TRUMP

WHAT CAUSED IT TO HAPPEN? 163
for Democrats to make inroads without sacrificing their opposition
to racism.
The truth is rather simple and mundane: there were people who voted
for Trump because of racism, and there were people who did not. There
were people who voted for Trump because they felt let down by Obama.
There were people who voted for Trump because they recently lost their
jobs. People voted for Trump for all kinds of reasons.
For example, listen to this explanation that a white female Trump
voter gave for her decision. She said she supported Clinton in 2008
against Obama, and was skeptical of Trump because she had heard he
was racist, but then went to one of his rallies with her son:
I expected him to be like what I’d seen on the news, saying
hateful things. But his presence was very calming and I
liked his talking points. We really are the middle class,
and we kind of get swept aside…. In the past, [Clinton’s]
stance on abortion was more the way I feel, just
for the first trimester, then she did a 360. She was here
in the primary, having a debate with Bernie Sanders.
He answered the question honestly. When they asked her
the same question, she kind of danced around it. Then
she went on “The View” and said she was for late-term
abortions. Just take a stance, be honest. Same thing as
with gay marriage, she wasn’t for it, then she was. I’m
100 percent for it. It’s ridiculous the way we tell people
who they can and cannot marry. Don’t go back and forth.
Don’t pander. 525
Thus the voter’s choice was made because of (1) Trump’s rhetoric
about helping the middle class and (2) Clinton’s evasiveness and pandering.
526 This is not a particularly unreasonable way of thinking. It
certainly doesn’t sound very deplorable.