Trump Supporters
Trump supporters feel disrespected, talked down to, left out. They feel betrayed. Betrayed by the forty years of bait and switch perpetrated upon them by their political "leadership", betrayed by an economy that is moving past their abilities and skills, betrayed by the business "leaders" that deliberately left them out of their plans for the next American economy. Their compact with America was to give their sweat to build it, their blood to defend it, and their loyalty to preserve it in exchange for a decent home place, fair wages, and an honest job from which they derive the largest part of their personal identity. These are the things that they want, nay demand, returned to them. They've been losing those things for so long that they are desperate. Many have lost their homes, none can afford to provide a better life for their children, and they are forgetting who the are. At this point they value attitude over truth, inclusion over justice, and winning most of all. They are more like us than we know and much more like us than the 1% that they serve. Anyone who appears to value their compact and respect their opinions will gain their loyalty. They are the Democrats of old.
Comments
Is this weird?
I feel betrayed by the Democratic Party, and have felt so for a very long time.
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Funny aside: As I typed the above, AutoFill kept suggesting the next word without exception. Maybe I need to review my typing history . . .
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Yes.
It is being said more and more often that SheWhoseTurnItIs is a Republican. Now THERE's a bait and switch for you!
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire
Slippery Slope to Oblivion
As the Democratic Party (boat) tacks to port the sail fills from the right and she runs off course for a bit, as she tacks to starboard the sail luffs before she gets her bearings, stalls and falls to port again. Perhaps a freshening of the wind can help turn this boat onto a true beating course for the win.
No it's not weird
Most of these folks were once democrats. They fell from the middle class sometime in the 90s. They lay the blame at the feet of the democratic party.
My home town is that way though come Saturday there will be lots of those folks caucusing for Bernie. Their second choice is Trump. This is a town that once ran some KKK recruiters out of town with running chainsaws and harbor illegal immigrants during oyster season. His appeal is purely economic.
People love to put them down and call them knuckle draggers but in reality here in the forests of the Northwest they are well read often bilingual and knowledgeable about their surroudings. They have been integrated since the early 1900s and are in excellent terms with the local tribes who were willing to go into debt to build a new business to save them when the mill closed. My town is lucky there are another 30 towns that are not. Aberdeen WA looks like a war torn third world city. The desperation and hopelessness is almost visable it's so thick. Kurt Cobain came grew up there.
Yet Aberdeen is fighting the oil ports. The cost of the jobs it will bring is to high. They are joined by the ever legally savy Quinault tribe our government is strangely silent.
Their backs have been against the wall for a long time. If Hillary wins the primary I fully expect Trump to get nearly 100% of the vote.
Your essay is partly correct
There are also a vast number of young people who are in debt for student loans with no job prospect allowing them to repay that debt. It's not that the economy has moved past their abilities and skills, but that they can't find employment that uses their abilities and skills. Most of them see past the Trump deceptions because they are users of the internet, but I am sure they are just as desperate as the blue collar workers that you describe.
I agree with your statements about the plight of young Americans
This essay is specific to Trump supporters with no attempt to be all inclusive.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire
If you stop and think about it...
both parties engage in "bait and switch" campaign promises.
As progressives, we all know what we have been promised oh these many years...and have yet to see materialize... And we have a right to be angry about it all...But what have the conservatives been sold on that have never been delivered? It is more than ~just~ their homes...
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Ah, I was referring to the "family values" promises
to overturn Roe vs. Wade, throw out Obamacare, stop abortions, limit marriage, etc. etc. etc. That was the bait. The Repub "leadership" doesn't give a poop about any of that. That's just what they tell their base (in every meaning of the word). They want three things: Speakership in the House, 61 votes in the Senate, and someone in the WH (of either party) that they can manipulate. Everything else is just how they get there.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire
EXACTLY right...!
Their politicians keep on "Fighting" for the anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, anti-anything-good-from-a-liberal-perspective".... and keep falling ~just~ short...."Elect us again and THIS TIME we will DO IT!!"
Is it any wonder they are angry?
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There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.
This article today supports your essay
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/24/white-working-class-issu...
Thank you, Steve
I have grown leery of the Guardian regarding our elections, but this background seems very good. My reason for this essay is to start to separate Trump from the "lost souls" that are responding to him. If the front runner in the Democratic primaries is revealed as a Repub, then maybe some Repubs are realigning as well. If the voters are 40% Ind and 30% each for the two parties, then 1/2 of the Dems plus 2/3's of the Inds plus 1/3 of the Repubs equals 51% of the voting public. Even with a 10% loss for voter suppression you've got a viable third party race. That's whether or not Trump is the Repub candidate: if he is, then many Repubs who won't vote for either Hillary or him may vote for Bernie and, if it's not Trump, then his supporters may well support Bernie...with the right approach, of course.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire