False hope those rural types will "blame" tRump for their problems...not a bit of it, as the more the pain level increases, the more that Rural Murka's propaganda network doubles down on "It's the radical, lunatic Democrats' fault", and so it goes.
Do NOT believe in a "Great Awakening" amongst the Red-state farm vote.
Yes, of course, this is what they voted for. The question of the moment is "why?". Understanding why they are voting the way they do is critical to fixing the problem. How is it that the Republican party and in particular Trump has managed to con the farmers and the workers into voting for them? It is ignorance, or low-information? Or do they simply fall the con because of emotions. The working class has valid grievances due to globalization and the decline of manufacturing in our country. Somehow Trump and the Republicans have been able to convince them that they hold the answers. The Democrats have not.
The left keeps asking the question and trying to please them based on their answers but it never works.
It never works because they are lying about the real reason rural whites vote in lockstep for Republicans: Racism
LBJ knew these people well. They haven't changed:
“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”
Rural Americans have been brainwashed like people in a cult. Unfortunately, it will take a while for them to be able to deprogram. We need to keep GENTLY pointing out the situation to them to help them along.
No, not "we." That's an exercise in semantics. "They" - meaning the MAGA faithful, the right wing moderates, if there is such a thing, and farmers, the subject of this article. He is talking about them, not us. The only thing that ties us together is our citizenship so, in that sense, "we," but that's not what he's talking about. Dr. K is discussing a discrete demographic.
i hear you ... and we could sit here all day.... i just cant get over the fact that we, as a nation..... me, you, people driving around, people working....the plurality of us (the electoral college majority)....voted for this....and would probably do it again.
I agree with you on that, although I keep reminding myself that the people supporting this destruction of the nation are a minority. And they are doing their best to lock in their minoritarian rule because they KNOW that. Eventually, people will get fed up. Whether or not there's anything left to salvage after that is the great unknown.
Start with getting rid of unequal states and counties that make as much sense as if historical French provinces were still used as political divisions. Replace with ~340 districts of equal size divided into 20 cantons of ~50,000 people.
We definitely need to put a stop to the insane gerrymandering.
When you see a voting "district" that resembles a rattlesnake slithering through the underbrush, you just know that's how someone like Jackass Johnson or Marjorie Taylor Greenbacks gets elected.
Actually, not quite. Interestingly, PEW results were almost even in both categories; those NON-voters who said they leaned politically toward either party AND those who said they would have voted for either candidate. Either way, the differences were a mere 3-5%. This surprised me. The MSM would have had us believe that the non-voter demographic weighed HEAVILY Democrat.
Find some way to grow some of your own food. Maybe you grow micro greens, herbs, tomatoes or peppers, requiring little investment. If you have a hydroponic system, it could be many other things. But anything we do to sustain ourselves can make an impact on our lives.
And now the uber wealthy class (aka tech bros) are actually racing to incorporate AI into the mix. This technology, if left unchecked is a game changer unlike any other, for it won’t be part of the ‘mix’. It will wipe out employment as we know it. Peter Thiel said the quiet part out loud when he referred to the ‘tax of labour’. Let that sink in. He sees the cost of employment & wages as a tax on the ultra rich. The tax of labour. Something he will flick off his shoulders like an annoying deer fly.
If the workers are replaced by bots, who will buy the stuff the bots are making? Other bots don't need new clothes, food, electronics, the latest Apple device. Bots don't go out to eat or attend movies or concerts. Bots don't go to school, so we don't need teachers. They also don't need medical care. So if the oligs don't have actual people to "consume" their products, how will they keep making money? And won't their money be kind of useless? Bots don't need money.
The top 10% are already accounting for most of the consumption. That's why there is such a push to eliminate any government benefits for the other 90%. The billionaires really don't care if they live or die.
That’s right. Left unchecked (as it is on course to do) AI will fundamentally change society as we know it. Its primary mandate will not likely be to ‘make stuff’ or produce anything beyond control of the masses. We’re kinda already there, aren’t we? We (me included) need to more readily put down the tool in our own hands which is giving them unencumbered access.
