" />

The Moderate Voice

An Internet hub with domestic and international news, analysis, original reporting, and popular features from the left, center, indies, centrists, moderates, and right


You are here: Home / Politics / 2016 Presidential Election / Who is Lori Gayne, aka whitepride? And is she representative of Trump supporters?

Who is Lori Gayne, aka whitepride? And is she representative of Trump supporters?

by 10 Comments

Lori Gayne, a Chicago-area mortgage banker and former Internet talk show host, got booted from the Republican National Convention on Wednesday after making a racist post on Facebook.

Our brave snipers just waiting for some N—- to try something. Love them.

Gayne confirmed to the Illinois Republican party and the Chicago Sun-Times that she posted a photo on Facebook of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the site of the RNC welcome party, that showed law enforcement officials on the roof; it was accompanied by the abbreviated racial slur.

She issued a public apology.

She was one of the 39 Donald Trump delegates from Illinois attending the Republican National Convention. Before the convention, the Chicago Tribune had profiled Trump delegation members:

Take Lori Gayne, an admittedly outspoken former Internet talk show host from Chicago, who said she voted for President Barack Obama in his first bid for the White House in 2008.

One of Gayne’s social media handles is “whitepride.”

“With all the racism going on today, I’m very proud to be white. Just like black people are proud to be black and now, as white people, whenever we say something critical we’re punished as if we’re racists. I’m tired of it. I’m very proud,” Gayne said.

“I’m so angry I don’t even feel like I live in America. You can call me a racist. Black Lives Matter? Those people are out of control,” she said.

“I’m all for closing the borders. I’m all for not allowing Muslims in this country. I’m all for keeping illegals out and get as many of them who are here out as soon as possible. … Why do I want my taxpayer money taking care of criminals and murderers who aren’t supposed to be here?”

Gayne was not the only member of the Illinois Trump delegation who went on the (social media) record with racist remarks.

“If Trump wins the election, it’ll be the first time in history that a billionaire moved into public housing vacated by a black family!” [Facebook post shared by Rita Gaus]

Not an abberation

Those Illinois delegate sentiments are not an aberration, although having them uttered by women might be.

Exit poll data suggest Trump supporters are much more likely to be male than female.

These tweets were directed at protesters at a Trump rally in Chicago in March:

https://twitter.com/whitewolfgeist/status/708540702922186760

Perhaps Gayne’s only problem this week was one of timing.

Or not being quite high profile enough:

Racism is definitely at play.

What is racism?

Racism: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.

Harvard professor Danielle Allen compiled a Storify in February to document racist, anti-Semitic and sexist tweets she received from Donald Trump supporters in response to a Washington Post column critical of Trump’s candidacy.

https://twitter.com/whitepagan/status/702134953111330817

https://twitter.com/Terminator1563/status/702103589339140096

https://twitter.com/BadgoyNSF/status/702100752303525889

In March, the NY Daily News has posted emails it received from Trump supporters that reveal racism, bigotry and uncontrolled anger.

Those who express more resentment toward African Americans, those who think the word “violent” describes Muslims well, and those who believe President Obama is a Muslim have much more positive attitudes of Trump compared with Clinton (Vox).

 
Sadly, Trump supporters do not have a monopoly on racism. Reuters also reported that 1-in-3 Clinton supporters “described blacks as more ‘violent’ and ‘criminal’ than whites.” And 1-in-4 believe black Americans are more “lazy” than whites.

Reuters political candidate supporters
Reuters/Ipsos poll, March-April 2016

But so is a generalized fear of “the other”.

National survey data about Trump supporters reveal a definite dislike/distrust towards those who are culturally different, which is a broader category of “other” than skin color. Reuters reported in June:

When asked about where they wanted to live, 36 percent of Trump supporters said, “I prefer to live in a community with people who come from diverse cultures,” compared with 46 percent of Cruz supporters, 55 percent of Kasich supporters and 70 percent of Clinton supporters.

In March, Matthew MacWilliams, a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told The Atlantic:

The best predictor of Trump support isn’t income, education, or age, he says. In South Carolina, it was “authoritarianism … [and] a personal fear of terrorism” that best predicted Trump’s support.

Which brings us full circle.

Because race is a social construct.

More than 100 years ago, American sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois was concerned that race was being used as a biological explanation for what he understood to be social and cultural differences between different populations of people…Today, the mainstream belief among scientists is that race is a social construct without biological meaning… Assumptions about genetic differences between people of different races have had obvious social and historical repercussions, and they still threaten to fuel racist beliefs.

 

To answer my opening question, yes, Gayne is representative of a vocal sub-set of Trump supporters. How large a sub-set remains to be seen.

 
Updated with more recent Reuters/Ipsos chart that includes Sanders supporters.