2020 Election Aftermath

In an historic election with a record high turnout and nearly 160 million votes cast, Americans rejected four more years of Donald Trump’s xenophobia, grievance, thuggishness, and sustained attacks on democracy. The Biden-Harris win meant that most Americans had opted for empathy, truth, and decency over hate, lies, and dysfunction!

Who Voted for Trump and Why?

Trump’s support continued to come from White working class non-college-educated rural voters adversely affected by the loss of manufacturing jobs. This pool declined nationally from 45 to 41 percent. As in the past, it skewed male and poor. 

A Toronto-based writer told me he hoped Trump supporters would “crawl back under their rock with their god and their guns!” What rock? “Their pro militia, high school fail, immigrant-hating, trailer park rock, that rock!” Let me add opioid-addicted, anti-intellectual, science-denying to that list!

He continued, “Trump supporters must own every thing he did.” By that token, more than 70 million of our fellow citizens voted to keep Central American kids (including babies) in cages! At last count, the parents of 545 children cannot be found; their records are unavailable, tragically lost! (See BBC story below).

Evangelical Support

About 80 percent of White Evangelical and “Born Again” Christians (see below NPR article on the faith vote) supported Trump. Catholic support was 49 percent.

Evangelicals have long been single issue voters. They are “pro-life” and, for them, it’s all about abolishing “choice” or abortion. They have waited nearly 50 years to overturn 1973’s Roe v. Wade, the ruling that made abortion legal. For the same reason, many immigrant Catholic communities also vote GOP: Filipino, Indian, Latinx (see below for explanation).

A second contentious issue is same sex marriage and gay (LGBTQ) rights. Evangelicals are hopeful that, the appointment by Trump of conservative justices to the Supreme Court, will not only overturn Roe v. Wade but also 2015’s marriage equality judgements that allow same sex marriage.

Jews for Trump

Although more Jews voted for Biden, Trump raised his share of the Jewish vote to about 25 percent. The reason is the U.S. Embassy being moved to Jerusalem and support for Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu’s controversial expansion of illegal West Bank settlements. Often occupied by ultra right wing American Jews (regarded with suspicion by more secular Israelis), these settlements are located deep in Palestinian territory.

Trump fueled the dangerous illusion that Israel could ignore the conflict with the Palestinians, maybe even formally annex the West Bank! “Now Netanyahu’s Israel has to sober up from the intoxication of power that marked four years of Trump’s rule,” says a Haaretz editorial (linked below).  

Black Voters

About 10 percent of Black voters both nationally and in key swing states with large Black electorates supported Trump. That is similar to 2016 and reflects broader partisan dynamics. 

Although Black women effectively propelled the Biden-Harris ticket to victory, about one in 10 Black college-educated men have traditionally identified as Republican. Their rationale is history: Abraham Lincoln (who freed the slaves) was Republican, hence their loyalty to the party.  

Young Black male voters don’t feel as negatively about Trump as older ones. In some battleground states, 18 to 29 year olds said they liked his strong demeanor and defiance of the establishment!  

In recent weeks, prominent Black celebrities like actor Ice-T and rappers 50 Cent and Lil Wayne endorsed Trump. Harsh public backlash caused some to walk back that support.

Diverse Hispanic Vote

Even though 70 percent of the almost 15 million Latinx community voted for Biden, Democrats failed to attract enough of them in key swing states where Trump grew his support. 

In southern Florida’s Miami-Dade county, the Hispanic community was swayed by GOP fiction that Biden was soft on socialism and would defund the police. Cubans, Venezuelans, Colombians, even Puerto Ricans overwhelmingly voted GOP! Some were from nations scarred by socialist dictators (the Castros in Cuba, Chavez and Maduro in Venezuela). 

Colombians — who tend to be well off and better educated than other Hispanic groups, and usually pro-Democratic — were influenced this year by former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, a dominant force of the Colombian right and a guru to the Miami community. Uribe warned against “Castro Chavismo,” a watchword for the rise of Latin American socialist governments.

