[The question of whether white supremacist values are driving how
the public understands J6 has been almost entirely ignored by U.S.
journalists, intellectuals, and pollsters.]
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WHITE SUPREMACY AND JANUARY 6: WHAT’S MISSING FROM THE
CONGRESSIONAL REPORT  
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Anthony DiMaggio
December 30, 2022
CounterPunch
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_ The question of whether white supremacist values are driving how
the public understands J6 has been almost entirely ignored by U.S.
journalists, intellectuals, and pollsters. _

Proud Boys, Elvert Barnes – CC BY-SA 2.0

 

In the run-up to the two-year anniversary of January 6th (J6), the
United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack has
released a new report highlighting some troubling realities regarding
Donald Trump’s failed insurrection. Unfortunately, it falls short in
exposing the extent of the threat of rising white supremacy in
America. At a whopping 814 pages, the report is incredibly thorough in
documenting what happened on J6 and Trump’s role in stoking a failed
coup. The report blames “one man
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for the insurrection, emphasizing
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“multi-part conspiracy” on the former president’s part to
overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election.”
Those who’ve paid close attention to news reporting in the wake of
the J6 attack are unlikely to be surprised by any of the committee’s
major findings. Some of the most detailed scholarship on this matter
(see here
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has already sketched out the story of J6, which is reinforced in this
report, including the following:

+ Trump embraced “Big Lie” election fraud propaganda, despite
being repeatedly told by his aides and administration that the claims
were unfounded, to undermine public confidence in Joe Biden’s win in
the 2020 election.

+ Trump brazenly and illegally sought to overturn the results of
Georgia’s election outcome favoring Biden, demanding Secretary of
State Brad Raffensperger produce 11,780 votes so he could “win”
the state.

+ Trump endorsed and pushed a multi-point plan with aides like John
Eastman and Rudy Giuliani to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence
and members of Congress to refuse to certify Biden’s win, to declare
his victories in swing states invalid, to announce that Trump was the
winner, and when Democrats protested, to turn the certification vote
back to states and alternative slates of electors that would
presumably vote for Trump in red and battleground states.

+ Trump stoked insurrectionists at the U.S. Capitol, who represented a
serious threat to the safety and lives of members of Congress, by
encouraging mass outrage over alleged voter fraud, by persuading his
supporters to travel to the Capitol and “fight like hell,” and
refusing to mobilize the National Guard to stop them when they
occupied the building to shut down the election certification.

One of the recommendations from the J6 committee is that Trump should
be prosecuted for his actions in relation to the insurrection and
failed coup. As the report states
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“The Select Committee has made criminal referrals to the Department
of Justice, and both the Department of Justice and
other prosecutorial authorities will now make their determinations on
whether to prosecute individuals involved in the events resulting in
an attack on the United States Congress on January 6, 2021.”

The J6 report is incredibly thorough in examining the events that
occurred at the Capitol, and Trump’s role in manufacturing mass
misinformation related to the 2020 election. The report also includes
numerous references (7 total) to white supremacist and other extremist
groups that participated in J6. It discusses white nationalist/white
supremacist groups, militia activists, and neofascist groups,
including the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, QAnon, Groyper Army, and
the Three Percenters. The report presents
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actions on J6 and beyond as a threat to the nation, particularly
related to the legal charges brought against them for engaging in
“seditious conspiracy” by plotting “to overthrow” the
government and to “use force to prevent, hinder, or delay the
execution” of the “law of the United States.”

The J6 report talks about white supremacy within the context of
recognizing that racist groups participated in the insurrection. This
is unsurprising considering the committee was concerned with
understanding the events associated with J6. But where the report
comes up short is in failing to provide an understanding of the larger
socio-political context in which J6 is understood by the public at
large. The committee is not alone in this failure. The question of
whether white supremacist values are driving how the public
understands J6 has been almost entirely ignored by U.S. journalists,
intellectuals, and pollsters. A review
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the Nexis Uni academic database finds that the national “agenda
setting” newspaper – _The New York Times_ – has not published
a single news article in the last two years discussing J6 as related
to white supremacy and the public at large. The erasure of white
supremacy has happened (in part) because the topic hasn’t received
much attention from pollsters. Furthermore, outside a few exceptions
(see here
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the question of white supremacy and mass opinion of J6 has been almost
entirely ignored by researchers and scholars. Only two studies by
academics emphasize this question – one an unpublished research
project by Robert Pape of the University of Chicago, and a few survey
questions fielded by Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry in a larger book
about Christian white nationalism, who link white supremacist
sentiment with sympathy for the J6 insurrectionists.

This isn’t a “media problem,” so much as it’s an American
political culture problem of denialism. The U.S. is notorious for
embracing an exceptionalist framework, presenting itself as a shiny
beacon of democracy – a city on a hill – that has gotten beyond
racism. Discussions of the country as mainstreaming white nationalist
and white supremacist ideology do not comport with our self-image as
having transcended bigotry and hate.

