The article argues that Donald Trump's cancellation of a program designed to address digital inequities, while seemingly targeting "woke" initiatives, ultimately harms his own voter base, particularly those in rural areas, low-income households, and minority communities.
The author points out a recurring pattern within the Republican party of using coded language to justify cuts to government programs that benefit minorities, citing examples from Ronald Reagan, Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan. This language is often framed as opposition to “Big Government” handouts to minorities, masking the negative impact on the Republican’s own constituency.
The article criticizes Trump for perpetuating this pattern by portraying the program's cancellation as a rejection of "wokeness." It states that Trump's action is a continuation of his party’s strategy to use racially charged rhetoric to justify policies that harm many of his supporters. The irony, according to the author, is that MAGA voters are the ones who end up facing the negative consequences of these decisions.
The article concludes that despite claims that Trumpism represents a departure from traditional Republican ideology, it has instead amplified existing racial undertones, leading to policies that negatively affect those who are supposed to be the program's beneficiaries. The author highlights the detrimental impact on those who need the most help in overcoming digital barriers.
“In today’s world, everything is online, and yet folks in rural areas, low-income households, and racial and ethnic minorities all suffer from the same challenge—barriers that keep people offline,” Amy Huffman, policy director at the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, told me. “It’s absurd to say this is reverse racism.”
For decades, Republicans have demagogued about Big Government giving handouts to racial minorities, in order to justify slashing government programs in myriad ways that hurt their own voters. This has often been communicated in couched language: For Ronald Reagan it was “welfare queens.” For Mitt Romney, it was the “47 percent” who were “dependent on the government.” For Paul Ryan, it was the “hammock that lulls able-bodied citizens to lives of dependency.”
We constantly hear that Trumpism is supposed to represent a break with that old form of Reaganesque, drown-government-in-the-bathtub, plutocratic GOP ideology, as part of its supposed project to remake the GOP as “working class.” But the reality is that MAGA often takes that old race-baiting trick and, if anything, supercharges its racist overtones. This latest move is a case in point: Once again, here we see Trump carrying out precisely that same old swindle. And once again, GOP voters may very well get screwed by it.
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