A few weeks ago, Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s Arkansas gubernatorial reelection campaign released a truly ridiculous video in which a relatively macho-seeming cisgender middle-aged man, with a full beard, is introduced as the newest member of a women’s college cross country team — a terrifying scenario that Huckabee Sanders tells the viewer she protected them from. Nowhere do I recall any conservative white men complaining that they would never do such a thing and demanding that, instead, the interloper be properly portrayed as an actual trans woman who had been through years of hormone therapy. Why? Because they know that trans women, particularly those who fail to pass, were the real targets there, but that showing someone like that might not actually freak people out to the degree necessary to inspire them to run to the voting booths. They want to pretend that this is what the trans community has been demanding, despite the fact that the only bearded, obviously cisgender men who are out here trying to join women’s sports teams are, in fact, conservative men trying to make a very stupid point.
LIKE SO!
They did not mind that. But what they very much did mind was another Sarah Huckabee Sanders ad depicting a white male gamer as a lazy welfare recipient, eating cheese balls and leeching off of the tax dollars you work so hard for every day.
The responses to the ad on X the Everything app were filled with angry white men, positively outraged that the ad did not instead show a Black woman named “Shaniqua.”
The thing I find interesting here is that many of these men are specifically angry at the imaginary scenario in which society has discriminated against them to the point where they cannot get jobs and then mocks them for it and scolds them for going on welfare to survive.
This is not something that is actually happening to them. Even in 2024, a study found that people who have white-sounding names are more likely to get called back for interviews than those who do not. Hell, another study found that even AI resume screeners “prefer” white names 85 percent of the time and still prefer (white) male candidates 52 percent of the time, including for roles considered traditionally feminine, like HR representatives — the “HR lady” scourge they’re all so upset about — and secondary school teachers.
It is, however, exactly the scenario that other groups of people — those who do actually face discrimination — have been dealing with all along. It’s strange how clearly the Right can “see it” when they think it applies to them. In fact, the vast majority of angry responses came from those who wanted to see Black women in the ad instead, despite the fact that whites make up a majority of those on SNAP and Medicaid in Arkansas.
It would never occur to them that people of color often have trouble finding employment due to discrimination and are then scolded for going on welfare to survive.
The Right has long insisted that whenever something is plainly discriminatory towards people of color it’s not actually discriminatory, because of how they don’t see color and wouldn’t be bothered by it if the person depicted were white. Perhaps Sarah Huckabee Sanders was taking them at their word. Or perhaps Sarah Huckabee Sanders doesn’t see color either, and that’s how a white guy ended up in her ad.
Here’s the funny thing though: Brad doesn’t really exist.
And it’s not because he’s white, or because he’s a man. It’s because, as far as we can tell, he’s childless and able-bodied, which means that if he is not working, he can actually only get SNAP for three months out of a three year period. In fact, it was even another Arkansas governor who was responsible for this country’s incredibly harsh “welfare-to-work” requirements.
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Also, Brad can only stay on unemployment insurance for a total of 12 weeks and would have had to have worked prior to that (and been fired or laid off, usually without cause) in order to collect it. The idea that Brad, or anyone, is able to just stay home eating Cheetos and living off of your hard-earned tax dollars for years on end is not factual. It’s a fantasy ginned up by Republican lawmakers and pundits to make people angry at the poor instead of the people who are actually screwing them. Like the people who are taking their money and using it to bomb schoolgirls in Iran. Or the billionaires who are creating technology that will take all of our jobs and possibly end up killing us.
Of course, Huckabee’s ad is aimed at Medicaid recipients, not SNAP recipients or those on unemployment, which actually makes it even more absurd. Because no one is living off of Medicaid. People are not paying rent or buying Cheetos with their Medicaid cards. Medicaid is for health care — a thing that the majority of the US actually believes should be provided to everyone, regardless of their employment status. Medicaid just means that Brad can go to the doctor. Or that he can maybe even go to a therapist that will help him get it together during his job search. Because, hey! Maybe Brad is depressed. Maybe Brad needs some help.
That being said, as of January 1 (and earlier in some states), there will be Medicaid work requirements — and even if Brad is dying and in hospice care, he will be required to work at least 80 hours a month.
What would actually be fabulously ironic would be if, because of their racism, people actually took the time to learn how “welfare” works, to learn that Brad’s Medicaid is not, in fact, paying for his rent, his recliner, his VR set or his Cheetos. Or that the bag of Cheetos would cost him at least half of his entire food budget for that day, were he also on SNAP. Or that he could only be on SNAP for three months without working to begin with, and that, without dependents, he would not qualify for a cash grant from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Granted, Sarah Huckabee Sanders probably knows how “welfare” works and made this ad anyway, so that’s certainly not a given — but it might make things a whole lot harder for her or for other Republicans if their people find out.
OPEN THREAD.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
Harry, not just a cute kitty but a very handsome one too. It’s the tuxedo.
https://substack.com/@ziggywiggy/note/c-349603591?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2knfuc
arkansas is nearly 70% white. prolly over if you figure the guys claiming to be part Cherokee whenever they go hunting are liars.