{"id":46576,"date":"2021-02-18T16:34:42","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T16:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/politicallycorret.co.il\/trump-and-the-suburbs-1950-called\/"},"modified":"2021-06-15T10:26:39","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T10:26:39","slug":"trump-and-the-suburbs-1950-called","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/politicallycorret.co.il\/en\/trump-and-the-suburbs-1950-called\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump and the Suburbs: 1950 Called"},"content":{"rendered":"

Translation: Tom Atkins<\/strong><\/p>\n

When former President Donald Trump said that \u201cSuburban housewives\u201d would vote for him in the 2020 election because they want \u201csafety\u201d, everyone reading his twits knew exactly what he meant: in the 1950s, families all across the US started flocking to the suburbs, in search of the Americn Dream: A house with a yard, a white picket fence, and of course – excellent public schools. These were white families, leaving racially diverse cities in favor of more monochrome communities.<\/p>\n

The Suburban Housewives of America must read this article. Biden will destroy your neighborhood and your American Dream. I will preserve it, and make it even better!<\/p>\n

https:\/\/t.co\/1NzbR57Oe6<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n

In 1968, Richard Nixon, then Republican candidate for president, addressed these white suburban families with talk of rampant violence in diverse cities. This terrorized white suburban families – of losing their green yards and white fences, and mainly – of losing their homogeneous communities. For his part, Nixon promised to promote \u201claw and order.\u201d He never said \u201cblack\u201d or \u201cwhite,\u201d but everyone knew exactly what he meant – and it worked. Suburbia voted Republican, and Nixon was elected president.<\/p>\n

US voting is traditionally geographical: the large, diverse cities usually vote Democrat, and the rural (and mostly white) areas vote Republican. For many years, the suburbs too voted for the Republicans.<\/p>\n

With the presidential race so close, Trump addressed white suburban women directly. But the way he did it didn\u2019t quite fit with the spirit of the time: while in the 1950s, most suburban women were homemakers and had no other job, for many years now women have careers. Some do choose to stay at home with a newborn baby, or take a break from their careers for various reasons, but the large majority of American suburban women today are in the job market – among other reasons, because it has become impossible to live on one salary in the USA.<\/p>\n

Another problem is that the suburbs have long stopped being the place young Donald Trump knew in the seventies. Their demographics have changed markedly and nowadays they\u2019re much closer to reflecting the ethnic makeup of the entire country. In the suburbs of Seattle, for example, the highest percentage of homemakers is among Latina and Asian women.<\/p>\n

Because of Changing Demographics, The Suburbs are no Longer a Republican Stronghold\u00a0 And Would not Necessarily Vote Trump.<\/h2>\n

In August, Trump twitted that suburban housewives would vote for him because \u201cthey want safety\u201d and \u201care thrilled\u201d that he ended the plans for low income which would have \u201cinvaded their neighborhood\u201d – a plan he \u00a0warns Biden would reinstate. We can now see the racist threat hidden in that twit: Trump warns the \u201chousewives\u201d that \u201clow income\u201d – a dog-whistle meaning black and Latino – families would \u201cinvade\u201d their neighborhood, threaten the safety of white women and fill their clean neighborhoods with \u201caffordable\u201d homes – again, meaning non-white. By \u201cplan\u201d Trump is referring to AFFH, the 2015 provision for the Fair Housing act, announced under Obama\u2019s administration. The law required authorities to analyze and rectify any race and class housing inequalities.\u00a0 Trump rescinded the law, and on July started acting towards its complete elimination. It was also no coincidence that the twit mentioned Cory Booker, the African-American US Senator for New Jersey and 2019 presidential candidate who, as mayor of Newark, pushed for affordable housing and integrated communities.<\/p>\n

In the 2016 presidential election, more than half of white women voted for Trump. Now he\u2019s trying to recreate that victory. However, a survey conducted in September gave Biden a 21% lead among women. In addition, only a third of the women who voted for Trump in 2016 said they would do so again.<\/p>\n

These threats might not work anymore. Perhaps white women can\u2019t be terrorized in the same way they were by Nixon. They\u2019re not concerned of low income invading their neighborhoods, but have real concerns, ones related to the Corona virus and Trump\u2019s mishandling of the pandemic. And from an economic perspective – how will they pay the mortgage? How would their children go to school this year? Who would stay home with them?<\/p>\n

The suburbs have long since lost their once white identity, and very few women would agree to be defined as \u201csuburban women,\u201d not to mention \u201csuburban housewives.\u201d Over on Twitter, for example, this moniker has become a joke, a symbol of Trump\u2019s racism and misogyny and his desire to set women, along with other sectors of the population, back.\u00a0 In the words of CNN\u2019s Dana Bash: \u201d1950 called\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch: a real callback to the 1950s – living the American dream in suburbia:<\/p>\n