Following the debate, the popular lifestyle blogger Charleston Blonde posted a simple poll in her Instagram stories. “Who are you voting for?” she asked, with options to click Trump or Biden. At first, the votes were split evenly: 116 to 116, 141 to 141. She asked another question, with the guarantee that she would post replies anonymously. “If voting for Trump, tell me why,” followed by “If voting for Biden, tell me why.”
I've started following housing/development politics over the last few years and have come to believe that NIMBYism is the most powerful political force in the country. And although I don't disagree with any of the great points in this newsletter, it is a very, very bipartisan problem. Some of the most ardent Biden voters in the country, with Sierra Club memberships and "Refugees are Welcome Here" yard signs, will wage years-long scorched-earth campaigns against increased density in their neighborhoods - or even increased transit options that threaten their street parking spaces. Getting more acquainted with this mindset has made me pessimistic about the long-term future of policies to address climate change, especially, because it will require tangible changes to this class's lifestyle. I don't think we really have a political language of "consume less" (land, plastic, oil, etc) that applies to individuals, on either the left or the right, but we're going to need one.
This reminds me of the book “Driving After Class” which gets into white middle class precarity/anxiety and how all consuming it can be to “keep up” — it reflects both what you’re saying about how easy it is to lose financial security, and all the ways possessive investment in whiteness pops up in mundane choices. (Also, as an *almost finished* anth phd at UT I love reading your cultural analysis. It’s resonant with my work and aspirational!)
I remain perplexed by these women as many are my peers— in whiteness, class, background, education, etc. I am wondering about the unique millennial aspect to this. Where identity is not party/politics but in the lifestyle image. It’s why these women probably hold more progressive views than boomers who are similar to them (are pretty pro-LGBTQ, might even do a BLM post, etc) but they’re not bound to party politics... just lifestyle maintaining politics.
My perplexedness is mostly that these women who blithely say things about any GOP being good on the economy, even their personal one. The lack of analysis on correlation and causation here... hoo boy. Like even personal taxes wise— mess!
I also wonder about the conservative white woman demographic here that has been told the husband is the “head” and so they just parrot what he says and don’t really get into issues. My very successful business woman boomer in law even is like this— defers to her husband who fears liberal taxes and just votes how he does. 🤷🏻♀️
This is a superb characterization and I wish more people could understand this. The only thing I'd add, however, is that for many of the lifestyle-blog-type women, there are also the supportive-partner men who take many of the instagram photos, but are also the ones flipping the channel to Fox at the gym, putting the Trump stickers on the shiny-clean F150, and maybe going to the lake for the boat parade. These influencers of the influencers can't be ignored either.
Lately, I've been interacting with a lot of white, suburban women who are new to supporting Black Lives Matter protests but act like Black protesters are less worldly and strategic than they are. It made me notice that a lot of liberal-leaning, white, financially comfortable people have mirror patronizing attitudes towards white Trump supporters (whom they think are accidentally violent rubes) and social justice activists, especially Black and brown ones. I'm still not sure how much of that comes from fear/denial (of the latent violence of Trump supporters and possible demands of Black Americans) and how much from the privilege of the "reasonable" centrist.
I cheer through AHP’s newsletters. I did through this one. I have a but, and I hate buts. I see it here and I just saw it in Can’t Even (I’m like a tenth through it exactly because of the reasons outlined in the book). It’s the idea of “how do we get them to care about other people, especially people who aren’t like them”. I have people like this in my family. Caring about and for other people is a defining feature for them. They do mission trips. The church competes to give them causes. The existence of Q and that it’s been taken over by the moms is evidence of care. It’s a defining feature. I don’t know about the Instagram blog moms as much. This piece shines more light on it than I’ve ever seen. My hang up is that the people I know are perfectly capable of empathy, and many define themselves by it. Make work of it. Organize and advocate for the causes they find important. And it can very well be for people who aren’t like them. I don’t know where the disconnect between the trump moms and the Biden moms is, but I swear the problem isn’t empathy. I’d bet it’s more the information they get.
