As the election came to a close, with many happy and many, many upset, Donald Trump has won the 2016 Presidential election. The working-class whites, as predicted in previous blogs, drove Donald Trump to his victory. It has always been a possibility, but in this case, it was made a reality. Democrats have been far more dependent on working-class voters than people realize. Counties that supported Mr. Obama in 2012 voted for Mr. Trump by 20 points says a recent article by Nate Cohn in the New York Times. This means that Democrats were banking on the votes that Trump ended up gaining. This explains why states like Pennsylvania and North Carolina went in the opposite direction than people would have thought. You would think that his rhetoric would be significant to this situation (like how stupid things would sound worse because he is running for president) but in this case his rhetoric was apparently perfect for the situation because working-class whites absorbed it like a sponge. It has now been proven that they did in fact see him as their working class “hero” and believe he will make things better, I mean great, for them.

Going into the election, Hillary was the clear front-runner among all voters. This was due to the clear underestimate of working class whites. What ended up happening is that whatever gains she made among well-educated and Hispanic voters nationwide…were overwhelmed by Mr. Trump’s huge appeal to white voters without a degree reports Cohn once again.

From this point forward not much can happen since Mr. President-elect Trump has already won. What will probably happen is not much a change to the lifestyles of working-class whites. It takes a lot of time to make things happen in the government and who even knows if Donald Trump knows how to move these processes along. What should happen is some kind of lawsuit or impeachment due to the controversy of Donald Trump and the fear that everyday minorities have to face.

 

Back at it again, Donald Trump and his mop have come to clean up a mess. Donald Trump has stated that he has a very strict plan when it comes to immigration. After his push to “build a wall”, Donald Trump has become unfavorable in the eyes of immigrants. Trump’s views on immigration have been focused on the negative aspects he believes they bring to America. He feels that we need to enforce immigration laws at the border and at the workplace. He would only welcome immigrants who “embrace our way of life“.

Due to these remarks and his plan to build that wall, polls have shown that Latino immigrant voters prefer Hilary over Trump in a 70%-19% margin as shown in the America’s Choice’s recent poll.  This significant difference has caused Trump to take action. Recently Trump paid a visit to his Doral National Golf Club in South Florida. There he brought up many of his workers up to the stage to show their support for him. The general manager of the club stated that, “Trump has used temporary immigrant visas to bring in workers for his hotels and other properties”. Trump has stated at rallies that not only does he not want immigrants to take the jobs of Americans, but he wants to make it harder for them to come to America. This has shown a clear flip-flopping of his ideas. His rhetoric towards the working-class people tries to make it seem like he relates to them at a personal level and wants what they want. Since Trump, since the beginning, is a businessman he will do what he can to cut costs by hiring the immigrants he brought to this country so that they will stay loyal to him.

Not only did this rhetoric affect the white working-class who cheer at his rallies, it also struck a chord within those who do work for him at the Golf Club today. First of all, the workers are employed due to the existence of Trump’s Doral National Golf Club. Secondly, they have temporary visas because of Trump himself. Thirdly, when appealing to working-class people, Trump likes to empathize with them and states that he himself knows what the struggle is like. There at that Golf Club, Trump brings them on stage to promote him and eventually “jokes” at them “you’re fired” if you don’t say you working there is good. By enforcing his control over his workers, he shows he is above them and once again not a representative of a working-class American.

With the flip-flopping of stances, not only on immigration but on his stance as a member of the working class, what should happen is the eventual realization that Trump can only appeal to one crowd at a time. Due the great connection between candidates and media during this election, the video of the workers of Doral showing support for Trump has already gone viral right before early voting began and will probably happen is the rising numbers in immigrant votes in support of Donald Trump.

 

 

Donald Trump has proven once again that he represents the exact opposite of a working-class individual. Recently, the release of his 1995 tax records (or lack there of) has come to show something that is unusual to tax-paying, working-class people.  The release of Trump’s 1995 tax return shows that Donald J. Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, a tax deduction so substantial it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years according to the records obtained by the New York Times. Tax experts have stated that the filing of Trump’s apparent $916 million loss could be to cancel out his equivalent of taxable income for the past 18 years. This means that for almost two decades, Donald Trump has not known what it means to perform one of the major duties of a working-class individual in America.

Every working member of society knows the feeling of excitement when you receive your first paycheck only to be let down about ten seconds later when you see that a percentage of your hard-earned money goes to taxes. Not only do these taxes reach the federal and state level, but they also go towards funding programs like Medicare and Medicaid. If Donald Trump did in fact evade these civic duties, then is it even fair to consider him good representation of the working-class.

Due to his lack of compliance to comment on the subject, he left many voters confused. Does this mean he admits to the accusations? Since he probably does not do his own taxes was he aware of what was going on? Trump’s lack of rhetoric in this sense leads voters to believe that he might be hiding something. Usually, Trump is very vocal, opinionated, and quick to respond. With a lack of response on this subject, voters will probably be suspicious about Trump and his distrust among voters will probably grow. This should occur for voters to realize that maybe he is not a man of his word, or rather the words he tweets blasting others for evading taxes.

