The U.S. is a mess- and Trump's core supporters could make it much worse
Written by The Conversation. September 21, 2020. Ron Stagg, Ryerson University. - Excerpts, Ed.
The United States is in a mess. COVID-19 is raging out of control in many areas of the country. Black Lives Matter protests are disrupting cities, in some cases themselves disrupted by counter-protesters. Debates over gun control continue across the country, tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires seem to increase in numbers and size each year. Could matters get worse? Yes, they could, in large measure due to Donald Trump’s core supporters. Who are these people and why is it possible, indeed likely, that they will make the situation worse? The 20 per cent or so of Americans who follow Trump no matter what, as opposed to the other 20 plus per cent who vote for him as a Republican or because they believe he’ll cut their taxes, are largely the forgotten, the ignored, the disrespected.
In the early 20th century, those in the southern and western United States resented the federal government, largely controlled by politicians from the northeastern reaches of the country. The West was underpopulated and felt ignored; the South was angry over the loss of the Civil War, the harsh terms of Reconstruction and the end of slavery, which had fuelled the southern economy. The West, especially California and Texas, is now an economic powerhouse, and no longer feels ignored. In the South, however, there is still a degree of resentment that southern views are not reflected in national policies. Trump has been trying to amplify this resentment with his defence of statues of Confederate heroes and of keeping the names of Confederate officers on military bases.
- Residents on a roadway welcome President Trump & First Lady Melania Trump to their devastated neighborhood in Lee Co., Ga, March 8, 2019.
Evangelical Christians: Trump’s followers are a diverse alliance. Southerners who feel ignored are just one faction within a broad alliance of citizens who feel that the national government does not serve them. One other easily identifiable group are evangelical Christians. Non-Americans tend not to realize the scope of evangelical Christianity in the U.S. and are often puzzled by the many references to God in speeches by politicians, especially federal politicians. These are references to the idea that Americans are God’s chosen people. This is, however, not a homogeneous group, despite media generalizations. Not all are anti-abortion and anti-gay, but many have a sense that America is sliding backwards morally..Trump was the first president to attend the annual March for Life this past January, and supporters also welcomed his appointment of social conservatives to the Supreme Court, bringing it closer, they believe, to overturning Roe vs. Wade, which legalized abortion.
Xenophobes, the economically disadvantaged. The news industry. Fifty years ago, a sizeable portion of the American population would tune in every evening to the nightly news on one of 3 networks and listen to a trusted anchor deliver the news. Now many choose either CNN or Fox, throwbacks in many ways to newspapers of the 19th c. that supported one political party and framed the news to favour that party. Not surprisingly, this approach reinforces existing views of what is going on in the U.S. The traditional networks have lost the large audiences of earlier years and local news in most markets has become infotainment. Many people, even those who didn’t bother watching news in past, now get a quick fix from the internet...
More, https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/the-u-s-is-a-mess-and-trumps-core-supporters-could-make-it-much-worse/