To begin with, all of the people mentioned in the article who don't own their own business *are* working class, because they labor for a wage, salary, or commission. They may be more or less precarious, or similarly precarious at a higher level of compensation, but the way they live their lives isn't fundamentally different from, say, their paper mill forebears; it's just a little nicer.
You'd think the precarity, the debt trap, the pressure to keep up appearances (intensified in the age of social media), and the foreclosures of 2008 might make them more open to a 99%/1% narrative, take a more honest look at their class position, and at least see the racist concepts mentioned in the article. But all this is overshadowed by a threat of further punishment: losing the few creature comforts they do have, at least for now. Their whiteness lets them dodge discrimination and police violence; they get to consume a few of the things that capitalism tells us are "luxuries"; and they believe that, if they claw through each year accumulating enough, they can stop working for the last 10-15 years of their lives.
They look at these crumbs, who they stepped on the poor and marginalized for, and think of themselves as "haves" instead of "have nots". So they view BLM, "socialism" (as slandered by the 1%), and even empathy as threats instead of opportunities.
“They’re anti-Communist because they don’t want other people to have more money if it means that they will have less of it. When people talk about Trump supporters voting against their own interests, they’re eliding this very basic motivation: people voting entirely in their own interest.” I agree this feels right, but then why doesn’t the message resonate with them about how the top 1% has captured so much of the gains while that middle class has lost it’s stability? It seems clear they don’t mind if those people have more money even while they have less. Is it because they somehow think that’s fair, inevitable, or that they could have a shot at being one of those people someday?
I haven't seen anything like this presented in a comprehensive and thoughtful way, but it's a super compelling case to me…for a subset of Trump voters.
That said, I only see it as a partial defense in that it adds complexity to our understanding of some Trump supporters. But, you wouldn’t want to generalize when you’re blogging to counter an over-generalized perspective. I get that.
Your post is helpful because much of our politics, media, and culture tend to oversimplify things into very clear poles and starkly contrasting framings. That said, of course, that happens across the board, not simply to the subset of Trump supporters that you’re writing about. That’s done to people on the left too. Though you use the quotes to make your case that we shouldn’t caricature Trump supporters, I submit that you can see the same exact behavior in many of the comments that you post to support a more nuanced understanding of Trump supporters. But, they're doing exactly the same thing to Democrats and liberals – communists & socialists is thrown around way too frequently and easily. They also caricature the left as hating the military and even being unpatriotic.
So, I do bristle a bit because you’re asking us to have this very generous, nuanced, and complex understanding of Trump supporters, but that group is – in my opinion – far worse in their caricatures of anyone to the left of center. You can see this in microcosm in the debate over political correctness – the right has long railed against being PC, but let someone say, “happy holidays” in front of them and many will instantly explode in a rant that it’s part of a war on Christmas and Christians. They turn something that’s intended to be more respectful to others into an attack on them – a form of self-centeredness and victimhood that they say they hate on the left.
BUT, if we're generally going to move away from this bitter partisanship where we diminish the other side to simple caricatures, we must start somewhere...and it's a good thing if people like me can understand the complexity of Trump supporters a bit more. I'm skeptical that we'll get the same treatment from them, but that's not why I search for truth and understanding - as a tit-for-tat exchange. I legitimately want to understand not only Trump supporters better, but all people better (including the left, which I count myself among…but likely misunderstand in many ways), because it gives me a more clear understanding of our world, regardless of whether anyone else is doing the same.
One final thought - this whole conversation is about to transition into an entirely new phase. Regardless of what happens in the election, it's going to dramatically impact our conversation about Trump and I'm extremely skeptical...or maybe anxious, that most of the change in this conversation won’t reduce misunderstanding or tension, but rather will serve to amp up our divisions. I hope I’m wrong.
Regardless, thanks for doing your part to help us all have a better, more nuanced, generous, and accurate understanding of our fellow citizens. Thank you!