Increasingly I feel that's why they don't care if people lose healthcare and perish, they just want the planet so they use it's resources for AI without all of us pesky humans around. They will make a new society out of that scenario. Eventually they will have to allow all but themselves to perish for it to work. they believe in technology, power, and money, not in humanity, the greater good of all, or the human instinct to honor something greater than ourselves, our egos which has become somewhat buried lately.
NYT linked to an op-ed in a Chinese newspaper that I used Google to translate in English. It was written by a Chinese pundit about the book, The Global Trap, written 30 years ago now. In it was a term, "tittytainment", which you can also net search....the 80% of economic losers in society will have to be entertained (think Tik Tok, etc.) to distract them from the realization of their uselessness. We are already here, you will realize if you read the book. 100% everything that was predicted has come true.
Surely that comment by Thiel indicates a coming P2025 holocaust as the poor workers and welfare dependants in disUSA are wiped from the face of the earth as an irrelevant burden on the chosen few. It seems very obvious!
Why are so few willing to face up to this clear and obvious danger?
1% of the 1% indicates a population of about 35,000 for USA. That being the case what's all this about breeding like rabbits gone mad which seemed to be Musk's approach as one of Thiel's devotees? Ok so only 5,000 or so will be needed for breeding purposes? And there will have to be a controlled cull too if the production/birthrate gets too high.
Should help climate restoration in the longer run? All this provided the robots and AI spirits in the machines behave themselves.
A salient fact: Employment in coal mining has declined since it's peak in 1922, and absolutely plummeted since 1980. There are probably more people employed as 'influencers' on TikTok in the US than coal miners.
Aw, c'mon Terence, you should know us better than that by now. Did you not see the pics and videos from last Saturday's No Kings rallies? Or the rallies we held before that? We have not, can not, will not, and do not accept what our government is doing, and we will continue to rise and resist in any and every way we can for as long as it takes until democracy is restored.
You're right however, that is how democracy works - until it ceases to be a democracy as has now happened. Now we have to fight tooth and nail to restore it. That too is how democracy works. Freedom isn't free. It has to be fought for.
A lot of people on the left help set the stage for Trump by throwing away their votes on candidates like Ralph Nader, Jill Stein and Gary Johnson. Gore lost Florida by less than 600 votes. Nader got over 97, 000 votes in that state. Making your idea of the perfect be the enemy of the good has had disastrous consequences for our country.
Yes, that's true. Although Gore actually "lost" by less than 400 questionable votes. The big problem in 2000 was that 1. The Republican candidate's brother just so happened to be the governor of Florida and 2. A friendly reichwing Supreme Court stopped the recount before it was completed - handing an unearned victory to the worst president of all time until Trumpkopf came along.
And spoilers aren't limited to the left - if Ross Perot hadn't jumped in as an independent, we might have had a second term of King Bush I.
If even a third of those idiots who voted for Nader had voted for Gore non of the things you list would have mattered because his win would have been too big to question back then.
Jill Stein has done more damage to the environment that any single Republican president, and she will do it again. She is just as stupid as rural farmers.
I disagree.His book “Unsafe at Any Speed” led strong legislation which improved both auto and highway safety and has saved a lot of lives. The fatality rate today is far lower than it was 1965.
First, I never said 12 percent. I did say 12,000,000, or about 3.5%.
Second, I can't stand Schumer, and if a sewer rat primaries him in 2028, I'm voting for the rat.
Third, "mild-mannered and polite" ensures we don't hand Trumpkopf an excuse to declare marital law or invoke the insurrection act, which he's just itching to do. We're hoping to get rid of him without bloodshed. We already had one Civil War, and it wasn't pretty.
Finally, yes, radical change is needed. I believe the next generation of Democrats will help bring that about. It's ironic, but Trumpkopf has been the wake up call that we've desperately needed since 1980. It's a damned shame that it took such a catastrophe, but apparently, that's what it took.
