, monied interests have driven the vote and enrolled the poor (and disappeared middle-class) white male voter mix of talk-radio influenced voters, Heritage Foundation preferred judicial nominees, and ALEC-authored ultra-conservative legislation templates. Corporate shills who are pandering to corporate interests are at the helm of most government agencies, developing policies that degrade the Republic.
2
This pretty much captures it.
1
Why should a democracy ever have a "lifetime appointment" for any office? I can't think of anything more undemocratic.
3
The blue coast and the blue island cities should just build more housing. A farmers, coal miners, abused woman denied her reproductive right, or anyone seeking to leave a red state really can't afford that right now.
Also it's easy to talk the blue language of tolerance and such when one doesn't really have to welcome newcomers into one's neighborhood.
So put all the blue talk into blue actions.
4
@William Fang California is overpopulated and overbuilt. We had a good winter last year (in terms of rainfall) but the prognosis for sustained drought is grim. There are just too many people here.
8
@William Fangno
More AFFORDABLE housing.
1
@Armando Cedillo
As a fellow Californian I do not agree--we could build denser. The overpopulation excuse is just an excuse.
Nationally a majority of white men voted for Trump in 2016, but I've read that in some states-- including Calfornia-- a majority of white men did not vote Trump.
Maybe some white males, who voted for Obama, thought that Trump offered them a better deal than Clinton did. (I am a white male who voted for Obama and for Clinton.)
1
This is exactly the source of his power. This is exactly why his supporters completely ignore or excuse his flagrant assault on the rule of law and his numerous violations of those laws. This is why they applaud his pursuit of dictatorial powers.
The bottom line for these people is to put white males at the front of the line. Everyone else gets the scraps, if there are any.
They actually want Trump to behave like a dictator. They are perfectly satisfied with his so called "style" which is an abomination to our institutions and the truth.
Trump to them is more than an authoritarian. He is their tribal chief. Democracy is messy, inefficient, is slow to make changes and has a habit of protecting minority rights. Dictatorships get right to the heart of the matter and that heart is putting white males back at the front of the line. That's the function of the tribal chief. That's how Trump behaves which is exactly how they want him to behave.
388
And the rising count (23) of squabbling, finger-pointing Democratic Presidential candidates is fuel for the White Supremacists abolishing the Republic. One and all, get behind Joe Biden.
13
@Bruce Rozenblit at this point, Trump's supporters can be divided into two camps. The first is the toadies, or sycophants. These people (ex. Lindsey Graham) know better, but just don't care because they want to hold onto power. The second group are the Far-Right wing fanatics, who voted for Trump precisely BECAUSE of the racism, misogyny, xenophobia and know-nothing politics he expresses or enables. Think Steve King of Iowa.
I'm afraid that the legislature of Alabama falls into the second camp. These aren't like the GOP who support whacko policies about guns because they're being backed by a powerful lobby. No, these people actually WANT a total ban on abortion. This is why Trump must be stopped from a second term AND Dems must take back the Senate.
21
@Bruce Rozenblit
"The bottom line for these people is to put white males at the front of the line."
What are you basing this on? How can you make such a strong, vicious claim without offering a shred of evidence?
17
Tragically Mr. Blow has it right. I honestly believe that we need some kind of compulsory military or civil service program in this country. At a relatively young age we need to expose everyone in this country to a variety of different races and religions and ways of life.
I feel extremely fortunate that, as a white guy, I grew up with a Dad who was a career Army officer. Harry Truman was ahead of his time in desegregating the military services back in 1948. My best friends growing up were white, African American, Hispanic, Jewish and I even had a couple of Muslim friends. My parents in the 1960's and 70's never said a word about my choice of friends, their race or their religion. When I enlisted in the Air Force myself, my training squadron was composed of 4 white guys and 46 African American guys, mostly from Alabama. I never had so much fun in my life. I honestly don't understand racism because, in the world in which I grew up, I was not really exposed to it. To me, it just seems senselessly what it is - evil for the sake of evil, hatred for the sake of hate.
I have lived in some states that are overwhelmingly white and I think many of the white residents there harbor their prejudices because of propaganda they have read or seen - the kind Trump peddles.
Compel through national service everyone having a significantly long, meaningful interaction with people of other races and religions and I think this country would be a very different and much better place.
265
@Rich D
Beautifully said, and coming from a similar place, I totally agree. Bill Moyers had an eloquent monologue on his show in 2009 which still sticks with me to this day, and I quote it often to people who seem surprised that I, a Vietnam-era vet who became a "peacenik" would ever espouse bringing back the draft. Not as compulsory military service, but national service that exempted no one, and gave everyone a role to play in making the country one.... and great. Here's a link to the transcript: https://billmoyers.com/content/bill-moyers-essay-bring-back-draft/
52
@Rich D
I also grew up in a military family, living on Army bases in the US and abroad, going to school and making friends with kids from diverse races and backgrounds. In hindsight, I realize t was an excellent way to grow up. I saw a lot of the world before I was even in my teens, met many amazing people, and learned that "they" are just as good as "we" are. As am Army brat, I hardly ever experienced the bigotry that seems to be prevalent in America, especially now that Trump seems determined to rip the US apart along racial, class, and gender lines. I weep and fear for my country.
115
@Rich D What a terrific, uplifting comment, one with which I fully agree. Thanks.
30
Blow does not follow this to its logical conclusion. This is why even winning elections - despite the voter suppresion, the gerrymandering, the Electoral College, the Senate allocation - still may not help to defeat Trump. Election results giving the Democrats the White House and the Senate would have to be respected. The Republicans are not going to do that. When Trump was elected, to their surprise as well as ours, they had a once-in-history opportunity. They are engaged now in a one-time revolution, not in a contest of elections. They mean to seize the power once and for all. That is why the Republican Senate does not oppose Trump at all. They have been fighting for their revolution for two generations, if not three, ever since Brown v. Board. This is their high-water mark, right now. They know they will never be this close ever again, if they do not seize the power, now, and hold it. White supremacy will slip from their grasp forever if they do not seize the day. That is what McConnell's behavior is all about - seizing the day for white supremacy. They will not respect elections if they lose. They will put themselves under dictatorship rather than give the non-whites an equal voice.
606
@XXX - some great comments here making plenty of common sense. I come away questioning if McConnell knows he may be fomenting civil war in this country.
45
@XXX
As much as I hate to agree with this comment, I can't ignore the evidence that supports it.
53
@XXX Do the writer's here understand that only about 12 - 15% of voters that are registered even vote. The problem is not enough registered, eligible voters, but apathy from citizens about their government. This is more than sad and pathetic but a modern crime against our country. If we cannot engaged our current citizens to vote, we cannot have democracy or representative government no matter what color the voters happen to be.
36
Census Bureau data shows the United States is currently 76.6 percent white, up from 75.1 percent in 2000. The reason is that most immigrants are white. America is growing whiter under current immigration laws.
However, the Census Bureau projects that whites will make up 68.5 percent of the U.S. population in 2060, a decline from 76.6 today, but that is based on an expected future influx of immigrants from Asia that may not take place. If it does, Asians will become a larger minority.
(Yes. I know some of the whites are Latino. Latinos can be of any race or combination of races. The Census Bureau counts Latinos who are white as white, Latinos who are black as black and Latinos who are mixed race as mixed race.)
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045217
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf
4
Am I the only one seeing the unabashed hypocrisy spewing from this article.
A minority man with essentially the biggest modern day megaphone consisting of an unbelievable amount of influence, probably making several hundred thousand dollars a year, and living in the best time ever to be a human, and what does he do? Complain over and over that it is not enough, fear mongering, creating some sort of boogeyman to justify his blatant racism. Good grief. This will not win elections and I have no sympathy for you.
As long as this is coming from the left I will never, ever vote democratic.
19
Good job that Trump never whines and complains about how picked on he and white guys are, huh?
But here’s a tip: once in a while, try to set aside the adjectives you got from Hannity, and just look at the argument and the cited facts for what they are. No, the ACTUAL argument, the ACTUAL cited facts.
It’d be a lot more convincing than these endless round-ups of the usual suspects.
1
Charles, you express things with an unconscious bias - that all white people are also straight. It's white STRAIGHT people who need this flagrant display--please remember that GLBT community, including the white ones, have as much to lose as other groups - the Trump administration has advanced executive orders to single out GLBT people who can now be denied medical care. Alliance Defending Freedom is working to get a case in front of the Supreme Court to overturn gay and lesbian marriage.
Yes, yes, I know many heterosexual people also oppose Trump, but please, stop conflating people in the GLBT community with the heterosexual white patriarchal community - the white supremacists hate us too.
2
I can submit and be accepted at any place but Charles Blow now at 553 comments. Why might that be?
I raise the question: Is it not time for the US Census Bureau to end classifying us by socially constructed "races" while readers, white nationalists, maybe even Charles Blow believe that each of these "races" is genetically programmed. Donald Trump certainly believes that.
An expert in the field whom I do not name has suggested to me that Charles Blow has a commitment to the preservation of "races" second to none.
I have sent Emails directly to Charles Blow asking about this. He never answers.
Anybody have any explanations.
This is 3d submission today. Since it deals with the way the Census Bureau creates a "white majority" I believe this is on topic.
The algorithm clearly does not.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
4
Mr. Blow: Yes, white males have been in power for a long time, and no, they are not going to give up power without a fight. In that you are correct. But the key here is not that they are "white males." The key is that they are "in power." If you look through history you will find that rarely, rarely does anyone -- whether they be male, female, white, black, green, brown, yellow or any shade in between -- give up power, any kind of power, without a fight. It's endemic to the human species -- the HUMAN species. Not just white males.
4
So, why did white men not start fighting back until recently? The demise of the WASP has been noted for decades in Manhattan, why didn’t they realize they were handing power over without a fight until now? Very slow on the pick-up.
1
"...the reality [is] that a rising minority population means a loss of white dominance."
If that's the case, then it logically follows that anything that slows the rising minority population (abortion, birth control) will reinforce white dominance.
I don't think demographics tell the whole story.
2
I grew up in the seventies and remember the anger my father and grandfather expressed towards Martin Luther King. This was pervasive among white families at the time (and I grew up in a liberal town in the North). Now everyone celebrates his legacy as if that was always the case. Nobody admitted they were wrong and nobody apologized. The shameful and disgraceful state of our nation today -seen in the actions of the current administration to thwart and crush the hopes of poor Latin American refugee families while refusing to join with other countries in denouncing racist and terrorist violence across the globe (following events in New Zealand and elsewhere) is almost irredeemable. It's time that Americans started seeing the forest for the trees before we've soiled our country's dignity such that it won't be restored for a generation or more. Are we a nation that stands against tyranny while supporting the cause of justice?Or are we a fearful mob that hides behind walls and refuses to denounce evil unless its convenient? Thank you Mr. Blow.
5
Racism is a subconscious reaction to population pressure. Population pressure is boiling due to structural unemployment and rural deactivation, not to mention just plain old massive - indeed catastrophic- overpopulation. Global warming greatly aggravates this, witness the global warming-caused Syrian refugee crisis that started the immigration backlash in Europe.
When humans feel this ancient instinct, they start to look for differences among their neighbors and countrymen. What do you think happened to the Neanderthals? Social media and Fox News provide a platform to organize and vet these ideas and their spokespeople.
I would make the same observation about the state of politics generally throughout the world today. The GOP wants to “destroy” the Dems and vice versa. The chants in Charlottesville. The take no prisoners attitude of so many political groups toward others seems to me to be an expression of this pressure.
2
Charles Blow loses a lot of credibility in my mind with this column. His racial stereotyping and gross generalizations are very sloppy and unconvincing, and he ironically displays the xenophobic attitudes that have given rise to the white backlash he denounces.
I know our deranged so-called president is a white male, but most educated people of all races and genders condemn him, and so there is no correlation there.
I think a far more significant factor affecting our society is exaggerated generalized anger--from minorities, women, immigrants, and, yes, white males.
Everybody needs to learn how to keep their perspectives in check. A little bit of humor, flexibility and forgiveness can go a long way.
8
"white people of all ideologies, including liberals, become more conservative when confronted with the reality that a rising minority population means a loss of white dominance."
If people were so worried about white dominance why have they allowed no realistic immigration plan to exist for decades and businesses of all kinds to look the other way and hire illegal immigrants. This was a foregone conclusion.
4
Charles is more or less correct. But the column's focus on white fears of racial and cultural displacement leaves out the corporate and "free market" part of the Trump (and GOP) voter and, more importantly, donor base. This group may or may not be racist per se, but they want low taxes and loose antitrust, financial, environmental, drug and food, and other types of regulation. They are likely to get this with a remade federal judiciary.
2
Lately it appears to me that white men have generally made a mess of anything they touch. I was so proud to have voted for Barack Obama twice. As a white woman, young at the time, Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech resonated more deeply with me than anything I had previously heard publicly stated. Personally, I have no problem with white men but in the current hyper crazy political atmosphere as a bloc they are a threat to the freedom, dignity and safety of all of us. It didn't have to be this way but history will judge whites harshly just as it did in apartheid South Africa.
89
@Suzanne Wheat
It appears to me that on at least some level, among many members of the tribe, something resembling apartheid South Africa, i.e., permanent white minority rule that could not be dislodged, (until it was), is what they aspire to as an eventual refuge, (for as long as it lasts).
This was previously known as Karl Rove's "permanent Republican majority". Whether or not he actually said that, the aspiration was there 15 years ago in a more innocent time when dog whistles were still the norm. The rebound to the Democrats from the utterly dysfunctional Bush regime that produced Obama then rebounded back to a more desparate Republican party that no longer feels the need for dog whistles.
This is their last chance to implant that control and they know it, as others have pointed out, before the remnants of a still functioning democracy allows the demographics to turn against them.
4
Well, I predict that the people with the most intelligence, capability, and drive will continue to play the leading role in American politics and society, for at least another century, notwithstanding changes in their nominal percentage of the total population.
18
@Mark Nuckols
So, George Washington Carver did not have intelligence? Jackie Robinson did not have drive?
Helen Keller did not have capability?
Have you ever considered the concept of oppression. Our nation is filled with talent from every corner. And we need to encourage it -- all of it -- if we are not to become a declining power.
30
@drericrasmussen That's not what he is saying, and if we promote people based on their appearance or membership in some group, rather than their drive, intelligence and capability, we'll have decline, indeed.
14
@Mark Nuckols
Good heavens, you're not really attributing the most intelligence and capability to Mitch McConnell? Drive, maybe.
2
Hopefully climate change will accelerate East coast ocean rises to finally inundate the mafia burial ground and trash landfill known as New Jersey. If that happens to overwhelm Jamaica Bay and find it's way across southern Queens raising the Newtown Creek to Mississippi River depths and completely washing away all those gentrified Brooklyn nabes, well such a tragedy! Gee.
2
Welcome to the new and improved Confederacy, where Americans are no longer slaves per se, but non-Confederate votes and non-white votes are permanently discounted in a modern Three-Fifths Compromise equivalent due to the comprehensive Republican rigging of democracy by voter file purges, voter suppression laws, black-box vote counting, 0.1% campaign finance corruption, gerrymandering and the famously anti-democratic Senate and slave-era Electoral College.
Add in a rigged right-wing court system to sustain GOP hijackings and welcome to Republican totalitarianism.
What's remarkable about today's radical Republican party is how extremely authoritarian they truly are and how thoroughly they reject representative government and democratic ideals.
The GOP is thoroughly opposed to democracy; they are deeply committed to authoritarianism and political grand larceny.
The rules do not matter to the Republican Party.
Winning, power, greed and white, male, faux-Christian dominance and cruelty is the modern Republican platform.
And yet there's still a way out of this right-wing nightmare for America, but it takes all hands on deck.
Every eligible citizen must register and vote in record numbers.
We must donate to voter registration groups.
We must remind our friends and family members that voting matters.
We must remember that a major political party in America cannot stand democracy.
And then we must give those American traitors democracy good and hard in 2020 and beyond.
522
And even if voters do all those things, the chances of a Democratic majority in the Senate remains remote, and the conviction after impeachment of a criminal Republican president will forever be an impossibility.
32
@Socrates Well said. Especially Voter registration. And protecting the vote from Russian influence. etc.
30
@Socrates
Always enjoy your posts, but I cannot share your optimism. I would like nothing more than to flee the country but shall have to wait until retirement.
16
We must look at the pieces that keep the white minority in place from a systemic perspective. Voter suppression, gerrymandering and the big piece at the center of it all - unlimited money in politics from the 2010 SCOTUS ruling of corporate person hood and freedom of speech defined as money. Misleadingly named "Citizens United." These systemic realities must be addressed. The other obvious one is getting rid of the Electoral College - a system designed to help represent slave holding states. We should be looking for these pieces in the platforms of candidates.
4
I am far more interested in policy that will provide greater opportunities to the citizens of my country.
I want to see an economic floor established (Health Care, Education and Basic Necessities) and provided to all legal citizens while continuing to support and provide free enterprise opportunities via capitalistic markets.
I want to see civil rights protected for persons of all color, gender, sexual orientation or whatever other category we can figure out to divide us.
I want to see structural changes that turn the economic hose toward the working class instead of the .01%.
I want to see political change that results in fair votes in fair districts.
I don't want corporations to be people.
Let's come together around what unites us. Let's agree on policies instead of how to hate each other.
- a white man
9
To the best of my knowledge no ruling class in any country has ever voluntarily given up their power.
Why would they, it's what gives them things they otherwise wouldn't have.
It's no different here and you have to add to that, that all of the illegal immigrants don't help. It further inflames the fire that they are allowed to stay.
On top of all that, when people look at what happens to a ruling class that loses power, think French Aristos or Whites in Zimbabwe, they become frightened for their own safety.
2
just don't assume all 70-year-old white guys are supremacists, racists, sexists or even straight.
some of us are old time lefties. even civil rights lawyers.
12
Thank you Mr. Blow for this thoughtful piece. You have said it succinctly. Those who wish to remain blind to your observations are the very ones whom voted for Individual-1. They have no clue as how he has played them for the fools they are. Granted I-1 did not think of this on his own. Firms like Cambridge Analytica studied this and offered their services for monetary gain, and in my opinion it's CEO Mercer, the epitome of an insipid, self-righteous, twisted human being, eagerly salivated and wrought his hands in delight.
2
"According to a Pew Research Center analysis of race/ethnicity and sex among validated voters in the 2016 presidential election, white men were the only group in which a majority voted for Donald Trump — 62 percent — although a plurality of white women did also — 47 percent."
I fail to see the relevancy, the PEW research also shows that 98% of black woman voted for Clinton, is their a black female sexist matriarchy against males?
Are you also going to ignore that 32% of white men voted for Clinton? What would be the ideal number, and in general, why does this matter, why should we categorize the voters by race as if they all think alike?
7
Speaking as a white male of the New York liberal/leftist persuasian, I am extremely tired of being lumped in with Trump voters, purely on the basis of race - something Mr. Blow's column would seem to imply.
Seriously, I will vote for Democratic candidates no matter what Mr. Blow and his fellow-travelers spew. I deeply loathe Trump, McConnell and the rest of the neo-fascist ultra-right wing crew. But the endless insults from people on (quaint notion, I know) my own "side" are obnoxious.
By the way, critical race theory is both bad politics and a bit of a shuck.
13
Actually, by the way, the article said no such thing. It cited reality.
And speaking as your basic straight white-guy lefty, let me observe that it’s high time we got a little more honest about the fact that in our heart of hearts, we sometimes get a tad bit fussed about a world in which they keep spilling the beans about our privileges, and we can’t necessarily depend on our advantages without ever having to think about them.
1
If you’re an old white guy, you’re in a real crisis. One day you wake up and: 1. The President is black, 2. Dudes are marrying dudes, and women are marrying women, and 3. No one thinks you’re cool or cares what you think. So your reaction has to be to vote for Trump and March in Charlottesville with a tiki torch. It all seems pretty predictable to me.
2
This comment was originally meant for "I'm a 60-year-old white guy...", but, it applies to everyone with White Privilege.
When people speak about their White Privilege, I picture Beto, without the sound. Let's recap your WP meme. You were raised in a White middle class home, complete with the values of hard work, honesty and respect for others.
You went to college. Did your parents bribe the school to get you in? Did you receive the Whites Only SAT, complete with superior grades? As a former high school athlete, you passed on the pro offers because....
When I hear this whine, White Privilege, it tells me, you don't value the work you have done, the sacrifices you have made and the the sacrifices others have made on your behalf. What about people of color or colored people, or what ever the new name is? So what? Other people experience life differently, make different choices and recover, or not, from their mistakes. Some will rise, others won't. Over laying your life experiences on those that have fallen short, is very condescending.
If you think this country is going elect a whiner, with WP, think again. Successful people and those that want to be, don't whine about their station in life. If they are unhappy with where they are, they will do something about it or they won't.
3
Oh, breathe. I’m your basic White Guy, I grew up and did okay without a bunch money and family advantages, and I’m darn well aware of what I bave up and what I sacrifices to get what I got. Hey, I’m even well aware of this little thing we commies call, “class society,” which handed dweebs like Trump and third-raters like Dubya advanrages and privileges and positions I never got close to.
There’s just this one bitty thing.
As a kid, somebody taught me that it was a Bad Thing to lie to myself. They taught me that there was this thingy called, wossname, “fairness.” They taught me to share my toys. They even went and taught me that, “This land is your land, this land is my land,” and everybody deserved an fair break and a fair deal. Then, you go out and work.
Unfortunately for some, I went out and believed just that and acted pretty much that way. And you know what I found?
Charles Blow is pretty much right, and white guys need to stop being such cry-babies. We do fine, and we get ours and some more besides.
1
Dear Mr. Blow, Will you ever write about a topic that is not tinged with racial subject matter? It would be so interesting to hear your other thoughts on topics like an ideal world without Trump, conversations with his die hard supporters, arts and culture in a dictatorship, U.S. withdrawal from the world or how about just the weather? You are a great mind and writer. Branch out.
5
Mr Blow sees everything in "black and white " - it is an "us against them" framework for looking at the world.. this includes the aspiration that somehow " when white people are no longer in power " - they will get their comeuppance from the minority majority.. quiet a few presumptions going along with the (usual) grievances.. for one thing - are the loosely termed "minorities" - a monolithic group ? - that will just happen to share Mr Blow's need for payback ?
6
So being pro-life is now an act furthering white supremacy? Wow. Who knew?
11
I think that the majority of white Americans proved that they were welcoming of a racially diverse leadership when they enthusiastically voted for Obama twice. It was MLK's dream coming true...everyone being judged on character and not color of skin.
But things went wrong during Obama's second term when Al Sharpton's racially divisive influence became too strong in the White House (100+ visits) and the BLM movement suddenly made "color" the issue rather than "character." Seeing African Americans protesting hatefully and violently day after day...culminating with assassinations and a bloodbath massacre in Dallas..is not what Americans had bargained for when they voted for Obama. In fact it was the shocking realization of their unconscious fears.
I believe that the whole BLM period paved the way for Trump and perhaps brought about the current white backlash that Blow is talking about. But Democrats brought this upon themselves. They animated Trump's base and offended millions of Obama voters.
Would I vote for Obama again? Yes, as long as he kept Al Sharpton at arms length. Would I ever vote for someone like Sharpton or Charles Blow? Not in a million years.
12
Much of what Mr. Blow writes is true. But as is often the case with one-trick ponies, Mr. Blow doesn't get any deeper than skin tone.
Leaving aside the true racists and bigots in this country, for they surely exist, let's consider that political penumbra of white voters who voted for Obama, and might have voted for Clinton had she not run such a horrible campaign. What do columns like this say to them?
It tells them they're all white supremacists; that their ONLY motivation is to maintain their racial power; that they can't possibly have a gripe that does not directly stem from racial insecurity. And by implication from all of the above, they're deplorable.
My kids, Jews (you know, the other white people?), came home from their liberal high school, and now from their liberal colleges, filled with hatred of their race. All of our evils can be directly traced to white men (admittedly, many can). I'm shocked. Sure, let's discuss and reconcile our mistakes as a race. That's constructive and long past due. But how does this self-loathing contribute to reconciliation?
Many people in Trump country are hurting. Many don't have the resiliency to absorb wave after wave of insults from a political party that keeps asking for their votes.
Let's not keep giving them reasons to join the white supremacist movement.
10
See, children. This is what happens when you don't vote.
2
"I speculate that this power may not concede until its death rattle."
And why, pray tell, should it? Your essay offers no reasons - only angst.
10
The ideology expressed in this article is everything wrong with the left agenda in America today. You need to either quickly abandon this platform or else Trump will once again get elected. The constant hatred of white people will just cause them to unite as one and vote for the party that doesn't treat them like second class citizens.
10
This is the country that freed the slaves in the 1860s, gave everybody equal rights in the 1960s, and has provided Affirmative Action for 50 years. It is the country that twice voted in a Black President. It is a lie and downright insulting to keep accusing the broad mass of people of unfair treatment of Black Americans and to assert they are pushing White Supremacy when they want to stop illegal immigrantation. There a few real racists left, but the vast majority are not. Trump is not either. His policies on the economy, infrastructure, immigration, trade, and prison reform are helping Black Americans. There has been a phenomenal increase in the number of middle class and upper middle class Black Americans. Don't be surprised if Trump gets record high support from Black Americans in 2020. Kanye was just the start.
11
No one is categorically blaming white men for the exacerbation of white supremacy we see rising around us. It’s not “white men” but rather the GOP and Donald Trump who appear to be doing their dead level best to preserve white privilege.
