Trump’s popularity with his base isn’t the result of economic anxiety, as many claimed in 2016. It’s about race and demographics.

TO UNDERSTAND THE rise of Donald Trump, you don’t need to go to a diner in the Midwest or read “Hillbilly Elegy,” J.D. Vance’s memoir.

You just need to know these basic facts:

In 1980, white people accounted for about 80 percent of the U.S. population.

In 2024, white people account for about 58 percent of the U.S. population.

Trump appeals to white people gripped by demographic hysteria. Especially older white people who grew up when white people represented a much larger share of the population. They fear becoming a minority.

      • Flying Squid
        0•1 month ago

        Believe it or not, and I thought it was hilarious at the time, I got one when I was 19 or 20 because I had moved into my late grandparents’ house and AARP thought my grandfather changed his first name or something.

      • Flying Squid
        4•1 month ago

        I do feel like an old man sometimes, but considering I’m 47, I don’t think I count as elderly.

        • Nougat
          6•1 month ago

          I was at a restaurant a couple weeks back and realized I’m frighteningly close to the “55+ senior menu.”

      • Flying Squid
        0•1 month ago

        Can you point out where the article defines the cutoff age? Because I read it and I didn’t see that part.