Call them the Cassandras: the people—mostly not white and male—who smelled the fascism all over Trump from jump street. Why were they “alarm
"The first thing to say about fascism’s Cassandras is they’re usually women. Not all women are Cassandras (most aren’t), but most Cassandras are women. My sense is that Black Americans, of either gender, are likelier than whites to be Cassandras, and trans and nonbinary people are heavily overrepresented within the group.
Cassandras live across America; from coast to coast, in urban, suburban, and rural areas, in red, blue, and purple states. The assumption that Trump Derangement Syndrome, to use the right’s mocking phrase, is a malady peculiar to big, blue coastal cities could not be further from the truth. I met Cassandras from Brooklyn, but I also talked with many in smaller towns and cities across the South. A very, very common trait—even for big blue city Cassandras—is having lived in a heavily Republican, deeply conservative area for a long period of time.
Universally, Cassandras have a strong sense of their own values. In contrast to some politics enthusiasts who pinball between different tribes, they tend to be lifelong liberals. Many of those raised by conservatives recall arguing with their parents about politics as children.
It’s also worth noting what Cassandras do not share: income level, social class, or type of occupation. I talked with janitors and Wall Street bankers, lawyers and landscape designers. People out of work, retirees, and food delivery drivers. Army vets and animal vets. Software engineers and mechanical engineers. And, yes, college professors. Much has been made of the cross-class nature of Trump’s strongest support. That the same is true of his strongest opposition is far less discussed, if it’s even considered worthy of discussion at all.
And they sound different. Some are confident speakers, some are more nervous. Some carefully think through every word, others simply launch in. Some are bubbly, some somber; some have that metallic dryness in their voice that comes from being afraid for long periods of time.
But what they said was the same."
