Blame Extremism, Not Pronouns

Pundits and their echo chambers made “woke” a political boogeyman.

After the past elections, let me say clearly and boldly: The country is in danger, wrapped in the U.S. flag, fueled by White Christian Nationalism, and armed to the teeth.

Fascism won on November 5. Racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and anti-Queerness won. This wasn’t a vote against the extremism of trans men in women’s sports, or pronouns, or migrant gangs overrunning our neighborhoods.

Those were made-up controversies. The electorate voted clearly on the extremism of deporting 12 million undocumented, control of women’s bodies, and more wealth and power to the 1 percent of billionaires over the rest of us. 

Pick your “extremism.” Most Trump voters did.

We now have a liar, felon, womanizer, business wrecker, and cheat running the country. He’s nominated inexperienced and unsavory persons to run his cabinet (the likes of Matt Gaetz, for example).

Trump voters knew what they were voting for—the color of his skin, not the content of his character; on the false faith and fallacies of their so-called Christianity, not on Christ. They voted for the worst of white men in politics against a more character-driven and experienced Black woman. 

Period.

Still, I’m hearing all kinds of strange excuses for Trump’s election.

Democrats supposedly lost because of pronouns, drag queens, DEI, CRT, and all that mess. This is the narrative line making the rounds: Blame it on “woke.” Harris never used the word “woke” on the campaign nor made a public issue of pronouns. It’s not even a thing. Right wing pundits and their echo chambers made “woke” a political boogeyman.

Also, how “Latinos” pushed Trump over the line. More news outlets are looking at Latinos to blame. One Latino Trumper after another is being pushed into the spotlight.

Why not talk to those Latinos who went for Harris? Even the exit polls showed most so-called Latinos went against Trump. Breaking this down further, voters of Mexican descent went 60 percent against Trump; voters of Cuban descent were about the same percentage FOR Trump. As we’ve said repeatedly—so-called Latinos are not a monolith. 

Whites elected Trump. Not Latinos.

The Black vote in the exit polls went 80 percent against Trump, the most cohesive section of the electorate. White (men and women) went mostly for Trump.

Remember whites are the largest percentage of the electorate (67 percent). Blacks are 11 percent. So-called Latinos make up only 7.4 percent of the electorate. Black and Latino together are only 18.4 percent of voters. Even if all those people voted and went for Harris, they would not have beaten the white Trump voters.

It was whites who went big on Trump. When Biden won, it was whites who did this. Same with Obama. This time most whites who voted did so to stop a Black/South Asian woman from the presidency.

Another point: MAGA was like a joke at first. It’s now a movement. Trump created political chaos when he ran. He threw a wrench in the already f****ed up political system. Most everyone he attacked in the Republican Party, ugly personal attacks, joined him. His psychological complex, powerful but deeply flawed, engulfed them all.

Now in its grasp are most white voters. He’s put a spell on them, like Hitler did, a flawed human being who pulled along millions to Germany’s detriment.

Trump is shaping the “order” from the chaos he created, and this order is authoritarian with bull-headed, narrow-visioned mostly white men set to run things. He will now have most of the U.S. government and military at his disposal.

The Democrats failed to break that spell. That was their main task. They failed to address the bad economy. Although better than Trump’s, it continues to leave millions of poor and working people out in the cold. They wasted an opportunity with a billion dollars in their coffers. They relied too much on celebrities, not on the ground game. Too many rallies, not enough getting the vote out among those poor and working people, the real “swing voters.”

Democrats also failed to address their key conflicts—the Biden Administration has deported more people than Trump did. And they failed to address the non-committal voters during the primaries who also marched to end the genocide in Gaza. T

he Dems failed to consider the growing pro-Palestinian sentiment while they continued their detrimental unqualified support of Israel. They failed to connect the dots with Gaza and the growing pain of poverty and scarcity in the United States. Harris even embraced anti-Trump Republicans more. This may explain why a significant number of possible voters didn’t go to the polls.

The Democratic Party failed. Period.

Now as the darkness of fascism engulfs the White House, the Supreme Court, and Congress, it’s time for us to open our eyes and see. It’s time for those at the bottom to mobilize. Create a new movement of shared well-being, based on compassion, healing, everyone heard and appreciated. All of which is incompatible with capitalism. All of which is incompatible with the two-party system as we know it.

We need to imagine a new “America.” To imagine a new politics. To have a vision encompassing men, women, Queer/Trans, Black, white, so-called Latinos, Asians, Indigenous people. The working class. Rural and urban. All of us, not just MAGA. It’s not about more order, but more creativity. Now healing, peace, and compassion have become revolutionary acts. I’m in that “party.” I’m calling for that movement.

Luis J. Rodriguez, also known as Mixcoatl Itztlacuiloh, has 17 books in all genres. Luis and his wife Trini Tlazohteotl Rodriguez have a podcast on Indigenous cosmology and visions for modern times called “The Hummingbird Cricket Hour.”