Along with the increasing cost of living, accelerated by a post-pandemic inflation boom, and a global anti-incumbency trend, what supposedly led President Donald Trump back to power for a second term are the so-called culture war issues — or its more politically modern characterization: wokeness.
Many political commentators have postulated that these issues, egged on by right-wing political messaging, led voters to cast a ballot against their interests. A notorious example is the Republican campaign ad in the lead-up to last November’s election: “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.”
Since the election, some Democratic aides have pushed the party to abandon these culture war issues as a way to keep the political right from using them as a wedge issue for electoral success.
But this thinking is wrongheaded. These are not simply red meat issues. This attack against diversity, equity and inclusion, for instance, isn’t just semantics. Anti-DEI and anti-trans policies — and even name changes spearheaded by the Trump administration — are profoundly consequential, imposing cruelty on some of the most vulnerable in our society and elevating a corrosive character of this nation that seeks to exclude and dominate.
To show this, let’s start with this anti-DEI crusade. In compliance with a pair of anti-DEI laws passed by the GOP supermajority in the Tennessee General Assembly this past legislative session, the Chattanooga City Council this week, as reported by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, is set to vote on the elimination of the city’s DEI offices and alter any wording or staff positions referring to equity.