Give any friend a story

As a subscriber, you have 10 gifts to send every month. Anyone can read what you share.

Glenn Youngkin's defeat of Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia governorship campaign shocked some people. But it is caused by many factors. The Democrats have still not fulfilled their promises, nor have they passed major legislation through Congress — their infrastructure, social spending, and voting rights bills. McAuliffe carried out the final cycle of the campaign, the anti-Donald Trump campaign.

Of course, there are still structural historical patterns in states such as Virginia, where voters tend to punish whoever controls the White House. But it is undeniable that Youngkin successfully activated and released the degree of white racial anxiety, positioning it as the most powerful form: protecting the vulnerable, innocent and helpless. In this case, the white victims considered to be in distress are children.

Youngkin focuses on critical racial theory, although critical racial theory, as Youngkin imagined, is not taught in schools in his state. But this is not important.

Some people want to believe this fabrication because it justifies their fear of displacement, powerlessness, and vulnerability.

In fact, the frenzy surrounding critical racial theory is only the latest in a long list of human anger aimed at exploiting the same fear, and the strategy has proven to be very effective.

Children worry about "racial mixing"-including after the abolition of the apartheid ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, black boys might start dating white girls. (By the way, this is a variant of the ancient and dusty fear peddled during reconstruction that black men not only cannot govern, but their greedy nature also puts white women at risk of rape and demons.)

With the success of the civil rights movement, people worried that the southern way of life and society would collapse. This gave birth to the Republican Party’s "Southern Strategy."

Richard Nixon used his fear of the lost generation to launch his disastrous war on drugs. This is not a real war on drugs at all, but another way to ignite the anxiety of the white race.

Nixon’s assistant John Ehrlichman later told reporter Dan Baum:

In the Nixon campaign in 1968, and later in the Nixon White House, there were two enemies: the anti-war left and the blacks. Do you understand what I'm talking about? We know that we can’t make opposition to war or opposition to blacks illegal, but by letting the public associate hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalize both, we may destroy these communities. We can arrest their leaders, raid their homes, disrupt their meetings, and slander them night after night in the evening news. Do we know that we lie about drugs? Of course we did.

Ronald Reagan used the myth of the welfare queen to anger white voters.

As the "New Republic" said, "The Queen of Welfare supports the view that blacks are too lazy to work, but rely on public welfare to live on, paid by our other honest citizens."

Nevertheless, as pointed out by the Economic Policy Research Institute, “compared to other women in the United States, regardless of age, marital status, or whether there are children at home, black women always have the highest level of labor market participation.” In fact, the white working class The most benefited from government assistance.

George HW Bush raised concerns about the rape of white women by black ex-prisoners in his Willie Horton advertisement in 1988, and conveyed to his family the message of severely cracking down on crime.

During Bill Clinton's presidency, even the Democrats participated in this action with their "wonderful baby" mythology, portraying an entire generation of dystopian portraits. They imply that black children and young people are "super predators," stubborn and incurable criminals wandering the streets, willing to "knock my mother on the head with a lead pipe, shoot my sister, beat my wife, and bring Go my son," as the then Senator Joe Biden said.

Sarah Palin did her best to other Barack Obamas to make white people afraid of him, accusing the Illinois senator of “colluding terrorists.” At the same time, the born questioned whether Obama was born in the United States and wanted to know whether he was a Christian or a Muslim.

Then there is Donald Trump, the main born, who appealed this fear to the degree of obscenity, positioning Mexicans as rapists and Muslims as people who hate the United States. He belittled black countries, demonized black athletes, and found some "very good people" among the Nazis in Charlottesville.

Therefore, it is no wonder that Youngkin's critical racial theory worked. The parasites of white race anxiety need a new host, a fresher host.

You can argue that the Democrats made mistakes in Virginia. Absolutely. However, to win, the Democratic Party also needs to eliminate the fear of white people, which is like playing a game of molesting.

Some people who voted against Donald Trump, because they were exhausted and embarrassed for him, turned to Youngkin eagerly because he represented some of the same ideals, but behind the opportunistic.

Youngkin smiled and expressed fear.

The Times is committed to publishing various letters to the editor. We want to hear your thoughts on this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. This is our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow the New York Times opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.