I see it’s time to bring up John Scalzi’s Cinemax Theory of Racism, from November 2016. (Please read the whole thing, not just my quote below.)
I think you can very easily make the argument that a lot people who voted for Trump are not and would not actively be racist to another person in their day-to-day lives. I live among Trump voters, and the ones I live among are lovely and kind and perfect neighbors. They are what nearly anyone would describe as good people, me included. As are, I think, the majority of the people who voted for Trump.
But the fact remains that in voting for Trump, they voted for racism: It was right there in the package deal, front and center, and hard to miss. They voted for it anyway. And you may argue that voting for racism as part of a larger package deal does not a racist make, and I wouldn’t necessarily disagree, as far as what people do to others in their personal and day to day lives. But voting for racism will make personal, day-to-day life harder for the targets of that racism. Two days after the election, we’re already seeing that.
So, yeah. Not all Trump supporters are blatant White supremacists or open racists. But they did, and do, support a man who made no effort to hide his racism and xenophobia, who in fact made it front and center of his campaign, and who has supported far-right loons and racists throughout his presidency. The Trump voters and supporters, for whatever reason, find this acceptable. And if pointing that out makes them uncomfortable and defensive, good. Because they goddamn should be uncomfortable about what Trump and his administration have been saying and doing, and about their own responsibility in making that happen.
