Society & Politics
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Do you think this analysis can be applied to Trump's electorate?

Do you think this analysis can be applied to Trumps electorate?

This analysis was made in a French political context, so of course not everything can correspond to 100 percent. This analysis was made by a famous businessman in France who was in a letter against the French extreme right. But I find some similarities with what could be Trumpism

"What is the National Front? Actually, I’m only interested in Le Pen in relation to the National Front. To put it simply and schematically, I’d say it’s a sort of large sweeper car. In the Tour de France, the sweeper car is the one that picks up all those who, during the stage, abandon, get injured, fall ill, or don’t want to continue.

The tougher the stage, the fuller the sweeper car. Usually, on the Paris-Versailles stage, there’s no one. But on the Alpe d’Huez stage, the sweeper car fills up. So, it’s a kind of sweeper car that, within this French society, gradually gathers layers of people, very different from one another, whose reasons for joining are also very different, sometimes even opposed. These people together form the kind of millefeuille that becomes Le Pen’s electorate.

The base, or the crust, and it’s no coincidence I call it that, is made up of people who are fundamentally far-right, who have always been far-right. They were with Tixier-Vignancour, they became Le Pen supporters, and so on. They are racist, antisemitic, and fascist.

And why is it growing now? They’re at 2, 3, 4 percent, maybe 6—I don’t know exactly—but they’re definitely not the 15, 20, or 25 percent that people talk about. The first layer added to this already-established base consists of those who, objectively or subjectively, suffer—rightly or wrongly—or think they suffer because of immigration. These are people who, at some point, face coexistence issues or discomfort living alongside others.

These people, with Le Pen taking the stance of defending the French, the "little white people," against immigrants, form a growing base of support. That’s the first layer.

The second layer consists of those who, in a somewhat cynical, high-performing, and tough society, are left by the wayside—a population the sweeper car is there to pick up. How are they picked up? By saying things, by playing tunes that are pleasant to hear. It’s wonderful to tell a disabled person that it’s outrageous they’re not taken into account, or to say it’s shameful that the unemployed remain unemployed. It’s not hard to say those things—they’re tunes that are pleasant to the ear.

So, these people are picked up, and it continues.

The fourth category consists of those who are fundamentally right-wing and can’t stand left-wing people. They no longer want the left to be in power and feel that the current traditional right-wing leaders—Chirac, Giscard, and so on—aren’t capable of defeating the left. They believe Le Pen will succeed. So, these people swell the ranks.

Finally, there’s the last category—those who are against political parties, whose wife left them for the neighbor, who are fed up with institutions, and who say, 'I’ll make a mockery of the traditional parties and vote for Le Pen.'"

Do you think this analysis can be applied to Trump's electorate?
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