The J6 insurrectionists were driven to a large extent by “Great
Replacement Theory” – a neofascist-white supremacist belief that
white Americans are in danger of “white genocide” and becoming a
minority in their own country because of demographic change and an
intentional effort by liberal and Democratic leaders to “replace”
the “real” white America with immigrants of color. While support
for Great Replacement Theory among J6 participants has
received attention
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U.S. political commentary, the larger question of what’s motivating
the mass public (or a large share of it) to sympathize with J6
extremists remains mostly unexamined.

To what extent are J6 sympathizers within the mass public driven by
economic insecurity? This narrative has long been associated with
popular discussions of Trumpism, with journalists
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some scholars (see here
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claiming that millions of Americans embraced Trump due to being left
behind in an era of corporate globalization, “free trade,”
poverty, and rising worker insecurity. Similarly, some journalistic
research
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that the insurrectionists were driven by economic insecurity,
although academic research
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back against this is narrative. To date, there hasn’t been a single
study to examine how much white supremacist attitudes (compared to
economic insecurity) predict sympathy for J6.

American political commentators – particularly following Barack
Obama’s election to the presidency – began to wonder
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the country was becoming “post-racial.” This claim was clearly
undermined by the heavily racialized opposition
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Obama that’s been documented by scholars. And as subsequent
research [[link removed]] documents,
Trumpism’s rise to prominence further demonstrated that much of the
public was primarily motivated by reactionary and racist
socio-political attitudes. Still, Americans generally don’t like to
think of their political culture as defined by white supremacy.

Despite the denialism, national surveys reveal that much of the public
is inclined to embrace white supremacy – at least when questions are
gently worded to gauge susceptibility to white nationalist sentiments.
A 2018 University of Virginia poll revealed
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nearly a third of Americans felt that “America must protect and
preserve its white European heritage,” while a 2019 _Associated
Press_ poll reported
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more than one in five Democrats and more than half of Republicans (51
percent) agreed that “a culture established by the country’s early
European immigrants” is “important” to “the United States
identity as a nation.” At a time when less than one in ten
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openly identify with “white nationalism” in surveys, these
findings reveal that tens of millions are inclined toward white
supremacist politics when such questions are worded so as to gauge
support for elevating, preserving and protecting “white European
heritage” and “culture.”

To better understand the white supremacy problem, I commissioned a set
of survey questions with the _Harris _polling group in late October
2022, which contacted a sample of 2,029 Americans about their opinions
of J6, while measuring public susceptibility to white supremacist
values. I also examined a second national survey
from _IPSOS_ conducted in mid-2021, which polled the public on their
opinions of race in America, and in relation to J6. A statistical
examination of both polls reveals that public support for J6 has
little to do with economic insecurity, and a lot to do with white
supremacy.

In the_ Harris_ survey, I asked Americans their opinions on to two
questions:

+ Measuring susceptibility to white supremacy, they were asked the
extent to which they agreed that “It is important to protect the
culture established by America’s early European immigrants from
those who might try to diminish it.”

+ In assessing attitudes of J6 and the insurrectionists, they were
asked about their thoughts of the claim that “Those who occupied the
U.S. capitol on January 6th had legitimate concerns about election
fraud and about their democracy being stolen from them.”

Both questions are useful in examining the extent to which white
supremacy has been mainstreamed in association with attitudes about
J6. The first question is useful as a proxy for measuring the
mainstreaming of Great Replacement Theory, particularly via question
wording about “protecting” the culture of early European
immigrants” “from those who might try and diminish it.” This
language speaks to a perceived threat felt by those who are anxious
about the long-term demographic shift in the U.S. away from a white
majority. Similarly, the J6 question gauges perceptions of a threat
related to J6 via the concern that rightwing Americans seeing their
country and democracy as “being stolen from them.”

Complementing the _Harris_ survey, the _IPSOS_ survey also
contains metrics that are relevant to the study of white supremacy. On
the race question, the poll asks Americans about a sense of resentment
they may share regarding the perception that whites are being targeted
by large socio-political forces. The poll asks: “how easy or
difficult is it” for “white Americans” “to use their free
speech rights without consequence in America today?”

Both the _Harris _and _IPSOS _questions are best understood as
measuring those who_ potentially_ fall into the orbit of defending
white supremacy and J6. Not every person who answers “agree” to
these questions will be a white supremacist or an insurrection
supporter. Many Americans may support preserving European culture,
while also wanting to preserve other cultures that have been a part
of, and contributed to, American history. But it’s also likely that
most or all white supremacists will agree with positions advocating
the preservation of European culture and expressing sympathy for Jan.
6 insurrectionists who embrace white supremacy.

