The NYT is running a well researched piece about the confluence of whiteness and election denying among Republicans. As one source quoted in the story says, white males dominate the party and virtually to a man they eat up any story suggesting the 2020 election was stolen. Many fear black and brown immigrants will "replace" them. The congressional districts won by deniers are among the poorest and least educated in the country.
The Divine Mrs. M and I recently returned from a trip to France and a river cruise on the Rhone river in the southern part of the country. The evidence on a lively immigrant population in that country also drives whites into the arms of far right parties. It would seem the US does not have a monopoly on bigotry and intolerance. For the most part we avoided political conversations with out fellow cruisers who were exclusively white and well into retirement. However, we did talk to a middle aged couple from Colorado who immediately brought up several Fox news tropes about ballots stuffed into suitcases, etc. They reacted with pity to our argument that election fraud is not widespread. We wound up talking past one another.
History tells us democracy is a fragile commodity and its constituents are likely to weaken or overthrow it if their economic and or cultural views are challenged. Our country is no exception and the threat to our freedoms has seldom been greater. The verdict of the upcoming elections will tell us how far we have slid in the direction of autocracy.
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