Yes to all the above.
There’s never been a time when all whites were guaranteed an idyllic middle class life, but there was a time when it was definitely possible for most whites to join the middle class, and they could do so without a college degree. They just needed a skill, and truth be told, many people aren’t interested in college; they just want a 9-5, Monday through Friday schedule and some money to spend on the weekends. That kind of life is increasingly difficult to find now, and it has coincided with major technological, economic, social, and political shifts.
The rise of conservatism in the 1990s was a response to challenge the growth of liberalism. Despite the fact that we’ve seen signs of political and social revolution with the election of Barack Obama as president and the legalization of gay marriage, there was already a growing counter-revolution underway. And that counter-revolution roared in the form of the 1994 Republican Revolution, Proposition 187, GOP congressmen like Tom Tancredo and Steven King’s anti-immigration platform, the Tea Party, and ultimately, Trump.
There were important moments of progress, like Obama’s election and like gay marriage, but that was taking shape in an increasingly, sharply polarized environment. A majority of white America was rejecting liberalism and embracing White Christian Nationalism, and this was true for some time before Trump came to power. Trump just represents a greater extreme, a more intense rejection of liberalism. They’re not embracing policies; they’re embracing their perceived cultural identity and place in society.
But this is much less likely to happen if we embrace the values of economic parity and fairness. It’s when we stop seeing that value that we become less inclusive and less tolerant because among the group that hold’s power there’s an underlying assumption, an underlying fear, of scarcity.
“There are only so many jobs, and those goddamn ‘people’ are trying to steal them from us.”
"Housing prices are going up and I cain’t even pay rent anymore. And it’s cause them damn people are movin’ in and messin’ up what used to be a good neighborhood for kids to play in.’ (Bonus points if ‘them damn people’ speak another language and have darker skin).
Of course for some it’s just change that’s the issue.
“Hell, I remember when you could pinch your secretary’s ass in the office and ask her to bring you a cup a coffee - til them damn feminazis took over!”
Meanwhile, the white liberals who defend these changes are seen as radicals and race traitors.