What else explains their doubling down on immigration from Central American countries or indeed from any country (our president had a choice label for them) where the citizenry is remotely brown? What else explains why the Evangelicals—who broke off from the “mainstream” protestants in order to preserve “white purity”—are out in droves to support a man who flies in the face of a moral life? Why else would Michele Bachmann—for whom Romans 13, which many cite in support of white supremacy, is a guiding light—name “Two Corinthians” Trump as the “most Biblical president in history”? Why else are Republican state houses doubling down on their voter suppression efforts, efforts that appear calculated to discourage minority voting? Why else would the White House insist on a census question experts say will suppress the count of immigrants, predominantly brown, from Mexico and elsewhere in Central America?
Why, too, is there such a sense of urgency among Republicans to “take ‘our’ country back”? Do they fear that if they do not batten down the hatches of white privilege now—with the wind of a self-professed “political incorrect” president at their backs, fanning the flames of white supremacy—they many never get a better chance?
1
Mr. Blow correctly points out that Trump and his cronies in the Senate are ramming through Conservative justices at an almost unprecedented pace. They are ignoring many longstanding norms in doing so. This is definitely a problem.
However, I object to Mr. Blow's assertion that the problem with these justices is illustrated by the fact that they are white men.
They are terrible choices for our courts, but their gender and ethnicity should not be the criteria on which they are judged. The most important thing is their past rulings. Where do they stand on gun rights? Abortion? Criminal Justice reform? Worker's rights? Voting rights? Healthcare reform? These are the relevant questions, and nearly all of Trump's nominees have terrible records on these issues.
Trump has certainly benefited from racist tropes; he is widely supported by Nazi sympathizers and White Nationalists.
But Blow's assumption that you can judge a Justice based on their ethnicity does nothing but add to the racial tension that is tearing this country apart; this message will only benefit Trump in the long run.
2
The Republican Party and 45 recklessly persist, arrogantly advance, and unashamedly promote Caucasian male privilege as the omnipresent, ubiquitous cause to preserve, protect, and perpetuate electoral survival in these significantly shifting demographic times. Make no mistake about. The disproportionately high percentage of less educated, albeit even higher percentage of non college educated Caucasians, comprise the bulwark of GOP sustenance. Regardless of their ostensible ignorance and patent reluctance to even begrudgingly recognize multiculturalism, 45 supporters are buoyed by the consistent reminder that 'they' are better than 'them.' The frenzied flocking to support Republican obstructionism signals the irrefutable, incontrovertible evidence of the inevitable demise of white privilege wielding unfettered power over America's increasing racial and ethnic populations. Fomenting racial internecine, stoking xenophobia, shrilling antiimmigrant sentiment of fear mongering about job loss, loss of Christian values, and the growing LGBTQ and transgender influence threatening GOP societal beliefs is designed to protect. 45's recent attacks upon Democrats as enemies of Israel in order to cause Jewish voter defection, but refusing to expressly condemn and outright denounce white nationalists and white hate groups attacking worshipers attending Jewish synagogue services and burning Black churches speaks volumes. Refusing to alienate GOP supporters is not an option. Race matters.
"Trump’s central promise as a politician has been the elevation, protection and promotion of whiteness..."
This is a ridiculous claim. Trump has never once even uttered the word "whiteness," or used racial language to justify or explain any of his actions. But nevertheless you call it his central promise as a politician! You're projecting a whole lot of stuff onto him, but that doesn't make any of it true.
5
Is everything the fault of white men?
Or does this mean that non white men will stick it to white men as soon as they gain power?
In almost everything there seem seems to be more than one cause. but for this column it seems one cause fits all ills.
7
Mr. Blow is allowing his temper and prejudices to get in the way of his reasoning. Rising race consciousness seems to afflict both political camps. It should be possible to dislike Trump and disagree with his supporters without blaming white men's purportedly inherent racism.
9
White population (including White Hispanics and Latinos) being 76.9% is why representation is how it is?
I mean.. that's 3/4 of the country....so looks correct and there is proper representation.
Next op-ed.
5
In a generation or two, three at the most, Charles Blow's comments, the white knuckle-draggers of Charlottesville, the Dylan Roof's, David Duke's and the words and actions other ignorant racists will be moot.
This Nation will continue to grow and prosper. Built on natives, immigrants (as always), but more and more on multicultural, multiracial individuals born in this country, to whom race means less and less.
As a dump hick farm boy, as I fear Mr. Blow might consider me, I am confident that my wife an I have raised five wonderful multiracial children, who along with our grandchildren will continue to develop this country, incrementally making it greater and greater as times moves on, and as we learn and grow.
We will overcome this current test of our worthiness in response to this vile administration. And our children will have to do the rest. Hopefully we don't leave them with too great a hole to dig out of.
America's European founders rebelled against aristocratic tyranny to establish a government more respectful of human liberty. But this of course came with the tyranny of white supremacy. It's good however that this government that was founded makes correction possible without a bloody revolution if more of us would just vote.
It is clear that the conservative right agenda is to return the nation to an pre-1950s America where non-Whites and women were second class citizens. Gays ans lesbians were in the closet. disabled people were seen as aberrations . Jews were viewed with deep hostility and suspicion and xenophobia was rampant and acceptable. Hopefully, they will fail in accomplishing this retrograde agenda , however, unfortunately, at the moment, they seem to be slowly , yet surely making perversely incremental steps toward achieving such a sinister goal.
1
Ominous, Charles Blow, that America's white male patriarchy (racist and misogynistic) is growing in our society. Trump has snatched power for himself. His Executive branch won't turn over any documents demanded by the Democratic Congress to provide checks and balances on his presidency. America is in unknown territory today. On old maps of our western hemisphere "Here Be Dragons" was drawn by cartographers who couldn't imagine the Americas.
Trump's base is virulent and can't see that this president is scamming them with promises and lies in farm country, trade with China, fossil fuel industries, in the rust belt. The promotion of white nationalism is terrifying. This president has inferred that "caravan invasions" of Central Americans at our southern border with Mexico is a crisis against white dominance in the U.S.
The minority population in the U.S. is growing exponentially. Ultra-Conservatives intend to roll back abortion in Southern states and repeal Roe v. Wade. Restricting voters in the South in 2016 was the thin edge of the Trump election 2020 wedge. Will the non-white majority be ruled by the white minority?
Outrages in the White House have broken precedent in our Executive Branch. G.O.P. lifetime appointments for conservative judges will last into the unforeseen future of our U.S. Judiciary. One of these days, president Trump will concede his power. Here be Dragons.
Mr Blow
It seems, some people have a hard time differentiating facts and information. Facts- whites will be the minority in the near future,white nationalism is on the rise and promoted by our president. our president is doing the best he can to stack the courts with white men. these are facts people
White people find so hard to accept the fact of institutionalized racism in this country. Even self-identifying progressives. Maybe instead of getting defensive and going to instant disagreement, a little racial literacy work is helpful to understand alternative viewpoints. OK to disagree, but first, at least try to understand. Robin DiAngelo is a good place to start--a white woman talking about white privilege might be an easier entry point--the book What it Means to Be White is a good introduction for white people to understand the narrative of this article.
1
I believe this column is mistaken. Race is not the central theme of Trump's Presidency. As a matter of fact, I never hear Republicans talk about race. And yet it's all the Democrats talk about. They're absolutely obsessed with keeping score of who's of what background, and how many of group X are represented in Institution Y. Race generally seems to be at least, if not more, important to them than solving actual problems, and it's become impossible for Democrats to analyze anything without reducing it to racial categories, while the Republicans virtually never do. Yet you have the gall to call Republicans the Party that's obsessed with race.
3
Blow is probably right. Something like two thirds of white Americans -- men and women -- are now voting Republican (not just for Trump), and as always in US history, race anxiety and resentment is a major factor in this. Those old enough to recall the "white backlash" of the late 60s and 70s will realize that this is nothing new. But then there is that other one third of whites who vote Democratic -- about 35 million people. Rest assured that their numbers are growing, as the old folks die off and the young emerge without the racial baggage. The one thing progressives must do to make sure they don't mess this up is not encourage the view that race is all-important. More Martin Luther King, Jr., Mr. Blow.
It's interesting how white dudes are so quick to reject the idea of racism as a systemic issue and yet whenever the topic arises, so many come out of the woodwork screaming in defense of their personal virtue and their lack of a "racist bone" in their bodies. When so many of these dudes act in unison in this way, it's almost as if the issue is systemic.
1
Trump men have no interest or understanding of Russia, China or any global platforms. They only see "the other side" as the enemy. Therefore, they believe they are real America and demand a lifetime gig.
1
I am confused.“As multiculturalism is emphasized more and more, there emerges a reaction against it on the right, which is attractive to the authoritarian mind and also appeals to other conservatives. And this, I think, is what has happened, this is what Trump is about — not entirely, of course, but certainly this is a big factor.” 8 years of Obama and his administration and nothing changed if you follow Mr. Blow's POV. Supreme court was left leaning for the last 20 years and nothing changed for minorities. Now white males are to blame? Perhaps it is time to look elsewhere but the Democrats have 2 white males in the lead for the next presidential nomination. Are minorities as President the only option for Mr. Blow and his followers?
6
If we ever needed an argument that white men shouldn't be running things, Trump is it.
2
The thing that is unraveling this country is the ability to find out things that were once unavailable to us. Cell phones and the video and audio they record show us racist acts as they happen. Email reveals things to us we never would previously have known. White power brokers and their wealthy white friends and colleagues are clinging to their privilege but now the rest of the world is beginning to find out how they behave behind closed doors and it's very, very, ugly.
Enter Donald Trump.
Trump knows that he cannot hide anymore even as he refuses to use email and cell phones to avert those closed door goings on. So what has he figured out as a response to all of this technology? Why try and hide most of it? He's going to go right in your face and dare us to try and stop him or knock him down in his march towards racist patriarchy.
What will we do in response to him?
1
Yes Charles, the networks of white supremacy are far vaster and deeper than most people realize.
And today, it has an increasingly international dimension.
Most white supremacists are clever enough not to advertise themselves as such. These are the ones we have to really worry about.
And what's the point of this article? It's totally empty.
The contention is not about color, it is about culture. The fear is that all the struggle for the rule of law will be lost with the decline and defeat of Western culture. And this is a culture all want to take advantage of and exploit instead of support. If whites, or Westerners were that awful, why is it everyone is desperate to migrate to countries where Western culture dominates? Be real, Mr. Blow. That's why Democrats helped Republicans win the election: race politics is not based on facts and reality.
7
Thank you Mr. Blow for an insightful view of the current political/cultural crisis. As a lifelong Red State resident, I will add additional perspective. Yes, we were raised with racial biases. But there is an even more widespread tribalism. You already mention the additional impact of sexism on this tribalism.
Growing up in Tennessee, we were also taught that "Southerners" were inherently better than the Northern "Yankees". Small town/country folk were better/wiser than our "citified" neighbors. Blue collar workers were often unfairly looked down upon. Colleges were centers of liberal persuasion.
Perhaps the least appreciated tribal influence is the fundamentalist/evangelical church. 83% voted as a block for the Republican candidate in 2016. They are an assured voting block in future elections.
My experiences are mostly in the deep south. However now that we live in Florida, Republican friends, neighbors and family sound exactly the same no matter where they come from. The only change is in the accents.
I have seen other presidents hated. Though the '60s was a more violent time, the hatred towards Nixon seems quaint compared to that directed at Trump. Never have I seen such hysteria towards a president as towards him (who I neither like nor voted for). No amount of parody or irony could exhaust the level of actual hysteria that accompanied his election.
This article is just one manifestation of it.
8
"The white male racist patriarchy will not be denied. It is having a moment. It has its own president."
Telling people that their home is on fire when they are already watching it burn isn't exactly helpful or constructive criticism.
Right now, identity politics like this isn't helping anyone considering that:
1. We are about to start another war.
2. We are about to relegate women to alleys for abortions.
3. We are having kids in schools and worshiping adults slaughtered monthly (and sometimes more frequently).
4. We are alienating allies and stoking enemies.
5. We are likely going to have another civil war within a generation.
So, energizing the militant right with rhetoric like this is not going to help make any of the above go away, but will help expedite them instead.
6
I think we can safely say Trump isn't alone here. The entire Republican institution is dedicated to reinforcing white male dominance. You can't stack the courts without the Senate. That's 53 Republicans led by McConnell that want nothing more than more white males. Trump is just blatant and vulgar about what already existed.
I mean, you're drawing comparisons to Reagan. The entire Reagan regime is suppression and privilege by any means necessary. Republicans are at war with the collective self-interest and have been for forty years at least. If only Democrats would stop acting like the year is still 1988, we might be in business.
1
Trump parlayed the ongoing relentless growth of economic inequality in the US to blow down the elitist political party structure. Of course he did it by winning the electoral college not the popular vote. Its seems likely that he will lose the popular vote again. But Trump's completely dishonest populism was anchored with white nationalism. Bannon's turn up the hate political strategy blended economic anxiety with white disquiet over their impending lose of majority voting status. Now there is an economic boom that vastly benefits the wealthy. Wages have risen as well. The GOP is fully invested in the Trump presidency and has thrown everything they can to stimulate the economy. Vastly increasing debt. Public and private debt is at very high levels. During a recovery debt should logically come down. Where is the infrastructure spending or anything that supports the ability of the US economy to keep growing? In the Pentagon about to be utilized in an unprovoked war with Iran. With GOP they have enhanced their ability to impose their reactionary social issues, dangerous abuse of the environment and negligent treatment of consumers.
Charles-well said-keep up the sane, rationale balance opposition to trumpism. No one should be surprised when 62 % of white moles voted for trump, or for that matter 94% of black males who voted for Obama. Those figures are lets be honest highly UNremarkable, even predictable. History and human nature have not been abolished. What IS astonishing is the plurality of females who voted for trump-THAT is inexplicable and where the emphasis needs to be join forward. Absent a washington, Reagan Roosevelt, Lincoln or perhaps Kennedy Obama tuning for dems in 2020, any dem nominee has to persuade white women that abortion rights for their daughters and granddaughters are very very much up for grabs.
Declining birth rates. Increasing death rates. Shifting of wealth to the 1-2%. Militarizing of local police of which 95% are white. Population and economies of small towns decreasing. Stacking the courts with ultra conservative judges. Increasing minority population.
Every since that Report came out in the late 1980's that talked about the majority becoming the minority, things have been set in motion. Add to that that the white populace voted in a black President.
While there are many that aren't threatened, there are many that are...
I am sick of all the whiners who say, "Now being a white male is a crime" or something to that effect. Evidently AM radio and Fox News have been pushing this narrative, along with "Christians in America are persecuted."
Yes, I know that there are many (perhaps the majority) powerless white males. Whatever group you're talking about, the majority of its members are powerless.
Yet look at who runs the governments--whether national, state, or local--, the corporations, the universities, the non-profits, civic organizations, the print and broadcast media, and the entertainment industry. White men. And it's not necessarily because they are better qualified than anyone else. It's because the men who are already in power feel more comfortable with someone who fits into their Old Boys' Club, talks in sports metaphors, and is fun to have a beer with.
Spending three years as a clerical temp and eleven years in academia taught me how many white male mediocrities are in positions of power in this country and how many of them are completely dependent on their (mostly) female clerical staff. When I was in graduate school in the 1970s, it took a reprimand from the dean to prevent the department chair from filling a vacancy by "phoning the Ivy League schools and asking them to send one of their bright young men."
Ordinary white guys, we're not talking about you. We're talking about powerful men who have arranged this country for their own benefit and convenience.
1
Can trump win re-election without having a foil such as Pres. Obama and Hillary Clinton?
I don't think so. trump's election was a reaction to either (or both) of those two; but without that, what "juice" does trump have left.
While collecting petition signatures in my community, i came across two black democrats who voted 2x for Pres. Obama, but chose trump over clinton in 2016. Why? . . .because they didn't like Hillary
Sure, trump code talks a white nationalist game, but the fact remains this country elected and re-elected a black man, as president.
electing trump was a way for a number of white folk to somehow even the score; or if race wasn't a factor, then his support was in reaction to Hillary.
trump's behavior in office since his election speaks volumes as to his lack of fitness for public office
But he was elected. . .so the question is what does his current supporters, turncoats really, want. I say turncoats because they have repudiated the ideals that make America what it is (liberty and justice for all)
To roll back the new deal; undo civil rights legislation, revoke the civil war amendments (if they could), and bring back the plantation.
Majority Leader Addison Mitchell McConnell is just as grave a threat to our democracy as Trump is, in fact I would argue that he is worse than Trump. Trump is just a vehicle for the right wing's ambitions. Trump is Grover Norquist's realization of a president with enough working digits to sign confirmations. Trump would not be possible without Addison McConnell's active assistance. I read his autobiography which was published in 2016. Three short years later, I don't recognize that man. He has betrayed every value that he once espoused. I want to see him behind bars. I know it won't happen, but dreams are nice.
Spot on as usual Charles, and I say that as an older white male. The data doesn't lie; older, straight, white males have had a lock on power since the founding of our great nation. You're right, they're not going to give up that power until they die. We are in a way, in terrible trouble.
Trump is continuing a long-term Republican strategy of packing the court with right-wing judges. I warned everyone who would listen to me to vote for "that woman" because you are voting for the next thirty years of legal decisions. All I can see for what is left of my life is an unending stream of decisions supporting the country's worst political instincts and a bookful of bad law.
I do think that the Democratic Party needs to develop a long-term strategy and stick to it; to embrace a more diverse leadership in its inner circles; and to d3eliver the goods for its most fathlful supporters.
1
We have a choice. We can embrace the dynamic of racial competition embraced explicitly by Charles Blow and implicitly by Donald Trump, or we can reject it. For the first forty years of my life, nobody ever spoke of "white supremacy." Such a notion had been confined to the dustbin of history. Now the Left has resurrected the notion, based on the imperfections of our society (imperfections that are inevitable; no society is perfectly fair). Their solution is never to create a color-blind society, to which I am unalterably committed. No, their solution is a grotesque hierarchy of racial/ethnic/gender entitlements based on group grievances. They are not as repugnant as those who engage in white identity politics, but it is a difference in degree, not in kind. They are racists. They are willing to discriminate against Asians in college admissions, for example, excusing their behavior with euphemisms like "diversity," and bizarrely claiming that admitting too many Asians to elite schools somehow reinforces white supremacy. Enough! The only way to ultimately end racism is to be done with notions of race in our public policy.
9
Well written truth Mr BLOW!
I'm a WHITE MALE and I agree with everything you said.
But I'm a liberal and a DEM so that is rather easy.
Day after day I am dismayed and disturbed by the POTUS and REP congress people and their MINDLESS fall in line behind the KING. We are spending so much time on things that have no impact on humanity in a large way. It's ALL short sighted selfish thinking with no moral and more immoral actions that affect us all.
GOD forbid another term of this insanity!
When it comes to Trump policies, the only policy that originates with Trump is his self love. All other policies should be attributed to his base. The base wants white supremacy, so Trump goes along with it. As most white voters selected Trump, this is a problem...a large problem.
When it comes to democracy, the average white voter has apparently decided that their white identity and white power is more important. So, bottom line, many white voters would prefer a white dictator to an democratically elected president regardless of his or her color. Racism is alive and well in the "exceptional" country we call the good ole USA.
Sorry to admit this, but the first step to overcoming a problem is to recognize that it exists. Oh, by the way, I'm white.
"they will forcefully fight any momentum toward demographic displacement, no matter how inevitable the math."
And yet the same people constantly admonish whites for being concerned about being replaced and outnumbered.
3
I am white and a minority in the area I live in. People are people no matter their skin color.
I find it interesting that the white people that are most concerned about becoming have the least exposure to people that are different than them. The more the isolation factor the higher the predigest.
The white majority is projected to last though 2060 by comfortable margins based on current projections. Sse, e.g,, https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2018/demo/P25_1144.pdf In order to lose that majority "White People" would have to continue to define white in ways they abandoned circa 1960s or so.
Why it is wise politically to argue that there is some pending demographic collapse is one of those curious questions that continues to perplex me and make me wonder who is paying for this portrayal of the future. As for the great native white baby shortage, people will get over it. The world does not need more people anyway.
Humanity as a whole is richer, more enfranchised, better fed and most likely happier than it has ever been. I know we like to prognosticate doom. I think the future looks pretty bright for all of us - white non-hispanic males included. I agree that conservative judges are likely to be a problem in the future (this has happened before by the by).
2
@Me, Who's going to pay for it? Already over 50% pay no tax. In the future that I see the USA is more like Pakistan.
2
@Me It's not wise. The perps are running on emotion, not wisdom, in the hope of getting voters to vote.
And yet, if the "white male racist patriarchy" really wanted to maintain its power, it would be more efficient to work toward maintaining a white majority than to work toward minority rule, since history tells us that minority rule is always temporary. If they aimed to maintain a white majority, the easiest way would be to encourage poor women (who tend to be non-white) to terminate their pregnancies. However, even the most extreme white supremacists never do that. Perhaps white rule is not really their goal. They seem to be more interested in maintaining the power of the richest people, regardless of race.
2
Sorry Charles. As long as Trump is President this country is guaranteed to have citizens the majority of whom are white. As in white with fear of what this tyrant will do next.
1
As usual, I agree with Charles Blow's insights on white men tenaciously holding on to power and privilege. Even though defining the group as "white men" is correct, I have a problem with this labeling and the demonization of white men that it implies. As a woman who has long railed against male privilege and entitlement (white men), it feels a little weird to be defending this group. But I am not defending the behavior, only the labeling. No one chooses their race, we are born into it. There are white men who gave their lives in the civil rights struggle and who are on the vanguard today of progressive change. Let's use labels that describe the behavior, entrenched power and privilege, and not attach race to it. The men who voted on the abhorrent anti-abortion law in Alabama were mostly white men of privilege. My term for them is idiots.
2
The Times "picked out" really antagonistic comments for this column. It's like Youtube's method, stoke the fire. There's actually nothing radical about stating the obvious - Trump's base is very white, and they're not happy with their status. 1980, the year Reagan was elected, was the first year a majority of births were non-white.
In reality, this is racial classification biting the hand that made it. If you choose to classify "white" as people with two white parents, and "black" or other for people with one white parent, you will guarantee whites become minority.
Love thy neighbor even if you do not love you self, and even if your neighbor does not sufficiently love herself or himself.
And, have you noticed , for all intents and purposes our skin colors we all differing shades of brown: There is no such thing as black or white skin color.
Respect one another, Look one another full-face in each other's
eyes. Acknowledge each other with a nod and a "good day".
1
Sadly, Mr. Blow makes excellent points, but I still find it hard to believe how far the country has moved to intolerance and bigotry. I have to remind myself that Hillary Clinton won the election--it was the Electoral College, with its districts gerrymandered by the GOP, that handed Trump the presidency.
While the majority of Americans may not be racists or lacking a conscience, Republicans have worked the system to their advantage, and that is what we must work against with all of our hearts and minds.
1
Old white man, guilty as charged.
For most of my working life I have been in the minority. I never questioned it because for me it was normal. When I moved to another part of the country suddenly everyone was white. It didn’t then and still doesn’t feel right. The future feels right.
I look forward to this new race of mankind, a race of the mind, a race called Americans, a race of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and of laws, to come to fruition and to offer mankind an escape from the beast.
Utopian and naive I admit, but better than the alternative.
Mr. Blow’s article may sound extreme, but the attitude is well earned. If you take an animal and abuse it for years, but then suddenly start treating it well it may act relaxed but it will never trust you. The same applies to human beings. That is why revolutionaries so often become tyrants, it’s all they know of a life of being hunted. So when some present day minority is up on their soapbox try not to judge or react. Just continue on patiently treating them with the compassion and equally we all deserve. Someday soon they will begin to relax. And then hope for trust.
1
The math toward demographic replacement, as you describe, may lead toward a more diverse majority, but what makes you or anyone think that there will be a "kumbaya" moment where those minorities as a majority will all agree? It's a flawed argument, one espoused by pundits and civil rights advocates everywhere, but steeped in hope more than reality. And this "white man is the problem" narrative is grating on much of the country. I suggest elevating the discourse away from that racist ranting to something more constructive.
5
As usual the focus is only on the Federal government.
There is still a good deal of power, thank goodness, held by local and State governments in the USA.
Control of police departments and criminal enforcement are in the hands of Mayors and Governors and DAs. In most States in the country Judges are elected at the local or county level.
Control of school departments are in the hands of Mayors and Governors and School Committees.
Control of zoning and housing programs are in the hands of Mayors, City Councils, and to a lesser degree Governors and State Legislatures.
Since many of the major cities, larger counties, and larger States in the US area already majority-minority, or controlled by a combination of white progressives and minorities, they should take responsibility for governance, education, housing and criminal justice. In some places, like here in Massachusetts, they are already are.
Quit complaining and exercise power responsibly.
I agree with Mr. Blow, but I think he missed an important point, that being the generational divide. While a majority of white voters voted for Trump in 2016, a majority of voters under 45 voted for Clinton. The Republican demographic fear is certainly based on race, but I take some solace in the hope that the generation replacing them as they shuffle off this mortal coil shows less support for their odious views. What does it say about a generational group that their best contribution to their country and planet is to expire?
Another fine essay Mr.Blow. As long as Americans continue to vote for the Republican Party, you will have the fear of "white male displacement". Actually, it has so much more to do with social class than color. It has to do with education, money, status, and power. I am white, but the most beautiful people I have seen throughout the world are brown, which will be the universal color of the USA a hundred years from now.
