On Tuesday, Paul Waldman warned in a Washington Post op-ed of the "outbreak of conservative male grievance" that is sure to plague the country if Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton wins the election next week.
Comparing Clinton critics' sexism with Obama critics' racism, Waldman writes, "The people who make up the core of Trump’s support are unhappy about the social changes that have displaced them from their position atop the social hierarchy."
First, Waldman notes, social whiteness was displaced by Obama's presidency. Now, add the layer of gender to the mix, and it is not only whiteness that is being displaced, but white masculinity.
"It’s no accident that at the end of [Obama's] term you saw the Republican Party nominate a white nationalist candidate essentially promising to restore the old order," Waldman explains.
If there is anything Trump has done over the course of his campaign, it is pulling his white male supporters together. In fact, white men are one of the only demographics that Trump has not isolated.
Throughout his campaign, the GOP nominee has effectively marginalized Mexicans, undocumented immigrants, African Americans, Muslims, the disabled, the LGBTQ community, women, survivors of sexual assault, and those with intersecting identities.
While it's hard to know at this point how white male Trump supporters will absolutely respond in the case of a Clinton presidency, it seems likely that they would push to restore dominant white patriarchal social structures that they feel are under fire.
We have already seen this in recent days, weeks, and months. For instance, consider the supporters who show up to Trump rallies across the country sporting misogynistic anti-Clinton apparel.
During the RNC, Trump supporters wore "Hillary for Prison" shirts and buttons that read, "Life is a B*tch. Don't vote for one," with Clinton's face on them.
On Tuesday afternoon, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller's Twitter account posted a tweet about the results of a presidential poll in Pennsylvania, Dallas News reports. The tweet, which was quickly deleted, referred to Clinton as a "C*nt."
The Commissioner claimed that his Twitter account had been hacked and the agency's spokesman, Mark Loeffle said in a statement, "The tweet was taken down as soon as possible. Commissioner Miller finds the term vulgar and offensive and apologizes to anyone who may have seen it."
However, these responses to Clinton do not exist in a vacuum. They are the norm and are indicative of a larger problem.
In fact, restoring white patriarchal structures is what has allowed Trump to make it this far at all. And many Trump supporters have already made calls for a revolution if their candidate loses.