It’s your prerogative to try to create a coalition based on the organizing principle of “fuck poor white men, let ‘em burn” but you should not be surprised when creating such a coalition has some negative side effects.

This is well thought out, and completely correct. You are right.

I’m generally a political middle of the road kind of guy, with leftward leanings in the past few years as I got older... but it’s really, really discouraging to see that the far left is every bit as militant and repugnant as the far right is.

Preach. And you can seek to understand these people, I would add, without putting them first, above any other demographics, or even really making fun of them (although it is sorely tempting at times).

I don’t think anyone’s asking you to put the needs of white men before your own here, though?

Your reaction to their pain is why they are angry.

Cosigned.

Well, class and race are two privileges that you can’t really treat as the same thing, but you also can’t treat them separately, either. Most of the people in my poor, rural hometown really, really resent the idea that they’re “privileged” because they’ve always worked hard for what they have (or don’t have enough to…

http://www.earwolf.com/episode/americ…

More poor white people would probably vote democrat if coastal liberals weren’t so enthusiastic about insulting them and branding them stupid hicks. They will of course be alienated by that.

Steinbeck said it much better than me but I’m glad I’m not the only one who saw it. Growing up among a lot of poor white people there’s this “I worked hard for everything I had and I don’t want the government taking it away from me” mentality. I’ve never been able to explain that marginally higher taxes would make…

Agreed. But this is on the issue of Bernie supporters switching to Trump, and the thing is, whether you like it or not, people don’t vote based on what’s best for other people, even other people more disadvantaged than them. Most people vote for the candidate that they think will best defend them and their needs. It’s…

As someone who grew up in Poor White Trash Motherfucker Land(TM), you make some damn good points, beets.

It’s not just white privilege though. There are a lot of closet sexists among Bernie supporters who claim they hate Hillary because of her platform but really, their dislike is in large part fuelled by the fact that she’s a woman, even though they’ll never admit it.

Are we playing oppression olympics here?

Right, but a lot of men DON’T think or care about those things unless it directly affects them.

The sad truth is no one validates there poverty. Growing up I also had this mind set that all white people have money until my parents moved me to rural North Carolina. It was crazy how poor and disenfranchised poor whites can be.

You should really read the article. Poor white people have good reason to feel like no one cares about them. The fact that they have racial privilege doesn’t mean that they’re not systemically disadvantaged in other ways.

Unfortunately, this is not all that crazy. Trump and Sanders are both populists who appeal to a broad swath of people who have a sense (not incorrectly) that there’s something deeply wrong with the way our government functions. One of them happens to be a dangerous maniac feeding off of xenophobia and racial fear, but…