And just after I finished reading this, I clicked on this clip of a white woman in front of her Texas McMansion who seems to perfectly epitomize the "lifestyle" racist. I want to mock her, but it's too chilling. All that smiling. https://twitter.com/_Almaqah/status/1311516809582063616?s=20
I love this article in so many ways and for so many reasons. I would definitely classify myself as educated & underpaid as a writer. I almost can’t stomach Trump but then I feel Biden is extremely creepy in touchy way towards others. Being from the Permian Basin in Texas, an Army Wife and a woman trying to stay afloat in her 50’s, I find you as a breath of fresh air! The white bougie Joanna Gaines house and all the trimmings is so what I’m trying hard to avoid. The Botox, lip injections and body sculpting Trump supporters are literally what I don’t want to be but might be secretly what I am wishing I had the money for...but then again I’m not sure. I keep switching from Trump to Biden bc I can’t decide which is worse....either way I’m voting on morality in my personal opinion
Thanks so much for this article. I really loved the passage about how some in the face of instability turn outward and some turn inward. It gives words to a feeling I've felt for a while which is just bewilderment and rage at these women who post about finding their "light/peace/beauty" as a way of setting aside all that "other stuff" (racial injustice, economic disparity, crumbling foundations of society).
I think you just described my sister who I have always had a hard time fitting into the narrative of the Trump voter. Financially comfortable, unaffected by economic or health concerns, wants to keep a status quo that benefits her and does not seem alive to the many many it harms. The harms haven't reached her yet. They may not in any way she views as related to her vote.
I was just rage texting a friend of mine about this yesterday! I am fascinated by this ex-pat mommy blogger https://www.instagram.com/aspiringkennedy/ (that handle!!!!) who had a long set of Stories yesterday about how embarrassing the debate was, how everyone should be nice to each other, how social media is an echo chamber, cancel culture is out of control...but didn't come out and say anything concrete. She kept saying "we" and "us" without being explicit that "we" and "us" means white people, white women, given her audience. And she turned her comments off, which she usually keeps on, so *side eyes*
I've started following housing/development politics over the last few years and have come to believe that NIMBYism is the most powerful political force in the country. And although I don't disagree with any of the great points in this newsletter, it is a very, very bipartisan problem. Some of the most ardent Biden voters in the country, with Sierra Club memberships and "Refugees are Welcome Here" yard signs, will wage years-long scorched-earth campaigns against increased density in their neighborhoods - or even increased transit options that threaten their street parking spaces. Getting more acquainted with this mindset has made me pessimistic about the long-term future of policies to address climate change, especially, because it will require tangible changes to this class's lifestyle. I don't think we really have a political language of "consume less" (land, plastic, oil, etc) that applies to individuals, on either the left or the right, but we're going to need one.
This reminds me of the book “Driving After Class” which gets into white middle class precarity/anxiety and how all consuming it can be to “keep up” — it reflects both what you’re saying about how easy it is to lose financial security, and all the ways possessive investment in whiteness pops up in mundane choices. (Also, as an *almost finished* anth phd at UT I love reading your cultural analysis. It’s resonant with my work and aspirational!)
I remain perplexed by these women as many are my peers— in whiteness, class, background, education, etc. I am wondering about the unique millennial aspect to this. Where identity is not party/politics but in the lifestyle image. It’s why these women probably hold more progressive views than boomers who are similar to them (are pretty pro-LGBTQ, might even do a BLM post, etc) but they’re not bound to party politics... just lifestyle maintaining politics.
My perplexedness is mostly that these women who blithely say things about any GOP being good on the economy, even their personal one. The lack of analysis on correlation and causation here... hoo boy. Like even personal taxes wise— mess!
I also wonder about the conservative white woman demographic here that has been told the husband is the “head” and so they just parrot what he says and don’t really get into issues. My very successful business woman boomer in law even is like this— defers to her husband who fears liberal taxes and just votes how he does. 🤷🏻♀️
This is a superb characterization and I wish more people could understand this. The only thing I'd add, however, is that for many of the lifestyle-blog-type women, there are also the supportive-partner men who take many of the instagram photos, but are also the ones flipping the channel to Fox at the gym, putting the Trump stickers on the shiny-clean F150, and maybe going to the lake for the boat parade. These influencers of the influencers can't be ignored either.
