The Guardian nails it: White working class votes for white supremacists. Period.

[orthoclad]

85. The ruling class uses racism

as a wedge tool. It's been doing that for centuries.

"Economic anxiety" makes it seem like all people need is a great big group hug. I knew lots of white working class who lost their homes in the Recession. Quite an anxiety! Instead of recruiting them against the ruling class which took their homes, we call them racist and further divide the people. We do the work of the ruling class for them.

A lot of those people who lost their homes turned to Trump because the oligarch media told them the "other people" were their problem, and we reinforced the message by sneering at these racists with dirty hands and turning our clean noses in the air. The rich who caused the misery skated away. We could just as easily have made allies of them, but we did the ruling class's work by feeling superior.

Dylan wrote about Medgar Evers' killer: "lyrics attribute blame for the killing and other racial violence to the rich white politicians and authorities who manipulated poor whites into directing their anger and hatred at black people." The killer was "only a pawn in their game".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Only_a_Pawn_in_Their_Game

This strategy of the ruling class (identity divisions) is powerful because racism, sexism, and all the other isms are very real and hurt people immensely. There are lethal effects. They MUST be opposed.

What we should focus on is the greatest of all identities: the rich and the rest of us. The LBJ quote shows us the truth.

At the Obama library, the rapper name-dropped the Black Panther Fred Hampton. Hampton was executed in his sleep by police, targeted by the FBI because he was so successful in building alliances. Imagine, bonds between the socialist Black Panthers and an Appalachian youth group. He focused on class. THIS is powerful! And it threatened the bosses so much they murdered him. That reaction showed us our most effective strategy.

Picture a school of little fish chasing a great big fish.