Bootstraps Ideology Entraps White Working Class in Endless Stigma of (Self) Hate.
Temporarily Embarrassed Millionaires Still Waiting for Magical Invisible Hand to Lift them From Poverty. No Dignity in Charity
Author John Paul Brammer has the most brilliant breakdown yet of why poor white people made the difference in getting Donald Trump elected.
Brammer opened up the 24-tweet essay by first identifying as a Mexican-American from a small town in deep-red Oklahoma, establishing his credentials for knowing the rationale behind why working-class white voters went for Trump in droves. He then laid out, tweet-by-tweet, why American culture’s glorification of wealth is idolization of wealthy people is what made the crucial difference in poor people voting for a billionaire president.
In his series of tweets, Brammer explained that as the middle class eroded over the past few decades in the advent of globalization and the steady destabilization of unions, poor white Americans entered a state of denial. The fact that the Trump campaign offered up the scapegoat of immigrants and Syrian refugees allowed impoverished rural Americans the opportunity to externalize their failures onto marginalized groups of people.
Brammer blamed Trump’s success on the so-called “American Dream” of being able to pick oneself up by their own bootstraps and move up the class ladder through hard work and gumption. The fact that Trump directly contributed to the decline of white American rust belt communities through conscious choices like refusing to buy steel for his buildings from American companies, opting instead to buy cheaper Chinese steel, was ignored in favor of the feel-good “American Dream narrative that has permeated American culture.
As Brammer argues, Trump is the physical representation of the American Dream, especially to poor white people who refuse to accept that the system has denied them the means to lift themselves up out of poverty. Even though Trump inherited his wealth from his family and was only able to build a real estate empire with the help of nearly $900 million in tax breaks, rural Americans desperately need to believe that they, too, could be as successful as Trump were it not for obstacles in their way. Brammer pointed out that poor whites in his hometown had myriad excuses to explain away their poverty.
Read Brammer’s poignant Twitter essay below:
If you're wondering how poor, exploited white people could vote for a dude with a golden elevator who will fuck them over, here's how.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
The stigma against poverty is incredibly strong. It is shameful to be poor, to not have the comforts of the middle class. So they pretend-
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
In my town, wealth wasn't associated with greed, but with hard work and inherent goodness. You are blessed if you have material wealth.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
They see someone who worked hard and was justly rewarded with wealth. Most men, especially, think they too could be Trump were it not for
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
The idea that immigrants are the reason they are poor and not wealthy like Trump is so appealing. It takes all the shame and blame away.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
If these people saw themselves as an exploited class of people, if American culture didn't stigmatize poverty so much, it might be different
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
Trump is rich, and so according to American criteria, he is also:
1. Wise
2. Fair
3. Moral
4. Deserving
5. Strong
6. Clever
He *has* to be.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
To fail to transcend poverty, and to admit you are poor, is to admit you are neither hardworking or clever. It's cultural brainwashing.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
Xenophobia. Hatred of anyone who is "different," queer people, people of color. These people are eroding the "goodness" of America.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
I'm telling you, as someone who has spent almost his entire life in this environment, that if you think cities are a "bubble…" Good God.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
How you balance those realities, and what conclusions you reach to improve the lives of both, well, I'm not smart enough to have the answer.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
Because Trump won't make them rich. Even if he deports all the brown people. It won't bring them what they're hoping for.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
I’m a Mexican-American from a small town. Here’s why poor white people voted for Trump
Author John Paul Brammer has the most brilliant breakdown yet of why poor white people made the difference in getting Donald Trump elected.
Brammer opened up the 24-tweet essay by first identifying as a Mexican-American from a small town in deep-red Oklahoma, establishing his credentials for knowing the rationale behind why working-class white voters went for Trump in droves. He then laid out, tweet-by-tweet, why American culture’s glorification of wealth is idolization of wealthy people is what made the crucial difference in poor people voting for a billionaire president.
In his series of tweets, Brammer explained that as the middle class eroded over the past few decades in the advent of globalization and the steady destabilization of unions, poor white Americans entered a state of denial. The fact that the Trump campaign offered up the scapegoat of immigrants and Syrian refugees allowed impoverished rural Americans the opportunity to externalize their failures onto marginalized groups of people.
Brammer blamed Trump’s success on the so-called “American Dream” of being able to pick oneself up by their own bootstraps and move up the class ladder through hard work and gumption. The fact that Trump directly contributed to the decline of white American rust belt communities through conscious choices like refusing to buy steel for his buildings from American companies, opting instead to buy cheaper Chinese steel, was ignored in favor of the feel-good “American Dream narrative that has permeated American culture.
As Brammer argues, Trump is the physical representation of the American Dream, especially to poor white people who refuse to accept that the system has denied them the means to lift themselves up out of poverty. Even though Trump inherited his wealth from his family and was only able to build a real estate empire with the help of nearly $900 million in tax breaks, rural Americans desperately need to believe that they, too, could be as successful as Trump were it not for obstacles in their way. Brammer pointed out that poor whites in his hometown had myriad excuses to explain away their poverty.
Read Brammer’s poignant Twitter essay below:
If you're wondering how poor, exploited white people could vote for a dude with a golden elevator who will fuck them over, here's how.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
The stigma against poverty is incredibly strong. It is shameful to be poor, to not have the comforts of the middle class. So they pretend-
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
In my town, wealth wasn't associated with greed, but with hard work and inherent goodness. You are blessed if you have material wealth.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
They see someone who worked hard and was justly rewarded with wealth. Most men, especially, think they too could be Trump were it not for
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
The idea that immigrants are the reason they are poor and not wealthy like Trump is so appealing. It takes all the shame and blame away.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
If these people saw themselves as an exploited class of people, if American culture didn't stigmatize poverty so much, it might be different
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
Trump is rich, and so according to American criteria, he is also:
1. Wise
2. Fair
3. Moral
4. Deserving
5. Strong
6. Clever
He *has* to be.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
To fail to transcend poverty, and to admit you are poor, is to admit you are neither hardworking or clever. It's cultural brainwashing.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
Xenophobia. Hatred of anyone who is "different," queer people, people of color. These people are eroding the "goodness" of America.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
I'm telling you, as someone who has spent almost his entire life in this environment, that if you think cities are a "bubble…" Good God.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
How you balance those realities, and what conclusions you reach to improve the lives of both, well, I'm not smart enough to have the answer.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
Because Trump won't make them rich. Even if he deports all the brown people. It won't bring them what they're hoping for.
- JuanPa (@jpbrammer) November 18, 2016
I’m a Mexican-American from a small town. Here’s why poor white people voted for Trump