Finally, on the J6 question, the _IPSOS_ poll asked the extent to
which Americans agreed that “entering the U.S. Capitol on January 6,
2021 to disrupt the election certification” should be considered a
“legitimate or not legitimate” example of “people expressing
their First Amendment rights?” Again, the _Harris_ poll asked
whether respondents agreed that “Those who occupied the U.S. capitol
on January 6th had legitimate concerns about election fraud and their
democracy being stolen from them.” The language from both questions
is useful in measuring the mainstreaming of Great Replacement Theory.
It situates the discussion of J6 so as to emphasize the perception of
threat, held by insurrectionists who were overtly racist, and almost
entirely white men
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who trafficked in rhetoric about their democracy being taken from
them.

The _Harris_ and _IPSOS_ data reveal that there are tens of
millions of Americans who are susceptible to white supremacy. In
the _IPSOS _survey, just over one-in-five Americans (21 percent)
agreed that being white posed problems for people in terms of freely
exercising themselves and expressing their “free speech.” In
the _Harris _survey, 66 percent of Americans agreed “somewhat”
or “strongly” that the U.S. should “protect” the “culture
established by America’s early European immigrants” from attack.
These figures, although varying widely, suggest that a large segment
of the population – between a fifth to two-thirds – are
potentially susceptible to white supremacist politics.

On J6, we see alarming results concerning the large number of people
willing to normalize the insurrection. In the _IPSOS_ survey, more
than one in five (22 percent) express potential sympathy with the
participants by saying that entering the capitol to disrupt the
election results was either “somewhat” or “very” legitimate as
a means of expressing oneself politically. Nearly half – 49 percent
– agree that J6 participants held “legitimate concerns” about
“election fraud” and “democracy being stolen from them.”

Utilizing statistical regression analysis, I account (or
“control”) for multiple factors, including respondents’
political party identification (Republican vs Democratic), ideology
(conservative vs liberal), age, race (white vs non-white), education,
gender, geographic location (rural vs non-rural), and economic factors
(income, homeownership, and employment status) to assess whether each
predicts attitudes about J6. I find that susceptibility to white
supremacy is significantly linked to defenses of J6. Sixty-two percent
of those agreeing the U.S. should protect the culture created by early
European immigrants from those who would diminish it agree that the J6
participants held legitimate concerns about election fraud and their
democracy being stolen them, compared to just 24 percent of those who
are not susceptible to white supremacy. This difference between both
groups is large – 38 percentage points. Similarly, 43 percent of
those who agree that whites are under attack, via the claim that white
Americans are not free to express themselves in this culture, agree
that the J6 participants were within their rights to assault the
Capitol and shut down the election certification, compared to just 13
percent of those who disagreed that whites are under assault. Again,
this is a large difference between groups, of 30 percentage points.

Both of my findings above reveal that J6, as a mass phenomenon, should
be understood as fundamentally linked to white supremacy. J6 was not
simply about a small group of racist fanatics who assaulted the
Capitol. It was a symbol for the Republican base and rightwing
Americans in mass; and it speaks to the mainstreaming of Great
Replacement Theory in the era of Trump and under the contemporary
Republican Party (Republican Party ID was also a significant predictor
of sympathy with J6). Previous scholarship
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the notion that J6 participants were motivated by economic insecurity
and desperation, finding that they were not more likely than the rest
of the population to be unemployed, and that a majority of them (54
percent) were business owners or white-collar professionals, while the
vast majority were white (93 percent) and men (86 percent). Similarly,
members of the mass public who are sympathetic to the J6 participants
are not more likely to be lower income, to be unemployed, or to be
less affluent in terms of residence (non-homeowners). Looking at
various subgroups, there’s also no evidence that sympathy for J6 is
linked to disadvantage regarding place, education, and income. Which
is to say that identification with J6 isn’t associated with lower
incomes, lower education, or coming from rural parts of the country.
Nor is identification with J6 associated with any combination of these
factors. Put another way, rural whites, poorer whites (making less
than $50,000 a year), and poorer rural whites are not more likely,
statistically speaking, to identify with J6 participants as having
legitimate concerns about voter fraud and their democracy being stolen
from them.

The January 6 insurrection occurred two years ago, and in the time
since, journalists, academics, and political leaders have almost
entirely ignored how the attempt to overturn the 2020 election is
linked to the mainstreaming of white supremacy and Great Replacement
Theory. This willful ignorance can (and must) be challenged, but
anti-racist and progressive activists and intellectuals need to put
white supremacy at the forefront of our discussions of J6 and
Trumpism. Without this transformation in how we understand our
political culture, there’s little chance of fighting back against
white supremacy in America.

_ANTHONY DIMAGGIO is Associate Professor of Political Science at
Lehigh University. He is the author of Rising Fascism in America: It
Can Happen Here
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2022), in addition to Rebellion in America
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2020), and Unequal America
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2021). He can be reached at: [email protected]. A digital
copy of Rebellion in America can be read for free here
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_COUNTERPUNCH is reader supported! Please help keep us alive
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* Racism
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* January 6
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* white supremacy
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* media
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* anti-racism
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