Why America voted for Trump, a simple, sane summary

[Bippy2024]

This is why Trump won so resoundingly - this is why 72 million Americans voted for him - in one of his voter's own words.

If you choose to monster and slur 72 million people, that's saying a lot about you. Every accusation is a confession.

"I know a lot of people who voted for Trump. Let me tell you their reasons.
They wanted a return to normalcy. Gender ideology is just too out there. They want to protect women and children.

The economy has been disastrous for them. They didn’t have a cushion to absorb the inflation. They are cutting out everything in their lives just to afford food. And some are cutting that out.

Their lives have gotten very small. When they tried to tell you, they were told they shouldn’t splurge on things like a frozen pizza.

They see people coming illegally into this country and being handed stuff. Their stuff. Their money is being handed over. They have nothing. They watch as others are just handed more than they have.

They can’t afford rent and don’t know what to do. More people fighting for the same housing units makes prices rise.

They see a frightening turn towards censorship. They value the first amendment. Remember, it’s very important. They are so tired of being lied to and called terrible names.

Every time the mainstream media made up a story to make people hysterical they rolled their eyes. This pushed more and more people away. They stopped having any faith in the media. A firing squad? Really?

They feel the hysteria is toxic and frightening. Again they want this all to calm down.

They watch as political protests are punished for only one side. They see crime running rampant.

They see the people who try to protect us from crime being punished. The criminals go free to re-offend.

Essentially, they want their children to be healthy, they want their family to be fed, they don’t want endless war, they want things to be fair, they want the bad guys punished and the good guys appreciated, they want to protect women and children.

I hope if you are frightened today you will hear me. I hope I can help you see that things are not dire. I hope I can help you see that these were regular everyday folks who want regular everyday things. Food, clothing, shelter, privacy, respect for boundaries.

That’s it. Just those things. Peace."

https://x.com/babybeginner/status/1854179213399502850

Those with a higher level of education tend to vote for the Democrats.

@Parker231 So that's a vote for, "They're definitely stupid bigots who are worried about someone eating their pet and it's nothing to do with the fact that wages have stagnated for decades now."
?

Wages have up and unemployment down

@LilyBartsHatShop

@Parker231 So that's a vote for, "They're definitely stupid bigots who are worried about someone eating their pet and it's nothing to do with the fact that wages have stagnated for decades now."

Wages have stagnated for black Americans but they overwhelmingly - as a huge supermajority - didn't choose to vote for the far right candidate.

Trump has come to power because of a huge bump from white Christian voters, who've been told that undocumented people are the cause of everything that's wrong with the country.

Trump has not offered any policies at all to address income inequality or the stagnation of wages for the bottom 50%.

@DdraigGoch

"Yes, basic supply and demand means that immigration suppresses wages. That's not in dispute."

This claim was made repeatedly by Reform and the Conservatives in the UK, but evidence from economic research doesn't support your assertion that this is a given and there's no dispute.

migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/the-labour-market-effects-of-immigration/

"Immigration affects the number of workers in the economy, increasing ‘labour supply’ in certain occupations and industries. This means there are more people looking for jobs. However, immigration can also expand the demand for workers and thus create new jobs. For example, migrants themselves buy goods and services, increasing demand. Employers may increase production in sectors where migration allows them to employ more people (e.g. in the agriculture or care sectors) or use more labour-intensive production methods.
In other words, immigration may increase competition for existing jobs in certain occupational sectors, but it can also create new jobs. This is because there is not a fixed number of jobs in the economy (the so-called “lump of labour fallacy”). As a result, it is not obvious from theory alone whether migration will have a positive or negative impact on the job prospects of existing workers in the labour market—or no effect at all."

There is currently a historically low unemployment in the US right now, and vast numbers of undocumented people are employed in the sector most Americans have no interest in working in - namely agriculture.

@MissConductUS

"Trump had control of Congress in his first term, appointed three Supreme Court justices, and somehow the country survived. We've even had elections."

Well - women half the country lost access to abortion, but whatever.

And only people who are doggedly ignoring the existence of Project 2025 think the next Trump term will be anything like the last one...

women half the country lost access to abortion
No they did not.

States that allowed it kept allowing it.
Six states that did not allow it permitted it
other states carried on banning it

I am pro women's right to choose and anti Trump
but the abortion issue was badly played

Trump has claimed he will limit immigration, and deport large numbers of illegal immigrants.
I'm not confident that it will work, and I don't really trust Trump to successfully follow through on doing half the things he's promised to do, but if I was struggling to pay for groceries while working three jobs I rekon I'd be willing to give it a try. When compared with Harris, whose only policy pitch was that she wouldn't have done anything differently to Biden.
I'd also put money on Project2025 not getting a look-in any time in the next four years, but I could be wrong.

