Currently, we are witnessing a resurgence of white supremacist thinking among disenfranchised classes of white people. These extremist groups respond to misinformation circulated by privileged whites that suggests that black people are getting ahead financially because of government policies like affirmative action, and they are taught to blame black folks for their plight.
bell hooks. Where We Stand: Class Matters. New York: Routledge (2000) 115
In combination with Gramscian hegemony and other intersectional concepts, this might be the most accurate explanation of why so many ‘tea party’ rightwingers in the US are campaigning for programs that would hurt them.