CLAY TRAVIS: How Trump is already narrowing America's racial divide
2025-01-16
Category: political

Even before he takes&nbsp;the&nbsp;oath&nbsp;of&nbsp;office next week, Donald Trump has&nbsp;already&nbsp;accomplished&nbsp;the&nbsp;most incredible comeback in&nbsp;American political history. In&nbsp;the&nbsp;space&nbsp;of&nbsp;four years, he's gone from being universally banned by Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, Snapchat, Instagram, Shopify, Reddit, Twitch, TikTok&nbsp;and Pinterest&nbsp;to&nbsp;most&nbsp;of&nbsp;these companies donating&nbsp;to&nbsp;his inaugural celebration&nbsp;and&nbsp;their CEOs clamoring for invites&nbsp;to&nbsp;dinner&nbsp;at&nbsp;Mar-a-Lago with him. Trump's 2024 election, I predict, will still be written&nbsp;about&nbsp;as&nbsp;an epochal event in&nbsp;American history long&nbsp;after everyone reading&nbsp;this&nbsp;today is long gone.But that's for future historians&nbsp;to&nbsp;decide.  For&nbsp;the&nbsp;present, Trump's done something even more remarkable than engineer&nbsp;a&nbsp;312 electoral vote landslide comeback that will be talked&nbsp;about for generations. His monumental 2024 presidential win has done something Trump's most&nbsp;ardent critics never believed was possible – he's produced&nbsp;the&nbsp;least racially polarized presidential win since before&nbsp;the&nbsp;Civil Rights Movement. TRUMP'S BIG TENT: PRESIDENT-ELECT IMPROVED ON 2020 PERFORMANCE IN 4 COUNTIES WITH BIG MINORITY POPULATIONS Let me repeat that because it's such&nbsp;a&nbsp;staggering&nbsp;and monumental&nbsp;achievement – Trump's 2024 presidential victory is&nbsp;the&nbsp;least racially polarized presidential election win since Lyndon Johnson's in 1964. That is, White, Black,&nbsp;Asian&nbsp;and Hispanic voters cast ballots that were less racially divisive than&nbsp;at&nbsp;any moment, nearly, in&nbsp;the&nbsp;lives&nbsp;of&nbsp;anyone reading&nbsp;this&nbsp;column&nbsp;today. Yep, unless you were born in 1946 or before, you've never voted in&nbsp;a&nbsp;presidential election where&nbsp;the&nbsp;races were less divided, where&nbsp;Americans&nbsp;of&nbsp;all colors were more similar in&nbsp;their voting habits.  Not Ronald Reagan in 1984, not Barack Obama in 2008, Trump's win in 2024 brought&nbsp;the&nbsp;races closer&nbsp;together than&nbsp;any election in 60 years. Doesn't it seem like&nbsp;this&nbsp;fact should be everywhere? Yet,&nbsp;astoundingly, I bet many&nbsp;of&nbsp;you haven't heard or read&nbsp;any discussion&nbsp;of&nbsp;this&nbsp;at&nbsp;all. That's because&nbsp;there is&nbsp;often far more money&nbsp;to&nbsp;be made tearing us&nbsp;apart than celebrating how similar we&nbsp;all&nbsp;are. TRUMP MAKES GAINS WITH SOME PUERTO RICANS THIS ELECTION DESPITE CONTROVERSIAL ‘GARBAGE’ JOKE Indeed, Trump's popular vote coalition may be&nbsp;the&nbsp;most remarkable&nbsp;achievement&nbsp;of&nbsp;his entire political career&nbsp;and it&nbsp;offers&nbsp;an incredible moment&nbsp;of&nbsp;optimism for those&nbsp;of&nbsp;us who have grown&nbsp;accustomed&nbsp;to&nbsp;constant rancor&nbsp;and division. With&nbsp;a&nbsp;surge in Hispanic,&nbsp;Asian&nbsp;and Black support, Trump moved&nbsp;all 50 states red, won&nbsp;all seven battleground states,&nbsp;and drove&nbsp;a&nbsp;stake into&nbsp;the&nbsp;toxic cancer&nbsp;of&nbsp;identity politics,&nbsp;the&nbsp;root cause&nbsp;of&nbsp;so much hate&nbsp;and division in our country, hopefully once&nbsp;and for&nbsp;all.  