The Rage of the FU White Guy (Part 3)

Their Place in the World is Threatened

Angry rich white guy, JD Vance.

I read a lot. I read a lot of history. I read a lot of World War II history. My wife likes to ask “Who wins?” when another title appears on my desk.

Reading Richard J. Evans’ latest addition to his incredible collection on Nazi Germany, Hitler’s People, I came across the following passage in the Introduction to “The Instruments,” the book’s final section:

Most Germans who belonged to the educated middle classes, the so-called Bildungsburgertum, comprising people with university degrees and professional status, welcomed the coming of the Third Reich and collaborated with the Nazi regime to the end. There were numerous reasons for this. Under the Bismarckian Empire they had enjoyed a secure and respected place in a self-confident and seemingly stable society, a position they had lost with Germany’s defeat in World War I, the revolution of 1918, the creation of the Weimar Republic with its enthronement of democratic rights such as universal and equal suffrage, and the advent of the feared and hated (and largely working class) Social Democrats to power. If relatively few of them were Nazi fanatics, the great majority still openly or tacitly support Hitler because they saw in him the guarantor of social order, national pride, economic stability, and cultural tradition, all of which had been so conspicuously absent, they thought, under the Weimar Republic. Not only medicine, and the law, each of which had their own peculiarities, but also other professions, followed a similar pattern. So too did the world of business, big, medium-sized, and small. Nazism was not the ideology of the un-educated or the unsuccessful.

This description is not a catch-all, of course. Democrats have gobbled up college-educated Americans into what George Packer calls “Smart America” and are often the ‘fiscally responsible/socially liberal’ unicorns so many earnest centrists believe can recreate a middle ground.

In an election as close as we’ll see just weeks from now, there are enough of the disaffected wealthy 10% who could pull the lever for Donald Trump in the Wisconsin’s WOW counties, suburban Detroit, and Pennsylvania’s affluent Bucks County to send him back to the White House.

As University of Chicago Professor Robert Pape noted in his research after January 6th, those that stormed the Capitol were not economically distressed. They were professionals of every kind. Chronically unemployed people don’t have bank accounts that sustain time off, travel, and thousands of dollars of gear.

In Pape’s analysis, the through-line of their anger was geographic and demographic. Many of them lived in Congressional districts that had been majority-white and seen substantial non-white in-migration. This would seem to track with Evans’ analysis of Germany’s upper middle class and affluent strata: The world is changing before their eyes and it scares and angers them.

I’m concerned, too, as Evans notes that many of the men likely vote for Trump in November are not MAGA or even MAGA-adjacent. In their eyes, it’s likely that Trump serves as that “guarantor of social order, national pride, economic stability, and cultural tradition.”

Any cursory review of Donald Trump’s stated positions puts paid to the America First myth. Trump is a social arsonist, asks ‘what’s so great’ about the United States, and promises expensive and damaging tariffs. The FU White Guys’ cognitive dissonance on issues combined with their cultural dissatisfaction drive them to someone they probably considered a clown when Trump was a game-show host.

Centrifugal Forces

There’s no doubt American culture and society are undergoing massive shifts. For many of these men, demographic changes such as the Greatest Generation’s last gasp and Gen Z’s rise, technological and economic disruptions not seen since the Industrial Revolution, and a generalized increase in the both speed and velocity of American life have left them disjointed and disoriented.

These are natural, if rapid changes. We’re also seeing what decades of right-wing, and Evangelical messaging can do to a society. What started with Joseph McCarthy, Young Americans for Freedom, and Rush Limbaugh have metastasized into the Federalist Society, Opus Dei, and Tucker Carlson.

Years ago, Limbaugh spent four hours a day on the radio. Now, the poison is a constant IV drip into the political veins of otherwise normal and decent people. It should not surprise us that some of those we thought we once knew have changed before our eyes.

