Stacey is the real deal. If only this country weren't so racist. Why do I say that?

[allgood33]

I watched a white male owner of an auto parts business at the border. He admitted that he was being hurt by Trump's policies at the border and that closing the border would hurt him badly and might even cause him to lose his business. When asked if would vote for Trump again, he said "Yes" because he felt Trump was doing a good job.

Then I remembered an interview with a poor white woman who said she hoped Obamacare would be repealed bust she really liked the ACA that was her insurance. When told by the interviewer that the ACA was actually Obamacare, she said she still wanted Obamacare to fail and that she didn't care and would never vote for Obama.

Bottom line for these people: I would rather be hurt by the white buy than helped by the black guy. And don't do anything to help me if it helps somebody else who doesn't look like me.

These are dire times. If you watched the documentary on Murdoch enterprise and its links to Brexit and other RW movements across the globe you know that things look pretty dim.

The global good feelings of hope and change that Obama ushered in was quickly shattered as oligarch and despots across the globe set in place plans and actions to destroy the hopes and aspirations of ordinary people all over the world as duly elected leaders who were for the people were overthrown and murdered or imprisoned and their supporters labeled "terrorists" ore "rebels." It is going to take a surprising global uprising of the people who have grown weary of living under the constant destruction by bombs, starvation, disease, and the indifference of their rich and powerful leaders. That's asking a lot.

[Ohiogal]

1. I have family members

and have heard other white people talking in stores and other places, and have read racist comments on line and in local papers.

They are all mortified over the idea of having an African American president because first and foremost they think an AA president's sole mission would be to "give away free stuff to all their black brethren who are lazy and don't want to work" and that their taxes will go way up in order to accomplish this. It seems outlandish to me, but it's true. They really think this.

[Perrenial Voter]

2. I heard a segment on NPR recently that looked at the psychology of not wanting to "come

in last," in which it was explained that people would do things that hurt other people, even if it also hurt them too, in order to avoid being at the bottom of the social ladder. I think there may also be a pragmatic element to the racism: a study done in South African in the heyday of apartheid found that middle- and upper-class whites were willing to abolish apartheid, but working class whites thought that they might lose their jobs if this happened because they weren't in profession requiring a high level of education.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Lyndon Johnson may have said it best:

“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

And more on the topic from Charles Blow:

Trump’s supporters are saying to us, screaming to us, that although he may be the “lowest white man,” he is still better than Barack Obama, the “best colored man.”

In a way, Donald Trump represents white people’s right to be wrong and still be right. He is the embodiment of the unassailability of white power and white privilege.

To abandon him is to give up on the pact that America has made with its white citizens from the beginning: The government will help to underwrite white safety and success, even at the expense of other people in this country, whether they be Native Americans, African-Americans or new immigrants.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/11/opinion/trump-immigration-white-supremacy.html

[NewJeffCT]

4. I saw a farmer say similar to the auto parts guy

said that while the trade war was hurting him personally, he still loved Trump and that because Trump was such a "brilliant businessman" he must have a good reason for the trade war that he (the farmer) just doesn't understand.