Trump targeted the discontents. Full stop.
Like it or not, that's what good marketing does. Like it or not - and the status quo still refuses to admit it - those numbers are significant. Significant enough to get Trump elected.
The fringe subset narrative of white supremacists is just that...spin. Unless of course all those who went for Trump in 2020 are white supremacists. That doesn't seem likely, not based on the numbers we're talking about.
It's also important to realize the fact is, the same actors who push the white supremacists narrative are the same who crafted and front lined the Russian narrative, and as we know that was a lie.
There is definitely a white nationalist backlash at a grand scale. America is changing demographically and the infrastructure is declining. Women are dominating in terms of college degrees now and in terms of graduating from college. Russia and others have done a great job at sowing dissent. Corporate media too have done a great job. Humanity is not prepared to be manipulated at the scale Facebook enables and the cost doing this manipulation is cheap.
The U.S. is in a long term state of imperial decline. We are not ready for the social changes that are occurring. All of these things suggest to me that the country is ripe for authoritarianism. It just takes a demagogue with an ounce of competence to install it. Trump, fortunately, is devoid of competence and he failed. The next demagogue will likely succeed.
The "ongoing shift" narrative turns out to be quite illusory. Hispanics are increasingly joining the "white" bandwagon, so "whites" will not become a demographic minority any time soon. Yes, this also means lots of potential voters for either party: there will be no raw demographically-based prominence for either Republicans or Democrats.
This has been debunked by non-corporate journalists like Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, etc.
After 1.5 years of investigation, unlimited subpoena powers and 10s of millions of dollars spent, nobody can name 1 american citizen who has been convicted under the original premise of the Russiagate, which was criminally conspiring with the Kremlin to interfere in the 2016 election.
EDIT: While we're at it I'll also address this comment you've made: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29776626
>Regardless of whatever happened in the past the fact remains that the government was almost overthrown on January 6 and the instigators (the top leaders) have not been brought to justice.
700+ people are charged with crimes associated with Jan 6. Not a single one, not one has been charged with insurrection, inciting an insurrection, attempting to overthrow a government, sedition, treason, etc.
They're all just common crimes: Trespassing, violent assault for the ones who used violence, interrupting government procedures/processes, etc.
If this was an actual insurrection, or a seditious act, or a coup, why is the Justice Dept. under the control of the Biden administration, not William Barr or Donald Trump, not charging anybody with those crimes that are alleged to have taken place?
Why are they charging them with common crimes that happen at protests and riots instead?
Could it be because that was all that event was?
January 6 was an insurrection. Why DOJ chooses to or not to pursue charges is not something I’m privy to. Biden, Pelosi, Garland and others are governing as if the political norms haven’t drastically changed. While DOJ is headed by a moderate Republican it’s not as if he can control the rank and file to do his bidding. He has great influence but he’s not a dictator. Trump couldn’t dictate exactly what he wanted DOJ to do either. We haven’t reached that point yet.
Politics are involved and those in power do what they think is right considering their personal moral views/ambitions and their reading of what is politically feasible. That it isn’t being treated as an insurrection indicates to me the fragility of the system. The precedent has been set. Don’t like the result of a Presidential election and you have an army of fanatics willing to assault the Capitol then you may have them do so with impunity.
That reasonable people such as yourself don’t see the danger in this tells me that we are past the point where we will ever return to normalcy in governance. Eventually one side or the other will lead us to authoritarianism or secession.
EDIT: Capone was never charged with murder. Do you think he was never guilty of murder or being the cause of murders? One must disassociate the actions/intent of a person from the charges used against them. Perhaps prosecutors think Republican jurors will balk at the notion of insurrection and will never convict on this charge despite the evidence. You appear to ignore the plain evidence of insurrection and refuse to use that term.