In the meantime, vote Democratic if one cares about equality and giving every citizen a chance to succeed in our society. Republicans like Trump are indeed the enslavers of people of all colors, not just black.
1
Mr Blow is wrong, of course.
The constituents he refers to, do not support Trump for white supremacy ideas. They voted for him to take care of unfair trade practices and dangers arising from illegal immigration.
The jury is still out on that and the upcoming elections will certainly hold him accountable for failure on that, and other flaws and shortcomings.
But the constituents cannot be blamed for voting for and supporting white supremacy ideas. Their support for the damages wrought by his policies, is based on giving him a chance, to see how it all works out, and on hope that the unfair trade practices and illegal immigration issues be sorted out. Unfortunately, a credible alternative candidate has not emerged.
American financiers, businessmen, professional executives, and workers need to forge a 'competitive marketplace' outside of political agendas, to make America competitive against the outsourcing market and unfair trade practices.
10
@Nirmal Patel, Your attempt to persuade us that white males "do not support Trump for white supremacy ideas. They voted for him to take care of unfair trade practices and dangers arising from illegal immigration" is head-in-sand denial. A person who votes for and continues to support a racist, sexist official is racist and sexist, i.e., a white supremacist, albeit a self-deluded one.
White supremacism is an intrinsic evil; it cannot be instrumental to any imagined "good" separable from the racist motives of the supremacist. It cannot be "balanced" by other goals, economic or political, if we are all to remain "in this together," to use Obama's phrase. It excludes and subordinates; it is inherently incompatible with remedying unfair trade practices and aligning immigration procedures with universal rights. You may blind yourself to the intrinsic evil of this presidency, but it is all too obvious to realists among us.
@Mary C. I would repeat that the majority of those who voted for him, did so for some specific idea about MAGA, and maybe at that point Trump was not so sharply identified with 'white supremacy' ideas as he was with 'intolerance' with perceived 'advantages' taken of America by 'outsiders' and 'others'. And at that point almost the 'entire political establishment' was perceived as being out of touch with the desire to MAGA, and so an 'outsider' was seen as the right guy to do the right things in Washington, other than cater to existing political agendas of careerist politicians.
That said, if the argument is whether any stand for MAGA can be balanced or mitigated by any over riding focus on white supremacy, then of course "it cannot be 'balanced' by other goals".
3
Can anyone answer these two questions: Why would any person of color vote for Donald Trump? Why would any tolerant white person vote for Donald Trump?
7
This editorial is openly racist. How much more identity can this country endure? The author thinks certain people can't or shouldn't be made judges because of the color of their skin. This has become a theme in the editorial section of this paper. Should we give up on color blindness completely and demand strict demographicly determined quotas for everything? What do you want exactly besides fewer whites?
25
@Brian Identity politics is going to be the Times' theme for the 2020 election. Plus Don Trump, of course. The Times relentless coverage of Don Trump gave him tens of millions of dollars of free publicity in the 2016 election. A lot of things swung voters away from Hillary Clinton, but one of them was certainly all the free publicity that the Times gave Don Trump. The Times is doing the same thing this election cycle. The identity politics theme, while certainly entertaining most of the Times readership, will just drive a lot of people to vote for Don Trump. Please stop.
4
The New Trump Confederacy.
Fetus=Person.
Woman =Livestock.
Any others, must learn their Place, and keep to it.
20
This column should have been more nuanced, buttressed by facts. What we get is a histrionic screed. The impending white-minority status is a myth. The left's bizarre, gleeful, & premature rush to proclaim the end of white America, is fueling racial backlash politics. It's as if being white is somehow evil so lets pop the champagne corks & celebrate it's demise. This is racist. Truth be told Blow has gotten the facts wrong. The Census Bureau has estimated that by 2044 whites won’t be majority. But that same census report projects that by 2060, 68.5% of the population will be white. It’s just that a reasonably large share of the white population will be partially descended from Latin American immigrants. A further 6.2% of the population will belong to “two or more races,” Many of these people will be of predominantly European ancestry, have skin tone & other facial features that fit comfortably within the conventional boundaries of whiteness whatever that is. If you use these facts then America remains majority white indefinitely. Reflecting these hysterical opinion pieces, many whites have been led to believe they will soon become a minority group. This is only true in the numeric sense. Whites will continue to be the majority in terms of wealth & power. The "browning" of the US isn't going to change our politics dramatically. Sen Cruz has Latin DNA but no one would call him a liberal. As usual Blow has it backwards. The white population is not declining; it’s flourishing.
15
Wow, this is like an open declaration of war on whites. And here we were, with the New York Times trying to persuade white readers that the fears of displacement were all just a figment of our imagination.
18
@Eugene
Really? He’s asking for legitimate power sharing and you say that’s “an open declaration of war on whites”? That seems overly sensitive.
What do you call it when one believes only white men to be the only ‘group’(74% of appointments) capable of exercising judicial power? When you defend that number you’re defending classic White Male Supremacy.
“WMS, Ruling America Since 1775!”
I support trump. I am male. I am white.... Why does the color of my skin matter?
15
@Brian Roberts If this is a real question, you need to get out and mingle more with the real world. Race, though we'd all like it not to matter, does. It presents differently than it did in the 1950's and the 1840's and (fill in the blank), but it's a problem and it's real. It doesn't mean that all white men are like this, but white men DO dominate the power structures, but political and economic.
1
American anno 2019 is still a country where the white men control the critical mass of its capital. Until other people accumulate their own money in sufficiency, we will be ruled by the dictatorship of the good ole boys and their bankers. Blacks have had more than a trillion entitlement dollars spent on their needs since the inception of LBJ's Great Society in 1965. Some have achieved a place in the bourgeoisie, others have made fortunes in criminal activities that have not endured as well. Latinos work very hard and assiduously accumulate their own wealth. And all these groups mingle and marry so that someday our racist labels will be a relic of a bygone era...
4
You may be painting white guys with a too broad a brush. Maybe, just maybe.
11
Hey Charles
So what’s with the Red Herring of whites becoming a minority in the USA?
Don’t you read the Times? Mr Manjoo made it clear recently:
“Under the most inclusive definitions of whiteness, America could remain a white-majority society indefinitely.”
So let’s figure out the real motivation behind DT’s supporters!
5
White patriarchy will not concede a centimeter on anything. It has to be overcome at the polls. My own opinion about the anti abortion surge is that the white patriarchy does not want white women to have control over their reproductive life. They want more white babies. Watch out ladies, they are, more subtly, coming for your birth control. What they will never come for is their viagra. Patriarch that.
6
“President Trump is trying to maintain white dominance as the nation’s demographics change.”
Charles Blow is desperately trying to maintain relevance as even his most loyal readers begin to accept the results of the 2016 election.
“It keeps farmers holding out hope and making excuses for him, even as his trade war devastates their operations.” Yes, Charles, in your world, all farmers are white.
Imagine being a wallflower at a cocktail party and having nobody but Mr. Blow to talk with. Riveting stuff.
8
Mr Blow's writing is one of the reasons why white people have lost a good deal of the empathy they once had for the status of African Americans.
Much as I despise everything that Mr Trump and his apologists represent, its impossible to deny the barely disdained contempt that Mr Blow has for white people. Two sides of the same coin.
Ok, Mr Blow and his apologists will say they only mean the bad white men who control the levers of power to which Mr Blow feels are denied him and his cohorts because of racism. Mr Blow certainly doesn't mean good white folks, although he's careful to point out that most of them voted for Trump, so they must be racist as well.
In his opinion, such control can only be the result of racism. In the logic of people like Mr Blow, if you are a white man and hold a managerial, professional or executive position, you are by definition the product of a racist society. Such impeccable logic. You're born. You're white. Your'e racist.
How interesting that Mr Blow concludes his column with the thinly veiled warning that changing the power structure in our country might only come with a death rattle. That is a threat worthy of George Wallace. That is an opinion worthy of Rush Limbaugh. If it were expressed by the NRA, Mr Blow would be screaming about racist threats to POC.
Mr Blow and his apologists need to internalize one salient reality. White people are not afraid of people of color, and most white people do not hate people of color.
15
It is not often that I disagree with Mr. Blow's account of political life after trump's 'victory'. This article, however leans too much toward the scourge of identity politics. And, yes, both the Left and Right play this same game to garner votes, but primarily to rile up their respective bases.
An appeal to our basic humanity would have a better and more lasting value to turn the nation toward a vision of progress that would bolster our democracy (what's left of it) and be more inclusive to diverse political leanings.
10
I am a 70 year old white guy. The fact that most of these appointments are white guys in and of itself is not necessarily bad, I think that it depends on the person more so than his race or gender. What is chilling is that these appointments don't necessarily reflect a conservative point of view but one that is backward thinking and heavily biased against other political views and what constitutes any minority at present in this country. If there is one thing I can say about our court system is it is very often not balanced, not fair ad not always just and stacking it with only conservative white guys is certainly not going to make it any better.
6
I'll say this, you'll be perpetually in the minority with that kind of thinking. What are Asians? They'll vote with whites. What are Hispanics? The ones presently here are resolutely Republican, and the ones that are new to the Country will be eventually.
10
Why shouldn't White people be concerned that they are being displaced? Does it mean the U.S. will be a better place with Whites in the minority? Can Charles Blow, or anyone, name a single non- White majority country that attracts so many immigrants as we do? A lot of people of color who have anything on the ball want to live in a White majority country. I don't blame them!
Can you show me any non- majority White country that has a high standard of freedom and prosperity, anything close to what we have in the U.S.?
Then ask what will this country be like when it is non majority white.
14
@Leon, standard of living: Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Switzerland come to mind as higher in SOL. As far as freedom, same answer.
Diversity makes America great.
8
When Democrats control the White House and Senate, and give Republicans a dose of their own medicine with respect to judicial appointment and confirmation, the Republicans will howl bloody murder about how they are "shoving (fill in a name) down our throats".
6
Brilliant... thank you for writing it so succinctly!
I said to my sibling in 2011– I was back after few years sojourn in Canada— buckle up, a nasty tsunami is coming our way. This would be the last hurrah of the white male, but by golly, it is going to hurt us all. None of the conservative whites are going to like being a minority.
At time of Trumps election, he said, you weren’t joking! And despite knowing I was correct, seeing it happen has been painful!
As regards those abortion laws, this maybe the root of the fear behind such draconian laws!
“ CDC releases data... the number of live births in the US last year dropped to 3.8 million, the lowest level in 32 years. That brought the birth rate down to 1.7, a record low and well below the so-called "rate of replacement" of 2.1.”
Birth rate is persistently falling, & who are mostly effected in this group — white female!
Even if today, you drag immigration to a full halt... by 2041-2043, the majority will turn into minority—it’s not very far away.
I’ve been been closely watching the appointments of conservative white judges in the federal courts, lower circuit, & I kept thinking— Mr McConnell has had this planned out way ahead.
All these judicial appointments, are almost like seeding a system with corrupt viruses & hacks, as a check against the threat of (evil) freedom of the Left Liberals in future.
I hate to burst conservatives bubble... but tide of change is coming and it shan’t be turned!
5
Gotta love the demonization of people of another race. Always a good lesson for children.
21
If you are born white, male, middle class and American, God dealt you four aces in the game of life. If you can't make a winning hand out of that, please don't demean yourself by blaming those who are not as blessed as you.
14
Say it like it is Charles.
This is nothing we have not seen in the past four hundred years.
3
I see this truth every day. It stems deep into the Obama presidency. I heard all sorts of comments from white people during the Obama years that had no basis in fact. I knew what they ultimately meant: they didn't want a black president. Trump got elected as a blow against a black president. I do not believe this overt racism will last, given that Trump has proven himself to be unpresidential, and the racism and sexism will go back under the surface. The silent majority will not go away, though. The Trump justice picks will allow it to simmer in various courts around the nation.
4
White men are afraid? What else is new? These are the same sort of men who started the Ku Klux Klan, who accused African American males of all ages of raping their women by merely looking at them, who think that no African American can be smarter than they are. These men claim to be protecting their women and children (notice the ownership implied by that) from the inevitable incompetence of others. These are the same men who believe that they've earned every chance they've ever had. And, ironically, these are the same men who are creating the divisions they claim to despise, at least when it works against them.
Trump won this election because he said what enough Americans wanted to hear. Although they may not have ever lived on plantations in the South their attitudes are very similar to that era. African Americans are bad. Immigrants are bad. Women are need to be protected from outsiders. Children must learn who to hate.
This is not the America I grew up in. It wasn't a perfect America. But there was hope. Things changed dramatically after Obama won. The GOP went into full hatred mode, declaring that Obama would be a one term president. They didn't even extend to him the minimal respect the office deserves.
We're on our way to becoming South Africa the way it was with apartheid. Indeed, we had apartheid. We called it Jim Crow. Do we really want to return to that? Is it worth it to regress to those days? I hope not.
5/15/2019 11:50pm
7
White men are afraid? What else is new? These are the same sort of men who started the Ku Klux Klan, who accused African American males of all ages of raping their women by merely looking at them, who think that no African American can be smarter than they are. These men claim to be protecting their women and children (notice the ownership implied by that) from the inevitable incompetence of others. These are the same men who believe that they've earned every chance they've ever had. And, ironically, these are the same men who are creating the divisions they claim to despise, at least when it works against them.
Trump won this election because he said what enough Americans wanted to hear. Although they may not have ever lived on plantations in the South their attitudes are very similar to that era. African Americans are bad. Immigrants are bad. Women are need to be protected from outsiders. Children must learn who to hate.
This is not the America I grew up in. It wasn't a perfect America. But there was hope. Things changed dramatically after Obama won. The GOP went into full hatred mode, declaring that Obama would be a one term president. They didn't even extend to him the minimal respect the office deserves.
We're on our way to becoming South Africa the way it was with apartheid. Indeed, we had apartheid. We called it Jim Crow. Do we really want to return to that? Is it worth it to regress to those days? I hope not.
5/15/2019 11:50pm
3
Recipe for more racism: Keep telling millions of people that they are racists because of the color of their skin (which is inherently racist logic). That they don't deserve what they have. That they, even the millions of poor among them, are the problem. Identity politics are a gift and powerful recruiting tool for REAL white supremacists. Mr. Blow, are you on the Trump payroll? You are serving him well.
17
@Sci guy
You’re right, real racism is a columnist of color pointing out that there is still discrimination in American society. Sci guy, do you think racism toward blacks ended when lynching stopped being a ‘thing’? It’s actually more subtle than that ‘strange fruit’ decorating American trees.
Someday I hope you understand.
We see in Mr. Blow’s piece the death rattle of the Republican Party and its tragic, desperate clinging to the power that is rapidly slipping through its slimy fingers... godspeed.
3
Is the lowest black unemployment rate in 50 years part of his dastardly plan?
12
I'm with America.
Trump and his sort? Sorry, no. This white guy has had more than enough....
2
“As Vox reported in 2017, white people of all ideologies, including liberals, become more conservative when confronted with the reality that a rising minority population means a loss of white dominance.”
I’m not white, but I empathize with this position entirely. Yet Charles Blow’s sneering and cavalier attitude to this legitimate concern is a total disgrace and a display of immense hypocrisy.
How would Mr. Blow feel if a sub-Saharan African nation underwent decades of white mass immigration- a policy that was never directly voted upon by its citizens? How would Mr. Blow feel if suddenly overnight this country became a majority white country? Would Mr. Blow be using the same sanctimonious language regarding the native population in this case? Would Mr. Blow tut-tut the natives for their supposed “black supremacy”?
Or more likely than not, would Mr. Blow describe the situation as - gasp - “colonialism” or “an invasion”?
I think we all know the answer to this.
The liberal hypocrisy on the question of demographic change is quite astounding. Nobody likes to be made a minority in their country, especially without ever having directly voted about it. Most countries are not as diverse as the USA and nor do they ever want to be.
Mr. Blow would do well to approach the issue with a bit less moral grandstanding and a bit more intellectual humility.
11
In 1968, my very left-leaning uncle was a great supporter of Eugene McCarthy and worked hard during the primaries to get him chosen as the Democrats' nominee. In the end, Hubert Humphrey, a liberal Democrat, was the party's choice. When I asked my uncle if he would vote for Humphrey, he looked at me, shocked and replied, "Yes, of course. We can't have Richard Nixon in the White House."
Unfortunately, as we all know, Nixon was elected. And that's because many people on the left, led in part by McCarthy's lackluster support of Humphrey, stayed home. In fact, this has been the case with American leftists for the last fifty years; they have turned out to be the very best allies the GOP has in thwarting true progress in this country. They helped to defeat Jimmy Carter's re-election bid and install Reagan. They voted for Ralph Nader in Florida and put George W. Bush in office instead of Al Gore. And lately, and most egregiously, their support for candidate Jill Stein insured that Trump and not Hillary Clinton would become the President of the United States. All those young NeverHIllary women themselves were a big factor in helping to decimate abortion rights. They were warned; they did not listen.
I know that the left will do the same thing in 2020 if Bernie Sanders is not chosen as the nominee. I have very little hope that they will ever see the light.
4
@Lois Murray, agree with your comment, but would add that bernies lackluster support of Hillary was as bad a deed as what Eugene and his boys did.
I am a 62-year-old white male who welcomes the growing diversity in our nation. That diversity is a source of strength, wisdom and leadership. I believe there are white men who are sufficiently woke to stand with fellow citizens who are not white men to lead our country into a more inclusive and dynamic future.
5
The stubborn White men who struggle to maintain the status quo on American culture are trying to hold back the tide. While no one can stop what is already racially factual, Trump has kindled grievous anger and hate against Brown, Muslim, Jewish, and Black folks and these pathetic White men have picked up their tiki torches and followed him blindly.
We are at an all-time low point in American history regarding racial intolerance and we appear to still be falling ever deeper into a cycle of hate and murderous rage as demonstrated by synagogue and Black church shootings.
America needs a respite from this. It needs someone who has a sense of honor and dignity for all to be President. The Democrats are the only Party that will offer such a man or woman.
1
The sun wouldn’t rise without a racially inspired opinion piece by blow
The president isn’t trying to maintain white supremacy, there is no white supremacy and there hasn’t been for over a decade, it’s people like blow that keep the narrative alive and when you keep talking about it, keep complaining and keep stoking the fire it keeps it front and center, keeps people talking about it and it keeps people divided .
Let it go, let it die, most of us already have we don’t care what color anybody is in this country anymore and less you’re in a truly backward state or state of mind .
Getting up every morning with this twisted view that every white person is out to get you isn’t healthy and it isn’t true so take a breath and open your eyes a little wider .
I realize that not keeping this racial divide as open sore is not good for your career but it’s also not good for your soul.
14
There is a strong monarchist strain among conservatives these days, an attempt to re-establish the divine white of kings.
2
Here's a thought: Why don't non-whites go out and vote for a change instead of making excuses for sitting on the sidelines at elections?
7
@Jay Orchard here's another thought: why don't you listen to why they don't vote instead of telling them what to do? It's the same reason some other Americans don't vote: they may not be able to lose the day's pay since Election Day is not a holiday for most people.
1
@hen3ry
Except, all voting places are open extremely early and well past when most peoples work day ends. I leave the house at 5 AM, get home at 7:30PM, yet I still always manage to vote. Most people don't vote because they just don't care or are lazy.
1
Clinton should have won the 2016 election easily. It was her strategists that decided to virtually ignore campaigning in the blue wall states. It was her campaign that decided not to put a Sherrod Brown, a real labor man, in as VP. it was Bernie Sanders voters who decided Clinton was not pure enough to show up to the polls and vote for. Clinton had the Presidency in her grasp and she and the Democrats flat out blew it. You want to blame white male racists? This wound that our country is suffering through was self inflicted by Hillary and the Democrats themselves.
4
2050 and counting towards the less than 50% white majority.
From When America’s Love of the Open Frontier Hit a Wall in March 15, 2019 NYT.
“The frontier was, ultimately, a mirage,” he writes, because it promised “a limitless world” where “all could benefit; all could rise and share in the earth’s riches.” The wall, on the other hand, is “a monument to disenchantment,” a deafening shout that “there’s not enough to go around.”
The frontier, in Grandin’s summary, “would reduce racism to a remnant and leave it behind as residue. It would dilute other social problems as well, including poverty, inequality and extremism, teaching diverse people how to live together in peace.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/books/review/end-myth-greg-grandin.html
A person who sees the entire world solely in terms of race, and has a particular race he holds responsible for all the ills of the world, is a racist, no matter what race that is or what race he is.
15
As is typical with these sorts of pieces, the obsessive focus on "white males" as the loci of all evil in the world tends to give a pass to white females, who are just as capable of racism as anyone else. Whether it was 47% or the more commonly reported 53%, Trump would not be President without the votes of white women.
Next, according to census reports, about 50% of Hispanics identify themselves as "white". So the fears (on one side) or yelps of triumph (on the other) may be significantly overstated. 20-30 years from now "whiteness" will likely have expanded to formally include most Hispanics, just as it previously did with Italians, Irish and Jews.
What is the great wonderful thing that Mr. Blow thinks would happen if white proportions in the US dipped under 50% ? Do we all get free cookies? Are Brazil or Mexico paradises for Black people? As we have seen with Asian-American hostility to affirmative action in the Ivy League , Hispanic-American racism against Blacks in job and housing markets, or the ongoing brouhaha over admissions to high schools like Stuyvesant, there is plenty of conflict brewing that has little or nothing to do with "white" people, however defined.
Lastly it is ironic that this paper published articles and editorials deploring racist whites embracing of the "Great Replacement Theory" as boorish, paranoid, not factual, and well , racist, only to turn around and publish someone cheering white displacement as inevitable and good.
9
60,000,000 frightened white supremacists voted for a white supremacist POTUS. This is a wide swath of America that must be politically neutralized in 2020. The ONLY way to do that is for Dems to quit fighting over ideological litmus tests and bring all center to left Americans together as a bloc. We don't need to push radical change in any issue....we just need to spend a couple of years righting the ship....restoring the social, educational, and environmental programs, and the foreign relationships that trump has destroyed. Getting rid of trump and his remaining GOP sycophants should be the prime directive of any American with integrity.
2
Hillary was right - there is a vast right wing conspiracy! The South, it seems, has risen again.
4
They may be white men but they are in control and if this is to change whoever takes their place will have to earn it. No one is going to give up control to an undeserving opponent.
3
Republicans only win by suppressing the vote. That said Mr. Blow like the left and right likes to merge together all "POC." Hispanics, as the census dubs them rather than as Latinos, are different than Blacks and Asians. It is a language designation. If you look at the census numbers for Whites and White Hispanics the percentage of Whites in America are is still huge. The political key is uniting all who can't tolerate Trump's backward bigoted thinking and throw him and all who support him out of office.
1
White Europeans are just 10 to 15 percent of the world's population. That's a minority. White people have always been a minority, except in Europe.
3
Delusions and imagination, mixed with projections
9
It must be comforting for Mr. Blow to see the world entirely along black/white, racist/woke, patriarchy/diversity lines. It's the perfect platform from which to spew and endless series of examples of how there is a vast white male conspiracy that is so maniacal and deeply rooted that we're all a part of it. It also gives him the perfect cover from which to claim that all laws, acts, events or comments that come from white men are overtly racist and sexist and classist by design. In reality, the vast vast majority of men, and more specifically, white men, get up every day and do their best to help raise their kids, hold down a job, struggle to figure out how to pay for college, etc - just like everyone else. Contrary to your views, we're not thinking about these things along racial or gender lines. Of course you can't or won't acknowledge that truth because it weakens your argument that everyone is out to get you.
11
That’s why it’s imperative democrats not get caught on chasing after so many white working class voters who aren’t voting democratic in the near future
1
Racism is pervasive. I hear white people make racist comments or insinuations more often than I wish to hear. And all too often I am ashamed to be white.
I grew up in an Eastern European country and there too racism stuck its ugly head wherever it could, just like anti-semitism. Racism is cultural hatred, deep ingrained, sick, hard to dislodge. It corrupts our souls. It is awful.
I love you Charles for ever bear the truth.
2
Charles, I'm disappointed to read that you've endorsed the same racist fad of blaming all society's problems on white men. But it was good to read that your column was not just the 100th iteration of "Trump is a bad man.
4
Are all white males congenitally racists, or most white males are congenitally racists, or is it a matter of free will?
Are all voters who did not vote for Hillary in 2016 white supremacists?
It seems like 2 sets of extremists, each claiming racial determination of behavior - that all behavior is determined by the color
of our skin.
We can only hope that calmer heads and the better angels of our nature will prevail.
6
Interesting that the most rabid pro-life legislation is coming from states that have the most abysmal history on quality of life, having been among the most rabid slave-holders and segregationists.
2
Is trumpy becoming our own version of Hendrik Verwoerd?
I'm sure while he could never pronounce "apartheid" or know its history, he wants to move our country in that direction, with regard to any non-white individuals.
Are not his holding cages at the Mexican border nothing more than the trumpy version of "Bantustans?" Too many Republicans, among both the elected and the electorate, seem to be turning into willing enablers of his policies and supporters of his deep racial prejudices. His own words give them free rein to flaunt their beliefs.
Sorry Charles. It isn't "fear"; it's fatigue. Simply put, the majority of Americans are tired of having to listen to the ever more irrational blatherings of the "virtual signalers" that appear regularly in media and academia.
A stable society is based on community, and communities are based on trust. Trust exists where values are held in common.
These are the majority's values:
A two-parent, mother and father, household is far and away best for children.
