Detrumpification

Trump remains a threat because Democrats, Not-So-Never-Trump Republicans, and the media refuse to remove Trump from our national identity.

Identity Politics

People vote their identity. As crazy as it sounds, voters do not care which candidate will vote to end their Social Security, Medicare, and reproductive rights, damage their children’s education or future, or shift to regressive taxation and other financial schemes to impoverish them. Someone who sees themselves as part of a club, be it a class, a church, a special interest group, or a political movement, will vote with the group. In larger numbers than you’d think, women vote for purveyors of a damaging and often deadly right-wing extremist version of womanhood because they want to feel part of their church, following their father’s or husband’s wishes. Some find servitude romantic. Retired women, much more likely to be impoverished than men, routinely vote against Social Security and Medicare.

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business did a study. People whose personal lives meshed with their politics were more likely to vote along party lines. Anecdotally, people recognize that there are Republican Bible-quoting, gun-loving Trump voters and reproductive rights liberals who vote for Democrats. Democrats think they’ve found their special potion for victory in identity politics, where they serve some of the larger and more vocal identity groups.