Regarding those "Enraged White Voters."
What The Media keeps missing (actually, ignoring) is the second half of the double meaning of “Enraged.” Allow me to digress a second to say I’m not a grammarian, so I invite skilled practioners of the art to refine what I’m saying here and employ more accurate words than mine.
Anyway, when I see the words Enraged White Voters, I “get” that the Media means they are “enraged.” That they are engaging in being enraged. That the word “enraged” is being used as an adjective, like “misinformed” or “racist.”
But the Trad Media virtually never uses the word “enraged” as a verb acting upon these White People, i.e., that they are the objects of enragement.
And that’s yet another thing that pisses me off with the Trad Med.
Twenty-five years ago these White People who are now so (here, the adjective) enraged, weren’t so enraged. Have general demographic and income and economic circumstances changed to the point that they just feel enraged? For some percentage of them, sure. I suppose so. But the whole mass of White People (especially the poor, and the lower and working classes) have been (here, the verb) enraged by (not “at,” by) — acted upon — the Republican Party, Hate Radio and, since around ‘99 — Fox News.
Another way to describe it, other words to use, are “whipped up into a lather of hate and resentment,” or "egged on by,” or “duped into a constant state of anger and resentment.”
Ah! But here’s why the Trad Media won’t “go there” (besides the fact that it’s lazy and corporate America / Republicans butters its bread): There’s simple no way to play the Both Sides card. For better or worse, Democrats and the Democratic Party have never adopted the enrage tactic (or, thinking long term, strategy). A Democrat here or there (Joe Biden comes to mind) may get enraged about an issue, but the party’s not wired to enrage people.
So think about this, think about how these millions of White People are not just (adjective describing a characteristic) enraged, they have been acted upon to become enraged. It doesn’t speak so well for their individuality or ability to discern the difference between being informed and being manipulated. And it says a whole lot about the kind of organization the Republican Part is, and about the nefariousness of its media and other allies.