The Real Reason the 2020 Election was Close

Something that has been bothering me since the election.

People asked why it was so close? The mainstream media said why the election was close was because those pesky Latinos and Black men had voted more for Trump in 2016. I have been following presidential elections since I was eight, so 1988. Every time the Democrats don’t do as expected, it’s Brown and/or Black people’s fault. In 2020 they even added blaming Asian Americans (welcome to the club. It sucks here. I am sorry).

What’s the problem with this analysis besides it being blatantly racist? Well, it’s just not true.

In 2016 Trump was to some parts of the country was unknown, although he said and did some pretty horrible things. He got 58% of the white vote.

In 2020, he had created policies that exacerbate refugees’ death at the border, came up with no immigration policy, and banned countries from immigrating for purely racist reasons. He had started a trade war with China that didn’t hurt the Chinese, but in fact, it will probably help them pass us as the world’s number one economy not in 30 or 40 years as most economists thought before he took office but in 6 to 10 years. His policy on Iran sped their nuclear capabilities to the point where they basically have them now. He said that there were good people on both sides in Charlottesville. He told the Proud Boys to stand back and stand down. He rolled back numerous environmental protections. He mishandled the pandemic so severely that it will be written about what not to do for centuries. Before the election even happened, he said if he lost, it was rigged. By any measure, he is one of the worst Presidents of all time. He got 58% of the white vote.

The reason Joe Biden won and Hillary didn’t is simple. The electorate 2020 was 4% less white than it was in 2016. Over 60% of Asian Americans, Almost 2/3rds of Latinos, and over 80% of Black Americans voted democrat. Even other was 55% for Biden. All those above numbers are better than the 41% he got from white voters. Both white men and women voted for Trump.

People get mad when you bring this up, but these conversations about identity are not about mine there about yours. We meaning Latinos, Blacks, and Asian Americans, are imprisoned by your identity. A whole media complex is built to ignore white voters’ reasons for voting republican or treat them as yokels if they cover it at all. They aren’t yokels. They are the filibuster-proof majority. People are mad about impeachment, but I have known for a long time that nothing will change until 41% talk to 58% and gives them real consequences for their actions.

I am sure some people will get in my comments to say not me, don’t do that, I’m tired. Also, please don’t say it’s all about class. It’s about both. While I believe the country is broken because of imperial capitalism. I also think most people vote Republican because of white supremacy; Both can be true.

Instead, find that person you love in the 58% and begin a dialogue with them because until you do that, things in this country are never going the change. At least not in my lifetime.

*All these numbers come from Emerson Exit Polls while Exit Polls aren’t perfect the top-line percentage is back by historic trendlines. Image from the Detroit Free Press