If Trump wins again - and it is possible - this time it will be the ongoing riots/protests/general civil unrest that does it. Right now it’s raging in Wisconsin, a critical swing state. At this point I’ve even wondered if some of the more violent looting hasn’t been deliberately instigated by right-wing agents provocateur , though most of the participants might indeed be - not “leftists” - but just general rabble-rousers and hell-raisers seizing an opportunity where they think they can get away with it. Regardless: Trump has fucked up the economy. He’s fucked up COVID. And up until about a month ago I was pretty sure that he’d be defeated. Now I am starting to seriously worry.
We all know how hard he leans into the “law and order” message and how he’s played up his support of police - who are, for lack of a better word, collectively, a conservative totem at this point, regardless of the motivations of individual cops or police departments.
White people in this country are SCARED SHITLESS of riots. Whether the fear is truly warranted is another matter. But it is a big fear, and fear is a really powerful emotion - perhaps the most powerful one.
Trump very successfully played upon fear of Mexican and Muslim migrants in 2016, helping him clinch the election. IMO the Mexican fears were total bullshit and little more than dog-whistles to racists. But the Muslim fears were a bit more, if not exactly “justifiable”, at least understandable, since - and I remember it vividly - the two years leading up to Trump’s election saw a MASSIVE wave of Islamic terror attacks in Europe. Who could forget those disgusting pictures from the Bataclan of corpses littering the floor and hideous smears of blood all over the place? Or the aftermath of numerous truck attacks? The Pulse nightclub shooter may not have had explicit ties to organized terror, but it didn’t take much for people to draw a line from Europe to America in this situation.
I don’t believe that the Democrats suceeded in sending a message to America that was reassuring and made people feel that they’d be safe from these types of attacks, and this failure to step up, in MY OPINION, was one of the things that helped Trump.
The same is true of the rioting now. I am still liking Biden’s chances compared to Hillary’s but that’s not saying much.
The electorate is composed of human beings, and we’re malleable, highly suggestible to propaganda, easily manipulated by skilled manipulators, and never, ever immune to good salesmanship. And Trump is not a politician, but he is a salesman.