"but if I was struggling to pay for groceries while working three jobs I rekon I'd be willing to give it a try."

You'd be willing for the government to spend billions on deportations including of the 30% of agricultural workers who are undocumented, to be replaced with (presumably much higher paid) US citizens?

Sure that would do wonders for public and private finances. 🤔

"I'd also put money on Project2025 not getting a look-in any time in the next four years, but I could be wrong."

You're wrong.

Trump's already started announcing his plans for education - ideological purges in schools, prayer in the classroom, parents in control of the curriculum, funds diverted away from the public school system.

The No1 trending Google search in red states in the days after the election has been 'change vote after election', followed by 'what are tariffs". The people who voted for him had no clue why they were doing it.

Sadly this is incorrect. He has already begun the process - so far he has assigned the person behind Project 2025 to a lead role, he has set a committee to review all generals in the military (something Hitler did), they have released a new book called (can't remember the full name but initially they tried to call it 'burning Washington to save America' which JD vance has written a 3 page intro on how it's the path to the new America. So many other things have also happened and the Attorney Generals for each state have warned that the new trump teams are much more organised and they are concerned they won't be able to defeat their bills in the same way the did the first time round.

So far, he is following a play by play gamebook of exactly what happened in Germany before WW2. We should be less sceptical and more proactive with our own governments to ensure we are protected against whatever is coming.

I see that Godwin's law is alive on well on MN.

If you mean someone who has spent years in education studying the 1920s-1950s in Europe and is now watching white supremacy gain powers in a major country and is able to draw the parallels then sure. However considering many of the people who are 1st generation American having parents who fled before WW2 are calling out the same thing then I don't think I'm on the wrong path.

@MissConductUS

If you spent more time studying 20th century history and less time on Mumsnet propagandising for Trump you'd understand why people are pointing out the undeniable commonalities between his rhetorical strategies and those of other far right demagogues like Hitler.

If his threatened tariffs come in then the last bout of inflation will look tame.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/propagandize

propagandize
verb [ I or T ]
formal mainly disapproving (UK usually propagandise)

to create or spread propaganda about something or among a group:

I have said nothing positive about Trump on this thread or elsewhere, so I can't be said to have propagandized for him.

My point in participating on the thread at all was to help people with a relatively superficial understanding of American politics understand the election results. It surprised a lot of people here too. I can see that by telling you things that you don't want to hear about what the results tell us, i.e. that swing voters favored Trump over Harris for a variety of reasons, that I've simply stirred the pot. So, I'll stop stirring and let you return to your echo chamber.

Does it not seem crazily unstable to you that 30% of agricultural workers have no legal civil status in the USA? They have no voting rights, they can't be on school boards or local councils. I wonder if they can even borrow money from most banks? They have no rights as workers, no appeal for unfair dismissal or employer abuse (if they are not paid for work they have done there is nothing they can do. This is a huge underclass of ghost workers - I was going to write "ghost citizens" but they're not even that, they are non-citizens.
I think it was a huge mistake for Harris' policy pitch to be "business as usual" when problems like this are only getting bigger.
Trump with all his bluster and vitriol was at least naming that there is a problem, that such a large number of undocumented workers is destabilising for U.S. society.
Mass deportation is same as lowering immigration and introducing tariffs: it might not work but enough voters are convinced trying something different is better than business and usual.

This is not to say I think any of those things are good policy that will lead to the outcomes voters want.
What I'm arguing against is the narrative that it's stupid bigots who are voting for Trump for dumb phobic reasons.

@MissConductUS
I am not in the US but do have a vote.
I did not vote for Trump but I had to hold my nose to vote for Harris.
Many of the same political hue as myself decided to stay home.

Sadly the HCR fans (and she herself) are still not listening to those outside the echo chamber.

Comments under each point.

If you choose to monster and slur 72 million people, that's saying a lot about you. Every accusation is a confession.

• a convicted rapist, insurrectionist and racist who has openly made racist comments, advertised to get the death penalty for black kids who were exonerated for rape and implemented racist immigration executive orders against the rule of law. His supported have racist, confederate and Nazi flags. How is this slurring his supporters by pointing this out?

"I know a lot of people who voted for Trump. Let me tell you their reasons.
They wanted a return to normalcy. Gender ideology is just too out there. They want to protect women and children.

• how can you protect women by removing their right to a safe abortion when their lives are in danger, due to rape or incest? How can you protect women by removing their right to vote due to the fact that they do not have a name that matches their birth certificate when they are married? How can you protect children when you are cutting programs to feed hungry children, removing rights to education and removing the rights to access education without political biases?

The economy has been disastrous for them. They didn’t have a cushion to absorb the inflation. They are cutting out everything in their lives just to afford food. And some are cutting that out.

• Biden left the economy in good shape. How is it going now? How are people’s pensions now the economy is being destroyed?

