Millennials clinging to the candidacies of goofy Gary "What's Aleppo?" Johnson and addled Jill "WiFi" Stein are flirting with the prospect of neo-fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump in the White House. While support for the two fringe candidates seems to be waning as the election draws nearer, the popular vote margin in some battleground states between Rump and Secretary Clinton may be the decided by how many cast ballots for Johnson and Stein.
Clearly mainly white progressive millennials are angry and frustrated with the Democratic Party, and have either decided to sit the election out or to vote for the fringe candidates. As Harold Meyerson notes in American Prospect, those millennials are out of touch with the consequences a Rump presidency would have on minority populations ("white skin privilege"), a disconnect not shared with minority millennials:
"The gap that’s opened between white and minority millennials should come as no surprise; it tracks their different life experiences. The AP-NORC survey found that 48 percent of young blacks had experienced racial discrimination in looking for a job, compared to 30 percent of Latinos and just 10 percent of whites. It found that 57 percent of both black and Latino millennials were concerned about someone in their household being laid off, while just 41 percent of young whites voiced that fear.The dangers represented by Rump are manifest: Supreme Court appointments that would shred civil rights law and keep big money running politics, women's reproductive rights and economic security threatened, roll back of environmental protection and reversal of progress on climate change, and so many other disasters for the American people.
But surely, the gap also reflects the greater and more direct danger that a Trump presidency poses to minority communities, immigrants, and Muslims than it does to whites. The racial and religious hatred that Trump has brought into the open in the course of his campaign has already made the nation a more dangerous place for minorities; the witches’ brew that a Trump presidency would uncork would be more toxic still." (emphasis added)
It's encouraging to note that both Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders are vigorously stumping for Secretary Clinton. Sen. Sanders, in particular, is barnstorming through Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and other states, appealing to his supporters to rally behind Clinton. They know a progressive agenda will have its best chance of success under Clinton, and they're prepared to work for that outcome. Millennials of color know this; hold out white millennials need to get on board, too.
BONUS: Lewis Black has a message for millennials.
UPDATE: Bernie supporter Annabel Park has an op/ed about why she's voting for Clinton, and why she's urging other millennials to do the same. Good read.