Don't write us off so quickly, we're just getting started.
You expect a miracle overnight? It doesn't work that way. It never did. Do you see anyone in Russia rising up? How about North Korea? China? What do expect us to do? We're not >all< armed you know.
I am most curious as to what you would suggest? You are right in one regard: Americans still believe in the US system of elections, at least for now. So we protest, complain, call elected officials because we still believe in the system. We are unwilling to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
So what would you suggest? Armed revolution against one of the strongest military in the world? A military that has demonstrated that it stands behind the Trump government (at least for now)? "Fire in Winter" in the streets like Ukraine in 2013/2014?
I would be interested in hearing what your plan would be, how you would amass the power of the theoretical 63% who do not support Trump?
Violating the law and constitution, lying about election results, trying to overthrow a government, weaponizing the DOJ and SCOTUS, declaring war on cities, and gerrymandering states is how democracy works?
Americans silent? Oh no they aren't. Americans have held two record setting, nation-wide protests in the millions against Trump, not to mention all the countless protests, weekly and monthly, in just about every city in the US since he has taken office. Where have you been?
What you really mean to say is that for a democracy to work the elected officials must listen to the people, which the Trump regime blatantly refuses to do, unless it's his base, of course, and then it's more show than substance.
I wonder if it was the threat of California politicians like Nancy Pelosi stating that if federal ICE and other agents, other states' national guards violated San Fran and CA state laws, then they would be arrested and prosecuted by California LE, etc. that really changed Trump's mind about sending them in. Maybe Benioff was worried his tech workers would strike and was the "friend" who changed Trump's mind...perhaps with a little bribe to have his software chosen to save money with AI vs $50,000 signing bonus/ ICE recruit + student loan forgiveness?
It boggles my mind that the mainstream media lied about the Biden economy, burying the fact that it was actually the best economy in the West and that wages increases were outpacing inflation with the greatest gains going to the lowest earners. As a result there was actually a decrease in economic inequality. The US economy was so strong that in June 2024 the World Bank increased its prediction for global growth, citing the strength of the US economy as the driver of that growth. Them mainstream media buried that story, apparently because they were too busy obsessing over the price of eggs as if bird flu was Bide’s and Harris’s fault.
“ Yes, the Media Lied About the Pre-Election Economy”
"Mainstream" media = Corporate Media. All the big corporations are backing the fascists and Trump, and that includes their faux "news" divisions.
The men who run the corporations (major weirdos, all of them) harken back to Dark Age, even Bronze Age, philosophy as the best engine/driver of human progress! They are that stupid. They think they are brilliant ("stable genius's") but they are not. They are dumb, and they are shockingly ignorant of history, economics, or the effects of technology on a society.
We're getting to witness first hand how empires crash, crumble and fall. The stupidest .01% take control, and that's that.
Both the Economist and the Wall Street Journal published articles on how good the US economy was, BEFORE the 2024 election. Didn't do much good. Biden was very good for the economy and the country but horrible at blowing his own horn.
Most swing voters don’t read either of those publications but they are likely to hear news published in the WaPo or NYT because they drive mainstream broadcast and social media coverage.
The problem is that the Democrats outsourced their messaging to the media and the media to more interested in making money than pushing Democratic Party talking points.
This is the Democrats. They particularly failed in the land where Mother Jones operated. Sad ineptitude! At least democratic socialism is currently thriving in New York. A rural version is required. Get out of your comfortable oak panelled rooms Dem leaders sponsor the 100 progressives sharpen your message talk respectfully to the people. Their situation is deplorable they are not.
Much of this goes back to Obama's inviting the banks in at the last big banking begging session and asking them 'What can we do for you boys?' instead of laying down the law as FDR did (to a resonable degree) and also mocking Trump to no purpose apart from stroking his own ego.