Their lives have gotten very small. When they tried to tell you, they were told they shouldn’t splurge on things like a frozen pizza.

• how would destroying the economy change this?

They see people coming illegally into this country and being handed stuff. Their stuff. Their money is being handed over. They have nothing. They watch as others are just handed more than they have.

• immigrants get hardly anything in the US. Their social welfare system is very limited compared to the US. Undocumented immigrants comprise the majority of agricultural workers, building contractors and domestic staff. They contribute billions in taxes and contribute to the economy. They have been demonised by the GOP to blame their boom and bust economic policies and their destruction of unionized jobs that pay a living wage.

They can’t afford rent and don’t know what to do. More people fighting for the same housing units makes prices rise.

• more and more US housing is owned by hedge funds and private equity which places competition on house prices. This has caused the rise in rents rather than immigrants.

They see a frightening turn towards censorship. They value the first amendment. Remember, it’s very important. They are so tired of being lied to and called terrible names.

• there has not been a move toward censorship but fact checking to ensure that people do not spread lies especially during a pandemic that endangers lives.

Every time the mainstream media made up a story to make people hysterical they rolled their eyes. This pushed more and more people away. They stopped having any faith in the media. A firing squad? Really?

• This is sadly bereft of any evidence. Mainstream media have editorial board and fact checkers. social media is filled with bots, foreign players and unreliable actors.

They feel the hysteria is toxic and frightening. Again they want this all to calm down.

• by becoming hysterical ?

They watch as political protests are punished for only one side. They see crime running rampant.

• what storming the capitol to stop an election they do not agree with is a political protest? Shooting dead two people and walking free (Kyle Rittenhouse) is only one side being punished?

They see the people who try to protect us from crime being punished. The criminals go free to re-offend.

• when has this happened? When the police kill someone they need to be held accountable otherwise this leads to an unaccountable militia.

Essentially, they want their children to be healthy, they want their family to be fed, they don’t want endless war, they want things to be fair, they want the bad guys punished and the good guys appreciated, they want to protect women and children.

• how is the GOO protecting women and children? Removing the safety net, removing the right to vote, removing the right to a safe abortion (which has caused several deaths already), removing food programmes, removing protection from harassment due to gender, sexuality or race?

I hope if you are frightened today you will hear me. I hope I can help you see that things are not dire. I hope I can help you see that these were regular everyday folks who want regular everyday things. Food, clothing, shelter, privacy, respect for boundaries.

• There is no excuse to vote for a rapist, bully and insurrectionist who want to overthrow the rule of law and cause chaos in the world. Wants to not support democracy but aligns with transactional dictatorships to implement policy based on might rather than morality. Wants to take things based on want rather than moral expediency.

you should not take your arguments based on supposition and a puerile thesis on X. Just a moment of thought can refute every single one of these arguments. A simple modicum of research can disprove every single one of the reasons for voting for Trump. The thing is that most people who voted for Trump did not spend any time on research but looked at the very simplistic slogans to very complex issues. He talked down in a way that appealed to the amygdala (the reptilian) brain of people that gave them a sense of safety because they could accept simple solutions to what are difficult and complex issues that require thought and analysis to understand.

It does seem crazy to me that the economy seems to be built on the backbone of illegal immigration. But surely the answer here lies in flaws in the system. People in the US are undocumented but also paying tax into the system, buying houses ect… that’s wild.

Surely it is detrimental to the whole economy to just deport them and really they need to look at how their whole system is set up.

I just love your comment about censorship - This is the guy who is effectively cancelling anyone who dares speak an alternate view. Whose idea of democracy is to get rid of anyone or make sure they get no contracts who don’t agree with him - and oh bangs on about taking over other democratic countries or decides money used to aid other country’s is now a loan that needs taking back - when that was never stated initially - the guys basically the mafia!

i am not particularly woke so yep i do think some things had gone too far- i will give you that one
and the immigration thing? The US would struggle to get by on the system it has without a lot of immigrants doing the dirty and low paid work -

inflation? It’s the same everywhere caused by various things- it’s not US specific. I see nothing he is doing that would rapidly bring down inflation -

do I understand why many voted that way- yep, like the UK and Brexit people wanted simplistic solutions to complex issues in a global and often now automated world where they are now struggling somewhat -however voting in an autocrat and a crooked batshit one at that will not be the solution they think.

@CovenOfCheeses great post-

Unfortunately I think Harris was a poor choice of candidate against someone like Trump - I thought she was a poor speaker , don’t think I heard her give a good speech and her running partner actually came over far better- you need a terrier though against Trump, call out his bullshit but even more importantly needed to be addressing the very specifics people were anxious about - be that ‘too much woke’ or the economy .
Trump was a lousy choice and I’m disgusted the republicans allowed him to stand given his felon status at that point- but the opposition did themselves no favours either.