It’s not a deflection, it’s literally basic American history
Conservative whites have been voting both sides Republican/democrat since the compromise of 1877. It wasn’t until the introduction of various civil rights bills in the mid-20th century that democratic whites started to switch sides and the separtion of both parties into the more modern parties we see today.
For example, your president Jim Crow joe opposed integration and his mentor was the most notorious example of the typical racist white male switching parties due to racism: Strom Thurman. Look him up. He was a DEMOCRAT until 1964.