The Inevitable Donald Trump

Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis has spawned a new round of relitigating the 2024 election and whitesplaining "why we lost." Please stop.

YouTube/NBC News

It is my favorite new genre in all of journalism.

If you watch the first 30 minutes of Rachel Maddow’s program, then you know what I’m talking about. Perhaps you’ve read about it in a lengthy front-page profile in your favorite national newspaper. Even if you’re taking a break from politics, you’ve still probably seen the newest trend in white mainstream news.

The “regretful” white Trump supporter.

Regardless of the outlet, the stories follow the same template. It invariably begins by introducing the protagonists — sympathetic, Christian, hardworking (always white) characters who love Jesus, the troops and the intangible ethics that have come to define “American values.” The Washington Post somehow found pro-Trump Iowans who voted against pronouns and Democrats’ “far-left ideology.” The New York Times framed its patriotic portrait around a gun-loving grandfather of a rural Georgia family who loves his grandkids, his guns and his undocumented immigrant son-in-law. Reuters covered fiscally conservative veterans in West Virginia who like Trump and hate government spending.

The second part of the story is even more predictable — Trump does something that causes his supporters to face the consequences of their presidential vote. The Iowans’ family farm is threatened by Trump’s trade war. The Georgia granddad’s undocumented son-in-law faces deportation. The veterans lose their jobs and benefits because of DOGE layoffs.

But the conclusion of these stories is why I love the newest trend in white mainstream journalism. After dissecting the crises, the writer will ask the red-blooded residents of these red-state communities if they regretted voting for Donald Trump. Inevitably, their answers are always the same:

“I don’t necessarily regret my vote.”

The Iowa family struggling to survive Trump’s tariffs is still willing “to give the president the benefit of the doubt.” In the pro-Trump West Virginia community decimated by DOGE cuts, “nearly all” of Trump’s voters still support the president. “I’m going to be straight with you,” the Georgia patriarch explains to his undocumented son-in-law, who is facing deportation. “I voted for Trump. I believe in a lot of what he says … It’s not about you.”

This is my favorite part.