"All of this raises a couple of questions: What drives the depth and intensity of support for Trump? And how far are those supporters willing to go to keep him in the White House?
...
"an attack on Trump is an attack on themselves [his white supporters]; hence the strength of their response to efforts to impugn Trump or remove him from power. For these voters, Trump is all that is holding back the deluge that will sweep them away once the “liberal elites” and minorities take power.
[If Trump's white voters think],
that impeachment is just motivated by a desire to remove Trump and bring liberal elites and minorities to power, they would fight tooth and nail and even go to the streets to defend him against an “unlawful coup” and “overturning the will of the American people.”
In order for impeachment to be accepted by these voters, he wrote, it
"cannot be a technical criminal action. It would have to be a clear case of Trump acting so much in his own behalf and betraying the country that it would undercut these voters’ belief that Trump is acting for them.'
-Jack Goldstone, a professor of public policy at George Mason
...
From the perspective of Trump’s most fervent supporters, the issue of race is crucial."
...
"There is no doubt that Trump continues to fan the flames of racial anxiety for his perceived benefit. He tries to paint an America that has shifted from the white dominated 1950s when immigration was low and blacks were highly segregated. This is not the America of today and really only applies to a swath of the population ages 55 and above and in whiter parts of the country whose populations are increasingly diminishing, Only 30 percent of the population lives in counties where no minorities are highly represented and 96 percent of counties are becoming less white. Most people, even many in those demographic categories, have had contact with racial minorities through their families and workplaces and are not cowed by Trump’s rhetoric.
"...Trump won in 2016 for a variety of reasons, including economic difficulties affecting some groups, a distaste for Hillary Clinton and, for some, the idea, floated by Trump, that immigrants and nonwhites were changing the country in distasteful ways. Now Trump is less popular in general and Republicans have done less well in the 2018 midterms including among whites, especially white women, and in nonurban areas. Yes, some people are afraid of a nonwhite takeover for America but they are a small and dwindling piece of the American electorate. Highlighting race as a primary campaign message will not work for Trump again."
-William Frey, a senior fellow at Brookings and an expert on the nation’s changing demographics,
The Times columnist, Thomas B. Edsall, Race concludes his column, "I would like to be able to share Frey’s optimism, but I am more worried than he is about strains within the American electorate."
No shit. William Frey's view is deeply flawed. Racist whites "are increasingly diminishing, small and dwindling": Not in time for 2020, bubba! "Highlighting race as a primary campaign message will not work for Trump again." Oh my God, Frey, put down your crack pipe.
...
"an attack on Trump is an attack on themselves [his white supporters]; hence the strength of their response to efforts to impugn Trump or remove him from power. For these voters, Trump is all that is holding back the deluge that will sweep them away once the “liberal elites” and minorities take power.
[If Trump's white voters think],
that impeachment is just motivated by a desire to remove Trump and bring liberal elites and minorities to power, they would fight tooth and nail and even go to the streets to defend him against an “unlawful coup” and “overturning the will of the American people.”
In order for impeachment to be accepted by these voters, he wrote, it
"cannot be a technical criminal action. It would have to be a clear case of Trump acting so much in his own behalf and betraying the country that it would undercut these voters’ belief that Trump is acting for them.'
-Jack Goldstone, a professor of public policy at George Mason
...
From the perspective of Trump’s most fervent supporters, the issue of race is crucial."
...
"There is no doubt that Trump continues to fan the flames of racial anxiety for his perceived benefit. He tries to paint an America that has shifted from the white dominated 1950s when immigration was low and blacks were highly segregated. This is not the America of today and really only applies to a swath of the population ages 55 and above and in whiter parts of the country whose populations are increasingly diminishing, Only 30 percent of the population lives in counties where no minorities are highly represented and 96 percent of counties are becoming less white. Most people, even many in those demographic categories, have had contact with racial minorities through their families and workplaces and are not cowed by Trump’s rhetoric.
"...Trump won in 2016 for a variety of reasons, including economic difficulties affecting some groups, a distaste for Hillary Clinton and, for some, the idea, floated by Trump, that immigrants and nonwhites were changing the country in distasteful ways. Now Trump is less popular in general and Republicans have done less well in the 2018 midterms including among whites, especially white women, and in nonurban areas. Yes, some people are afraid of a nonwhite takeover for America but they are a small and dwindling piece of the American electorate. Highlighting race as a primary campaign message will not work for Trump again."
-William Frey, a senior fellow at Brookings and an expert on the nation’s changing demographics,
The Times columnist, Thomas B. Edsall, Race concludes his column, "I would like to be able to share Frey’s optimism, but I am more worried than he is about strains within the American electorate."
No shit. William Frey's view is deeply flawed. Racist whites "are increasingly diminishing, small and dwindling": Not in time for 2020, bubba! "Highlighting race as a primary campaign message will not work for Trump again." Oh my God, Frey, put down your crack pipe.
