Donald Trump has been president for about seven months. During and after the campaign, he spoke at some length about the need for more and better jobs, and about the need for vast infrastructure programs. No legislation has been passed to address either issue — even though he has a Republican House and Senate — and no executive orders have been signed to address either issue. Trump’s presidency to date has been a failure.

But poll after poll shows continuing support among his Republican base. Since Trump’s election in November, Republicans have stuck with him. A reasonable person would have thought that the events of last week — when he gave de facto support for the KKK and other white power groups — would have eroded his support. It did not. We need to ask: why?

The answer lies in the modern history of the GOP. Since Lyndon Johnson committed the Democratic Party to the civil rights movement, the GOP has opened its arms to white racists of all stripes. The South, once solidly Democratic, has been solidly Republican for the past 50 years. Republican politicians across the nation have used dog-whistle messages to demean people of color, immigrants, and Muslims to ensure solid white support. The last Democratic candidate for president to get a majority of the white vote was Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Carter, Clinton, and Obama depended upon non-whites to gain the presidency.

Trump continues to hold his base — not in spite of his racist ideology, but because of it. Forget about jobs and infrastructure. Trump’s base will be with him as long as he and his Republican Party continue to assault the voting rights of non-whites, continue to assault economic opportunities for non-whites, and continue to assault the legal rights of non-whites.