How did&nbsp;this&nbsp;happen? How did&nbsp;the&nbsp;man most in&nbsp;the&nbsp;legacy media have spent nine years&nbsp;attacking&nbsp;as&nbsp;America's own&nbsp;version&nbsp;of&nbsp;Adolf Hitler manage&nbsp;to&nbsp;bring so many different people from so many different racial backgrounds into his coalition? I think&nbsp;the&nbsp;answer is simple: many people&nbsp;of&nbsp;all races came&nbsp;to&nbsp;see&nbsp;the&nbsp;lies&nbsp;they'd been&nbsp;told by&nbsp;the&nbsp;legacy media. Many&nbsp;of&nbsp;these voters weren't just voting for Trump,&nbsp;they were specifically voting&nbsp;against&nbsp;the&nbsp;very people who gave us the Charlottesville hoax and&nbsp;the&nbsp;censorship&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;truth during COVID. Trump's win was&nbsp;a&nbsp;statement in support&nbsp;of&nbsp;free speech&nbsp;and&nbsp;the&nbsp;marketplace&nbsp;of&nbsp;ideas. It was,&nbsp;of&nbsp;course,&nbsp;also&nbsp;an overwhelming rejection&nbsp;of&nbsp;President Biden's economic policies,&nbsp;of&nbsp;our wide open border,&nbsp;and&nbsp;of&nbsp;a&nbsp;rise in violent crime&nbsp;and lenient treatment for those guilty&nbsp;of&nbsp;violent crime. As I've been saying for some time,&nbsp;this&nbsp;was&nbsp;an EBC election, economy, border&nbsp;and crime. HISPANICS HELPED TRUMP WIN. HERE’S HOW REPUBLICANS BUILD ON THOSE GAINS Everybody, regardless&nbsp;of&nbsp;race, cares&nbsp;about pocketbook issues,&nbsp;the&nbsp;rule&nbsp;of&nbsp;law,&nbsp;and locking up violent criminals.  How else&nbsp;to&nbsp;explain&nbsp;the&nbsp;dramatic growth in Trump voting support? Remember, back in 2016 Trump won&nbsp;the&nbsp;election with 65.8 million votes. By 2024, he would receive 77.3 million votes. So during&nbsp;a&nbsp;nine-year period when&nbsp;the&nbsp;legacy media mercilessly&nbsp;attacked him&nbsp;and claimed he was HItler, Trump gained roughly 12 million votes. Where did most&nbsp;of&nbsp;these votes come from? The&nbsp;data tells us – minorities&nbsp;and young men. Consider, in 2020 –&nbsp;according&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, citing&nbsp;AP votecast data – Joe Biden won Black voters by 83 points. By 2024, Kamala beat Trump by just 67 points&nbsp;among Black voters. That's&nbsp;a&nbsp;net move&nbsp;of&nbsp;16%&nbsp;of&nbsp;Black voters&nbsp;toward Trump,&nbsp;a&nbsp;seismic shift in&nbsp;a&nbsp;short period&nbsp;of&nbsp;time. Hispanic voters moved in Trump's direction in&nbsp;a&nbsp;massive way&nbsp;too. In 2020, Joe Biden won Hispanic voters by 28 points. By 2024, Kamala's margin was just 14,&nbsp;a&nbsp;net gain&nbsp;of&nbsp;14 points for Trump. TRUMP TRAIN CHUGS PAST 2020 MARGINS, PARTICULARLY AMONG HISPANICS, URBAN NORTHEASTERNERS  Since 2020,&nbsp;Asian voters, similarly,&nbsp;according&nbsp;to&nbsp;Edison Research, have moved from voting for Biden by 27 points&nbsp;to&nbsp;voting for Kamala by 15 points in 2024,&nbsp;a&nbsp;net gain&nbsp;of&nbsp;12 points for Trump.&nbsp; In&nbsp;an election where each side&nbsp;often fights for&nbsp;a&nbsp;point or two on&nbsp;the&nbsp;margins,&nbsp;a&nbsp;double-digit increase in Black, Hispanic&nbsp;and&nbsp;Asian voters for Trump is&nbsp;a&nbsp;political earthquake. And where did many&nbsp;of&nbsp;these gains come from for Trump? With young men&nbsp;ages 18&nbsp;to&nbsp;29 who voted for him by&nbsp;a&nbsp;whopping 14 points. That's&nbsp;a&nbsp;huge victory for Trump by&nbsp;any measure, but it gets even more staggering when you consider that