Democracy Alliance Senior Advisor Julie Kohler on Saturday said she believes white supremacy and maintaining the status quo is the driving force behind white women voting Republican. She made that assessment when an MSNBC host asked her whether or not people cast their votes in favor of President Trump or against the Biden-Harris ticket.
"I really think that it's maintenance of the status quo is what it showed," Julie Kohler said.
According to Kohler, white women have voted for Republicans for "the better part of 70 years" and that voting pattern is less likely to change. She said she disagreed with the left's view of white women "as the angels of white people" because the voting bloc is seen as "more aligned, more empathic towards the oppression that people of color, and particularly black Americans, experience in this country." Kohler said that narrative has been routinely "discredited."
"Not only have white women, majorities of white women, voted Republican for the better part of 70 years, white women have taken an active role in the maintenance of white supremacy and that has not changed over the course of generations so we still see those legacies today, whether it's Amy Cooper, or the Permit Pattys, they're white women that have weaponized their identities against especially black men who have threatened their privilege," she explained as the panel nodded in agreement.
Kohler hit at polling data, saying Democrats shouldn't "wash our hands" of white women and assume they're a lost cause. Instead, she believes messaging should be razor focused on different subgroups of white women, particularly "white college educated women who appeared to swing this election."
Interestingly enough, she said it was white women's organizing and networking that made the difference this cycle.
"We have to look at the fact that for the better part of 40 years we've had a vast right-wing organizing machine in this country, that has explicitly targeted white women. And so the notion that white women are just going to do this – I think, you know, in a country that's so rooted in white supremacy, it probably is the default position – but it doesn't mean we don't organize," Kohler said.
Hi @juliekkohler1!
— Beth Baumann (@eb454) November 14, 2020
I’m a college educated white woman. What do you say to women like me who become more conservative as time goes on? Is it that my education sucked or that I like to “weaponize” my identity? Looking for clarification. Thanks! pic.twitter.com/jXBNfkfMB1
No, Julie. Not all of us can be as "woke" as you are. Some of us believe in having the ability to make our own decisions, like what schools our children go to, how much money we fork over to the government and the ability to protect ourselves and our loved ones. We care about making sure all life is protected and Americans have the same rights and opportunities as others.
You can try to say this is grounded in racism or white supremacy but really, it's not. If anything, our beliefs are rooted in anti-racism. Remember: it was the Republican Party that worked to free the slaves. It was Abraham Lincoln who set us on a common path. Conservatives have fought so that everyone has the ability to make the best life possible without government doing everything in its power to stifle it.
While people like Julie may believe there's a difference between "educated" and "uneducated," the clear difference is morals and values. It doesn't take a college degree for someone to realize that high business taxes get passed down to the consumer. It doesn't take a college degree for people to realize that banning fracking will eliminate thousands of jobs in the Rust Belt. These things are common sense. And that's something that apparently can't be taught in a classroom.
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