Biological sex differences trump constructivist gendering.
Men's societal role is to defend and support women and children. Since 2 mya it has been thus.
A successful life is judged by the carrying out of responsibilities, the more onerous the more successful.
From the point of view of the majority of Americans these core values have been undermined and dismissed by leftists who have ceded the field to the extremists in their midst.
Time for NYT liberals to stop worrying excessively over Trump's base and start doing something about the termites deconstructing the House of Liberalism.
10
Does anyone seriously believe the world, or the US, would be significantly better off ruled by black or brown men?
Please point out which non-white civilisation or country you believe is better for women and should be a model for us.
Then I might have a better idea what you are talking about here.
13
Watching the Alabama legislature vote to suppress ANOTHER group, the term "old white men strike again" was what the caption should have read.
1
This article , although enlightening , is demoralizing.
The only hope is to trust Americans and in particular minorities and young people to vote “ en masse “ in 2020 to overturn this Nazi administration.
It is not a matter of being, white or black or any other shade of color , it is our future, our democracy, our sacrosanct rights as human beings.
1
@inter nos
How is Trump a Nazi?
3
@JoeG It's hereditary.
1
I’m going to use the formulation of a guy named George Lakoff here who has argued (my interpretation) that the major dynamic or issue in American politics is between those who argue from the belief in a stern father and those who argue from a belief in relatively equal nurturant parenthood.
This issue isn’t white or black. It crosses lines created by those who throw up terms like “race.” This entire article would benefit from excising any reference to “race” or skin color. I don’t dispute Trump’s racism. I do dispute the claim that he’s primarily racist. Primarily he’s an authoritarian—a would-be despot or tyrant. He’s someone both African Americans and non-African Americans need to oppose. His”racism,” like his politics generally, is a reflection of his opportunism—his belief that us ordinary people need a strong father and he’s the man to provide that.
Unfortunately there are a lot of people who agree with him. Fortunately, there are a lot of people who don’t.
1
The sickness comes from a very loud minority political party using any lie and prejudice to maintain its power by getting powerless whites to vote against their own interests. (In many instances, those interests are exactly the same as those of racial minorities.)
Thomas Frank's long essay, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" explains this process in detail. Until working folks tell the bankers and corporatists and oligarchs to pay their taxes and learn to accept regulation, we will march our way into a Chinese-style society with plenty of wealth for a few and authoritarian control for everyone else.
3
...And as Charles was writing this, another 3 long-shot Democratic Senators and Representatives decided to enter the 2020 President's race, essentially ceding additional Congressional seats to the Republicans.
Can somebody please talk some sense into these people?
2
Generalizations based on a case study of one are problematic.
But here’s one. A prominent Physics professor at an American top 5 university has 14 Doctoral and Post Doc candidates. 2 of the 14 are white. The others, are from Iran, India, China, and etc..
The best and brightest, it seems, are not always the whitest.
The secondary problem is, given white power rhetoric in the USA, those 12 very clever non white students are far less likely to stay in the US after graduation, instead, head home to empower the economic future of their home countrymen.
The third problem, their home countries sit along China’s axis of power, the new Silk Road, thus strengthening that region at the expense of the US.
What the white supremacy movement is doing is ensuring a relocation of excellence away from North America. Sad.
2
Ta-Nehisi Coates “Between the World and Me” shows that even otherwise liberal whites are living in a fantasy that prevents them from acknowledging white privilege. Then there are those who claim false victimhood who deny it. And there are the white supremacists, led by Trump, who believe privilege is their right and actively seek to maintain it.
1
Why does Mr. Blow omit the fact that the white male supremacy of Trump's presidency is also Christian - whether evangelical Christians who pray every day in the Oval Office with him or the more orthodox Catholics of the Federalist Society which he has placed in the federal judiciary.
Note that there are five Catholics on the Supreme Court not including Sotomeyer (which makes six).
These white male Christians believe in patriarchy and that women are chattel as much as black slaves were at America's founding. The Constitution embodies this and that's what Trump and his supporters want to return to.
Indeed, the topic of abortion is but a symbol for the religious extremists who are intent on turning America into a theocracy. "Religious freedom" lawsuits are as essential to them as overturning Roe v. Wade.
2
Trump should be appreciated (in gauzy hindsight, after he's long gone) for chasing the racist cat right out of the bag. Remember, not long ago we were saying things "oh, no, America has moved on, we're no longer racist" and similar piffle. Not so much now. The rise of a diverse and fast-moving middle class is actually Public Enemy Number One for the old, slow white men who may imagine that they are at risk of being replaced as the top of society. Truth is, though, that ship has sailed. Compare the 100+ years of hard work put in to secure civil rights and educate generations of those previously deemed "uneducable" with the pathetic bleats of "we will not be replaced" and "protect our way of life". It's over. The power is dead, it just hasn't fallen down yet.
1
Census Bureau data shows the United States is currently 76.6 percent white, up from 75.1 percent in 2000. The reason is that most immigrants are white. America is growing whiter under current immigration laws.
However, the Census Bureau projects that whites will make up 68.5 percent of the U.S. population in 2060, a decline from 76.6 today, but that is based on an expected future influx of immigrants from Asia that may not take place.
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045217
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf
2
@William Case
The obvious answer is that census takers usually include "Latino" as "white." And this is not the definition of "whiteness" that most Americans use when they are talking about "white."
@WT
Latinos can be of any race or combination of races. The Census Bureau counts Latinos who are white as whites, Latinos who are black as black and Latinos who are mixed race as mixed race. For example, Latino actress Cameron Diaz costs as white.
1
Mr. Blow is right, of course. But he really fails to address the important issue: what would be a _better_ way for white men to deal with their loss? It is a genuine loss of power and genuinely affects people's lives and futures. If you want to avoid more Trumpism, you need to give white men a better deal than Trump is giving them. What's your offer? If all you've got to say is "shut up and take it," it's unlikely that white men will cooperate with you. So: what _is_ the future you imagine for white men as a disempowered minority?
3
"Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters."
- Frederick Douglass 1849
DT is the symptom of power being taken from the people and given to the rich. White Nationalism is a tool. Suppressing minority rights is a means to an end. Dems and R's both cater to the rich and trust in our leaders is gone due to their abandonment of all of the people. The right has been blatantly grabbing power in ways that abandon their oath to the Constitution for years now and they have a useful tool in DT. Until we force our leaders to serve the people and not the rich, we will see our power as voters be taken away more and more. The right has dropped all pretense and are stacking the courts to facilitate their plans by having laws that stop them from stealing our power stopped or ignored. Impeach this President and VOTE. Get involved. Support leaders who will defend the Constitution and assure liberty for all.
Pew Wee!
I stopped reading this column after reading your second paragraph with Pew Research Center analysis stats on white women voters in the 2016 presidential election.
Please...? 47%
Very good article. The pushback against women's right, minorities rights, even animal rights are signs of a conservative, white patriarchy in full blown fevour mode. Hate, cruelty, ignorance and injustice, which to most is obvious and wrong, is the fuel of the religious and racist feelings behind today's white male rulership and votership, so therefore can only be good and right or denied. When Trump goes, which is hopefully sooner than later, there will be alot of reckoning that needs to take place. The west is a democratic liberal bastion, that must be redeemed and upheld and hopefully won't need another civil war to do so!
1
Although there are some valid generalizations here, the overall tenor is hysterical and confused. It conflates issues and blurs categories. Rants like this threaten to re-elect Trump, the way it elected him in the first place.
Take the idea, suggested in a quote from a 3rd party, that 'multiculturalism' attracts the opposition of "authoritarians"? Huhn? Personally, I favor inter-cultural action. However, Blow's formula suggests that anything immigrant-based belongs to a liberal tradition while anything "white male American" = dictatorship. Oh really? That silly on its face, no pun intended. All identity politics is arbitrary, discriminatory and authoritarian.
9
I am a proud white man, and one of the 38 percent of white men who did *not* vote for Trump. In other words, I am part of the majority of people who voted for Hillary. Nothing the proponents of a white male racist patriarchy can do will make me one of them. They are the underbelly of this nation and the antithesis of what it is about. Our response should be to aggressively tear down their arbitrary privileges every way possible, and assert multiculturalism, openness, liberalism, tolerance, and the other good things they hate with a vengeance they have never seen. The more they mock and sneer and jeer and froth, the more assertive and determined we should be. The less they like it, the more we should enjoy it. When they insist that they will not be displaced or replaced, we should take intentional actions, however we can, to do exactly that. They need to understand that the ugliness of their response to an African-American presidency diminishes and delegitimizes them in our eyes, however much money and power they may seek to monopolize through their antidemocratic means.
1
If you need convincing of the depth of depravity of Trumpism, and those who cheer for it, go back and listen to the tapes of traumatized toddlers at the southern boarder wailing and crying and begging to see their mothers and fathers. Hear the terror and confusion in their small voices. We have a regime willing to execute barbaric cruelty toward children as a "policy" tool. And that regime has people literally cheering it on.
Let that sink in.
That alone is reason never again in one's lifetime to vote for another Republican at any level of government.
3
@A Nobody, As a Californian, I am in favor of strong border enforcement, I-9 requirements for employers, and an end to Sanctuary Cities. I oppose bilingual education becasue I think it undermines the power of the English language in a world full of variety and as such holds our young Hispanics back. And I am a die-hard liberal in almost every way. That said-- you are spot on. The trump administration demonization of immigrants, and its brutal treatment of those at our southern border is a cancer on all of us. It is the antithesis of a civilized society. The GOP by their silence owns this barbaric "policy."Vote them out.
1
As an old (Medicare! Love it!) white male who was raised in a working-class-to-mildly-middle-class household with two working parents, I have to jump in to say that there are many of us aging white guys who see the future — and it works. The future I and my comparably decrepit pasty codgers see is an America in which Christians, Muslims, atheists, Jews, Hindi, Buddhists, whatever, live together in harmony because we know each other, like each other, share the same values (such as a good home-cooked meal after a high-school basketball game), and know enough about each other to not let some tin-horn, crass, bombastic narcissist make us fear — and therefore hate — one another. Get to know your neighbors, folk — even if they a) are from and embrace a radically different culture, 2) they don’t respond immediately to your overtures of friendship, and iii) even if they are — shudder— Trumpistas. We’re all in this “America” thing together, and the more that we down here in the non-media-driven, day-to-day, “C’mon over for dinner” world, the sooner we can work our way back to the dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness shared by all.
1
If one sees every issue in terms of race or skin color, as Blow evidently does, then stopping illegal immigration at the southern border "must" be a result of racism or white supremacy.
And if Blow doesn't care for how circuit judges are being appointed, he needs to bring that up with Harry Reed.
According to Wikipedia:
As of May 16, 2019, the United States Senate has confirmed 106 Article III judges nominated by President Trump, including 2 Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 40 judges for the United States Courts of Appeals, 64 judges for the United States District Courts, and 0 judges for the United States Court of International Trade.
The total number of Obama Article III judgeship nominees to be confirmed by the United States Senate is 329, including two justices to the Supreme Court of the United States, 55 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, 268 judges to the United States district courts, and four judges to the United States Court of International Trade.
So 329 Obama appointments vs. 106 for Trump. Liberals will still have plenty of judges for court shopping where needed.
5
@kwb, dude-- Obama was pres. for 8 years. Of course his "totals" are higher.
1
You'd think white Americans could still console themselves with the fact that even when they slip into the minority they'll still outnumber the members of any other racial group in this country. Then, too, so many blacks and Latinos are incarcerated at any given time that the expression "out of sight, out of mind" might be readily applied. Personally, I think some of us on the left might be interested in starting a rumor to the effect that Donald Trump is an octoroon. That might just peel off a few percentages from his base and would certainly provoke an insanely defiant twitter storm from the "president" himself.
comment submitted 5/16 at 1:36 AM
1
The racists are having their day, sort of, but framing the fascist clown's actions as white supremacy continuing continues the political tribalism that currently creates a lot of screaming, but is ineffective in actually doing much. Politics is a mess, but daily life has not changed much because the cult leader doesn't know where to lead the people who cannot follow his policies because he has none. On the ground level race relations are not deteriorating - those working class whites are physically working with working class blacks - working together, not discussing politics - and experience is teaching them that we all come from the same place. We will get past this tribalism, but please don't take the right wing bait and overstress white-(everyone-else) tribalism.
Maybe, just maybe, people who are white in general value policies that reflect a middle class ethos of safety and opportunity but are distrustful of grand plans from the Left based on invisible prejudices and designed to punish them and their families for simply being white. BTW, the number of Hispanics who consider themselves white sort of makes the whole demographic issue a canard.
8
White supremacy? My ancestors came from Northern Europe, but I have nothing in common with those yahoos in Alabama and Georgia, I am vehemently opposed to Trump, and I am just about as vehemently opposed to poorly reasoned, blatantly racist opinion pieces like this one.
When were white people ever monolithically united about anything? Our politics have been marked by division, anger, and derision since the very beginning, a time when only whites were allowed to participate.
Today whites are not only the majority of the population, they're the majority of those of us fighting for social and economic justice.
And, yes, the people fighting against those causes are even more majority white than we are, but it isn't their skin color that guides their thoughts, its the social and family networks in which they're embedded, networks that have taught them to look down not only on people of color, but on anyone opposed to their conservative/evangelical/patriarchical beliefs.
I assure you Mitch McConnell not only doesn't speak for me, he does everything he can to make me less comfortable, less secure, and less happy.
So quit demonizing your allies, Charles. You're only hurting your own cause.
6
Charles, I am a white male, political progressive, even leaning toward radicalism, and I swear, one more article by you painting white men whiter than we are, whiter than white, as the old jingle goes, ignoring how the Democratic Party sold working class whites down the river, and I'm going to....I'm going to....I'm going to..pout.
So, it's on you! But seriously folks, I once heard a Zen teacher of my acquaintance say, "That those who have been hurt can never imagine that they can hurt others." I think that applies to you. I tire of the accusation and recrimination. I also tire, especially tire of sensitive white men, who I'm sure encourage you in your condemnations, as long as you grant them a dispensation from your punitive assaults. But beware of sensitive white men, they practice the art of "preemptive agreement," to avoid accusation. Hope you can find some insensitive white men who share your political commitments, but tire of your self-righteousness. When working class white men and African Americans finally have a meeting of minds, it will not go well for the sensitive white guys, the phonies, the "I promise to feel guilty," if you say you I'm ok" dudes.
7
Are there any regrets? Does Obama regret not endorsing Biden? Does the DNC regret not sabotaging Bernie? Does Hillary regret feeling entitled and taking PA and Wisconsin for granted? Do the never Hillary voters regret not voting?
Count on 6 more years of Trump. I was in a gun store the other day. The clerk, a very nice young man, was filling out a form for me to have a gun cleaned. He joked to "me pardon my handwriting I spent 2 years in medical school and have developed a Dr's sloppy style". I asked "why he did not finish, he said his source of funding dried up for various reasons." I said well you need to vote for Bernie or Warren. He looked at me like I was from Mars. I chuckled and said you are voting for Trump again. He nodded. I should have asked if the gun shop gave him healthcare but I doubt it did. It will be too late to prevent this coup.
1
As an old (Medicare! Love it!) white male who was raised in a working-class-to-mildly-middle-class household with two working parents, I have to jump in to say that there are many of us aging white guys who see the future — and it works. The future I and my comparably decrepit pasty codgers see is an America in which Christians, Muslims, atheists, Jews, Hindi, Buddhists, whatever, live together in harmony because we know each other, like each other, share the same values (such as a good home-cooked meal after a high-school basketball game), and know enough about each other to not let some tin-horn, crass, bombastic narcissist make us fear — and therefore hate — one another.
Get to know your neighbors, folk — even if they a) are from and embrace a radically different culture, 2) they don’t respond immediately to your overtures of friendship, and iii) even if they are — shudder— Trumpistas. We’re all in this “America” thing together, and the more that we down here in the non-media-driven, day-to-day, “C’mon over for dinner” world, the sooner we can work our way back to the dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness shared by all.
Charles is correct, the problem that is larger than the traitor Trump himself are those that vote for him. They are nothing more than racists. I am in the 38% that did not vote for the traitor, but I do have female relatives that did vote for the traitor. Racism is a pernicious thing.
PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE!
This is all fantastic news. The demographic tide is rising. The longer that the whites try to hold it back, the bigger the flood when the dam finally breaks. Give us another 4 years of Trump, and his Volksturm judiciary, and we will blow right past the Democrats into real Socialism, and not just the weak tea of Socialism-Lite being currently brewed up by Bernie and AOC.
Charles has nailed it. “The fear of white male displacement is a powerful psychological motivator….”
As cliché as it sounds, Orwell has never seemed more prescient than now on many levels. We have entered the era of Big Brother. Modern technology has imprisoned us in a surveillance society where privacy is obsolete. We have been dehumanized and reduced to marketable bits of information – commodities – to be sold. We have become unwitting slaves.
And the specter of slavery also – and more literally - raises its head in the fear of white displacement. It is an attitude that revives an old mindset (a racial “1984”) that there exists a Great Chain of Being that descends from the divine, through the angels, down to a neatly categorized hierarchy of humanity, and then to the lower animals. It is reflected in the myth of the founding of America as a Christian nation, a Promised Land for a Chosen People – white people. White men. Big Brothers.
This is primitive tribalism at its best. It’s an easy emotional target to manipulate – fear of the “other.” The country was founded as a white enclave in which only whites were allowed to vote or hold office. People of color were destined to be chattel or, in the case of the Indians, seen as Satanic spawn to be eradicated. That is our legacy that we still refuse to honestly acknowledge as we whitewash our history books with soaring white myths of superhero founding fathers.
Until we face that legacy we will never heal.
1
We will have to create more federal judges to dilute the Trump appointees. The rising generations will not tolerate the justice system that the old white men are building so they can rule from beyond the grave. And there's no reason anyone should.
4
@Maria Maria! Indeed!
I tell my nephew, who is 12, that he and his peers "came to tear the Matrix down". I tell them that they are all "Neo" against the System of Mr. Smith.
I guess I'm too ignorant to understand white supremacy. While I moved out of California almost 10 years ago, it was several years before than that whites became a minority in that state. All other minorities had grown collectively to just over 50% of the state's population. It didn't make a darned bit of difference in what that meant for white people (with the exception of those who don't get it). I don't know why people are so scared of this continuing shift.
5
I live in the SF Bay Area and grew up in a multicultural NY. I am white as is my husband. Living in a minority majority area is no big deal. It makes our lives more interesting to have friends and in laws of different ethnic/racial identities
I wonder if the fear of some of these white males is fear of the unknown. Have these people ever interacted closely with people of color? If the did, I would they realize that ethnic/racial minorities are just people?
I would also like to point out that the negative stereotypes about recent immigrants appear to be similar to the stereotypes about Eastern European, Irish, and Italian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The 1 percent control this nation. The GOP and to some extent the Democrats as well, are there to do their bidding. The rest of us, all races, genders, religions, origins —- all the rest of us- are in this fight together to take back our country. Together.
8
@JK Right, we living in an oligarchy, but that is a separate issue from the argument Mr. Blow is making.
@JK Very true, but of the crumbs that are left, whites have more.
@JK
We can't take our country back when we are fighting with one another based on our race, or anything else. This is precisely what the one percent want us to do. We need to stop hating on one another.
2
A very perceptive column!
One can trace the arc from the plantation bosses and their overseers to the Trump acolytes of today. The tools of power have evolved from bullwhips and chains through Jim Crow laws to voter ID and gerrymandering. The result is that people of color are still being tyrannized by the white racist minority, and are powerless to overcome them.
2
One question I keep turning over: do we just accept this cheating and let judges like Gorsuch stay in office? When embezzlers get caught, they’re not allowed to keep the loot because they cheated for it fair and square.
How does a democracy defend itself against ruthless authoritarians?
4
Agreed. However, the engine that has driven this madness towards a New Confederacy has been the Christian Right. Since the revocation of their racist schools' tax-exempt status, the Christian right's elevation in politics has been a juggernaut. It is anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic and pro-retrograde Christianity. While the outcome of yesterday's Alabama law will likely impact minorities and women significantly, Christianity as practiced here in America is the root of the evil.
4
@Ben The Christian Right (AKA, Evangelicals) do not represent all of Christianity in America. They are a perversion of Christianity driven by money and white people who don't think of themselves as supremacists, but they are.
1
The judges being confirmed to the courts has nothing to do with Trump, other than he is the hapless clown in the empty suit, outsourcing the task to the group who has organized and planned for decades to do this. His unpreparedness for the job, his continued incompetence, learning nothing of the job on the job, has opened the door wide for "experts" to offer their services to the administration. Mitch McConnell is keeping the narcissistic giant sated, whatever Democracy neutering thing he wants, while he drives the Trojan horse through the gates.
4
Fear of this nation becoming a genuine multi-cultural nation.
No.
Fear of this nation becoming a Third World nation.
Look around. Barrios everywhere. Homeless everywhere.
It is culture not brains.
There is a lot of brains in India.
The British left India 60 years ago.
They are still living off the infrastructure the British left them. Nothing new added to speak of.
4
White men vote overwhelmingly for Republicans in general, not just Trump, just as black men vote overwhelmingly for Democrats in general, not just Obama. Not everything is about race.
4
Really? Your example pretty much demonstrates that.
2
Such paranoias expressed in his article shows the bankruptcy of extreme progressive thought. It is sad really, that policy decisions are based on such silly conjecture.
14
@ Ann. Yes, FOX has allowed Terry Bradshaw stumble along. It was simply a matter of time ole Glory Days of Yore, Friar Tuck stepped in it... His TV colleagues treat him like crazy uncle Terry who may say or do anything.
The demographic projections clearly indicate that every year the % of white voters is declining. Charles Blow has to realize that there are tens of millions of whites in this country who are not the least bit interested in " white dominance ", and as part of a multi-racial coalition hope to eliminate the racism that has indelibly stained the history of the United States.
3
I don’t think that is what he is saying. If the shoe fits wear it.
"Trump will be president for only two more years — or, God forbid, six more ...."
Taking Blow's column to its natural limit, what it means to me is that progressives, liberals, independents and the unaffiliated need to vote in droves for DEMS. That is the only way to get Trump out of the WH in two more years "or, God forbid, six more ...." years of him will send America back to the stone ages and American influence in the world to zero.
1
The desire of the founders to create a system of government in which wealthy white men would hold political control over non-whites and women is expressed in the Constitution in the complexity of the elections for President and Senators.
The American Constitution should have been overhauled after the Civil War. It was not and we live with the consequences now and for the future.
Teach your children and grandchildren to learn Mandarin. Chinais rising and will overtake America in 20 to 50 years.
1
i'm a white male and welcome diversity in America.
Those that can't or won't accept the coming demographic shifts should move somewhere more "white" because you're not wanted here.
5
This is not so much about race as it is about maintaining power. Look around the world at countries where minorities use the very same strategies to stay in power.
The greatest concentration of GOP voters are (1) white and (2) across the South. That’s its power base. So whatever scares and angers its base, even if false, will be what the GOP and its media arm, Fox News, pitches.
Immigrants taking over your jobs? Check. Liberals taking your guns away? Check. “Socialist Democrats” trying to take your money to support lazy minorities who won’t work? Check. Globalists trying to rule our country through the UN? Check. Christians being discriminated against? Check. Killing babies? Check. Voter fraud by non-whites, even when GOP candidates win? Check.
The other key focus of the GOP to maintain power is (1) passing no laws but (2) Trump nominating and the Senate approving federal judges who support their view of the world. Federal judges have lifetime appointments and the GOP has not only been pushing them through at a record pace, but they are appointing younger and younger judges. Some of these people have a potential 30-40 year career arc as a federal judge. So even if demographics overtake the GOP, their functionaries will continue on as judges for decades.
None of this is by accident. It was a very conscious strategy put in place years ago by the GOP. And the Democrats have been completely outmaneuvered, largely because of their inability to unify.
3
Caucasian, European, African American, people of color etc. These attempts to redescribe race really show how none of us want to be viewed in black or white terms.
It’s not a bad thing.
2
Mr. Blow is describing the history of Jim Crow in the South. For decades the white power structure maintained its power by appealing to poor whites that without the plantation elite in power they would by turning their region over to African Americans---and that threat continues to resonate in the South and accounts for all those cheering red hats at a Trump rally.
3
Rings true. Woe is us.
As long as democrats follow Charles Blow's advice and *cling* to identity politics based on race and gender ("the bad white men"), they will loose, except in the elite bubbles. Democrats need to care for the working class, the disadvantaged people - brown, black, white, male, female, gay, transgender etc. By vilifying people for their skin color and gender, the woke become equivalent to white supremacists.
9
Tell us what Republicans, over the years, have done for the average person? I’ve never gotten an answer, from a Republican, to that question.
1
@Cheryl Hays This is a good and smart question. (Unlike the opinion piece by Charles Blow.)
It's been way too long since someone attempted to register me to vote.
If when we impeach trump and try him as a traitor we will have grounds for ridding ourselves of all his nominations, including all of these judges.
Many in Trump's base were in desperate economic and social straits due to both Republican and Democratic policies. Like young people who cut themselves to mitigate emotional distress with physical pain, desperation can lead to self-destruction.
One expression of that self-destruction is 'white male and female racist patriarchy.' The latter has always been the conventional Republican agenda, and now it has been whipped into an angry froth among those most frightened.
1
This goes too far for me. The Democrats and the left have to find better explanations for the country's problems than just, "white men are to blame."