Biden won men 18-29 by 15 points in 2020. So young men moved 29 points&nbsp;toward Trump in just four years. Putting&nbsp;this&nbsp;into further context,&nbsp;the&nbsp;two most conservative voting groups in&nbsp;America by&nbsp;age in 2024 were men 65 and older&nbsp;and men 18-29 – both&nbsp;of&nbsp;those groups backed Trump by margins&nbsp;of&nbsp;more than 14. What explains&nbsp;this&nbsp;sudden&nbsp;alignment between older&nbsp;and younger men? Especially since older men tend&nbsp;to&nbsp;be much less racially diverse than younger men? TRUMP SUPPORT AMONG YOUNG BLACK AND LATINO MEN SPIKES IN NEW POLL  It's simple, young men&nbsp;of&nbsp;all races&nbsp;are overwhelmingly rejecting woke culture&nbsp;and voting in&nbsp;a&nbsp;similar direction&nbsp;across racial lines. That is,&nbsp;the&nbsp;identity politics era, especially for young men, is over.They recognize, better than most,&nbsp;the&nbsp;lies&nbsp;they've been fed. Indeed, data suggests young men 14-17 years old,&nbsp;the&nbsp;next&nbsp;age cohort that will be eligible&nbsp;to&nbsp;vote in 2028&nbsp;are even more conservative than&nbsp;their older brothers. Republicans, if&nbsp;they run&nbsp;a&nbsp;strong campaign in 2028&nbsp;and deliver on economic promises, stand&nbsp;to&nbsp;increase margins&nbsp;among&nbsp;these voters.&nbsp;&nbsp; There's been much discussion&nbsp;about how&nbsp;this&nbsp;surge in young male support came&nbsp;to&nbsp;happen –&nbsp;a&nbsp;focus on male-focused podcasts&nbsp;and sports, for instance, by&nbsp;the&nbsp;Trump campaign – but less discussion&nbsp;about what it means when it comes&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;racial polarization&nbsp;of&nbsp;America, namely it's&nbsp;all collapsing. The&nbsp;race baiters who constantly seek&nbsp;to&nbsp;divide us based on&nbsp;the&nbsp;color&nbsp;of&nbsp;our skin&nbsp;are losing in&nbsp;the&nbsp;marketplace&nbsp;of&nbsp;ideas. CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION  Americans&nbsp;of&nbsp;all races&nbsp;are rejecting&nbsp;their&nbsp;arguments&nbsp;and&nbsp;their divisive tactics.At&nbsp;long last we&nbsp;are moving closer&nbsp;toward Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream&nbsp;of&nbsp;a&nbsp;free&nbsp;and equal society that isn't defined by race. I could write&nbsp;an entire book on&nbsp;this&nbsp;election's seismic impact –&nbsp;and maybe, I should, but that's for&nbsp;the&nbsp;future. For now,&nbsp;as Trump prepares for his inauguration on Jan. 20, what I'd like for&nbsp;all&nbsp;Americans, regardless&nbsp;of&nbsp;race,&nbsp;to&nbsp;know is that&nbsp;at&nbsp;long last, it has been three generations since&nbsp;the&nbsp;racial divide was less pronounced in&nbsp;American presidential politics. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP So&nbsp;as&nbsp;the&nbsp;inauguration nears, I'm incredibly optimistic&nbsp;about what Trump will&nbsp;accomplish for&nbsp;all&nbsp;of&nbsp;us, but even more&nbsp;astounded by what he's&nbsp;already done – bringing&nbsp;the&nbsp;races closer&nbsp;together than we've been in three generations. That doesn't mean&nbsp;America's perfect, but it certainly does suggest that we&nbsp;are continuing&nbsp;to&nbsp;form&nbsp;a&nbsp;more perfect union where&nbsp;all&nbsp;of&nbsp;us can be judged by&nbsp;the&nbsp;content&nbsp;of&nbsp;our character&nbsp;and not by&nbsp;the&nbsp;color&nbsp;of&nbsp;our skin.&nbsp;&nbsp; CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM CLAY TRAVIS