Not Economics: MAGA has always been motivated by xenophobia, racism and misogyny.

[speak easy]

(and water is wet)

Rubin: The MAGA phenomenon has never been about economics
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/05/maga-has-never-been-about-economics/
...

The MAGA phenomenon was never about economic dislocation. In 2018, a study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that “White, Christian and male voters ... turned to Mr. Trump because they felt their status was at risk.” An Iowa study found, “Economic distress is not a significant factor in explaining the shift in Iowa voters from Democrat to Republican between 2008 and 2016. The election outcomes do not signify [a revolt] among working-class voters left behind by globalization.”

The Post after the 2016 election reported, “Among people who said they voted for Trump in the general election, 35 percent had household incomes under $50,000 per year. … Trump’s voters weren’t overwhelmingly poor. In the general election, like the primary, about two thirds of Trump supporters came from the better-off half of the economy.” The same was true in 2020. President Biden crushed the incumbent 55 to 44 percent among voters making less than $50,000 and 57 to 42 percent among those making between $50,000 and $100,000.

The MAGA Republican Party has never represented the interests of working- and middle-class Americans; it and their cult leader have represented the “interests” of those motivated by xenophobia, racism and misogyny — whatever their economic status. We know that statistically voting for Trump correlates most closely with the belief that Whites, not African Americans, are discriminated against and with watching Fox News.

What is the GOP’s “agenda” now? Voter suppression to deter minorities from voting, angry memes that tell the base that elites have contempt for them and Jan. 6 denial. None of this has to do with working-class “interests.” It is about white supremacy.

[Midnight Writer]

1. That is what has puzzled me about the MAGA phenomena.

Usually when a country goes through a political upheaval and lurches towards an authoritarian leader, it is because the people are under economic stress.

In this case, it is largely the people who are doing well that want to upset the apple cart. They are actually supporting changes that will screw them over economically. I include the uber-rich, the oligarchs. Even they would do better in a country that is prosperous for all.

The whole conservative movement is a psi-ops, that has convinced folk to vote against their own interests by appealing to their basest fears and prejudices.