White men have a smaller share of the power in the US economic and political realms than at any earlier time in history. But, in order to explain how this hasn't led to an improvement in the state of things, authors like Mr. Blow have to argue that white men are now stronger and more to blame than before, because they are now weaker.
As you could probably guess, I'm a white man. I don't see myself as the problem; I see myself as part of the solution. And the solution is not to eject white men from the Democratic Party, and it's not white supremacy. It's doing our jobs fairly and competently, despite the growing chorus on the left hating us for it, and insisting that our "privilege" means that we can't see reality in front of our eyes.
Again, as a white man, this stance on the left strikes me as incredibly racist, sexist, ignorant, and arrogant - you know, all the things that my group is accused of being.
217
@Patrick your kids are not being put in cages and separated from their moms. Your kids are not being left in traditional public schools underfunded while white kids flee to charter schools and voucher subsidized private schools. Your kids are not being systematically disenfranchised at the ballot by white conservative politicians. Your kids are not being shot on the street by white police officers even while they gently arrest domestic terrorists for shooting up a church. Your kids are not shamed for getting into an elite university and being made to feel less than and accused of being admitted by an affirmative action program while white parents bribe their kids into those elite schools. Your kids are comfortably voting for third party candidates because none of these horrors are being visited on them. This is not about blame. This is about raw naked power--power that has been held by one group of Americans and denied others. It is about change. It is about changing this dynamic once and for all. Can you change?
171
@North Carolina
I doubt that all the things you describe above are actually happening in vast numbers such that the collective experience of every POC is to be completely and utterly impossible to overcome. The reality is that a minority within the minority experience these outcomes, but social media and the press push them out into the twitterverse as if everyone experiences this stuff daily. They don't.
47
@Patrick
I will join the chorus to stand up for white men once the white men in power stop behaving like the misogynists, racists, and members of a privileged majority that they are.
Your arguments do not explain why any of the multitude of white men who do not consider themselves misogynists, racists or privileged voted for Trump. How could they vote for that foul-mouthed liar and despicable human being and hope to be respected by the rest of us?
153
"The fear of white male displacement is a powerful psychological motivator and keeps Trump’s base animated and active."
This is very true and is exacerbated by a press that has turned the phrase. "old white male" into a pejorative, or where "whiteness" is uttered often and always as a negative. The 2016 election campaign and the preceding years where politicians and commentators ignored the white working class, talked up "whiteness" as something to be ashamed of, and bragged at the future where there is no majority literally sparked the resurgence in white identity.
Congratulations progressives, in an attempt to denigrate or to illuminate whiteness (delete as appropriate), you have sparked racial awareness and resentment within a huge portion of your population. Read national histories of other countries and what happens to declining racial or religious majorities when there is a rush to strip them of the perception of power and privilege: it never, ever ends well for anyone.
158
@Faust do you mean Zimbabwe/Rhodesia and South Africa? It only ends well for the arms traffickers and mercenaries who make money on those and every other conflict...
17
@Faust It's ironic that you don't like having race included when a white person is mentioned in an article, but invariably, it is used as a descriptor almost universally when an article is about a non-white person.
36
@Faust Well said.
11
There's a lot of magical thinking in this essay, which seems to view the future in the United States as a zero sum game between whites on one side and racial minorities on the other. But that's not what polls say, which on most issues show minorities and whites with quite similar views on economic and many social issues as well. The main outlier amongst whites is white Republicans, whose views stand in contrast to the majority of the population - white and minority. The winning presidential candidate in 2020 will be the one who can articulate that shared vision, which is very different than the nightmare portrayed in this piece.
207
@Shane The power of 'We the People' is being usurped. The system of governance that 'We the People' think we live under is being usurped... How often can you read about legislators at any level (city, state. fed) ignoring the referendums of 'We the People' .
The polls conducted about 'We the People' mean nothing when there are administrations that are doing whatever that want.
10
@Shane, you ignore what some other commenters have noted, namely that there is no assurance that the outccome of the 2020 presidential election will be respected by the administration, the senate, and the courts. That is the very real concern.
16
@Shane
Gaslight much? A majority of white voters went for Trump in 2016. Should he win again, it won't be because Trump attracted a large number of minority votes.
The majority of whites in this country may not agree with Trump or his policies, but many of them don't vote. Amongst the whites that do vote, their racism "trumps" their reason.
If you want to see magical thinking, Shane...look in a mirror.
9
I am a 68-year-old white male. I do not support Trump, nor am I "afraid" that whites will not continue to be the majority demographic. As far as I can determine, American citizens will constitute the majority, and will determine the future of the Republic. The present, and near-term future, is a worry, but over the long term, I trust my fellow Americans, white, black, and brown, to lead this country forward.
So long as we can vote our conscience, and so long as we do so, we will persist. If we continue to fall into the abyss that is current Republican politics, we are in a danger graver than what took over Germany in the 1930s. That would be a difficult trial, one that I fear I would not survive.
274
I am a 74 year old white man who is appalled at the horrendous acts that other white men are capable of. What is it that makes White men think they are so superior to other races especially after the mess they tend to make of everything?
They are responsible for some of the most violent and despicable acts that plague our societies.
But this won’t go on for much longer. And it won’t be because they suddenly become a minority. As it turns out their “superior” intellect has set us on a course where humanity in its entirety will cease to exist. There is no way around it as it is already too late to turn around the systematic destruction of the planet.
Luckily, I’m old enough where I won’t witness most of the utter chaos that will be caused by the massive movements of humanity beset by the irreversible effects of global warming.
You think White men are upset by the relatively few immigrants at the Southern border now? That’s not even the tip of the iceberg. As It turns out, the joke’s on them..it’s just going to take awhile before it really really sinks in.
27
@David Johnson----------Alas, remember the Hitler disaster. There were many, many decent and intelligent Germans who simply couldn't believe that their beloved country was going down. Many of them died as a result.
4
@David Johnson, I am a 62 year old white female who never dreamed in my lifetime would see our rights as trampled on as they are today. This is what happens when apathy and ignorance take hold. I am counting on the younger generations to speak up, vote in droves and correct this self destruction of our country. Their futures are at stake.
13
So long as states like the Dakotas and Alaska with populations equivalent to that of a minor league city are in control of the Senate, judicial appointments of white men, whose qualifications begin and end with the colour of their skin, will not be challenged.
The US may well be in for decades of strife and social unrest that will make the sixties look like a picnic unless some way is found to ensure every American's vote is fairly counted and carries equal weight.
494
@Leigh the Dakotas and Alaska (and other small population states) do NOT control the Senate. They have no more power there than New York, Florida, Texas, California or other high population states. The founding fathers realized they could not forge a country if they made all legislative representation based solely on population - the small population states would not agree to join. We'd have ended up with something far different than today's United States if they hadn't forged a compromise. That issue is still alive today. If somehow the system were changed to make all representation based on population the smaller population states would not want to be part of the USA - they would want to split off to be a separate country. Forget for a minute concerns about another civil war, or a debate about whether they would be allowed to leave the Union, and just focus on the fact that we NEED a political system which forces different factions to find common ground. Systems which give the majority all the political power are doomed to failure.
9
@Leigh
Fortunately all the small states aren’t of the same leanings. States like Vermont, Rhode Island & Delaware mitigate the effect of the Dakotas et al.
Still, the numbers are on the wrong side, in my opinion.
9
@Leigh
The founders intended to structure the Senate to balance the power of the states, just as they structured the House to tilt the power toward population centers.
If enough people feel as you do, there is mechanism called a constitutional amendment that can change it.
But to say that "judicial appointments of white men, whose qualifications begin and end with the colour of their skin..." is just silly. Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and (yes) Breyer are brilliant and accomplished jurists. Thomas? Not so much.
So let's please put your racist theories to rest!
8
"The point is that once white people become a minority in America, the country itself will move from a majority rule ideal to a minority rule one." Point well-taken, however we are already a minority rule country due to redistricting and the Electoral College. This doesn't even take into account the rule by the wealthy individuals, corporations and special interests all of whom have an outsized influence on our democracy, or should I say oligarchy?
5
Pretty soon we will not have to worry about the Immigration problem. We are no longer the Beacon of Liberty that we were purported to be. Immigrants will look at their own countries that they are fleeing and realize we have turned into what they are fleeing.
3
@Jean
Sorry, but no. You have seen more in the news about refugees and immigrants, I believe, since the famines of the 19th century. The reason is climate change.
What we see now is nothing. As climate change worsens, causing famine, resource wars, and more, every single developed country is going to see an influx of refugees that makes all prior levels look like a cool, summer breeze. The violent wind that is approaching will stand the entire world on its head, and we'll only have ourselves to blame, for not addressing the problems of climate change and global social inequality sooner.
2
@Bob Lacatena
We are not doing much about Climate Change either.
1
gender re-definition is the
sticking point for many of
we(even we liberal)white
men.the idea of men being
able to access women's
bathrooms and compete
against high school girls
in soccer and track gives
me great concern. equality
is one thing,going to absurd p.c. lengths to
accomplish it is quite
another.
41
@Frank,
this is using and elevating to great heights a drop in the ocean issue to justify voting to poison the entire ocean.
30
@Frank
You can't fight Mother Nature Frank. No one can control nature, not even white liberal men.
14
@Frank
You see, but that's the point. No one is going to absurd lengths, let alone P.C. ones, to do anything. The people going to absurd lengths are the white, male majority, packing the courts with white male judges, gerrymandering white male districts, suppressing the votes of non-whites, and to your specific point infringing on the rights of women and transgender people just because.
P.C. to you means changing the world to be just for everyone instead of only for white males.
You don't get it, I suspect you never will, and it's time for you and your ilk to move on and let the majority -- the young and the more open-minded -- help to create a more equitable and just society.
BTW, your statement about "men being able to access women's bathrooms and compete against high school girls" suggests to me that you have absolutely no understanding of the issues behind gender ambiguity that have been "lurking" in the human race for millennia, but brutally suppressed and ignored by guess who. That's a 5,000 year history of the real "P.C." for you; it's always been politically correct to demonize such people as evil misfits, forcing them to hide their nature. Fortunately modern science and understanding has started to put a "why", a "how", and new options before us, and society is changing to embrace such people rather than make them conform to the (failed, evil) white male doctrine of who and what everyone is supposed to be.
32
This is key to understanding Republican's all-in backing of Trump. Somewhere in the recent past, Republicans saw the writing on the wall that if left unchecked, immigration, birthrates, demographics all suggested that they would lose power to a more multi-cultured Democrat party. Hence the reprehensible policies of stacking the courts with conservative white men, jerrymandering, voter suppression, immigration suppression and the rest. Thank you Charles.
13
It is not about white, male dominance. It is about protecting the traditional, core values enshrined in our Constitution that have made this country a champion for freedom. The wall we are working on is to limit those who would pour in; its not there as others have been to keep our citizens from leaving. And yes, the founding fathers were white men. And they were flawed but did a pretty good job when compared with how others have done. And, frankly, when one sees the destructive impulses of the Dems “shining lights,” AOC, Tlaib and Omar, some of us worry about them and what they represent as others worry—regularly, about white supremacy. It’s not about color, it’s about political philosophy. And the farther you stray from the Founder’s views, the worse you will make this country.
15
I do t disagree that the Constitution was well written for a 200 year old document. But that's what it is - outdated. It's time to reset and start over with the basis of the Constitution, but remove the old parts and add contemporary position.
2
@Andreas I believe that is what Amendments already do.
1
@ehillesum I love the way fox keeps these jokes focused on fearing women.
They know something
Our Constitution is a terrible document that creates a terrible system of government. Divided sovereignty between states and federal government already produced one highly destructive civil war. Separation of powers establishes no real checks and balances, despite what we are taught—in fact, it does the exact opposite, tending to make the Congress impotent and unaccountable, the Courts partisan and compliant, and the executive imperial. The fragmented system established by our Constitution works only if everyone respects norms, if the federal government has a limited role, and if Congress remains more concerned with local needs than national. Add on a terrible system of representation that allows a minority to dominate the government if it is distributed correctly and a host of ambiguous, archaic, and poorly considered provisions and we have a recipe for a failed state. Conservative white people may very well be able to exploit our awful Constitution and hold control of power even as they become a smaller and smaller minority. But if they do that, they also utterly delegitimize the government and make the rebellion of the majority not only increasingly justified but increasingly necessary. Conservative whites may exploit weaknesses in our Constitutional system to hold power over the majority—but in doing so they will eventually get themselves a war for liberty and fair representation.
4
Very well said, I think that the Constitution was the first to really acknowledge the individual liberties. This because of the influences that the French movement that exploded in the revolution had on Lafayette and others. Unfortunately they were on the conservative aristocratic side of History and wanted to substitute the King with the President. Time to start a serious discussion on how to add amendments but I am afraid that nobody has the desire to do that.
@Mur it's not that nobody wants to add amendments its that not enough want to.
@617to416, the Constitution is NOT weak, the people who seek to impose fascist ideals on America are weak. They are unable to obtain the American Dream, so they seek to take away from those who have worked their whole lives for their dream, and now want them to give that up. This has been occurring in the United States for decades. I remember watching on tv, when Barack boys stood in front of the camera and boldly stated that we will “take away middle Americans savings and spread it around”. All this while extending her hands and arms in a “wax on, wax off” moment”. Black supremacy has taken hold! I have never, my father has never, my grandfather has never, owned a slave. Yet so called “people of color” insist on charging a tax on whites, in their version of actual slavery. Taxes are the new slavery, and now some colleges are reverse taxing grades to add grade points for “people of color”. Talk about fascists!
1
What gives me hope that the dominant grip that white male leadership now holds on society will eventually weaken is the make-up of those who currently represent the archetype of the demographic. If Trump, Mitch McConnell and Stephen Miller represent the best of male whiteness, how long can this movement hold out? Even middle-age white males like me are disgusted by the old guard and dying for something different.
8
@Number23 the men you list are the faces the owners of the GOP let you see.
Do you really believe this is the best? we are being conditioned to be happy with the worst
Another over the top CB column.
So, 54% of white voters voted for Trump. I don’t see that as a “flagrant” example of anything. 91% of back voters voted for Clinton (although Trump did get 14% of black men). Is that “flagrant” too?
Trump is a lot of things, some good, some bad. How you view the mix depends on your politics and priorities.
But what seems most clear is that Trump capitalized a large and growing dissatisfaction with the status quo—just as Bernie almost did also.
It is really only the left that constantly fetishizes this demographic future. And as one reader below points out, even that is flawed by missing the tendency of ethnic Hispanics to increasingly identify as white.
By I do know that as long as the Democratic Party, and people like Blow, continue to demonize white peoples generally, and white males in particular, they will drive them increasingly into the Republican Party.
15
It's beyond just "white supremacy;" it's Trump supremacy. It's autocracy with the "rule of Trump" and not the Constitution and its "rule of law." We're literally fighting the 2nd Civil War with Donny Reb already in The White House along with his Kentucky Col. Mitch McConnell occupying the Senate. The forces of the Union are surrounded in their House still searching for their Gen. Grant to lead them out of the political wilderness.
6
@Paul Wortman, ask your black friends, did you vote for Obama, and if they answer honestly like Samuel Jackson, who stated “ I voted for Obama because he was a brother, even though I realized he was a bad President”. They let OJ off the hook because he was black, even though the evidence was overwhelming. There was recorded media from a cellphone call between Simpson and his mother where he announced, “I did it mom, I did it, and now they are coming after me”. Did you need any other evidence?
Just saying.
2
There are four centers of power and wealth in the U.S.: Finance (New York), technology (Silicon Valley), government (DC), and entertainment (LA). All are controlled by white (mostly old) males. As we've seen, they're not giving up their power without a fight...even if it means manipulating laws and the constitution.
The next few years will decide whether democracy will continue in the U.S.
4
@Dario Bernardini Spot on, however we have already lost our democracy to special interests, gerrymandering, voter suppression, and the Electoral College. We are an oligarchy tending toward an authoritarian state. Unless we can stop this by any means, we are headed for another Civil War.
@rantall
Sadly, I agree.
Those white men will still control the Electoral College for a long time because they also control gerrymandering. And as you have already pointed out they already control the Supreme Court and local courts as well.
I would not hold my breath.
4
It's interesting that even white liberals are affected when confronted with the loss of white dominance in society. Might even they be persuaded to then vote for Trump, or future Trump-like candidates, in order to preserve a white majority? It remains to be seen how far whites of all political affiliations will go, and how much they will oppose the rise of a minority majority. Is it possible that the white supremacists of today will become the elected officials of tomorrow? Even for the left?
3
@Ms. Pea Whites who are not right-wing evangelicals seem to get along better with Latinos and Asians than they do with whites who are right-wing evangelicals. There's a lot of intermarriage. Black Americans are still a distinct group in the Democratic coalition, for the most part, but the others are blurring the edges of the categories.
When I look at the kind of white people at Trump rallies, I sometimes think they're a whole other race from the more haphazard group that I consider white in my community. Another ethnicity, at any rate. I suspect they're from different parts of Europe.
There's a word for this: politics. There is nothing inherently wrong with Group A trying to make alliances and use procedures to outflank Group B. Fight back and stop complaining.
6
Sorry Charles, but your argument is based on a false premise: that Whites will be a minority in the US in the near future.
Whites currently make up about 70 percent of the US population and that number will not change much over the next century, barring big changes in immigration patterns.
How can this be?
Simple.
Count people like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz as “minorities” due to the fact that their European ancestors spent a generation or two in a Spanish speaking country.
You can, if you like... but it’s a bit of self deception.
It’s also counter productive. Around 2013, I started seeing articles on the left crowing about the inevitable Democratic majority looming due to demographic change. They talked about how Democrats in the future could write off Whites as irrelevant because minorities would replace them. Is it any wonder that just a few years later you see Whites chanting “You shall not replace us!”
Identity politics begets more identity politics. It’s not healthy and it keeps us from addressing the problems we all share, whether it’s police brutality, an overly punitive state, income and wealth inequality, a clean environment, etc.
Can we talk about issues please?
12
@Objectively Subjective, slavery by taxation is their current option, and now they steal your money from your savings accounts, by collecting the interest paid to your account, take away 90% then add the remainder to you account. They have been doing this for decades, that’s why your retirement managers are seeing the systems under funded.
Our time looks bleak. A moment in history like thousands of others before it, when evil seems to be winning. However, over 75 percent of Americans are white, and President Obama was elected twice, with a majority popular vote. Those people did not disappear in 2016. Many of them stayed home because the media made a joke out of the Trump nomination and others felt safe casting a protest vote for a more liberal candidate. Some actually bought the lies Trump spewed about taxes, infrastructure, etc,
Is it sad and disheartening that 30% of American voters seem to be racists willing to accept any abysmal behavior by Trump? Absolutely.
However, Democrats will find their majority again, but not by denigrating white people and lumping them into one mold. Remember, Roger Taney, who rendered the Dred Scott decision, was the chief justice of the Supreme Court through the Civil War. The people of the United States elected Abraham Lincoln.
Voting is the power of progress.
6
Iq 45 is merely the culmination of the gop's Dr.Frankenstein. From the Civil War, through Jim Crow, FDR's truly egalitarian administration, the John Birchers(one of the Kochs), LBJ's great society and civil rights and voting rights enactments("We have lost the south for a generation"). In addition to the split of the unions vs. anti-Vietnam war protesters. Frankenstein is just a dumber,coarser version of the likes of Ryan and McConnell. The message,though,is the same.
3
The racist tag gets diminished because it is so overused. Racism exists but just because we are not overwhelmed by Norwegians at our southern border that does not mean strong border enforcement has anything to do with race.
11
One might assume that the fault lies not in our stars, but in ourselves, but in this case it lies in between. Without the poisonous rhetoric entering social media from the troll factory in St. Petersburg Russia, this aberrant behavior would have withered on the vine. In this climate of schism, internet enhanced, it is thriving. We are all too human, and it’s being exploited brilliantly.
2
@RjW Clearly Russia is a factor, and a big one, but "whither on the vine?" Come on! The Republicans have been pushing this agenda for a long, long time. They even have state TV promoting their propaganda 24/7. Before Russia discovered the power of social media, the GOP has suppressed votes, executed dirty tricks, gerrymandered, etc., etc. The GOP's and Trump's collusion with Russia are just another card in the Republican deck.
Charles, You are eloquent and intelligent and your articles are very thought provoking. Sometimes insightful and sometimes simply inciting racial division. Perhaps your articles are simply race baiting to create racial strife. Let's come together as one and unite in a common purpose of men, women, blacks, whites together to defeat the enemy Trumpism. Dividing and conquering has been Trump's strategy and it works. If we are to keep him from a second term, journalism needs to write to unite urging all Americans to create a brighter future or we are doomed. I fear it may be too late.
5
"The white male racist patriarchy" is really all one needs to read in this Op-Ed. That phrase and label condenses into four words the central thesis and assumptions of the whole article, which are that white people generally, and white men in particular, are racists and sexists whose main goal is to suppress people of color and women, not to mention transgender and other identity politics victim groups.
Substitute any other color for white, and any other gender for male, and this article could never have been published in the NY Times. Can't criticize black people. Can't criticize women. White men are the only group that can be criticized in this general category kind of way.
I'm embarassed to read a newspaper I admire for its bold protections of other groups, publish such opinions that (to me) seem openly racist and sexist. I wish the NY Times would reconsider its policies.
16
Thse judges appointed for life are the real factory of conservatism in this Country. What surprise me is the lack of debate about the necessary changes that are needed to modernize the Constitution and other Institutions. Reinforce the division between State and Church, prevent that another President could do the damage this one has done and be unpunished, appoint judges or any other federal employ that has been politically appointed etc. Mala tempora currunt.
1
Suggesting most people voted for Trump to maintain white dominance is like suggesting most people voted for Clinton to maintain the right to kill babies in late term abortions. It's inflammatory, offensive, not helpful, and almost certainly wrong.
I come from a large family of decent, informed, siblings who were evenly split voting for Trump and Clinton. Not one of us voted based on those reasons.
I believe we must acknowledge what is admirable in each other's motives before we can progress as a nation.
11
@Jay I come from a large family of decent, informed, siblings who were evenly split voting for Trump and Clinton. Not one of us voted based on those reasons.
Decent people voted for tRump.
Informed people voted for tRump.
He acts as President exactly as he demonstrated throughout his public life. He's a moral infant crippled by wealth.
If an informed and decent person voted for tRump, they performed what Catholics call "mortal sin."
1
Mr Blow, I think you owe it to the quest for truth to point out that it is not simply "white men", but "white Christian men" (Christian being all Protestant or Catholic). The very same Pew study that you cite showed that among non-Christian voters, Trump was the loser. Non-Christian represents about 25% of the US population (depending on whose data you use).
3
As a white man in his fifties, I have to say that Mr. Blow's cogent analysis carries the ringing resonance of truth. I've never been a conservative, although I was and am willing to entertain conservative ideas when they are argued in good faith (the whole free marketplace of ideas thing that America's founders rightly placed so much trust in) -- but the cloaked fascistic authoritarianism pushed by Trump and his craven GOP enablers to deny democratic (small "d") progress long into our short future is terrifying. We cannot risk the Trump Crime Family undermining our institutions and kneecapping our republic any further: we must impeach this rogue president!
2
At the end of the campaign Trump warned his mostly white supporters over and over again that the election was the last chance “to take our Country back”. From whom? Racial,cultural and religious minorities. And this malignant message worked.Hate Trumped love. So here we are.It is time to end the reign of a man who exploits hatred of the other. It is time to make America great again.
2
Believe it or not we get Pacifica Radio in Houston. I listen to it once in awhile. No fox cable for me. They have good music shows but the do politics when they're not doing music. There was a show with a pundit claiming to be a Progressive Activist. I listened to him for about twenty minutes. He established his credentials non-white (does South American qualify? ) but giving little substance to his ideas what I got out of him he was good and if we weren't like him we were not good. It's like that in the south. You have Christian preachers who do much of the same thing. I don't know why there's so many people that need to be told they are good and others aren't.
I don't know why so many black columnist and guest columnist write as if we're still in the sixties. It's a hand full of white people keeping you down? Ask most people, black or white and they'll tell you it doesn't matter who's in office. Houston a place where white's are now the largest minority is doing well in adapting to it's new multi skin tone identity. If you go to the east of town there's still a lot of poverty. No amount of self righteousness sixties rants will solve that.
8
So as a white male in my 60s I can only agree with Mr Blow’s analysis of what is currently transpiring in our country’s psyche and politics.
So I can only assume that many white people are really afraid that what white privilege has wrought on non whites over the centuries will be done to us? (I don not share that view). If that is not true what are we afraid of? A different cultural dominance will lead us to wrack and ruin?
Well black music as embodied in jazz, blues, rock and roll and hip hop has uh.......far from ruined us. It has dominated the world music scene. Mexican food did not remove our moral underpinnings. The significant Asian immigrant population in California seems not to have hindered their economic growth
And in past generations the Irish, Jews and Italians were all going to culturally overwhelm and ruin the country, which of course did not happen.
Yesterday our real future demographic problem was exposed. Our birth rate is the lowest in 30 years. We will need more people. Who they are is immaterial. We have an AMERICAN culture. All groups have an influence on that but ultimately fully embrace it.
So what is left? Fear. As FDR said, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Can we just stop now. We are not a weak people EXCEPT when we embrace that fear.
3
Blow is right. Race has been at the bottom of this for a long time, ever since our country's inception.
Now, that minorities can no longer be legally enslaved, the fear is that money will be diverted to help them.
Healthcare can't get passed because 'those people, the takers' will benefit.
