very important for President-elect Donald Trump’s first victory in the popular vote were their gains with non-white voters. According to exit polls, Trump received 45 percent of Latino votes The number — including a majority of Latino men — was a record high for a Republican presidential candidate. HE doubled Share of young Black men in 2020. 5 point gain With Asian Americans. In Dearborn, Michigan, where Democrats generally dominate and Arab Americans are concentrated, Trump won easily.

Exit poll numbers don’t tell the full story, and details may change as more complex voter data emerges in the coming months. Merged with but pre-election poll and trends early electionsThe emerging picture is clear: Trump’s coalition is becoming more racially diverse, even as he takes sides bigoted, hateful Rhetoric more than ever.

Trump’s victory shatters the common slogan and guiding principle in Democratic circles. “Demography is destiny.” There has long been a belief in the party that Democrats would have a long-term majority in the country as the nation became more diverse. This belief was based on the idea that the party won over ethnic minorities because it presented itself as a multicultural and socially inclusive party and treated minorities as interest groups to be addressed based on priorities specific to their ethnicity. This belief has always been problematic and is now collapsing.

Trump’s playbook threw a grenade into the Democrats’ worldview, and the repercussions on the left were not pleasant. Where I expected to see introspection and sadness, instead there were expressions of spite. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman He told Semaphore“Was Dearborn delivered for Trump? OK, congratulations. You’ll love the next Muslim ban.” Some progressive commentators pitted ethnic minorities against each other and described the consequences. “loyal” more positive towards the party. “Black people did their job. Trump’s gains with Latinos were real. Trump is their man one liberal commentator said. There was even unmerciful viral jokes Rumors have been circulating on social media about how liberals now find themselves complacent about the “bloody” deportation operation Trump has promised because they feel betrayed by the turn of Latinos toward the GOP.

This anger is reductive and reactionary, and helps explain why the Democratic Party is in this predicament. Yes, people from the same ethnic group often share common experiences and exhibit biases in their values ​​and priorities. But many liberals forget that these groups were never monolithic and that their members also had them. other Identities that shape their view of the world, including class, gender, age, and the countless subcultures they choose to associate with. New York Times political correspondent Astead Herndon marked for a long time Changing political attitudes of black male voters are rightfully in the name A “racist assumption” that people from racial minorities will automatically support the Democratic Party.

Finger pointing aside, I understand why it is shocking to some that Trump can win over racial minorities even while saying or implying bigoted things about them. Some wonder how Trump can win over a large Latino audience while demonizing Latino immigrants. derogatory, fascist language? How can Trump win the support of Muslim voters even after promising to reimpose a ban on immigration from Muslim-majority countries?

There are many explanatory factors. First, people from racial minorities are strategic voters, just like white voters. Given a choice between only two options in an election, a nonwhite voter might simultaneously object to Trump’s language but still prefer the GOP’s right-wing policy positions on issues like abortion. Economics is a particularly great example. Thomas Wood, political scientist at Ohio State University he told the Atlantic The breadth of the rightward swing across numerous demographic groups since 2020 suggests “a really simple story that secular dissatisfaction with Biden’s economic management is affecting most demographic groups in a pretty homogeneous way.” Austin American Statesman to create A number of undocumented immigrants (arguably the most vulnerable demographic group in the country right now) were “optimistic” about a Trump victory because they thought it would be good for business and worth the increased risk of deportation.

One big reason for the Dearborn shift is clear: Many Arab Americans switched sides, disgusted with the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s military operation in Gaza. These voters (Misguided in my opinion.) I’d bet there’s a chance Trump will follow a different course of action.

Of course, racial minorities too to share Trump’s worldview on race. People of color can, and regularly do, have bigoted attitudes toward other minorities. Conservative voters of color are not just turning a deaf ear or to laugh Trump’s words when they are educated about their own community, but nods when calling out every other marginalized group under the sun? Or what to say that they disapprove of his offensive language but accept the policy outcomes they help support, such as getting “tough” on immigration, crime, or China?

Democrats cling to the old “demography is destiny” worldview at their peril. Not only are anti-bigotry messages inadequate to influence black voters, they can sometimes bring them into conflict with their lived experiences. A good example of this is the Democrats’ They controversially incorporated the term “Latinx”In an effort to be gender inclusive, part of their messaging to Latino voters is “. A recent study by academics from Harvard University and Georgetown University found that the term is actually It alienates Latino voters.. While this backlash effect may be due to conservative attitudes, the broader takeaway is that Democrats shouldn’t assume that maximizing their inclusivity vocabulary is always in the party’s best interest, according to the study.

This is not an argument that Democrats should emulate the GOP’s right-wing nationalism or abandon their commitment to multiculturalism. Rather, the point is that Democrats should not regard racial minorities as docile loyalists who must choose them because the alternative is assumed to be worse, or view them as an interest group that can be flattered based on a race-specific perspective. . They should treat voters of color the same way they treat white voters, as complex, ideologically flexible people who care about kitchen table issues. They need to excite them in the same way by providing a compelling example for the future.

So far, Trump’s dark vision of the future is winning. But there is an obvious way to keep anti-bigotry at the heart of the Democratic Party (and the left more broadly) while remaining laser-focused on economic liberation: by emphasizing that prejudice and the culture wars are used to divide and declassify us. The war at the heart of America’s unfreedom.