Puerto Ricans voting GOP may be the most astonishing thing of all! It was Trump who delayed providing relief during 2017’s Hurricane Maria, apparently not caring that Puerto Rico was a U.S. Territory, while celebrities Lin Manuel Miranda, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, chef Jose Andres (an outspoken Trump critic), and others, organized fundraisers and airlifted urgent food supplies to that hard hit island — short memories, those ‘Ricans!  

Another odd phenomenon is the Miami Cuban community which still expects to reclaim land and wealth left behind when they fled Cuba six-plus decades ago! The GOP feeds their fantasies and the community pays lobbyists millions to ensure that U.S.-Cuba relations remain paralyzed and the embargo kept in place. I visited Cuba in 2013 and have met often enough with Miami Cubans to know that the two sides may never reconcile! White Miami Cubans represent a minority group of rich landowners who oppressed majority Black Cubans during the Batista regime, that was overthrown by Fidel Castro-Che Guevara in the 1959 Revolution. Needless to say, they’re fanatically Republican!

The GOP opted for a grassroots “ground and pound” game in Miami-Dade, walking to homes, knocking on doors, and falsely warning of a socialist Biden-Harris ticket in radio ads. (See below Washington Post story.)  Conscious of Covid, the Dems used phone and digital outreach, avoiding face to face contact and, although they overspent the GOP, their message did not resonate.

It was similar in south Texas where Latinx (mainly Mexican) communities in El Paso and other border areas along the Rio Grande supported Trump despite his cruel policy of child separation, the fraught border wall issue, and calling Mexicans   “rapists” and “bad hombres!” Trump’s disrespect and insults did not hurt him; the community liked his “machismo!” Go figure! In exit interviews Latinx voters said the Dems took them for granted, did not woo them or spend time with them the way the GOP did, and that their message was not uplifting enough!

It is a diverse community that seems to be easily flattered by attention and may not always be aware of — or vote — its own self interest!

It’s Aspirational!

A desperate need among people of color to identify with the majority has long been a factor with minorities. The same is true for all immigrant communities. They want to identify with the majority, not with other poor or recently poor immigrants. It’s aspirational! 

On an Uber trip last week, my driver (a Muslim from Morocco) proudly told me that he’d voted for Trump. I guess he was unaware of the Muslim ban or that current immigration policy is to stop people like him from coming to this country!

Traditionally, the Democrats were the party of immigrants, poor people, and labor. But, as soon as immigrants acquired wealth, many decided they didn't want to be part of a group that struggled to make ends meet. They voted their pocketbooks to avoid high taxes and switched their allegiance to the GOP, traditionally considered the party that lowers taxes. 

This was evident with rich Indian doctors and businessmen who contributed to GOP presidential campaigns dating back to the 90s and were proud to be among the topmost donors to Bush, Dole, Romney, and McCain. Note that 16 to 18 percent of Indians supported Trump in 2020, according to press reports, although that number may be revised.

Uncertainty Continues!

About 80 percent of Americans, including over half of Republicans, recognize Biden as the winner of the 2020 election, says a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Despite that,Trump still refuses to accept election results, casting doubt on their validity, and spreading conspiracy theories about voter fraud. 

This unwillingness to concede makes for an embarrassing spectacle with the rest of the world looking on! The standoff could have serious security and foreign policy implications. The impact on democratic norms is unprecedented and negative and perpetuates the lie that the election was not legit! 

Is it “a tale... full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (apologies to Shakespeare) or is there something more devious at stake? Washington is agog with rumors: what do the sudden personnel changes at the Pentagon mean? Will Trump ever concede? Will he run again in 2024 or just pretend to, to remain in the news?  Could he stage some sort of coup? Highly unlikely, say sources! Stay tuned!

Ludi Joseph

November 11,2020

Washington, D.C.

 

                 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54636223

2020 Faith Vote Reflects 2016 Patterns

Latinx, a gender-neutral term replacing Latino and Latina, refers to people of Latin American descent.

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