Gun control can't get passed because we will have a government of tyranny, i.e. liberal government.
The environment becomes collateral damage.
Primary and secondary education remains underfunded in the inner city.
Universities are priced out of range.
The prison population is disproportionately black.
We drop bombs on countries of brown people.
We put people in cages who are of brown skin.
Meanwhile, we are contemplating war with a people and country of a deep and ancient culture. Why?
Number One, it is to make Trump a wartime president.
Number Two, war diverts attention from domestic issues.
Number Three, they are 'different' and war is automatically justified when people do not resemble us. It helps when they are weaker and don't have the arms to defend themselves.
The crazy thing about this?
If there is a God, He cannot possibly be on our side.
1
For far too long, our system has been rigged by GOP fraud and more recently by Trump's hubris. But we need not act as though we were powerless. Indeed, we are the vast majority. But Fox News and the Facebook echo chamber have given deluded racists and bigots the false idea that the numbers are favorable to them. This dangerous delusion can only be corrected through the choices the rest of us make. If one million of us were to march on Washington to defend the rule of law, even the most extreme of judges would be forced to pay attention; if ten million of us took a stand, cowards like William Barr would suddenly sound like John Dean. But, if we fail to do our part, if we shirk our duty to defend the constitution, then we should not even bother calling ourselves Americans.
It's much less about Donald Trump and his clanging "Make America Great Again" drum roll, a dirge to democracy.
The "white male racist patriarchy" that opens this op-ed is personified not by the caricatured president but by Mitch McConnell, the Senate's Majority Leader.
He it was, when Barack Obama "usurped" the white man's place and rôle as the nation's masthead, who embodied the white man's resentment toward the black president.
He it was, when the president could not push through his own judicial nominees, who blocked the pipeline and forced a filibuster rule change in the Senate so that the clogged way could be loosened.
He it was, when the president sought to replace a deceased Justice on the Supreme Court, forbid his Judiciary Committee from taking up the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland.
He it was, and is today, who rules the upper chamber with an iron and malevolent will that surpasses the splashy "power grabs" that define the current White House. This is all being done in the name of the preservation of a slowly-diminishing racial demographic that is both frightened and adamant that it can arrest the turning wheel of time and, if it may not do so to its satisfaction, will gladly destroy the foundations upon which this nation rests. "If we can't continue as we have," change-resisting racists might argue, "what we will leave, then, will not be worth having."
This resentment runs counter to the Right's "love of country," another Big Lie.
It's "whites only."
"Frederick Douglass once said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.” I speculate that this power may not concede until its death rattle."
“Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job & is being recognized more & more I notice”
Time and demographics will ultimately alter this situation, as the coming white minority becomes gradually overwhelmed by numbers. My only question is how violent will the forces of reaction become.
It is too much of a generalization to see Trump supporters as the white male reaction against loss of power. Yes, they are mostly white males but more specifically they are predominantly white Anglo-Saxon males or some Europeans whose ancestors were US immigrants 2-3 generations ago. Recent white immigrants are much less likely to support Trump. When it comes to white women only those who are fervently anti-abortion or have an inordinate fear of non-whites are likely to remain in the Trump camp regardless of his outrageous shamelessness.
1
Charles,
I am too ill and too old to be out in the streets again. But, I want you to know one thing: continue the fight against Trump and his sycophants, never give him a minute of rest, don't take a 'vacation' from your continued battle against him. We can not allow his depredations of every part of the illusory American dream go unaswered. I have been involved in politics since the mid-sixties. He is the greatest threat to the Consitution I have ever witnessed. Six more years of Trump and we will be an aristocracy at best and a dictatorship at worst. I will resist him until my last breath. As a Vietnam combat veteran, I don't want to be thanked for being part of a criminal war, I want to be honored for my resistance to those who would destroy the last remnants of our democracy. Fight on, Charles, fight on!
1
Trump is the ultimate Republican. He's not doing anything other than what Republicans have always done in living memory: disenfranchise people who don't support them, send money and resources preferentially to those who do, and violate the US constitution to maintain power.
It's about power. Trump really is racist, but in the big picture, this isn't about racism; the Republican Party is smarter than that.
Please, Mr. Blow, don't make this about racism if that's not what it's really about. Making it about racism feeds the hate and feeds the Republican's need to divide the good people of the US against each other in order to motivate their most ardent supporters.
1
And when the country was almost 90% white the Democrats promised that the new immigration bill would not change the demographics of the country. Perhaps all will turn out well but as a great American philosopher once said " never break up a winning team."
3
@h dierkes
When are you talking about? And shy would anybody care about demographics?
"As Vox reported in 2017, white people of all ideologies, including liberals, become more conservative when confronted with the reality that a rising minority population means a loss of white dominance."
Really? I am white and I have never been bothered by all this demographic talk. My state was run by "white dominance" for decades and it was always a cover for political corruption. One white guy even tried to seize control of the State Capitol ( years later he sat on the Judiciary Committee pretending to be shocked by Richard Nixon)
I wish liberals would get their minds off of identity politics and worry about more important stuff, like the fact that a blackmailer shut down the US government for weeks and got away with it.
1
Charles Blow is 100% right. He speaks the truth. Wake up America (and the world for that matter). We are doomed if Trump stays in power. We are doomed if the Democrats do not clean up the Senate. This is what its all about; race and power and the Trump family ripping off the United States. Vote him out.
I look forward to the day when we can stop writing about this with so much urgency: http://bostonreview.net/race/stephen-kantrowitz-white-supremacy-has-always-been-mainstream . A few bits from that July 2018 essay:
"White supremacy connotes many grim and terrifying things, including inequality, exclusion, injustice, and state and vigilante violence. Like whiteness itself, white supremacy arose from the world of Atlantic slavery but survived its demise. Yet while the structures are old, the term “white supremacy” is not. Although it first appeared in British abolitionist critiques and U.S. proslavery defenses in the first half of the nineteenth century, it only became commonplace—and notably not as a pejorative—in U.S. whites’ post-emancipation calls for a racial order that would reinstitute slavery’s political and economic guarantees. ...
For many generations, the thrum of impending race war has structured this dance between leaders and followers, true believers and rubes. It has shaped conceptions and practices of white manhood and womanhood. It has guided social policy from schools and home loans to crime and punishment. It can be heard in Steve Bannon’s admiration for France’s Turner Diaries—Jean Raspail’s 1973 novel The Camp of the Saints—and the description by Bannon’s student, Donald Trump, of immigrants as an “infestation.”
Trump and his minions create and amplify the problems. I look forward to the day we can stop worrying, but that day has not come.
Could this possibly be a property rights issue as addressed in the Fifth Amendment ("...nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation")? Could it be that (some? many? most?) white folks think of America as their private property, just as the South once thought of slaves and as men have thought of women from time out of mind?
@Long Memory
"Could it be that (some? many? most?) white folks think of America as their private property"
I'm white and I don't. I believe in democracy.
First: re-elect the President in 2020. Second: end the discussion about reparations for slavery. Once whites are in the minority the Hispanic, Asian and Indian population will never support reparations. The black grievance industry is going to have a hard time selling it's message of oppression once whites are in the minority. As a white male, I can't wait for that day.
5
Yes, Trump and McConnell are stacking the courts with white heterosexual men, which is to be expected of a racist, ignorant, scared white male. However, Obama's judicial nominees were primarily white men and women). Even though he couldn't have won the South without black women, he chose to nominate a Latina woman, a white woman, and another white man to the Supreme Court. Obama's cabinet also was overwhelmingly white. One thing is for sure, 99% of the time a white Republican and Democrat will extend leadership opportunities to other whites, even those not qualified, but a black person is far less likely to do so perhaps because they fear being viewed as a racist or may be they have bought into the white superiority myth. The bottom line is if Trump were a Democrat or a man of color his appointees would still likely be 99% white.
1
It depends on how you define white. The white majority does not go away anytime soon with an expansive definition of whiteness, See Eric Kaufman’s “Whiteshift” among others.
Latinx Americans often look and identify as white. They also marry European American whites not to mention many already having European heritage- Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Italian among others.
(Are Tom Brady’s kids white given that his wife hails from Brazil but has a German last name and looks white. If AOC marries her white boyfriend will their kids be white?)
Asian Americans, a broadly defined group like Hispanics also increasingly marry European American whites.
The question will be: how expansive is the definition of Whiteness? In those same polls Blow sites white people are less afraid of cultural change when white as a category includes these intermarried groups. Some will insist these people are biracial or multiracial but that may not change how people identify.
White is not necessarily a static category and has always expanded as immigration increased away from NE European countries.
1
@GM
I've read that the definition of "whiteness" used by demographers is extremely restrictive. People of mixed ancestry "aren't white". Hispanics "aren't white", presumably because many of them have Native American ancestry. All this creates the illusion that "whiteness" in the population is declining and causes commentators to write a lot of nonsense.
1
The lumping in of races as a group of same thinking individuals is insulting and offensive. I'm "white" as defined by the federal government but I'm really Italian American and have absolutely nothing in common with WASPS or English people or Germans. I refuse to be pigeonholed as such. Stop lumping us in the same box.
2
I’m a white man and I don’t feel threatened by the eventual minority/majority at all.
I don’t think white men have done a good job taking care of things at all.
Homelessness and poverty in the richest country on the planet, ceaseless wars, the rich getting richer at the expense of the less fortunate, the raping of our planet and on and on and on.
Give someone else a chance. We’ve pretty much failed.
1
I am a white male who didn't vote for Trump -- although I belong to one of the many groups that hasn't always been considered white. I have trouble believing or accepting that 62% of white males voted for Trump.
You couldn't get a worse person than Trump as president. If we had a lottery for that position, we wouldn't have someone remotely as unqualified as Trump, even if the winner was a janitor (someone who cleans toilets, someone who does something).
What exactly has Trump ever accomplished? In a country of over 300 million, Trump has come at the bottom, far below second last, in income. While I understand people can fail many times before they succeed -- Trump has failed on a scale that dwarfs all others, and yet he touts himself as more successful than anyone else.
He lacks the ability to learn and has an arrogance that allows him to repeat the same mistakes on a mass scale.
His one talent is as a liar who lies constantly and lies about the lies, while falsely accusing others of lying. He has told more than one lie in the same sentence. The lies come so fast it's hard to keep up. So his adoring followers don't bother -- they relax their minds and blindly follow.
Where he's taking us, we don't know for sure yet. However, we had been a nation that scorns blind following, once well-aware that leaders who thrive on such obedience from the people they rule over only think of themselves, damaging their nations at the expense of their own vanities and comforts.
1
The only time since the Carter administration I have felt my country was guided by a competent President who really wanted to help all Americans, even we poor and powerless, was when Barack Obama stood and took the oath of office.
I am an old white liberal who recognizes that we poor are not really represented by Goldman Sachs Democrats like the Clintons.
Problem is, the slaver South will always be dependable votes for the far right to exploit...they hate black people as much as Trump hates the rule of law.
Well, we either get it right, in our Constitutional Republic, or democracy will fall along with us.
Hugh
The most dangerous, discouraging, and unstoppable point in your column is the continuing placement of conservative justices in courts around the country. You are talking about decades of potential conservative decisions protected by law.
Trump's continuing blatant disregard of our country's basic freedoms is heartbreaking and with no apparent end in sight. A backlash against the Republican Party will help , but judges will be in place for decades, and removing them is a cumbersome undertaking at best.
Trump out of office will be only the beginning of repairs necessary to make America American again.
143
@Steve Mitch McConnell has spent years engineering this scenario where Republicans take over the country by stacking the courts. And Trump wouldn't exist without him.
16
@Steve that's why the people who vote third-party or sit out the elections aren't thinking long-term. There's no guarantee that RBG will be able to hang on in the Supreme Court if Trump wins a second term. If she can't Trump will appoint yet another Far Right justice and they'll have the Supreme Court for at least 20-30 years.
13
@Erich Richter
Let's name the party responsible. It's the Republican Party, whether their agent is McConnell or Trump or Bush Jr. or Barr, or whoever it happens to be at any moment.
6
The most effective immediate step is to do everything possible to end Gerrymandering.
2
"For those accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression"
- not sure who, Twitter
3
I agree with you 100%, what baffles me is why the GOP is still coy about their intentions, and that is to court anxious white voters into voting for them to ensure white rule. Why not just be more honest and open about it? What would be the drawbacks?
6
Race is but one way to look at the world, another traditional way to look at what is going on today is class. The white men fighting to keep power and status are more likely to be the ones who have such advantages, average white men are just trying to make ends meet I remind everyone. I put forward the old idea that the "class warfare" view of the world is less divisive than the "race war" view of the world because the 99% includes almost all of us while the 1% excludes almost all of us. A lot depends on your point of view so be careful what POV you adopt.
15
The problem with seeing complex phenomenon through a single prism, i.e., race, is that we reduce all events to a single cause or mistake correlation for causation. No doubt racism exists and is part of the larger whole of the great disruption that is occurring not only in the US but globally. And it is certainly prominently high-lighted by the media. The media, however, tends to magnify trends and events beyond their significance, hence the moral panic around racism on one side and "socialism" on the other. But it is a mistake to believe it is the the only or even the greatest contributor to the current chaos; it may be the epiphenomenom of something much larger that manifests itself in these cycles of action and reaction.
It is easy and convenient to ascribe the current disruption to
the "white male racist patriarchy" if only because it reifies a sociological concept into a concrete enemy. It ignores all the the other possible causes such as economic inequality and insecurity; class resentments; massive and accelerating cultural changes; the inevitable proliferating social tensions of a heterogeneous nation-state; breakneck technological changes; or late-stage Capitalism, etc. It is more likely that
that the central problem(s) we face and have to resolve have only a tangential relation to racism.
To follow Mr Blow into reducing all the bad stuff occurring in the US to a bunch of white guys seems to be pretty reductionist.
16
@BillAZ
Let us make the matter simple for you. We are speaking here of the butcher's thumb, which is ever upon the scale. Sometimes it rests lightly, sometimes not, but it is ever present.
5
@BillAZ
Let us make the matter simple for you. We are speaking here of the butcher's thumb, which is ever upon the scale. Sometimes it rests lightly, sometimes not, but it is ever present.
@BillAZ
I believe that a lot of people voted for Trump because of his promise to dismantle Roe vs Wade. But the media don't want to admit how hostile voters are to abortion, so they talk about race instead.
1
I like your column, but I get sad when you say liberals get more conservative as demographics change. These sweeping statement, well you know they are not correct. If anything these last two years have moved me from a moderate to very liberal. I believe ALL Beings matter.
7
I think it is time to end life time appointments and think about whether they should be elected positions.
8
@KM -- elected judges are a terrible idea, even worse than lifetime appointments. At least with appointed judges, after a very short time on the bench, you know what they think and what they are likely to do. With elected judges, you are potentially getting a new judge with each election, depending upon who is financing their elections. The idea is not unlike what we get now from legislators bought wholesale by too few people, whose judgements and ideas flow from the "requests" of the people and the corporations that gave the most "support" for their campaign.
15
@KM
Rather, I think nominees should be chosen by an apolitical panel of legal academicians, assessing candidates for their record of centrist decisions, decisions clearly based on dispassionate interpretation of law, not philosophy or party orthodoxy. Send those to the Senate for review and confirmation.
Get POTUSs and their politics out of the mix.
Elections would exacerbate the problem.
@Stephen Beard
" after a very short time on the bench, you know what they think and what they are likely to do."
But without a lifetime appointment, there is nothing you can do about it.
The US Gov't didn't send the millions of middle-class manufacturing jobs overseas to low-wage countries.
If Trump's base of voters would think just a bit, they might realize the global capitalists are driving the world's economy, including the US economy. The Federal Gov't did not take away their jobs, nor did the immigrants.
GM shuttered the Lordstown OH plant earlier this year. The local UAW workers were making $25/hour plus benefits. Those jobs were shipped to Mexico where comparably-skilled blue-collar workers make $2/hour. Does Mary Barra, GM's CEO lose sleep over the thousands of families her actions have harmed? Nope.
IMO the Trump base has a "victim mentality" pushed and burnished by Fox News and the GOP propaganda machine. These people need to realize no politician is coming to save them; they can either upgrade their skills and move to where the jobs are or they can live off the Federal dole and die young in the failing small-towns of fly-over country. It may take another generation but progressive ideas will win out.
26
@GTM
"The US Gov't didn't send the millions of middle-class manufacturing jobs overseas to low-wage countries. "
No, but they did nothing to stop it either. Trump actually suggested penalties for companies that do so, but he seems to have forgotten about it since, probably because he was bribed to stop talking about it.
3
The 2018 Midterm elections gives a little hope.
Vox, in an article, "The midterm elections revealed that America is in a cold civil war" https://tinyurl.com/y78ue57k, cited a tweet from a political science professor which contained a graph of how white voters will vote. Vox summarized it thus:
"First, Democrats did better with white women than white men. Second, Democrats did significantly better with college-educated whites than non-college-educated whites. Third, the South is different: Republicans did far better with whites of all different sorts of backgrounds there than they did anywhere else in the country."
As the Republicans keep pushing for more restrictive abortion rights, making no exception even for rape and incest as was the case in Alabama, they will alienate more women and that, I think, will be their undoing.
The hope is that women, who make up slightly over half of the electorate, will help trounce the Republicans.
17
You are one of the few commentators consistently highlighting that racism is the overwhelming reason for Trump's success. Appointing white male judges enhances his image in the eyes of his supporters. Qualified individuals ae being denied judicial appointments, some who had cleared all scrutiny prior to Trump's election, solely because of their race. White supremacists know that the future does not bode well for them. Eventually, minorities will reach a level of the population eliminating Republican control at all levels of the federal government. The courts will be the only recourse for "white minorities." It will be fascinating to observe the change in their arguments when they are the group asking courts to protect their rights.
22
@Disillusioned
" Eventually, minorities will reach a level of the population eliminating Republican control at all levels of the federal government. "
Then they will start fighting each other. Look at how identity politics ruined the women's march in January as they descended into a bizarre argument about the role of Jews in the slavery era.
2
If we do have six more years of Trump, democracy and justice will be doomed in America. Sound like an extreme, dire prediction? Think again. Don't mean to sound gloomy, but if Democrats don't take the White House and both chambers soon and push policy towards towards progressivism -- not just a centrist placation of either party -- Republicans will continue to push government to the right. They game any attempt at bipartisanship. Minority rule, indeed, is the outcome. We must save our democratic republic from the Republicans' myopic, cynical approach to governance.
24
@ER
"If we do have six more years of Trump, democracy and justice will be doomed in America. Sound like an extreme, dire prediction?"
Not extreme or dire.
I'm not even sure we can survive the remaining months on Trump's first term. He acts like a Mafia Boss and his consigliere, er Attorney General, is ready, willing and able to give the orders to whack his boss's detractors and competitors.
Barr is a wise guy to boot, asking Pelosi, “Madam Speaker, Did you bring your handcuffs?”
1
I completely understand why the majority of white men are fearful of losing their positions of power. They are terrified that they will be treated in exactly the way that they themselves have treated people of color. They are afraid of their own karma.
I've been fortunate, in my life, to have known men (beginning with my father) who respected and championed women. None of them did, or would have (if they were still living) voted for the current occupant of the Oval Office. They aren't afraid of their own shadows...
29
@Footprint What concerns rather than terrifies me is that there isn't a black or brown dominated/ruled country in the world in the top 25 of being well governed and low in corruption. Not all white dominated countries are free of corruption, of course, but all those with the least corruption are white dominated. Very sad, but very true.
7
This column could not be more needed, nor more chilling in understanding what motivates the Republican Party. They will never quit Trump, no matter how lawless, mendacious, mean-spirited, thuggish, heartless, autocratic and amoral he is.
White male supremacy is, indeed, at the core of their ideology. It's why Congressional Republicans defend the indefensible, are willing to destroy the rule of law, degrade America's position in the world, defy every ethical standard they may have ever held and shred the Constitution simply to keep Trump and themselves in power.
It's also why Joe Biden must never be the Democratic nominee - his assertion that if Trump is defeated, Republicans will have an epiphany and grand transformation that will have them working with Democrats to address economic and social injustice, guaranteed health care for all, climate change and on and on. He doesn't even grasp that they will never change unless they are electorally annihilated.
Winning the House and the presidency in 2020 will not be enough. We must take the Senate, too. We are on the brink of disaster if we fail to stop this lawless onslaught.
21
This is not at all how it has to be. For example, California is as blue a state as they come. But this does not mean that California will be blue forever. An emerging (upper) middle class of hispanic citizens, for example, may well be turning conservative once they see that Democrats mired in identity politics and run by utopian costal elites do not serve their interests at all. I am not suggesting this to happen in the very near future, but over a generation or two. Mr. Blow seems to have a narrow view of the America: Where is it written that conservatism with its believe in the supreme worth of the individual is inherently a function of race? We are the land of the free and the land of opportunity no matter who you are.
10
Mr. Blow,
I’m afraid the future of America will not be a fight between a white minority and a non-white majority. The fight has been, and will continue to be, based on the ever-growing disparity of wealth and income in our nation; the poor and middle class vs. the rich and ultra-rich. This is a color-blind fight and it is more sinister and dangerous to America’s future than one based the color of one’s skin.
15
I'm a white guy. I don't fear the rising minority population and the loss of white dominance. What I fear is the loss of a very good social and governmental system to the rising tide of peoples who do not understand our really good society. I fear that these new people will want to change things just because our system represents "whiteness." I fear the new people will try to replace our societal mores with social systems that are inferior. I don't care whether a person is white or some other color. But I do care if change is coming simply to destroy something really good simply because white people developed it.
16
@Steverobo
A social and governmental system that has been very good -- to you. It's important to see that and to understand that your experience is not universal. Tamir Rice's mother doesn't share your view, I'm willing to bet. The families of the children killed at Columbine, Sandy Hook, and every other massacre of innocents might take exception. The many Americans who lose their homes and their businesses and their economic security because of medical debt...they might have a thing or two to say.
15
@Steverobo
This is exactly how many Americans felt when the Irish, then the Chinese, then the Poles, then the Jews, then the Italians, came to this country. The result of the diversity is that our society became more vibrant and creative. Now some of the descendants of these peoples, not remembering the past, are fearful of transformation. We don't need to be reactive; we can trust in an inclusive humanity.
1
@Steverobo--Why do you assume that new social systems will be inferior? Is it because they will be developed by non-Whites? Do you not see that your attitude is exactly that of white supremacy, which is the believe that white culture is supreme?
The "social and governmental system" that has been so good to you has not been good to many others who have been held back by that very system. Yes, those who have not benefited from your system want to develop another one--one that is fair and just for them and for you. Yes, you may one day live in a system that does not promote your white societal mores. But, the social mores that system does promote may be better for both you and the rest of those that live in that society. In other words, it will no longer be all about you.
All one can say is speak truth to power for telling it like it is.
Even though there will be some -- possibly many, who don't see things like this.
But then, denial has always been the strongest tool in this country's lexicon of racism throughout the ages.
It's much easier to say there's no such thing as racism than to actually do anything about it.
And it's probably fair to say that most Americans of color have watched the Trump presidency with abject horror in the knowledge that in addition to doing everything in his power to drag the country back to the dark days of white supremacy, as a presidential candidate he was publicly endorsed by none other than the Ku Klux Klan, something which he never denied or try to distance himself from.
It's also no secret that they and other white nationalist groups claim him as 'their president' -- something which makes sense when hearing Trump's comments after the horrific events at Charlottesville.
That probably also explains why he holds his numerous campaign rallies in areas with overwhelmingly white populations that he can easily whip up into a rage with threats of immigrants from dark-skinned countries swarming over our borders, or why we need a travel ban to keep others out.
It doesn't take much to see what he means, and what's happening here -- except for those who refuse to look.
17
With the Senate representing rural, under populated, predominately white States we are destined to minority rule for the unforeseeable future. There will be the occasional election adjustment but power lies with the few over the many, with rural whites over the majority. (Ornstein and Mann and others have made this perfectly clear.) This feature of American "democracy," like the Electoral College, is a direct result of the influence of the slavers and founders capitulations to minority rule. The country will fail because we continue to hold white power sacred when it is at the core of our original sins.
9
@Rover: And my friends wonder why I tell them that the so called founding fathers were RACIST. They used their intellect to build White Supremacy into the system, and they called it the Electoral College.
1
If one had any doubts about the veracity of Charles' assertions, those chants of "Jews will not replace us" should have driven them from everyone's mind.
Of course, the chants could have just as easily have been African Americans, or Hispanic Americans, or Asian Americans, or LBGTQ Americans, or Muslim Americans, or women, or anybody-I'm-made-uncomfortable-by will not replace us. But those take longer to say, and the reactionaries are not known for their attention spans.
Seriously, older white males have had unspoken and unanalyzed advantage for so long that as soon as someone tries to analyze or speak of it they tend to fly into a panic. And panicky people make poor choices, such as voting orange. Even the recent antediluvian abortion laws can be seen as a way to control not only women's reproductive behavior, but as ways to control their economic behavior and reduce female competition in that sphere.
I'm an older white male, and I am really, really embarrassed by the stances of a lot of my demographic. There are some of us who don't mind sharing the country--for one thing, we know the cuisine will be better. But I do agree that much of my demographic has a lot of humility to develop.
11
@Glenn Ribotsky
It's not only about those chants about "Jews will not replace us" -- it's also the presence of Confederate flags and the uptick in violence against people of color across the nation since Trump has been in office.
