In my experience, for the most part, reactionaries typically just mouth talking points provided by Fox News. Wokeness is a classic example; as Trump correctly points out, the average reactionary doesn’t even know what it means. There are, however, two issues on which they will express strong opinions without any prompting. They are:
- WELFARE: Bumper stickers complaining that the government takes your hard-earned money and gives it to lazy, unemployed people are popular in my neck of the woods.
- AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: Reactionaries frequently react strongly to suggestions that they are racists. They will argue that the American creed is that everyone is entitled to equal treatment regardless of the color of his skin, and that affirmative action violates that standard. To a reactionary, the deck is stacked in favor of minorities, and against him; that is why he is falling behind.
This world view assumes that millions of Americans have a comfortable life lounging in the hammock of dependency, that most of them are minorities, that white people and people of color are in the same position at the starting line, and that affirmative action programs are far more pervasive than they actually are. None of these statements are true, but if you try and make that case to a reactionary, you will be wasting your breath.
What does this mean, in practical terms? If you are a Democrat, and you want to improve the safety net, you will need to prove that your proposal is neither welfare nor a form of affirmative action if you want it to be accepted by a large majority of the population.