Time and time again Donald Trump has appealed to the Republican working class by claiming he is a “working-class hero”. He claims to be just as hard-working and dedicated as the working class. He uses this to act as the so-called voice of the people who spend their living working every day to make ends meet for themselves and their family. People say Trump’s “got balls” because he brags he’ll “bring the jobs back” without any clear course of action. Recently, this all has began to change.

Many people, whether they be everyday working people or even prestigious political leaders, have began to debunk the grounds of Donald Trump and his claim to fame within the working class. In President Obama’s first solo public appearance in support of Hilary Clinton, he was shocked to hear Trump’s increasing support from the working class. He goes on to question “This is the guy you want to be championing working people? This guy who spent 70 years on this Earth showing no concern for working people? This guy’s suddenly going to be your champion?”. He puts Trump’s entire career into perspective when it comes to the way he has treated the working people of America.

In the blue-collar city of Youngstown, Ohio, Trump supporters are rare. The NY Times featured this town to get its perspective on how the working class people of Youngstown view Trump’s “hero” identification“Does Mr. Trump, a Manhattan billionaire, really deserve to be the voice of the beleaguered American working class?“. Trump is famous from his status and that is not a status that is familiar to the people of Youngstown and working-class people in general.

Donald Trump believes he is the ideal example of the “American Dream” with the ideals of hard work, determination, and responsibility which made him into the successful businessman he is today. Hilary debunked this myth in the third debate when she called out Donald Trump to having had the upper hand being born into such a wealthy family. What will probably happen in this election will be the gradual realization of how different Trump has become successful to the everyday struggle working class people wake up and face. Voters will soon realize that Trump is no hero but more of a “damsel in distress” when it comes to climbing the economic ladder straight from the bottom.

 

 

Donald Trump is heading down a deep, down-ward spiral when it comes to working-class voters. Not all, but about a third of them. In the recent reveal of Donald Trump’s sexist past, he is facing a major problem when it comes to appealing to his female audience. Recently it was discussed how Donald Trump’s majority vote stems from those in labor-heavy jobs because of Trump’s support of domestic production. Even though this may seem like a lot voters, due to recent activity, these numbers are about to diminish.

Within this week, multiple claims have come forward accusing Donald Trump of sexual assault. This was followed by many sexist remarks made by him in the past and currently on twitter. There are so many negative comments over the past thirty years that they have been placed in a timeline of his offensive language. So how does this affect Trump?

Even though the people who make up the working-class that categorize themselves as Trump supporters are mainly male, there are still a good amount that are female. Females are more likely to have minimum wage jobs and it is still unclear where Trump stands on this issue due to his flip-flopping of views on this matter. By having his matters become public of disrespecting women, it is highly likely that he will lose the support of women in the working-class. This is especially a strong matter due to the hardships women continuously need to overcome in order to prove themselves in male-dominated industries.

Not only have these comments caused him the respect of many women, it led to a questioning of character from individuals in general. Since the release of the vulgar comments, 20% of Republican governors, Senators, and House members have renounced their party’s nominee. This includes both men and women. The rest of the 2/3 of the working class (males) that support Donald Trump won’t let this go as easy as well. The Republican representatives state their disassociation due to the fact that they would not their wives/sisters/daughters to be under a Trump reign.

It is still unsure what will happen this November. It looks like Clinton is taking a good lead as of now. What should happen is that those who had supported Trump to be affected by the comments and allegations that have come forth. Voters should think twice and realize that if Trump is elected as president, his attitude will reign over the lives of their wives, sisters, daughters, and/or themselves. As for working class individuals, men might vote for Trump to get ahead of their female counterparts. At the same time, women might choose not to vote for Trump so they will have an easier path to success in the working world. This is not an American Dream, but a Nightmare. 

Donald Trump has had great influence to the working-class people. His biggest audience has been the rural Caucasian voters. He uses situational rhetoric to his advantage by claiming time and time again that he sympathizes with them by stating that they have been treated unjustly in these economic times. Working-class Caucasians, especially males have played a key role in Trump’s survival in this election.

What people don’t realize is that Trump has mostly been appealing to Caucasian males who earn $50,000 per year or less. The reason for this is believed to be Trump’s “right-wing version of economic populism” (Stoehr Link). Another popular reason of these working-class people are voting for Trump is his racist platform he bases his plans on. He appeals to them by having strong opinions of topics asked about. Majority of Trump voters are in jobs that are labor-heavy which means the Caucasian working-class supports him so much because of his promotion of domestic production. Specific examples of this reflect his negative rhetoric towards NAFTA, TPP, and other aspects of globalization. He also appeals to men more than women because when dealing with the working-class, women are more likely than men the have minimum wage jobs. Trump had originally stated that he believes minimum wage is too high but then flip-flopped on this making it confusing of whether of not they should vote for him.

In the election this November, working-class Caucasian males will make up the majority of Trump’s votes. Unfortunately, what should happen is the realization that Trump’s flip-flop of ideas would show that he does not have a clear plan for the working class. One of Trump’s strengths is that he uses colloquial language that appeals to a lot more people than educational rhetoric which can be misconstrued as complicated and confusing. Trump’s rhetoric appeals to the disaffected workers in manufacturing-driven states who believe will be heard if Trump is elected.

 

Trumps rhetoric is proven here