Donald Trump himself, too, is responsible for the FU White Guys’ behavior. Leadership does, in fact, matter. He’s given license to Americans to be their worst selves, and to celebrate being an asshole for its own sake. Sure, buddy, slap that “Don’t Tread on Me” sticker on your $150,000 Range Rover.

Too many of these men are passing along their culture warrior cos-play onto their college-bound sons. Social media videos of young white fraternity guys expressing their undying fealty to Donald Trump are proliferating. Some say they’re supporting Trump because ‘he’s funny’ but that’s about as credible as a billionaire saying they’re voting Republican for the tax cuts.

A Fight to the Finish

Politics doesn’t occur in a vacuum, though. The Republican Party has repeatedly baited Democratic leaders into culture wars over the years, sometimes to their electoral detriment. Rather than changing the conversation about any number of issues, or discussing them as conservatives often do - as value propositions - Democrats have scolded. We can discuss this more on November 6th.

With five weeks to go, we must go after the outer edges of these men and appeal to what we used to call conservative values. Two particular cohorts about which I’ve spoken before, Dobbs Dads (those with daughters) and Red Dawn Conservatives (those that remember the Cold War, believe America should be leader of the free world, were Reagan fans) are important targets.

For Dobbs Dads, the value proposition is individual liberty. They may be uncomfortable discussing abortion as an issue. However, if the discussion is about the government, politicians, and un-elected judge making decisions for your family, you’re on the right path.

For the Red Dawns, they believe that the United States is Reagan’s City on a Hill, or they want it to be. They believe being American is the greatest gift in the world. They’ve never seen Russia as our friend, and don’t see Putin as a good guy now. They support both Ukraine and Israel.

If those arguments don’t work, some might be swayed by Trump’s age, incompetence, antics, and tired rhetoric. Trump isn’t better than he was eight years ago, and he will be far worse in office a year or two from now. The message might be just as simple as “Why take the chance with an 80 year nut?”

In many (or most) cases, our best option may be to convince them to skip the presidential line altogether. A vote for down ballot Republicans as a ‘check’ on Democrats is a win for the country. A few might be swayed to come all the way across the line for Kamala Harris, but in this effort we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

In a recent Quinnipiac survey, Trump has the support of 39% of college-educated white voters. He cannot afford to lose any of them, men or women. Sustained messaging across media is crucial to convincing enough of them to lay off Trump on Election Day.

The work we’ll do in the next 35 days is just the beginning of our task of bringing many of these men back to center-line politically, culturally, and socially. It will not be easy, nor will be it fast, but it is essential to ensuring that our country can begin to heal. If they’re left out there to stew and screw up their anger further, the fever won’t break.

History is rhyming right now. We need to listen to what it’s telling us. Democracies often fall with minority support. Therefore, we must turn out every possible vote. The damage Trump promises to do will take years, if not decades, to repair. Let’s do the work NOW to save ourselves from that future.

News and Notes:

I hope you’ll check out the latest episode of The Home Front Podcast featuring the inimitable

JoJoFromJerz

! Listen, follow, rate five stars!

It’s crunch time people and we’re up against the clock! I hope you’ll consider a contribution to The Union as we finish out our third quarter fundraising period. Keep us on the road!

We just finished our latest Weekend of Action in North Carolina. We had an incredible visit in Raleigh, Pittsboro, and Durham.

I want to send special thanks to:

• The Chatham County Democratic Party and their incredible Chair, Sue Blalock who surpassed 85% Democratic turnout in 2022.

• Janice Robinson of Red, Wine, and Blue who gathered a group of friends and converted her neighborhood from red to blue on the basis of sheer will and hard work.

• Bonnie at Neighbors on Call who are focused on targeted legislative races in North Carolina to break the GOP super-majority.

• The great members of the Duke University Democrats for inviting me to talk about how to talk to voters across the aisle and reminding me that the kids really are okay.

We’re headed to Michigan next weekend! Grand Rapids and Detroit, we’re coming to see you! Sign up for our events here.