Postelection explanations substituted economic-anxiety euphemism for direct racial attribution.

Evidence

As in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the mass media turned inward to ask why they had so profoundly misunderstood the situation. Accusations that Russia had interfered in the election immediately took center stage, casting a shadow over Trump’s presidency. But the more mundane reasons for his victory soon emerged: Moderate voters despised Clinton, viewing her as emblematic of a detached political elite, while Trump, the face of The Apprentice, appeared to them as a “jobs guy.” White animosity toward demographic change played a significant role, though commentators hesitated to directly attribute the outcome to racism. Instead, journalists leaned on the euphemism of “economic anxiety.” This birthed a new media cliché in which coastal reporters journeyed deep into flyover country to interview diner patrons. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 429

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s wider claim that taste-class status signaling (the elite diner-journalist vs the flyover voter) drives how cultural and political meaning gets framed. — connects to: Journalists systematically favor economic-anxiety explanations for racist voting — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 769