The interview entitled “The sticking power of 'cultural identity' and other findings from the American Values Survey” at The Contrarian substack suggests progressive economic platforms won’t be enough. The American Values Survey is conducted annually by the Public Religion Research Institute and the 2024 results showed about 40 percent of voters are focused on preserving white Christian patriarchy. They will do anything to achieve their goal, including voting for an immoral conman and torching the democratic republic.
The survey results might also help explain why Obama, the first Black president, wasn’t as bold as FDR. FDR was white and old money, and his election in 1932 occurred two years after the stock market crash and start of the Great Depression. By then people were desperate enough to take a chance on unorthodox policies and had a clear idea of who was to blame for their misery. The 2008 election occurred simultaneously with the financial crisis, making it more muddled for many voters (some of whom think Obama was president when it started, not Bush 2). Consequently, the political momentum for progressive policies in 2008 wasn’t as great as in 1932 (although even with momentum FDR had a tough time getting the New Deal past congressional Republicans and the SCOTUS).
FDR also had a huge advantage in that the single biggest racist interest bloc in the country (the Southern Democrats) were on his side, and would vote for him all four times just like they voted for all his predecessors, because they were still voting against Abe Lincoln at the time. And, conversely, that there were still a lot of moderate-to-liberal Republicans on the other side who might or might not support him but would at any rate work with him like grown-up human beings. (Fiorello LaGuardia, one of the most iconic New Dealers of the age, was a Republican).
None of that applied to Obama or to any other Democrat who could get elected today. There situation is Lincoln's, not FDR's: the country is fully polarized, the other half wants to destroy the republic, and their people are fully on board with it.
The GOP has only three goals: 1) lowest possible taxation, 2) deregulation, and 3) self preservation. It has managed to use Trump to corral into its tent the large number of voters who care more about preserving what's left of white Christian patriarchy than they care about their own enlightened self-interest.
All the GOP deep-thinking about incrementalism, the rule of law, fiscal responsibility and limited government is just a facade. And originalism itself is just another facade hiding a death-grip on white Christian patriarchy - where wealthy white males with property worked tirelessly to preserve lowest-possible taxes and minimal regulation.
When will voting for economic self interest (for example) outweigh voting to preserve white Christian patriarchy? That is what is needed. Those farmers who voted for Trump are confident that Trump is on their side, that he has just been ill advised by some White House person, and besides Trump was sent by God . . . .
Your analysis leaves out the racism (which other commentators address). At this point, many Republicans (aka MAGAts), vote for a Christian nationalist - white - ideal. It doesn't matter what the Dems might do for them - help them afford healthcare, etc. - if those benefits also go to "those" people.
"At least democratic socialism is currently thriving in New York. A rural version is required."
The problem with that is that a lot of the people most directly concerned with and most amenable to that message can't vote. (The illegal immigrants who increasingly do most of the backbreaking work in rural areas).
A hundred years ago, the sort of rural folk who flocked to radicals like William Jennings Bryan weren't farmers generically but farm *hands* and *tenant* farmers - people whose relationship to their boss or their banker wasn't all that different from their urban counterparts'. (They were immigrants back then too, we just hadn't closed the border yet, so they did actually have some rights). The bosses, on the other hand, the people who actually owned most of the things in the area? They were as reactionary as hell back then as they are today.
The conversation around farm country today gets confusing as fuck because people keep looking at the "farmer" (namely, the person who owns the farm, had it passed down from his father's father's father, owns four gas-guzzling pickup trucks and fifty guns, and can afford to waste his mornings sitting in diners talking to New York Times op-ed writers) and wondering why he isn't voting the way "farmers" (i.e. the people breaking their backs either working his land, or working their own little plot of land that he owns the deed to) used to.
And MSM repeated the right wing lies,without refuting it with the facts. But right wing media flooded people with complete lies about the economy. Blaming immigrants for jobs that no one else wants, aside from the taxes they pay into the system with no return to themselves.
They get people to vote against their economic interests though the culture wars. For example, I never believed the Kochs cared about issues such as same sex marriage, but they were certainly useful to support their real issues of promoting oil.
