Trump’s popularity with his base isn’t the result of economic anxiety, as many claimed in 2016. It’s about race and demographics.

TO UNDERSTAND THE rise of Donald Trump, you don’t need to go to a diner in the Midwest or read “Hillbilly Elegy,” J.D. Vance’s memoir.

You just need to know these basic facts:

In 1980, white people accounted for about 80 percent of the U.S. population.

In 2024, white people account for about 58 percent of the U.S. population.

Trump appeals to white people gripped by demographic hysteria. Especially older white people who grew up when white people represented a much larger share of the population. They fear becoming a minority.

  • Eiri@lemmy.world
    2·
    3 months ago

    Oh yeah I certainly hope we can. It’s just hard when there are big systemic and evolutionary obstacles in the way.

    • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
      2·
      3 months ago

      Aye it’s hard road… hundreds of years of progress can be erased with the swipe of a sword.

      Not much else to do about it except try. That’s how I see it anyway.