One would think that the results of the still-undetermined 2020 election would cause some self-reflection from the media, particularly on the question of race. Unfortunately, that bubble looks to remain unpopped.
Charles Blow wrote at the New York Times that the election once again showed the “power of the white patriarchy” and that minorities and women were pushed to side with their “oppressors,” based on how well Trump did with those demographics given the expectations. This sentiment was shared by Eugene Scott of the Washington Post, who complained that “these days, I am reminded quite often that you do not have to be white to support white supremacy.”
It’s an idea so stupid it can only come from the highly educated.
These days, I am reminded quite often that you do not have to be white to support white supremacy.
— Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) November 4, 2020
The brilliant insight from our intellectual betters such as Blow and Scott is that nothing exists outside of race. Black men who voted for Trump are traitors who aspire to “power by proximity,” according to Blow. So are gay men and white women. White Americans who voted for Trump are, according to CNN’s Brandon Tensley, trying to “protect” and “centralize” their whiteness.
But normal people don’t think like this. This is a view that is primarily found in liberal media offices, university bureaucracies, and Hollywood struggle sessions. Normal people do not live their life looking for white supremacy on every corner.
Vox’s Matt Yglesias correctly noted this, stating that “progressive intellectuals have tried for years to coach people to see racism as a disembodied property” of systems rather than individual behavior but that working-class nonwhites “may not accept the academic constructs.” The data backs this up: The GOP has been steadily increasing its vote share of black men, and Trump saw increases with Hispanic voters outside of traditionally GOP-friendly Cubans.
Blow gave away the real game on Twitter, saying that the increased black vote for Trump was “personally devastating” to him. Blow and others in his New York Times orbit have staked their claim on tearing down the system to “dismantle white supremacy.” Yet Trump made gains among black voters, Hispanics, Asians, white women, and gay and transgender voters.
When you can find little evidence of your opponents being racist oppressors, you must argue that they are upholding a racist, oppressive system. But that’s difficult to do when every group you claim is being oppressed starts voting for them. Some, like black men, have even been trending toward Republicans since 2008. The fact is that the GOP has finally begun to tailor its message to communities it had written off electorally, and those voters care far more about that than the academic view of omnipresent, phantom racism.