It's about unarmed worshippers being shot to death in Synagogues and in Black churches.
No one is safe anymore, and no matter where.
1
@N. Smith
I recently told a friend my opinion that when a thug waves a Confederate flag, it means "I want to overthrow the government as the Confederates did". I suggested that the government should keep these people under surveillance as a threat to democracy. My friend thought that was an extreme opinion.
I read that in Germany, right-wingers like waving Confederate flags, because displaying a swastika can get you thrown in jail. They know the ideological link between Southern racists and Naziism.
@Charlesbalpha
I'm half -German and It's true. Displaying any kind of Nazi dress or paraphernalia is against the law and carries a stiff fine -- but at the same time you see more of Swastikas over here, while more Confederate flags are waving around over there....Scary, isn't it?
The courts' changes to individual freedoms will get the most press, but the changes to laws regarding the financial well-being of Americans will do the most damage. What will happen to America as financial protections are eviscerated? Don't for a moment assume that these extremely conservative judges will want to keep Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, collective bargaining power, OSHA, or any other protection for regular Americans.
12
The short sighted desperation of the conservative, white, male electorate cannot and should not be be underestimated. They can't possibly "win" in the long term, but they are certainly capable of creating complete havoc with their rabid attempts to intervene and halt progress. An image that frequently comes to my mind is imagining dinosaurs rampaging on their way to the tar pits, that is if dinosaurs were willing to take the whole ecosystem down with them with their extinction.
6
@pixilated
This is the kind of intolerant, paint-everyone-with-the-same-brush perspective that is leading to a decline in reasonable discourse among people on opposite sides of the political spectrum. You speak as if our country is 75% liberal and yet the all powerful and maniacal white male electorate is still somehow keep all the "good" people down. The reality is that the country is fairly evenly split between liberals and conservatives and most people shade towards the more moderate middle regardless of gender, sex or political party affiliation. Of course, that doesn't matter to you. You're views are undoubtedly correct and everyone who feels differently is a dinosaur.....
5
@pixilated--Don't let white women off the hook. Women are just as likely to be short sighted and desperate as men, as evidenced by the 47% of white women who voted for Trump. It's very likely that at least that many will vote for him again.
I'm a 60-year-old white guy nearing the end of my 30+ years as a high school teacher, the last 20 in an urban high school. I have also had the good fortune to teach in international schools in Asia for ten of those years and five years in an urban high school in Albuquerque. After being raised in a close, supportive, but very white working-class suburb of Cleveland, I would not trade the experience of the last three-plus decades for anything. So many people talk the talk of diversity; it is an ongoing gift to add complexity to the monochromatic world view of my youth. I'm white, male, straight, and a large former athlete. In the course of my life I have enjoyed all the advantages (privileges) of the mainstream culture. And I couldn't be less interested in the views of those whose demographic I share. Our time is past, and it is none too soon. I am perforce aware that countless others of my ilk, and those who benefit from attaching themselves to them, are resistant to this fact, and that there is certain to be much sound and fury as they dig in against the inevitable slide into history. But slide we will, and I couldn't look forward to that time any more than I am.
51
Sorry, but the issue isn’t white or black. It’s words, and those two can be relegated to the dustbin of history as equal rights for all, and modern concepts of race, obviate the term black and white as descriptors of individual humans.
13
@RjW
No offense. But only a white person could come up with something as steeped in denial as this.
This is America.
A country built on racial inequality with a history that proves it.
1
@N. Smith
Ok. You’re mighty well told. I’ll take the hit. Racial equality seemed to be making a lot of progress over the course of my years. It may seem for naught nowadays but an equal rights agenda seems worth pulling for.
2
@RjW
I totally agree with you that an equal rights agenda is worth pulling for -- but I'm also seeing a lot of the "progress" made over the course of time disappearing bit by bit under the current administration, and quite frankly it bothers me.
1
What does race have to do with this? If the problem is "white men", then why is it that:
"According to a report by Women on Waves, approximately 25% of the world's population lives in countries with "highly restrictive abortion laws" - that is, laws which either completely ban abortion, or allow it only to save the mother's life.
This category of countries includes most countries in Latin America, most countries of MENA, approximately half of the countries of Africa, seven countries in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as one country (Malta) and the Northern Ireland region of the UK in Europe.
Latin America is the region with the most restrictive abortion laws. Fewer than 3% of the women in this region live in countries with liberal abortion laws — that is, where abortion is permitted either without restriction as to reason or on socioeconomic grounds. Some of the countries of Central America, notably El Salvador, have also come to international attention due to very forceful enforcement of the laws."
So tell me, which majority "non-white" country or civilisation do you consider a model for us awful "white" countries to emulate on women's rights?
22
@AG This story is NOT about, as you put it, "what majority "non-white" country or civilisation do you consider a model for us?" Mr. Blow's accurate discussion focuses on how a shrinking demographic group contains elements that are feverishly working to enshrine and perpetuate the privilege and conttrol that group historically has enjoyed. As for your bringing up other countries with restrictive abortion laws, that, too, is skew to the point that U.S. legislative bodies overwhelmingly comprising white males are, in many states, passing laws greatly expanding state control over women's reproductive systems and their freedom of choice. Such legislation, in my view, reinforces patriarchal dominance, something I categorically reject.
15
@Rather Baked
It is precisely because I reject patriarchal dominance that I, as a woman, am so happy to be living in a western country, in a place and time where women have never had so many rights and freedom, and repeat my question: if the issue is race, i.e. "white dominance", why are non-white dominant countries doing so poorly in regards to women, and why would you think a non-white majority would be so much better for women?
I don't think it would, based on the available evidence.
16
@AG a snapshot in time generally gives you an incomplete picture. Patriarchy was exported from Europe to most of the world. What you see in the rest of the world is Europe just 100-150 years ago. Societies are always changing. "West" moved forward, others are slowly or quickly moving forward. This article is more about the decline in the US on social progressivism. It may be temporary backlash, and I hope that is what it really is, but it's a worrying backlash.
2
Great column, and terrific reader comments. Lifetime court appointments take their place alongside the electoral college and undemocratic senate apportionment as barriers to sustainable democracy. All need to change, but there is little chance of that, at least in my lifetime. Thus the only way forward is overwhelming voter turnout, especially by minorities and our youth. More than for anyone else, their futures are at stake.
35
A good piece.
Looking back on history check the record of the Fuller Court (1888-1910) and see the long lasting damage that a reactionary Court did to Civil Rights, especially voting, not to mention giving Constitutional stamp to the concept of "Separate but Equal." Moreover, as was true of the Fuller Court, efforts to maintain white supremacy almost always go hand in hand with the abuse of labor.
13
@John Collinge
Not to mention that the previous court issued the Dred Scott decision.
Sometimes I think all will be well when Mr. Trump leaves office. This is naive. Even if he loses the election and leaves somewhat graciously, we will have Mr. Trump with us always. He will always be speaking and people will always be listening. Media will always be giving him attention. If this is a period of transition as Mr. Blow describes, I think we are probably transitioning into at least two, perhaps many more, different countries. That has been happening for decades. Perhaps the Civil War was lost after all. Perhaps we are becoming a new confederacy of states. If so, what will we do with all our weapons? Will we turn them on each other?
20
@Davey's Dad
Hopefully you are wrong, like myself, Trump is not immortal. I hope I live long enough to see him and his family behind bars, but like Trump I am OLD and Old Man Time keeps moving on.
4
@Davey's Dad . Nahh. It is harder to interview people in prison. He avoids prison by dying. His hate campaigns have created so many enemies, that the legal processes (attacks and valid indictments) will hang with him for the rest of his life.
@Davey's Dad
Yep!
Some day (perhaps 2021 or 2023) the Democrats will control the House, the Senate, and the White House. And at that point although they cannot get rid of the Trump judges and justices, they can make them less powerful.
First, add a number of new judges to the District Courts and to the Courts of Appeals.
Second, require three-judge District Courts (again) to hear any case seeking to invalidate a federal statute, and require the Courts of Appeals to sit in panels of five instead of panels of three.
Third, and only as a last resort, increase the size of the Supreme Court.
But the Democrats have to assume that they will have only a few years to do this, so they need to proceed at full speed from the day they get full control.
35
@John Graybeard--I'm 66, and I wonder if I will live long enough to see your Democratic utopia? Given the current political climate, I doubt it.
It's also an effective strategy for dividing and conquering, making way for our growing authoritarian plutocracy. The very people who should be fighting tax cuts for the wealthy and slashed spending on social programs are too busy hating to see what's happening.
15
Trump's presidency and the shameful abandonment of principle by the Republican party are each in their own way signs of desperation. Republican elites and their paymasters in the corporate sector know all too well that the nation's demographic trends do not favor them. And so they collude with Trump in stoking the fear and anxiety of white Americans fearful about a future in which being white is no longer a badge of privilege. These people are now the Republican electoral base and Trump's only hope for a second term. Fear gets them to the polls. Barriers erected against Democratic constituencies magnify their power. But the key to maintaining Republican control as long as possible is the federal judiciary. Through control of the courts the Republicans can brush aside legal challenges to questionable or blatantly unconstitutional practices. Through control of the courts they can strike down laws intended to equalize the playing field and empower those whom Republican tactics have marginalized. This is surely about race, but not just about race. Above all it is about power. And the Republicans have shown that they care more about retaining power for themselves than about preserving democracy.
27
@Stephen N
trump didn't really make the Republican party abandon its principles; he merely helped it unashamedly reveal its true character.
08:45 EDT, 5/17
4
@Stephen N The white male dominated senate is mostly looking at their death nell. This is their last chance to permanently eradicate democracy. Their dilemma is the country is increasingly diverse and pure white people continue to diminish in population.
"“As multiculturalism is emphasized more and more, there emerges a reaction against it on the right, which is attractive to the authoritarian mind and also appeals to other conservatives."
The authoritarian mind--to wit, Trump's inviting Victor Orban to the White House, a symbolic act like thumbing one's nose at justice.
The nouveau dictators abroad focused on the courts to elevate their power. So, Charles is right, this quiet judicial revolution, happening right under our eyes (with few press reports) and orchestrated by the venal Mitch McConnell, should alarm us all.
So many of these figures are unqualified to the hilt, except in one area: their political views. Yesterday, Mitt Romney voted against one whose claim to fame seems to be ugly statements about former President Obama.
Although Charles didn't say so, his main thesis here us reminiscent of South Africa, a country I traveled to in 1984 to visit a dear friend and the poster child for white dominance.
But the difference here seems to be the utter willingness of white Trump voters to endure economic hardship in return for racial protection and preferred "status" in an administration that has none
30
All of the documentation you provide to support your rationale is accurate but I think you can now add another. It manifested itself yesterday; States Rights. What we see happening in Alabama will likely extend to other states and it carries a distinct echo of the pre Civil War era. A blatant disregard of settled law emanating from Washington.
The predominantly white male Alabama legislature determined it could usurp federal powers and impose its own laws instead. Not a single word of objection came from the White House either. After all, Trump wouldn't want to upset his base.
12
@Tom Q
Good call, Tom Q. I just read terrific bio on John Marshall the Chief Justice of the SC for manyyears who fought for the nation via federalism or the federalists at the time, men like Alexander Hamilton and Marshall, v-a-v Jeffersonians who believed in and had the luxury of the rural life including slaves, the belief in states' rights. We are in similar circumstances. A fetus is roughly equivalent to a 3/5s person as blacks were counted then. How wouldwe have succeeded had Lee won? Some of those Southermers are today's GOP from McConnell to Graham to Shelby and the rest of those who speak of "the country, democrac ,the rights of men, " and other venerable slogans.
s
@Tom Q.
When I was a teenager in Alabama in the early 60s, “states rights” was code for keeping blacks out of “our” schools and away from “our” lunch counters. Now it is also code for subjugation of women via criminalization of abortion and subjugation of both non-Christians and the LGBT community via supposed religious freedom.
If John Roberts does join the conservatives on such issues—and especially on those like gerrymandering and voter suppression that preserve the dominant power of the GOP (increasingly the party of the straight white Christian male)—it will likely be under cover of the 10th Amendment, the one that reserves to the states all powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution. And if he does do that, red states can likely retain their white Christian control in perpetuity.
The worst of it is that since the overwhelming majority of the states are red, those voices—those conservative white male Christian voices that seek to preserve their own dominance—will continue to dominate the US Senate, even though whites are fast losing their majority in the US population and even though the country as a whole is predominately blue. I just hope Justice Roberts really does want to preserve public confidence in a nonpartisan Supreme Court and is thus prescient enough to see the long term ramifications of such “states rights” rulings.
2
The Senate, of course, has been laying the ground for longer than trump has been around. And as long as McConnell is in place, will continue to do so even after trump is gone.
And the Senate is harder to change.
Because as trump and the Senate have shown, with features like the Electoral college, gerrymandering and voter suppression as well as unwillingness to fix the vulnerabilities of our voting system, our current structure of government is not up to the task of providing a representative democracy.
The Republicans did not 'break' our system: they're playing it.
13
I’m more alarmed by Trump’s polling numbers among angry people, which appears to be the fastest growing demographic.
28
@K. Corbin
There's a lot to be angry at.
1
If one examines the history of Western Civilization it has all been about white men. They have been the leaders in almost every field of endeavor. We never speak of the founding mothers or the Wright sisters or Christine Columbus. I have no idea why this is so but the dominance of white men will most likely continue even after they are in the minority.
11
@Aaron Adams
History until recently has been written by white men. Only white men could participate in any public life until recently. This is to answer your question "I have not idea why...."
@Aaron Adams Well, for a start, women had basically the same rights as children, their property went to their husbands, and they couldn't determine their own lives. Hard to be a leader of Western Civilization when you can't open a bank account or keep your own property. Also, see slavery. Hard to be a leader when someone's standing over you with a lash.
2
Is there a significant difference between a republic and a democracy? How can a democracy be lost if it never existed? Those expressing frustration with the relationship between population and the make-up and influence of the Senate seem to overlook the fact that even direct-election of those unrepresentative Senators was not intended by the far-sighted Founders. And as Bush II and Trump1 have underlined, our "democracy" doesn't have direct election of the President. (How different would this nation be if all the votes for Gore and Clinton had counted instead of the small number of Electoral College voters.)
Another difficulty disturbing this endangered imaginary "democracy" is that many citizens--a majority in non-Presidential elections-- seem to actively dislike voting. They don't want to be taken for granted, no sir, need to be enticed with bumper sticker slogans (MAGA) and deliberately misleading television commercials, yet still decline to cast a ballot. After all, they're "all the same." Aren't they though. Good on both sides.
6
Is power entirely political, or is it economic, too? Might it be mainly economic? What part of the economy do minorities own? How do you gain economic ownership? What are minorities doing to increase their ownership share? Do income statistics show that they're making progress or losing ground?
11
Could it be that Democratic leadership is unaware of the importance of taking back the Senate? Republicans have successfully stroked the subconscious minds of white males for years. Republican elected representatives and their corporate sponsors take a light approach to dangerous political movements. They use slick slogans against the public understanding of actual social problems, like poverty, racism and voting rights. They use single examples of crimes out of context. There have been terrible crimes committed by white males of privilege where the White and Wealthy live, too. We all live with less since the Reagan days, but minorities have less because they have started with less. It is unfair. Only social and economic equality will make us whole again. Where is the clergy on this subject of White Power? Religion seems to promote white male patriarchy (and misogyny, too) without apology. Are Dems concerned about control of the Senate, or any State Houses in places like Alabama and Ohio? Do they focus on McConnell, who quietly takes away minority rights with life time court appointees, or do they simply fight among themselves? Dems could be creating fairness and decency by growing exciting leaders in Senate, House and State races. They confuse the public with dozens of non viable Presidential candidates. Let those candidates run for the Senate, the House, and in State races. That is one answer to this dangerous growing political movement.
14
Much of Trump’s white-supremacist political status, such as it is, was built on questioning the legitimacy of our country’s only African American President. He did this by demanding for years to see Barack Obama’s birth certificate, as if its production would finally convince and satisfy him that the 44th President was in his rightful place.
Another lynchpin of Trump’s political philosophy is his ostensible opposition to abortion, presumably on the theory that the moment of conception instantly produces a legitimate human being, although such an entity is three quarters of a year away from receiving his or her own birth certificate. I know that logic and consistency have never been Trump’s strong suit, but why is the birth certificate the gold standard for legitimacy in the first case but not in the second?
11
In reality, it's the GOP'ers as a whole who are pushing through all these judges - the Federalist Society Dream Team - since it's very doubtful that Donald even knew these candidates' names before they were nominated.
When Don McGahn was still at the White House, it's been widely reported that choosing these judicial nominees was a prime function of his office - which is how one of McGahn's former Federal Election Commission associates notoriously wound up as a rejected unqualified judicial nominee, as well as the husband of McGahns's chief of staff getting rejected.
The 'death rattle' Charles speaks of will need to be that of the GOP, which is rendered powerless to further enshrine its perfidy.
Donald is merely the symptom of an entire party's putrefaction.
28
I will probably get all kinds of hate mail, but anyway....
Was looking at Terry Bradshaw. Former athlete who is now a commentator. He had to apologize for calling someone a "little guy from Japan" based on the person's appearance. The man was actually born in Detroit, his parents emigrated from Korea.
It must be tough. A whole new world. These folks have lived their lives being able to say or do anything they wanted, without fear of reprisal nor having to apologize. All of a sudden, being "politically incorrect" has consequences and may even cost them their livelihood. I almost feel sorry for the older ones; change is hard as you get older. it's a whole new world and they aren't quite sure what all the fuss is about, still struggling to understand it; apologizing in public but shaking their heads, bewildered, in private. Where have the good old days gone where you could say anything you want.
These are the ones that Trump plays to.
And the ones on the receiving end of these comments; well they just need to learn not to be so overly sensitive. They should understand by now it's "just the way they talk" and "nothing was meant by it".
25
@Ann Interesting point. Freedom of speac∆h now depends on who the speaker is and how they express themselves. It is sort of a different interpretation of the Bill of Rights that reiminds me of how the 2nd Amendment is now interpreted by folks who want it to support their agenda.
However, we have one Bible interpreted 100 different ways by 100 different religions that all pray to the same God.
As time passes life tends to get more complicated.
6
@Ann "My Dad says, I mean 'said', Joey, it's not what you say, it's what you say and can get away with. And you can do that, when you're talking to people you know."
@Ann Yeah, poor poor babies. At well-past the half-century mark, I have had to do something (repeatedly) called "adapt". Looking back, I realize some of the stuff I thought without thinking was really pretty stupid. In my decrepitude, I am finally realizing that people are just people and everybody wants to be treated with kindness and respect, and they will let you know what that looks like if you just listen. "You don't have to change" is a comforting lie grifters like Trump offer the lazy and dull-witted, but it offers no way forward for self-improvement, by definition, and is a one-way ticket to nowhere.
1
Mr. Blow, welcome to Hillary's world. She knew every bit of this on Nov. 8, 2016. She simply could not expect such a large portion of minority voters would sit out the election in a huff. They had this little grievance or that little grievance about the preceding eleven months and they were not going to vote, just boo. What do you think the fury of the Women's March was all about? Frustration and anger over having allowed their own petty distractions to put Trump in office is what compelled that public demonstration of anger.
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@Richard McLaughlin - it is really difficult to accept the truth in your statement. And yet all the folks who could not bother to vote for Hillary after voting twice for Obama because of what? Her whiteness? Her womanhood? The crank in me says all those people got what they deserved in Trump.
The problem is we got him too.
1
@Richard McLaughlin
Hillary is a neoliberal hack whose track record demonstrated that she was going to offer minority voters about as much as Trump was. Superpredators much? I prefer to vote for candidates that aren't terrible. Perhaps if she and Debbie Shultz hadn't strangled the DNC to ram her nomination through, and the mainstream media hadn't colluded by providing her with 99% of their coverage...
4
@Richard McLaughlin
What is very surprising is that Trump won the white woman vote in 2016.
3
I agree. Underlying all of the egregious behaviors and actions is fear. Fear of this nation becoming a genuine multi-cultural nation. One objection I have though is to remember what members of Congress are currently stating about being a co-equal branch of government, but that Congress can overrule judicial decisions, also. Therefore, let's focus on ensuring that democratic principles, practices and norms are kept and not violated, beginning with voting rights. And, maybe it time for a reset in America. A time to rethink what America has become and desires to become, not only in this land but around the world.
As Bryan Stevenson says about the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, "we've got to tell the truth,"- maybe we've got to tell the truth in many and multiple areas of America's life and history.
15
For the base of Trump voters - and by this I mean the people who buy his sales pitch, not the people like McConnell who are using him to shove and agenda through - what they are reacting to is the recognition that for them things can only get worse.
They'd rather blame scapegoats than fate. You can try to conquer a scapegoat, but you can't run from fate.
If you see urban people doing better as your community fails, it is easier to blame the government and declare that they are giving everything to "those people" - whether is is African-Americans, immigrants, or "elites" - than to blame the reality that wages follow lower labor costs and that means that the natural progression of capitalism is that jobs will move to Asia. Only service jobs remain, and those collect where there are more people in urban areas.
Trump, channeling Steve Bannon, has sold people the idea that government hurt them, taken their opportunity and given it to undeserving people, and that giving Trump the authority to break government is their only hope. They neglect to think about the fact that government has been basically dominated by Republicans for decades.
The problem is more complicated than simple white supremacy; it is the reality that we gutted rural communities, small manufacturing cities and the middle class, and have blamed minorities, immigrants and Democrats. But the real blame goes to unfettered capitalism and person greed fostered by our growing oligarchic kleptocracy.
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@Cathy Politicians of both parties had something to do with it.
2
@Cathy
Mr. Blow really nails it, with his usual uncanny perceptiveness-though I agree, whole-heartedly, that the "white factor" is just part of the narrative, with a deep and now multi-generational undertow of an failed economy that no longer supports a middle class-indeed no longer adequately supports any but a handful of us.
So, yes, it's the economy, stupid, with the pent-up and fed-up white folk seizing on some of the white nationalist fervor because it approximates in outrage and anger their (very real) sense of being shut out. They ARE of course being shut out, but in their rage, it is all but impossible for them to acknowledge that the same deprivation is being visited-with even more severity-on the heads of people of color.
I just have one quibble, probably just semantics, but I would point out that there is hardly anything "natural" about the "progression of capitalism" in this country. Corporations have been hard at work, unnaturally you could say, but successfully restoring the imbalances of capitalism to those of the Gilded Age; robber barons from that era look like truants compared with the Koch Brothers. The post-WW2 period, with strong unions, more human CEOs, progressive taxes and a decent wage scale (helped by the predominance of unions) now seems a distant memory, an asterisk. Let's make no mistake, from this brief "golden era" we've rapidly regressed to an enslaving capitalism-which will drive all of us apart before it ever makes us whole again.
8
@DC
Absolutely agree.
I would point out that it's our economy and a lot of other factors worldwide that are causing pressure. Climate change, over-population, refugees, exhaustion of resources, terrorism, inequality are all contributing to the rise of authoritarian leaders and a decrease in democracy, felt even here in the US.
I also agree with your observation that there's nothing "natural" in the progression of capitalism, except to the extent that unconscionable greed seems to dwell in some people.
3
"While much of the country tries to contend with the unending stream of outrages in the White House, the Senate majority leader is pushing through a steady stream of Trump’s far-right federal judges, often breaking precedent and allowing for their confirmations over their home state’s senators’ objection."
One characteristic about Trump, no one can deny, he is a fast ball pitcher. Day after day, he is slinging heat, like no one ever saw a Republican do.
With barely time to yell "Slow down", Liberals are unable to answer back. Like rookie batters, the Democrats let one fast ball, slider and knuckle ball flash over Home Plate. They stand there, with their bat resting on their shoulder, looking like they're waiting for a bus.
In a little over 5 years, DJT will be headed to Cooperstown. If the Yankees don't sign him first. I don't know. Maybe. We'll see. We'll see. You never know. It could happen.
11
Yes, but somehow it seems that much of what we might mistake for white supremacy is the workings of both the old aristocracy and the industrial oligarchy to create common enemies to deflect from problems related more to the concentration of capital wealth and the exploitation of the working class. The creation of borderland strife in the middle favors capital and property rule.
28
I agree with Mr. Blow about the white, male, patriarchy and their president who is a pitifully poor example of a human being. Mr. Trump is the ultimate evolutionary outcome and residue of the Republican commitment to controlling the nation politically and economically at any cost. The GOP has proven itself to be a species not worthy of survival.
We must do more than win this election with progressive candidates who are locked into their own corporate ties and attachment to the power manipulations inherent in a republic with politicians who fancy themselves as aristocracy. The only thing that will save America is a true and transparent, direct democracy. Technology is now finally available that can deliver that system.
Democratization of our politics and our economics may not eliminate but will certainly transform the relevance of political parties. Democratization must implement our ideal that each vote is equal. That must be the foundation of our future as a nation and as a citizenry. And we need a leader for such a transition. Where is America’s Yanis Varoufakis?
8
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
We are at the point where Republicans are running a despotic Government. They very clearly hide their racism behind claims of conservatism and small government and fewer regulations. Surprising how that small government and fewer regulations ends when they want to control minority populations and women. Then it is just fine to regulate their choices and their behavior.
If change in the power structure does not happen thru elections because of identity gerrymandering and voter suppression then there will be a revolution. It is the duty of the oppressed to do so.
