Base and Superstructure

Alienation, autonomy, and ideology

Category: Trumpism (Page 2 of 5)

These are posts on Donald Trump and Trumpism from the blog Base and Superstructure. Trump took American politics by surprise. This provides us with a number of topics for further discussion. Some posts discuss whether Trump’s movement is fascist. Others critique the movement. Still others provide us with ways to combat against Trumpism and replace it with a class politics grounded in solidarity and the advancement of material interests. Even after Trump has left office, his movement is likely to continue as a component of American politics for years to come. These issues will be relevant for some time to come.

rural midwest

Politics in the Rural Midwest

February 7, 2022 /

So, a few readers know I grew up in rural southern Indiana. The politics out there aren’t great. I mean, really not great. It’s been a bastion of various kinds of far right activity for some time. And it stands in well enough for the rural Midwest as a whole. It’s a bit more southern than, say, rural Iowa. But the politics are close cousins.

At the same time, lots of people – especially liberals – hold various misconceptions about life and politics in the rural Midwest. The truth of the matter is that there’s quite a bit of diversity of thought and opinion in the rural Midwest. Liberals miss that part.

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white-identitarianism trump

Taking White-Identitarianism Seriously

May 17, 2021 /

Some time ago, I posted an analysis of fascism. And then I applied that analysis to Trumpism – both in a post and an eBook. The short version of all that: I consider Trumpism a movement of nationalist (or populist) white-identitarianism, a term I coined. I don’t mean to deny that work. I’m satisfied with it and consider it complete, as far as it goes.

But I’ve found some confusions out there on the left. Some leftists set up a false dichotomy. Here’s how it goes: either leftists use the term ‘fascist’ for all far-right viewpoints, or else they’re not taking far-right views seriously as a threat.

This false dichotomy carries the implication that people who don’t call all the far-right ‘fascist’ aren’t taking the far-right seriously. Of course, I don’t think Trumpism is a fascist movement. So it’s time to say a bit more about taking white-identitarianism seriously as a threat.

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Trump Administration

Three Lessons from the Trump Administration

January 18, 2021 /

The Trump Administration will come to an end this week, and not a moment too soon. Trump began his presidency with a surprise win over Hillary Clinton. He ended it with a foolish invasion of the U.S. Capitol. The win was more about the weakness of the Democratic Party than any electoral strength of Trumpism. As soon as the Democrats discarded Clinton, they had little trouble beating him.

But let’s take stock of what we might learn from the 4 years of the Trump Administration.

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Trump insurrection confederate flag

Trump Insurrection: Very Bad People on Both Sides

January 14, 2021 /

Any reader not living off the grid knows about the Trump insurrection on January 6 (and second impeachment). Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol. And they did so with a bit of help from some police officers and violent conflict with others. The Trump insurrection involved a conflict between QAnon conspiracy theorists, other Trumpists, and the police. Insofar as that’s true, I’m inclined to grab and modify Trump’s ‘very fine people on both sides’ remark.

In the Trump insurrection there were, indeed, very bad people on both sides, i.e., Trumpism and policing. We might say a great deal about how the left should respond. But I’m inclined to say the left shouldn’t directly involve itself in a fight between a Trump insurrection and police officers. Because that’s not really our fight.

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white women trump

White Women and Trump, Part 2

November 19, 2020 /

After the 2016 election, I wrote a post on the status of white women in Trump’s coalition. Trump landed a surprise win over Hillary Clinton, and many people singled out white women as the key driver. In that previous post, I looked at the evidence and concluded that this is false. White women were not the key driver of Trump’s win.

White women have been moving toward the GOP for decades. They even moved slightly away from the GOP in 2016. And so, white women were not the decisive factor in Trump’s victory. It was white men who led Trump to victory. Insofar as, e.g., racial justice movements, singled out white women, it was likely because white women made a more attractive target than white men for moral appeals. Not because white women were key to Trump’s base.

With that as our starting point, let’s return to the issue of white women and Trump. How did 2020 go? Did white women vote for Trump again? Did movement in the votes of white women propel Biden to victory?

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