Lately, I've been interacting with a lot of white, suburban women who are new to supporting Black Lives Matter protests but act like Black protesters are less worldly and strategic than they are. It made me notice that a lot of liberal-leaning, white, financially comfortable people have mirror patronizing attitudes towards white Trump supporters (whom they think are accidentally violent rubes) and social justice activists, especially Black and brown ones. I'm still not sure how much of that comes from fear/denial (of the latent violence of Trump supporters and possible demands of Black Americans) and how much from the privilege of the "reasonable" centrist.
I cheer through AHP’s newsletters. I did through this one. I have a but, and I hate buts. I see it here and I just saw it in Can’t Even (I’m like a tenth through it exactly because of the reasons outlined in the book). It’s the idea of “how do we get them to care about other people, especially people who aren’t like them”. I have people like this in my family. Caring about and for other people is a defining feature for them. They do mission trips. The church competes to give them causes. The existence of Q and that it’s been taken over by the moms is evidence of care. It’s a defining feature. I don’t know about the Instagram blog moms as much. This piece shines more light on it than I’ve ever seen. My hang up is that the people I know are perfectly capable of empathy, and many define themselves by it. Make work of it. Organize and advocate for the causes they find important. And it can very well be for people who aren’t like them. I don’t know where the disconnect between the trump moms and the Biden moms is, but I swear the problem isn’t empathy. I’d bet it’s more the information they get.
To begin with, all of the people mentioned in the article who don't own their own business *are* working class, because they labor for a wage, salary, or commission. They may be more or less precarious, or similarly precarious at a higher level of compensation, but the way they live their lives isn't fundamentally different from, say, their paper mill forebears; it's just a little nicer.
You'd think the precarity, the debt trap, the pressure to keep up appearances (intensified in the age of social media), and the foreclosures of 2008 might make them more open to a 99%/1% narrative, take a more honest look at their class position, and at least see the racist concepts mentioned in the article. But all this is overshadowed by a threat of further punishment: losing the few creature comforts they do have, at least for now. Their whiteness lets them dodge discrimination and police violence; they get to consume a few of the things that capitalism tells us are "luxuries"; and they believe that, if they claw through each year accumulating enough, they can stop working for the last 10-15 years of their lives.
They look at these crumbs, who they stepped on the poor and marginalized for, and think of themselves as "haves" instead of "have nots". So they view BLM, "socialism" (as slandered by the 1%), and even empathy as threats instead of opportunities.
“They’re anti-Communist because they don’t want other people to have more money if it means that they will have less of it. When people talk about Trump supporters voting against their own interests, they’re eliding this very basic motivation: people voting entirely in their own interest.” I agree this feels right, but then why doesn’t the message resonate with them about how the top 1% has captured so much of the gains while that middle class has lost it’s stability? It seems clear they don’t mind if those people have more money even while they have less. Is it because they somehow think that’s fair, inevitable, or that they could have a shot at being one of those people someday?
Great post! Super helpful!
I haven't seen anything like this presented in a comprehensive and thoughtful way, but it's a super compelling case to me…for a subset of Trump voters.
That said, I only see it as a partial defense in that it adds complexity to our understanding of some Trump supporters. But, you wouldn’t want to generalize when you’re blogging to counter an over-generalized perspective. I get that.
Your post is helpful because much of our politics, media, and culture tend to oversimplify things into very clear poles and starkly contrasting framings. That said, of course, that happens across the board, not simply to the subset of Trump supporters that you’re writing about. That’s done to people on the left too. Though you use the quotes to make your case that we shouldn’t caricature Trump supporters, I submit that you can see the same exact behavior in many of the comments that you post to support a more nuanced understanding of Trump supporters. But, they're doing exactly the same thing to Democrats and liberals – communists & socialists is thrown around way too frequently and easily. They also caricature the left as hating the military and even being unpatriotic.
