“Can you feel pride in being a white American male?”
Because I am a theoretical psychologist who has developed a new system of understanding for human behavior, several people have asked me to explain how and why Trump has the appeal that he does. The folks asking these questions are, of course, leftists who remain baffled by Trumps remarkable appeal.
The above question starts to get to the heart of the matter. Folks have probably heard of the famous line that supposedly defines elections, as “It’s the economy, stupid!” Well, as a psychologist, I am here to say that “It’s about our identity, stupid!”
The biggest thing that defines Trump is that he is anti-woke. (If you need a quick refresher on what woke is, see here). Indeed, at the level of voter identity, we can say that Trump = Anti-Woke. And the opposite holds. To be woke is to be anti-Trump. Thus, we can say Woke = Anti-Trump.
I find it fun that these abbreviations are mirrors of each other, thus it gives us a way to frame the election as TAW (Trump/Anti-Woke) versus WAT (Woke/Anti-Trump). What has happened to America over the last decade is a fundamental split in identity between TAW and WAT. We just voted TAW again, and the WATs simply can’t fathom how that is possible.
Let’s break it down in relationship to the above question. MAGA essentially means that let’s get back to feeling pride in America and allow, without shame or guilt, pride in being a white American male. Woke essentially means that America is a colonial force that privileges white men over other groups and that we need to acknowledge that historical privilege and take anti-racist actions to reverse it. Thus, American white men should be treated with suspicion, especially if they fail to “unpack” their white privilege and feel guilt and shame for the past sins of white men.
As an “elite” and over-educated American white male professor of psychology, I can say with certainty that these issues are, in fact, complicated. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to hack your mind.
It turns out that there is, in fact, a “sane” version of being woke, which I call Woke 1.0, and there is an “insane” version, which is Woke 2.0. I resigned from the American Psychological Association because it started to become increasingly infected with a Woke 2.0 mind virus. And, as this podcast makes clear, I have been attacked because I am a white male professor who does not conform to the Woke 2.0 virus.
This is important because it means that being woke can be very dangerous in its extremes, and it is necessary to put constraints on it. And this is something our academic institutions have failed to effectively do. The downstream dangers of Woke 2.0 become obvious in what Vice President Harris said about the government paying for transgender surgeries for inmates as a valid medical intervention that she supported. If we could reduce Harris’ loss to a single ad, it was this one.
If Trump’s second election says anything, it says left “wokism” goes too far for the American people. And, as a Woke 1.0 guy, I can say this is an intelligent stance to have, within reason.
The question about American white men feeling pride is a start, but to grasp all the identity issues at play, we need to rephrase the question, this time with Trump at the center: “Can we feel pride in Trump as being an exemplar of white American men who should be President of the U.S.?”
By rephrasing this question, we find the craziness on the Trump side of the equation, and why there is so much polarization. Side stepping this question allows the Trump supporter to rationalize the fact that it does not matter who Trump is at the level of his character (i.e., his lies, sexism, baseness, narcissism, etc.). Even more dramatically, some folks actually take pride in Trump for his character.
Let’s put these two questions together, and answer them with a yes, maybe, or no. Doing so gives us four categories at the level of voter identity that gives us a basic way to understand what we have seen regarding Trump and the current state of American identity politics.
On the far right of identity politics are the extreme TAWs, who answer with a strong “YES!” to both questions. These folks love Trump for who he is, hate wokeness for everything it stands for, and want to go back to when we freely embraced white American men with pride (and, of course, no small amount of prejudice against the other marginalized categories).
On the center right are folks are disappointed with aspects of Trump’s character, but also see him as amazing in some ways (thus they answer the character question “maybe”) and emphasize policy. These folks are generally are fine with having some degree of pride in white American men (thus a “yes” on the general question).
On the center left are folks who are massively critical of Trump’s character and can’t possible see how anyone could support Trump (thus say “NO!” on the Trump question). These folks are also generally concerned with excessive wokeness and want a sane way forward on social identity issues that include elements of both pride and guilt (and thus offer a “maybe” at the general pride question).
Finally, on the far left of identity politics there are the extreme WATs who hate Trump and are extremely critical of American colonialism and think white men should feel only shame and guilt for being the primary privileged identity category. Thus, they give strong “NO!!” answers to both questions.
Economically, the American people have seen inflation in their everyday lives and feel the financial stress on their pocketbooks. Psychologically, people are seeking clarity about their identities in an age racked with confusion. Harris lost because she failed to clarify why things would be different regarding inflation and did not do enough to address concerns about Woke 2.0. Trump won because he is a remarkable political fighter, and there are real dangers associated with extreme wokism, and his business persona makes people think he can address the economy in a better way.
His basic character structure is clear and time will tell if the country made the right choice.1,2
