But scapegoating poor whites keeps the conversation away from fascism’s real base: the petite bourgeoisie. This is a piece of jargon used mostly by Marxists to denote small-property owners, whose nearest equivalents these days may be the “upper middle class” or “small-business owners.” FiveThirtyEight reported last May that “the median household income of a Trump voter so far in the primaries is about $72,000,” or roughly 130 percent of the national median. Trump’s real base, the actual backbone of fascism, isn’t poor and working-class voters, but middle-class and affluent whites. Often self-employed, possessed of a retirement account and a home as a nest egg, this is the stratum taken in by Horatio Alger stories. They can envision playing the market well enough to become the next Trump. They haven’t won “big-league,” but they’ve won enough to be invested in the hierarchy they aspire to climb. If only America were made great again, they could become the haute bourgeoisie—the storied “1 percent.”
the median household income of a Trump voter so far in the primaries is about $72,000
I’m not really sure I buy this meaning they’re really affluent corporate types. I’ve met a lot of Trump supporters who own big properties out in the country, who own big trucks, and who work jobs in trades. Stuff like plumbers and carpenters and mechanics. I mean hell, in my state, the average pay for plumbers is $80,000 a year, and yep, a lot of those people are self-employed. Last I checked the trades is where all the folks who struggled in school go…
So, does this really mean they aren’t who we think they are? All the people I’m referring to were dumb as fuck country fucking bumpkins who needed a swift kick in the ass. All they’ve really gotten “invested” is a house on a big valuable piece of land, a little bit of stock on the market (maybe), and a bunch of physical items that add up to them being “wealthy” even though two of the trucks don’t work, the tractor is falling apart, and so is the barn, and so on. On paper, they’re wealthy, in person, they’re still missing some fucking teeth.
Oh yeah, and the obsession with guns… Guns ain’t cheap… These people piss away a lot of money on useless stuff.
Trump’s real base, the actual backbone of fascism, isn’t poor and working-class voters, but middle-class and affluent whites. Often self-employed, possessed of a retirement account and a home as a nest egg, this is the stratum taken in by Horatio Alger stories.
So now self-employed plumbers and mechanics aren’t working class? The point is the article is trying to paint them as more affluent and influential than they often are in reality. Most of the mechanics and plumbers I know don’t pull a lot of sway with city council.
These people don’t know who the living fuck Horatio Alger is, and if they did, they’d rightly call him a pedophile and be angling for his lynching.
These aren’t the people who read books or are really “affluent.” If you’re missing teeth and half the shit you own is broken down because you piss all your money away on alcohol, scratch tickets, guns, and other adult toys, you’re not affluent, you’re just an idiot with just enough money to keep making bad decisions for a while.
Trump’s real power base has never been the white working class “basket of deplorables”:
The Nation, 2017: Trumpism: It’s Coming From the Suburbs
I’m not really sure I buy this meaning they’re really affluent corporate types. I’ve met a lot of Trump supporters who own big properties out in the country, who own big trucks, and who work jobs in trades. Stuff like plumbers and carpenters and mechanics. I mean hell, in my state, the average pay for plumbers is $80,000 a year, and yep, a lot of those people are self-employed. Last I checked the trades is where all the folks who struggled in school go…
So, does this really mean they aren’t who we think they are? All the people I’m referring to were dumb as fuck country fucking bumpkins who needed a swift kick in the ass. All they’ve really gotten “invested” is a house on a big valuable piece of land, a little bit of stock on the market (maybe), and a bunch of physical items that add up to them being “wealthy” even though two of the trucks don’t work, the tractor is falling apart, and so is the barn, and so on. On paper, they’re wealthy, in person, they’re still missing some fucking teeth.
Oh yeah, and the obsession with guns… Guns ain’t cheap… These people piss away a lot of money on useless stuff.
You just described the exact same people the article described, so I don’t know where you’re getting “really affluent corporate types” from.
So now self-employed plumbers and mechanics aren’t working class? The point is the article is trying to paint them as more affluent and influential than they often are in reality. Most of the mechanics and plumbers I know don’t pull a lot of sway with city council.
These people don’t know who the living fuck Horatio Alger is, and if they did, they’d rightly call him a pedophile and be angling for his lynching.
These aren’t the people who read books or are really “affluent.” If you’re missing teeth and half the shit you own is broken down because you piss all your money away on alcohol, scratch tickets, guns, and other adult toys, you’re not affluent, you’re just an idiot with just enough money to keep making bad decisions for a while.
Not people who read Horatio Alger, people who Horatio Alger stories were about.
Working class meaning people who work hourly/salary, as opposed to petite bourgeoisie, meaning the self-employed & small business owners.