So, I do bristle a bit because you’re asking us to have this very generous, nuanced, and complex understanding of Trump supporters, but that group is – in my opinion – far worse in their caricatures of anyone to the left of center. You can see this in microcosm in the debate over political correctness – the right has long railed against being PC, but let someone say, “happy holidays” in front of them and many will instantly explode in a rant that it’s part of a war on Christmas and Christians. They turn something that’s intended to be more respectful to others into an attack on them – a form of self-centeredness and victimhood that they say they hate on the left.
BUT, if we're generally going to move away from this bitter partisanship where we diminish the other side to simple caricatures, we must start somewhere...and it's a good thing if people like me can understand the complexity of Trump supporters a bit more. I'm skeptical that we'll get the same treatment from them, but that's not why I search for truth and understanding - as a tit-for-tat exchange. I legitimately want to understand not only Trump supporters better, but all people better (including the left, which I count myself among…but likely misunderstand in many ways), because it gives me a more clear understanding of our world, regardless of whether anyone else is doing the same.
One final thought - this whole conversation is about to transition into an entirely new phase. Regardless of what happens in the election, it's going to dramatically impact our conversation about Trump and I'm extremely skeptical...or maybe anxious, that most of the change in this conversation won’t reduce misunderstanding or tension, but rather will serve to amp up our divisions. I hope I’m wrong.
Regardless, thanks for doing your part to help us all have a better, more nuanced, generous, and accurate understanding of our fellow citizens. Thank you!
And just after I finished reading this, I clicked on this clip of a white woman in front of her Texas McMansion who seems to perfectly epitomize the "lifestyle" racist. I want to mock her, but it's too chilling. All that smiling. https://twitter.com/_Almaqah/status/1311516809582063616?s=20
I must have missed this when it came out so thanks for linking to it.
I've always said the Trump voter isn't as they are portrayed in MSM...thank you for your intelligent and detailed essay.
I love this article in so many ways and for so many reasons. I would definitely classify myself as educated & underpaid as a writer. I almost can’t stomach Trump but then I feel Biden is extremely creepy in touchy way towards others. Being from the Permian Basin in Texas, an Army Wife and a woman trying to stay afloat in her 50’s, I find you as a breath of fresh air! The white bougie Joanna Gaines house and all the trimmings is so what I’m trying hard to avoid. The Botox, lip injections and body sculpting Trump supporters are literally what I don’t want to be but might be secretly what I am wishing I had the money for...but then again I’m not sure. I keep switching from Trump to Biden bc I can’t decide which is worse....either way I’m voting on morality in my personal opinion
I love these! I read 4 regularly but have never seen the other two so thanks for sharing! I’ll be sure to check them out :)
https://www.gogle-news.com
Thanks so much for this article. I really loved the passage about how some in the face of instability turn outward and some turn inward. It gives words to a feeling I've felt for a while which is just bewilderment and rage at these women who post about finding their "light/peace/beauty" as a way of setting aside all that "other stuff" (racial injustice, economic disparity, crumbling foundations of society).
I think you just described my sister who I have always had a hard time fitting into the narrative of the Trump voter. Financially comfortable, unaffected by economic or health concerns, wants to keep a status quo that benefits her and does not seem alive to the many many it harms. The harms haven't reached her yet. They may not in any way she views as related to her vote.
I was just rage texting a friend of mine about this yesterday! I am fascinated by this ex-pat mommy blogger https://www.instagram.com/aspiringkennedy/ (that handle!!!!) who had a long set of Stories yesterday about how embarrassing the debate was, how everyone should be nice to each other, how social media is an echo chamber, cancel culture is out of control...but didn't come out and say anything concrete. She kept saying "we" and "us" without being explicit that "we" and "us" means white people, white women, given her audience. And she turned her comments off, which she usually keeps on, so *side eyes*