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Byko: Trump's win is revenge of straight, white males

The unlikely election of real estate magnate/reality show star Donald Trump can be seen as the revenge of the straight white male. Also angry, as they - and I - are usually described.

The unlikely election of real estate magnate/reality show star Donald Trump can be seen as the revenge of the straight white male. Also angry, as they - and I - are usually described.

The cohort we love to hate was the core of Trump's apple, as he was seemingly rejected by every other claiming-to-be-oppressed special interest group, excluding perhaps the ultrarich. Long live the patriarchy!

In the long run, if Trump proves to be a disaster, this election may prove to be the last gasp of the straight white male, but let's take a look at it.

For straight white males, "their America is ending," said conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan before the election.

That would explain the pushback of straight white males using Trump as their bulldozer, but: Is Sullivan right?

Even the election of Hillary Clinton would have been "about as likely to mark the end of white male supremacy in 2016 as the election of Barack Obama marked the end of white male supremacy in 2008," said Stephen J. Farnsworth, professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va. His opinion represented those of many I asked.

Farnsworth's belief contradicts many hard-Left on-air commentators and progressive websites that gleefully predicted that a Hillary win would mean that straight white males would be vanquished - and that they had it coming.

A common belief is that Republicans appeal mostly to straight white males - many undereducated, but with a sprinkling of country club types - who fear losing "white privilege" as America turns brown and becomes a minority-majority country around 2060. They fear the "other," they believe.

If that's true - and I have reservations about it - that means fear has won. Most of Trump's detractors said his campaign was fear-filled and divisive. I can't deny it was divisive - most elections are - but why?

Progressive populist Michael Moore predicted a Trump victory in a recent post on his website. He was serious.

He reasoned that Rust Belt voters were in revolt because of the job-destroying NAFTA endorsed by the Clintons, among other issues. "Angry, embittered working [and nonworking] people were lied to by the trickle-down of Reagan and abandoned by Democrats," wrote Moore.

Moore loathes Trump, but said Trump put his short fingers (© Will Bunch) on the soft underbelly of the Democratic Party. Commentator Sullivan said "the Left has promoted identity politics for years," and now whites are feeling like a minority and demanding protection. Safe spaces will be next.

If Sullivan is right, whites claiming minority rights is a definition of irony.

So, in Trump's America, the straight white male retains his hegemony, but nothing lasts forever.

Enjoy it while you can, boys. Chelsea's waiting in the wings.

stubyko@phillynews.com

215-854-5977 @StuBykofsky

Blog: ph.ly/Byko

Columns: ph.ly/StuBykofsky