46
One need to only look to the up tomcoming generations to understand that these ideals are short lived. The children of the baby boomers were raised in a multicultural society and they are better for it. In the not so distant future, Trump and his supporters will be a distant memory, and compassion, empathy and love for your neighbbor will once again be the norm in our great country. Make America Compassionate Again, and the words written on the Great Lady in the NYC Harbor will once again resonate for those in power.
23
@Tony
Well written. As a baby boomer with grown kids, I hope I live long enough to see your prediction.
8
@Tony. Maybe. But by then, the Autocrats will have taken us all past so many climate changing tipping points, our civilization will be on an inevitable track toward environmental and social collapse.
6
Citing the stacking of the courts with conservative lifetime appointees is, of course, a relevant observation about the structural control of a minority of voters over the majority. There are solutions to this problem, such as increasing the members of the Supreme Court or rotating federal judges through service in the Supreme Court on a lottery basis. As unlikely as these solutions may be, they are at least within the realm of possibility without a constitutional amendment. The situation in the Senate is far worse. The founders gave states equal representation in the Senate because that was the price for getting ratification of the Constitution by all of the colonies, each one of which had a virtual veto power. That veto power ended the moment of ratification, but its hold on the the legislative representation of all American people continues like a death grip that can never be changed. Not only is it unlikely that Democrats could can gain a majority in the Senate, impeachment of a Republican President by 2/3 of the Senate has made impeachment a dead letter. As a practical matter, impeachment no longer exists.
Robert Millsap
32595 County Road 19
Woodland, California 95695
529-681-7583
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The survival of a free society depends upon a sense of community that transcends class, ethnic background or religious beliefs. Trump's threat to American democracy stems from his open rejection of this principle. He encourages citizens who identify as 'white' Christians to believe that they have nothing in common with the rest of society, that ethnic and religious minorities aspire to achieve a political dominance which will enable them to oppress their former 'rulers.'
Mr. Blow's writings over the years demonstrate that he would spurn any such reverse discrimination, and there is also little reason to suppose that minority Americans in general seek revenge. A demand for equality and a share of power define the real goals of Trump's opponents.
The ominous tone of this column, however, as some readers have noted, seems to suggest a zero-sum conception of
American politics. While clashing interests will always shape political debate in any democracy, our society cannot heal unless Trump's adversaries convince at least part of his base that Democrats pose no threat to their well-being.
In the upcoming campaign, therefore, whoever wins the Democratic nomination must stress that Trump's behavior and policies risk the health of our entire society, including the people who voted for him in 2016. We cannot defeat the president or make this country decent again by attacking millions of voters who supported Trump in the last election.
14
The Senate just approved a nominee for district court judge in Texas who has described former President Obama as "an unAmerican imposter."
I think it is a dereliction of duty for the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives to fund judicial positions that will be filled by intemperate, biased ideologues.
The Democrats may not be able to cut funding for sitting judges per the Constitution but why can't they refuse to fund vacant judicial positions?
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Mr. Blow, your comments and views are racial themselves. We're there no term limitations, Obama would still be in the White House.
The restrictive abortion laws passed in Alabama are reflective of the region, the Bible Belt. The judicial appoints made by Trump were intended to rebalance the courts to a mire conservative view. It's not an issue of white supremacy but of a conservative agenda.
The apathy demonstrated by the low minority voter turnout is not attribute to a feeling of being disenfranchised but one of malaise with the election process that grips far too many American Voters today. If you were to peel back the onion and look at the local political scene, the racial composite is quite different. Local community boards and municipal govt.s are very diverse. Choosing not to engage in the political process is their right and sadly enjoyed by far too many.
31
@George
As Stacey Abrams has stated recently in this newspaper, disparity in racial situations often shape who votes. Standing in line for three or more hours to vote has a greater impact on poorer people than richer ones. And, looking at the last two presidential elections, such long lines tended to happen where people of color were the majority. In 2017, the median household income for White (non-Hispanics) was over $68,000. The same income for Blacks was just over $40,000, less than 2/3s of the White income. Missing a few hours to vote could have a greater deleterious effect on you when you make so much less (and tend to have stricter work rules).
Or, take what happened in 2016 to a small semi-rural city, that was predominantly people of color, in a conservative run state. The state first closed one of the two polling places in the city, then moved the other a few miles away from the city, where there was no direct public transit. Surprise, surprise, voting levels in that city declined drastically. And, per reports, not because the people were exercising their right “to not engage in the political process,” but rather to the obstruction put in their way. It did not matter that the city’s municipal government was very diverse, the conservative run state government acted to prevent their voting.
That is some of what Charles was writing about.
34
@George
No. Trump, the entire Republican party, and the Supreme court majority of so-called conservatives are reflective of the Bible Belt. And with the re-assertion of states' rights in the most narrow and bigoted ways, it's as if the Civil War was never won. If it was up to these people, they would repeal the 13th through 15th Amendments.
6
Just because you believe voter suppression is a fantasy does not make it so. Just because you believe that the under compensation of working women from the beginning of time does not make it difficult for them to get to the polls does not make it so. You are incapable of seeing anything beyond your own bias.
3
The authoritarian overtone of this administration and the Republican party is undeniable. But presenting this contest as the white vs the multi-cultural is reductionist, defeatist and the opposite of inclusive.
The last Democratic convention, catering to voters by outlining with thick lines the different cultural and ethnic groups played nicely in Trump's and the Republican's hands. It was, in an unwitting sense, a way of playing in Trump's territory by Trump's rules.
16
The stakes were so high in 2016 that the republican party sought the help of Russia. Why are all of them so fiercely protecting Trump and preventing investigations. Where is the counter intelligence report. Something is not right. Mitch would do anything to win. Republican actions only make sense in light of this imperative.
43
@
Why?
Mitch McConnell and the Republican Senate campaign in 2016 reportedly took millions in campaign funds from Russian sources.
2
Most of what you say is true Charles, as it applies to white supremacy and the suppression of non-white males, but that isn't the whole story. It's a much bigger problem. It's that there is a cabal of predominantly white males who are uber wealthy and powerful - think scions of Rockefeller and the like - who have rigged the system to disenfranchise the majority of Americans. And they do this, mainly with the help of Republicans, but because Republicans represent a minority, they have to find ways to offset that. Voter suppression of minorities, gerrymandering, fear-mongering, and outright voting fraud are all tools used by them to win elections and tighten their grip on power.
The key point is: it's not just minorities who are being suppressed and disenfranchised. But if you and others make race the issue, you will be contributing to exactly what this cabal wants: increased racial divisiveness, ultimately leading to racial war. When all the "little people" are fighting among themselves over the scraps the 1% toss to us like bones, they can have full and unchecked rein.
None of this is to say that we shouldn't work for addressing racial and gender - in fact all forms of - inequality, but you can't fix inequality with more inequality.
37
A war with Iran will arise about 6 to 9 months before the election. They will lie about why it is necessary and Trump will use it as a distraction and a way to bolster support. He will have an excuse to declare "emergency rule" (or whatever it is) and may indeed postpone the election, maybe even indefinitely.
Anyone who watched the movie "Cheney" or who was alive during that time knew that Cheney was behind Bush's decisions. A new war, a dream of Bolton's, would fit in exactly with Trump's nefarious purposes.
I pray that people will vote in droves in local elections and that every able bodied person helps recruit more voters to go for the Dems. Without both houses and a win in the Oval Office of a wide margin, we will get 4 more years of Trump. As it is it will take two full generations to undo all the awful stuff he has set in motion and that will be too late for the environment, and many of the people who vote for him.
White supremacists, gun lovers, religious extremists, anti-LGBT+, anti-women, brown people, Native people, and women. As little government as possible (thanks to the Koch Bros) and decimation of all social programs and the national parks. Corporate heaven. Fox lies 24/7.
It doesn't have to be that way. It shouldn't be that way.
Ultimate power corrupts ultimately. Guess we are living that now. Thanks, Charles, for your column. Keep writing!
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Identity politics are problematical whether they come from white males or from people of color.
When it comes to "others", "progressives" and "liberals" often see that other through the lens of identity politics.
People of color are not necessarily greater adherents of multiculturalism than white males or females.
Intersectionality is not the same as multiculturalism and is rarely more tolerant of the "other" outside of its intersectional frame of reference.
Mr. Blow may be correct in his analysis of Mr. Trump and his politics, but that does not make the other side ipso facto more tolerant or inclusive.
97
@Joshua Schwartz
"Mr. Blow may be correct in his analysis of Mr. Trump and his politics, but that does not make the other side ipso facto more tolerant or inclusive."
They may not be more tolerant or inclusive but they are definitely shut out of power, and that's Blow's point.
8
@Joshua Schwartz writes, "that does not make the other side ipso facto more tolerant or inclusive."
That may not make the other side automatically more tolerant, but living as a minority certainly does make people more tolerant. Once power is obtained, people do not like to let it go. Solution...maintain diversity so no group has a monopoly of power.
2
@Steve And my point is that given the choice and the power they would shut out the "others".
3
“If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”
David Frum , January 2018
And in their ever more desperate attempts to insure white male dominance and privilege, we could also say that - if Trump and the current GOP cannot win “demographically” they will reject demographics- i.e. the will of the majority -and find other ways to win - i.e. voter suppression, gerrymandering and vote rigging. They are quite prepared to do whatever it takes, no matter how criminal or anti-constitutional.
171
Okay...
But I'm pretty sure there'd be a backlash if any people, anywhere on Earth, went from 90% of a population in a region to 40% in the span of a living generation. In fact, we have records of this happening in some places (like Ottoman records of parts of Yugoslavia, specifically Croatia) and, predictably, there is a push-back against the "displacement" as you put it. Likewise, we know even stone age tribes have resisted the migration and settlement of related tribes (highland conflicts in PNG) that threaten demographic displacement and a loss of power/influence.
So, I get that you're mad and all that this is happening...
But did you really expect it not to? That, of all the people to ever exist, whites would be the first and only ones to be "totes okay" with being displaced? Or, more specifically, that they would take a loss of power/influence with a shrug and a smile?
You may not like it, but, well, I don't like when I get a fever, but I also realize that it is just a natural process playing out. It's gotta run its course. No way around it. People are just people, in the end, no more and no less, and they'll do what people do.
34
Agreed. But this didn't begin with Trump, it was alive and well during the General Election of 2008. The latter days of the McCain-Palin campaign were little more than hate rally's. People in the audience, comforted by numbers and allegiance, shouted out things targeted to Obama that should've sent the Secret Service on alert, but nary got a word of protest was heard from the figures on stage - ever. The Republican Party can't afford to attack white supremacists and their mandate for fear of insulting the majority of their base. The Republican Party knows who makes up their ranks, just ask Megyn Kelly of "Santa Claus is white" and blackface shouldn't be offensive on Halloween fame. The Republican Party should be disbanded for fear of inciting Civil War-esque riots.
87
That picture is a Trump rally? I thought it was a picture of the Trump-supporting Charlottesville tiki-torch marchers in August 2017.
My mistake.
17
It's not white men who hold power. It's white men with money who hold the power.
It's the effect of cheap money dangling the hope of getting rich in the securities markets, et. Al. It's the modern day equivalent of Rasputin's glare that keeps them from accepting the reality of our future: Financial ruin, The deflection of war and A badly damaged planet. Our climate is already showing the effects of our neglect.
Minorities don't drink enough Kool-Aide for the crazed crowds to keep their false sense of security. They will use any dirty trick in he book to stop them.
24
The white supremacist, Richard Spencer, was saying today how 'Charlottesville would have never happened' without Trump. He spoke how Trump had emboldened him and the neo- Nazis. Spencer coined the phrase "alt-right" that Trump's minions like Steve Bannon co-opted for Trump's campaign.
As depraved and racist as Spencer is, he was absolutely spot-on about how Trump had been the impetus for what happened in Charlottesville. He was extremely grateful. This is a problem America.
156
There is such a thing as a tyranny of the majority.
8
@J.Jones: Please read Rousseau and his Social Contract
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It’s worth stating the obvious that so many of us wish were not true. There’s precious little hope in our future, even as Mr. Blow struggles nobly to summon it.
Slate, 7/17/18:
“A week ago, Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, brought some attention to a growing threat to the integrity of our elections. ‘[B]y 2040 or so,’ he tweeted, ‘70 percent of Americans will live in 15 states. Meaning 30 percent will choose 70 senators. And the 30% will be older, whiter, more rural, more male than the 70 percent.’ Two days later, the Washington Post’s Philip Bump ran a check on the numbers, citing an analysis of Census Bureau projections from the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. ‘In broad strokes,’ he wrote, ‘Ornstein is correct.’”
The Founders built into the Republic the mighty seeds of its destruction. They couldn’t have known, and it’s cause for deep, unyielding sadness. The great experiment in self-governance called the United States of America will not survive when “[t]he best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.” The worst we can understand. But where are the best?
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@ADN Elizabeth Warren is one of the best, but she's too smart and too serious for the average American. Plus she's a woman. I hope her ideas will eventually find their ways into some future administration's thinking and maybe influence policy.
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@ADN
The senate was never meant to be representative of the population of states, even when the US was founded there were serious disparities between large and small state populations (especially when slaves were factored in), so it's not like the founders were clueless about how the senate was set up.
They chose to do it as a check on tyranny of the majority. The senate will always have 2 members per state, to represent the interests of that state as a sovereign entity in government. The House of Representatives is full of politicians elected to represent portions of their state's population, they represent by proxy the people on their states. But senators are chosen in state-wide elections, not tied to any particular group within a state, they are representatives of the state itself, the collective interest of those people and the collective interest of the state government.
The founding fathers did not envision a tyrannical federal government that controls everything, that is completely antithetical to the way our representative democracy is set up. Individual people don't have much direct influence on the federal government, but states do, and people have more direct influence on the government of their state.
Look at popular causes (gay marriage, legalizing marijuana, abolishing the death penalty) that are basically impossible to effect at the national level but which many states have individually passed.
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@ADN
What that says to me is that those people should have their needs addressed, and those needs are not simply “I’m a racist.” People in those other 35 states are as deserving as those in the 15 most populous.
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We are either witnessing the last gasp of the white male majority of the end of our democracy. It’s that dire.
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Americans have to think strong and come out of these old ideologies : psychological ( behaviorism ) political ( conservatism ) , religious ( bigotry ) , judicial ( the death penalty and 750 per capita incarceration rate- 6 times highest in the world , 6 times highest violent crime in the world ), sexual ( pornography and prostitution , barbaric abortion laws ).
The USA represent all the archaic philosophies and all the hypocrite behaviors .
Plus very low level education .That is the problem at the base. Public education is very bad and higher education is corrupted and elitist and bad also.Not at the level of free European universities .In the elite colleges like Yale , Princeton or Harvard they hire European professors who find the students learning things by heart but not thinking.
Everything in the education is made if automatisms , standardized tests. In Europe you have to write for the exams and you render an anonymous paper after sitting 4 hours at a desk .
Real education in real time. You have 4 or 6 hours in philosophy to write .You cannot look on internet. you are by yourself.
And education is free for everybody so you have to work . Your parents are not going to pay for it while the poor guys cannot even pay the 70 K 4 a year just to attend classes. Only the rich study in the USA. And what they study is made of the same stuff : lies, make believe and false content.
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@JPH I get the impression you've never actually been in an American university.
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@JPH
Absolutely right
@Gerber To the contrary . I know the level of students and teaching in American colleges very well . And they are not " universities " they are nothing universal nor represent any universality.
Horizontal or vertical .
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The fake US president(because of Russian election interference and implicated in two election felonies that illegitimately put him in office) will be out of office due to House congressional pressure or needing Mr Pence to be in office to give him a blanket Federal pardon. The fake president is in a similar situation as Mr Cosby. They can fight off the civil cases with expensive lawyers and payouts, not so much the criminal justice officials. The fraud in the white house knows Federal and New York prosecutors are building solid cases against him, and once out of office, he could be detained in a perp walk by police as he finally leaves the White House on his way to an extradition proceeding from DC to New York . Alas, Mr Pence can only pardon federal crimes. After hearing an interview from the Attorney General of the great state of New York, Trump better hope NY elects a Republican governor in New York soon, fat chance.
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@John - Keep up the good work NY!! It's nice to know there may be some consequences for all of 45's actions.
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This analysis is spot-on accurate. The white men of the right are scared and desperate, which means they are fierce and ruthless. To this particular white woman, they would be pathetic were they not so dangerous. I mean, c’mon, if you’re so superior, then surely you’ll rise to the top in a crowd of any color or demographic mix. Instead they’re threatened and defensive—ready, nay, eager, to embrace whatever autocratic tools they can to keep their delusions of god-given superiority alive. There’s nothing new about this; this is the history of the western world. What’s new is the impending darkening of the country, which, in my opinion, cannot happen too soon. In light of the trashing of our democratic ideals happening before our very eyes, it’s imperative that we non-white men of the right vote, vote, VOTE, while we still can. And that we do whatever is necessary to ensure our votes are counted. White male hegemony is bad for the country, the hemisphere, the planet, the creatures of the planet, the climate, the future. Ironically it’s really bad for those who want so badly to believe in their superiority, for they’re living a lie.
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@SB Progressives who are banking on changing demography for a brighter destiny will be bitterly disappointed. Under a more expansive definition that counts as white anyone who so identifies (even if they also identify with another race or ethnicity), the white population is not declining; it’s flourishing. The Census Bureau’s inclusive projections show a white population in excess of 70 percent of the total for the foreseeable future. But even if whites were to become a minority it wouldn't change our politics dramatically. No more than the politics of Ted Cruz are affected by his mixed ethnicity. Bottom line: there's no progressive majority in America & never will be. The numbers are simply not there. And there certainly is no progressive Electoral College coalition in America that could get to the needed 270 votes. This point can't be emphasized enough: almost every progressive candidate in whom Democrats invested tremendous time, money, & emotional energy in 2016— lost. Almost every progressive initiative on the ballot in this country was voted down. What progressives & their co-dependents will never understand is that far left mobilizes it's opponents to an even greater degree.
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@Bill Brown But in November 2018 the progressive candidates did NOT lose.
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@MN Again this point can't be emphasized enough: almost every progressive candidate in whom Democrats invested tremendous time, money, & emotional energy—Beto O’Rourke in Texas, Andrew Gillum in Florida, Stacey Abrams in Georgia— lost. The progressives that did win, won in left leaning Democratic districts that are not competitive.
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Although I share some of the dark thoughts, I see certain protections against one party GOP rule. First, the army has a sizable minority presence, and thus I do not see martial rule or total disregard of voting rights if Civic protests occur. Second, the House should reflect the majority even with gerrymandering, and the House has a veto on appropriations. Third, even States much more autocratic than ours require some economic growth to maintain order, and no regime has ever sustained constant growth. Fourth, as immigrants contribute population growth, the rural whites in some States will be swamped. That said, 2020 is a momentous election. May the Democrats end unified.
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I don't know if I'd focus on Trump himself, or see it as the collective Republican agenda. If Reagan's numbers seem a little less white-supremacist, that may be because the whole Republican Party hadn't lurched so far in that direction: we hadn't seen the Tea Party yet.
But that is probably just a quibble. Yes, this is definitely happening, whether it's Trump's idea, or the whole crew of them...
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My wife and I, like most in our family, are veteran optimists. At times it's challenging to be optimistic, but we firmly believe that hope and wishes do, yes, at times serve to make it so.
Throughout my life, I'm now retired and in my 70s, I've never found it as difficult to be optimistic as now. I fear for this country I love, that I did two tours in Vietnam for, then a career in public service. As an amateur student of history, I see so much today that resembles the rise of Nazism in the 1930's. I fear for our country.
The Republikans, the rich white men that so ardently work to bring this about, appear to be incapable of shame, furiously working to deprive millions of Americans, people of color, immigrants, of the rights that were once embodied in the term "American." The US oligarchs would see many, many people deprived even of the right to vote, health care, civil rights and much more. This is not what I devoted my working life to maintain.
The Republikans managed to select the perfect fool for President, one whose idiocracy helps to mask the vast GOP conspiracy. Yes, despite my fervent wish that it were not so, I'm convinced today that it is just that. A conspiracy to deny many Americans of the rights they hold dear. Trump is absolutely a fool, but to the GOP he's -their- fool, and to them, he plays his part well.
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Trump was never subtle about how he used race.
During President Obama’s terms, Trump promoted lies about Obama having a fake birth certificate and fake Ivy League diplomas.
The “Make America Great Again” slogan was not subtle, either.
Then Trump dragged his feet into his unconvincing rebuke of his supporter, David Duke.
Then there was the caricaturing of African-American communities as bleak and violent, coupled with his promise of “law and order.”
And the fear-mongering about immigrants and refugees, both here and in Europe...
All this was before Trump even took office! Small wonder that pandering to bigotry remains a major part of how he operates.
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@NM: it goes further back than that. Sued by the government for discriminating against blacks in renting his properties; calling for the death penalty for the Central Park Five, who were all eventually exonerated when the real perpetrator came forward. I'm from NYC, he's always been a mean piece of work...
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@NM -- esteemed daughter,
the president's birther smear against Barack Obama was his clarion call to white America that Obama didn't belong in the White House because of his color, that the fix had to be in, that the businessman would reverse the gains made by blacks and turn back the clock to a time when white authority was America's default template.
By constantly belittling Obama and demeaning Hispanics, regardless of what country they came from, or tarring Islam as a terrorist religion, the Republican candidate's campaign was fueled by nothing but bigotry and racial animus. He wiped out a field of 16 seasoned politicians during the primaries for one reason only...he played the race card, and it worked!
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Although some friends and other people I respect disagree, I have long believed that the foundation of the Republican Party since the Democratic Party embraced civil rights in the 1960s has been the preservation of white dominance. After two terms of an African-American president (with a Muslim name, no less) apparently drove a large segment of white America to despair, they found a savior in Donald Trump. His rise is as much a symptom of a preexisting condition as a disease itself.
For recent proof that racial supremacy rather than conservative ideology (unless you consider white nationalism an ideology) is what Republican voters really care about, look at how easily the party abandoned a policy pillar like free trade to embrace Trumpism. And look at how Republican leaders are willing to tolerate foreign intervention in our elections and the trashing of our great institutions to preserve their power. This is evidence of existential fear more than ideological passion.
Unfortunately, it puts the opposition at a disadvantage. Democrats represent a coalition rather than a tribal monolith, and one that's unwilling to employ a scorched-earth strategy to gain power. My fear is that the country's internal divisions will produce strife unimagined even during the worst days of Obama's presidency, despite and probably because of demographic change. I hope I'm wrong.
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@GV
Isn’t it possible that Obama was mediocre at best as POTUS especially in his detached borderline condescending lecturing? It was always cringeworthy to listen to him construct his innumerable strawman arguments. Whites voted for him twice did they not? His stewardship of the party electoral apparatus gets a failing grade.
4
"The strategy is to find a way to maintain white supremacy, white dominance, without the necessity of a white majority in the U.S. population."
Last I checked, there were about a half dozen states that were less than 50% white, two of which were the red states of Texas and Florida. This means the party more popular with white voters will have a big edge in the Senate and, to a lesser degree, the Electoral College. It is a natural gerrymander enshrined in the Constitution.
The only strategy Republicans need to stay in power is to survive Trump's departure and the NRAs meltdown. With any luck it will be by running away at top speed from both. While they might lose some of the anti-Semites and career criminals once Trump is gone, this might help win back suburban tax minimizers. They will control the Senate most or even all of the time, and every once in a while sneak in a president with a popular vote loss but Electoral College win.
The bigger challenge might be figuring out how can non-white voters break this structural advantage to put their favored party in control sometime this century.
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The structural advantage of the less-populated states seems to portend a Republican-controlled Senate. Those states are largely white and don't seem to project any large influx of people of color in the near future.
This, coupled with the judicial confirmation process residing in the Senate, does not bode well for breaking the hold of white male privilege.
The desperate fight by the white male establishment is trending toward anti-democratic authoritarian control. The holdings in Citizens United and Holder undercut true democracy, and Trump's unabashed efforts to seize personally the reins of power without accountability to the other branches of government and to retain office by manifold electoral manipulations are existential threats to democracy.
It seems to me that the hope is in the surge of women in the political arena, bolstered by people of color. As with people of color, women have felt the sting of oppression by the white male political dominance, a commonality that likely will be progressive.
The survival of democracy in our country may depend upon the timely wresting of control from the white male minority by a mixed demographic majority.
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@Jim Hugenschmidt
Or with everyone deciding we would be better off with a political division and two or three separate countries. I am beginning to believe that is the best possible solution. Messy? Yes. But I have no interest in living side-by-side with people who support this administration and its allies.
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Lucien,
Understand, but I'm persuaded by the authors of the Federalist Papers - John Jay, A. Hamilton, and J. Madison - that geographical divisions when there are serious disagreements is an inferior choice to Union. The question for me, is can our democracy be preserved? We must fight for it.
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As Trump remakes our courts for generations - cementing his legacy, overturning human rights protections, upholding gerrymandering and voter suppression - I have a demand for all of the Democratic candidates for president: stop battling each other and debate the issues. If you don't keep it clean, we will never be able to clean the contagion out of the White House.
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@common sense advocate You make a valid point. The Democrats need to thin the herd and concentrate on putting forward a charismatic but very, very sharp candidate with good policies in mind and the ability to convince the Trump supporters that they need to take a much harder look and the fool who currently "leads" us.
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@common sense advocate, I absolutely agree. Democrats have to stop battling each other. Will Rogers famously said when asked his choice of party, "I don't belong to any organised party. I'm a Democrat." My great fear is that the Democrats have now created a circular firing squad.
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