The possibility of cheaper butter comes at the cost of fascism.

Pundits say Republican Donald Trump won the presidency again because voters see him as the savior from economic woes. Says he will be a dictator, but just for one day; tell lies; spouts racist and sexist rhetoric; and inciting a government rebellion are flooded if food is cheaper.

Or maybe Trump voters want autocracy and embrace right-wing extremism.

When I hear talking heads declare that Democrat Kamala Harris lost because she didn’t connect with working-class voters, I hear euphemisms. “Working class” equates to white in the US and ignores parts of the electorate. We heard that argument eight years ago when Trump won; the analyzes proclaimed that he secured the vote of the so-called working class. By the way, a closer look at political scientists myths debunked about that support.

Again a narrow view of the working class is being promulgated because it is easier to talk about than race.

“They could say they lost the working-class vote, but the numbers show otherwise with our members,” said Erica Bland-Durosinmi, executive vice president of SEIU Healthcare.

From late August until Election Day, SEIU Healthcare members traveled by bus to knock on Harris’ door in the swing state of Wisconsin.

“Our values ​​were at stake. Who are they talking about when they say working class?” she said.

Not home care, hospital or child care workers – mostly women and women of color.

“When most people talk about who’s working class, they’re talking about people who work in construction, factories and maybe some laborers. I certainly don’t think they’re thinking about the people who are some of the lowest paid. If you look at the health care industry in in particular, it is the definition of the working class, says Bland-Durosinmi.

Their activism goes back to fighting for a $15 minimum wage and advocating for people in a devalued healthcare economy.

“This work is devalued because it has its roots in slavery. These jobs should be good jobs. There is no one who is not touched by care — whether it’s child care, bereavement or end-of-life care,” said Bland-Durosinmi.

Black women are often at the center.

High turnout

In her book from 2023 “Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class,” Scholar Blair LM Kelley writes that the Trump-induced obsession with the white working class obscured “the reality that the most active, most engaged, most informed and most passionate working class in America is the black working class.”

Kelley points out that the term “working class” conjures up images of maroon white men in helmets or white waitresses in Midwestern diners feeling disaffected and left out. Certainly not the SEIU care workers who toil in nursing homes and day care centers.

“Nonetheless, the black working class—particularly working black women—consistently has some of the highest voter turnout,” Kelley writes. And this despite a lack of middle-class resources and the fact that they are at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Jenn Jackson is a political scientist at Syracuse University and received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. They said that whiteness functions as an asset and is not talked about enough as a form of capital.

“A white person who has a high school degree is still going to do better than a black person with a college degree,” Jackson said. “For a lot of people, they don’t want to talk about race. The class argument is the next best argument.”

Narrowing the definition of who constitutes the working class erases other groups and centers whiteness. Combine that with racist backlash over the past four years. Of course, Trump was the winner.

According to Pew Research Center, two-thirds of adults supported Black Lives Matter in June 2020 after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd; by April 2023, support had dropped to 51%. During that time, attacks on diversity, “wokeness” and critical race theory were ramped up by the right, in addition to an anti-LGBTQ agenda. Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” is not steeped in irony. It’s a loud dog whistle.

“When poor white Americans vote for Trump because he talks about food, a lot of that comes not from a wallet analysis, but a race and class analysis,” Jackson said.

Trump’s economic plan is tax cuts and tariff increases that would likely result in unemployment and higher prices. His choice of cabinet signals loyalty over experience. The ultra-conservative Project 2025 plan, written by some of his allies, is an amalgamation of restrictions that affect women, immigrants, black people and people of color.

But maybe butter will be cheaper.

Natalie Y. Moore is a senior lecturer at Northwestern University.

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