You Damn Karens Are Killing America

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Wajahat Ali
@WajahatAli
Here's my column on #whitewomen who went for Youngkin and the fake CRT scare in Virginia. Hope you can read and share.

You Damn Karens Are Killing America
Democrats aren’t going to win over the majority of white women, and they need to stop trying and instead court the diverse coalition that can save this country from itself.
thedailybeast.com
1:41 PM · Nov 3, 2021

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-white-women-who-just-elected-glenn-youngkin-are-killing-america

No paywall
https://archive.ph/D8yGc

As a student of American history and a person of color, I never underestimate the white, hot rage, anxiety and resentment of a Karen scorned. You might think you’ve won them over with Beyonce, Oprah, chai latte and henna, but the cult of Karen will always turn on people of color on a dime to uphold oppressive systems that ensure they remain influential and powerful handmaidens of white supremacy.

Don’t believe me? According to an NBC exit poll, 75% of white women without college degrees voted for Glenn Youngkin for Governor in Virginia, compared to 56% who went for Trump in 2020. They voted for a man whose single campaign message was about stopping the manufactured bogeyman of Critical Race Theory, the latest incarnation of the Southern Strategy, which most of his voters can’t define and isn’t taught in schools, but they are certain it is absolutely terrifying and worth cancelling because it’s making their kids hate white people and become transgender.

In some bright news, 62% of college educated white women went for Democrat Terry McAuliffe, up from 58% who went for Biden last year. But overall a majority of white women, around 57%, went for Youngkin—a remarkable 15-point swing from 2020 when 50% went for Biden and 49% for Trump.

I’m not surprised.

After all, 47% of white women voted for Trump in 2016 compared to 45% for Clinton. This was after he bragged about grabbing women by the pussy. When I interviewed white women at a Trump rally before the election, nearly all of them played off his misogyny as “locker room talk,” and gave him a pass, saving their disdain for Hillary Clinton. In 2020, these white women were so disgusted by Trump’s rampant misogyny, cruelty and racism, that even more of them, 53%, went for the vulgarian with numerous, credible sexual assault allegations.

*snip*

[spicysista]

1. It's a very interesting article.

"According to an NBC exit poll, 75% of white women without college degrees voted for Glenn Youngkin for Governor in Virginia, compared to 56% who went for Trump in 2020."

That's an eye popping stat!

[d_r]

15. It isn't the same group of people

Fewer people voted in this election. More of the ones who voted for trump came out this time and fewer of the ones who voted for Biden came out. This paper acts like the same women switched. That's oversimplified.

[Hortensis]

30. Good point. Oversimplified in that it doesn't include

women of other races either. They may be "killing America" in lower percentages, but all votes are equal and colorless.

[Claustrum]

2. Sure, you will definitely reach them by starting to call them damn karens.....

[SoCalNative]

3. That's far more polite

than what I would like to call them.

[Claustrum]

4. If your strategy is to further blame and alienate them, sure go ahead.

But don't blame them when they never vote with you again.

[uponit7771]

27. Why do you think they are reachable and with what? thx in advance

[Celerity]

24. Oh, I have some names.... London stylee, lol.

[gratuitous]

5. Shall we try to understand them?

From the article, white women without college degrees voted 56% of the time for the former guy in 2020. This year, that same demographic voted 75% of the time for Youngkin. Considering what Republicans have been subjecting low-income women to for the past 40 years, my conclusion is that these white women without college degrees have no use for higher wages, better schools, or healthier lives. I'd call that pretty goddam stupid. But surely there's another take on it that I'm missing?

[Mary in S. Carolina]

20. Why do you think white women without college

degrees work? I think they are suburban soccer moms.

[maxrandb]

21. I wonder why Retrumplicans are never asked to "reach out" to minorities, LGBTQ folks

people that live in urban areas, etc.,...oh, that's right, they aren't asked to give ONE FUCK about those voters, but Democrats are supposed to bend over backwards to understand women that would happily send their daughters to a Donnie Dipshit sleepover party.

Maybe what Democrats should do is take the Retrumplicans "outreach" approach.

Demean and dehumanize these "Karens" in the hope that enough hate will be generated to increase turnout.

It appears that this is becoming the American way.

[Amishman]

35. Republicans trying to woo Hispanic voters have been going on since Bush the Deuce

With limited success

[Cobalt Violet]

6. wouldn't want to reach them with a 10 foot pole.

[Steelrolled]

11. It this doesn't work, he can

add "bitch". Surely they will eventually come around!

[Steelrolled]

33. There're more words where that came from!

I think he just needs to ratchet it up and eventually Wajahat will win over those voters! He must know what he is doing.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

19. Yep

Beto O'Rourke and Stacy Abrams have never given up on any voters, they go to several counties, if not all, in their state and try to bring the democrat message to all people. Just because someone does not agree with you on "one issue" does not mean they are racist or homophobic, etc.

[Cobalt Violet]

7. +1000

K and R

[spooky3]

8. I find a lot of what he says offensive. If he wants to focus on a demographic

group, why isn’t he focusing on men, who, as a group, more strongly support republicans than does just about any other large group?

[NickB79]

13. Because the GOP is misogynistic to the core, and yet women voted for them

That makes it far easier to understand why men would vote for the GOP, and far harder to explain the women who vote for them.

It's like if a Klansman won with a sizeable Black vote, and you asked why no one was focusing on the White vote instead.

[spooky3]

14. If misogyny is a bad thing, as is racism, then people who

Support it should be criticized regardless of gender, race, etc.

There is a ton of academic scholarship that explains that cultures socialize women as well as men to see women as second class citizens. But if someone is trying to blame a group for certain voting outcomes, they should target the group that is MOST responsible for them.

This is just a very sexist analysis, that misses the elephant in the room.

[uponit7771]

26. It goes without saying the in group is the oppressor, the variant is why the oppressed put up with

... it

[spooky3]

28. Because they have been socialized from birth to do so,

For one reason. There are many research studies on this.

[Act_of_Reparation]

34. Because we've largely acknowledged the futility of courting men as a demographic.

This article isn't about who is most likely to support the GOP. It's about whether it makes sense to try win white women back, or focus our efforts elsewhere.

[Steelrolled]

10. This must be a Republican who has infiltrated the Democratic Party in a ruse to bring us down.

Edit to add: Thanks for the no-paywall link - very nice!

[Diamond_Dog]

16. Since when does Daily Beast have a paywall?

[JI7]

17. How about White Men ? They vote Republican in HUGE numbers

all the time.

If they voted more like white women (majority still but less then white men) it would make it more difficult for Republicans to win.

[spooky3]

29. Exactly Nt

[betsuni]

31. +1

[LakeArenal]

18. It all seems sexist to me.

Also, this need to blame people for failures.
POC, white women, uneducated, educated ...

Something to the effect:

Blame is infinitely divisible.
Credit is all mine.

[uponit7771]

25. damn, we need to find why

[WhiskeyGrinder]

32. White supremacy is a hell of a drug.