Rural Americans have been the target of a systematic propaganda operation controlled by right-wing moguls, such as the Murdochs and the Smiths (Sinclair), people who know how to count senators and where to place their franchises. Rural Americans have been deliberately rube-ified. They did not spontaneously come up with the belief that the Upper West Side is Ground Zero for the Apocalypse. They are, in their way, victims of an industrial perversion of the First Amendment.
And it persists to this day. The angertainment industry comprised of Rush's progeny, Fox (faux) news, plus the online copycats have -- kind of unintentionally because it is all algorithm driven by social media -- taken over the Republican party. More at www.angertainment.info FYI
I disagree, respectfully! Politics is about choosing. They were presented two options like all of us. Bigotry and dehumanization of fellow human beings vs equal opportunities and social justice. They preferred the former to the extent they felt they are kept at the top of the food chain...
I am curious if you have been to rural areas, I mean truly spent time and experienced a rural area and interacted with its people? From your presumptuous comment I would guess no. It feels like the opposite version PK spoke of, “(sub)urban” folk not really understanding either, but I certainly could be wrong. Bigots are from everywhere. It is not fair or accurate to imply that rural Americans are the sole or even main problem here. I am from a small town in the heartland. My parents live there still. Sure, there are gross people there, but it’s no more than I encounter living in a city. In fact, I encounter a shocking amount of shameful behavior here. Rural Americans are often exposed to less on a daily basis, but they aren’t bigots. Many are kind people, welcoming, or they were before they started being spoon fed lies from the media they happen to consume. Fox wasn’t always as extreme as it is now. It has gotten worse over time, and many people didn’t realize and slid down the slope with Fox, now swimming in NewsMax, OAN, and worse. They aren’t just misinformed. They are intentionally disinformed and do not know it. As fellow Americans, Humans, they should be open to listening and understanding that what they’ve been told for decades are lies, but it doesn’t make them bigots. That sort of assumption just feeds into the vicious circle, turning them away from respectful conversation, and keeps us all angry and divided…exactly what Trump and his ilk want.
I lived in a small town in farm country in northwest Ohio for 6 years. It was a very insular community. The town is 95% white. If you don’t interact with someone like yourself, you have no idea if you are prejudiced or not. Having lived in several states, I have found that everyone is prejudiced.
I agree that everyone has some degree of prejudice. It's probably unavoidable. The question is whether you vote with an eye to keeping the "other" down or not. The rural areas consistently do just that. Atheist here, but I seem to remember some Scripture that says something like, "By their fruits, you will know them."
That’s why I left rural NW Indiana as soon as I got out of college & never looked back. Racist, 98% white, KKK strong & open. Coupled with little opportunity.
Career took me to live in a variety of rural areas. Yes, there are some nice people, but there’s deep anti-government bias while taking their crop & ag subsidies, SSA & SSI, small business loans, etc. But my job in the National Park Service was “waste, fraud & abuse.
In one job, these same folks campaigned 20 years prior to have “the feds” create the national scenic river to stop a dam being built…they wanted us to be de-funded. (2008-2014).
The GOP force-fed them the blame government, the urban poor, blame others propaganda since Nixon. They will be in economic pain & still love the GOP.
You've really nailed the problem. The big question: how to counteract the all the reichwing propaganda? With billions being funneled into these "news" organization, supplemented by "social" media, including InYourFaceBook, 4chan, 8chan, QAnon, not to mention "Truth" social and, of course, 卐itter. It's a huge, well established ecosystem. Ann Coulter once disgustingly said "We own the media! We own it!"
Spot on for one of our many problems that took years in the making. The media print, digital and social are consolidated, owned now by the powerful, rich and connected.
Look in the dust bin for the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the Clayton Anti-Trust Act. Now add in all the ways for decades both parties set up ways around campaign contributions (PAC’s, etc), compromised campaign finance legislation at every turn, lobbyists with “offerings” walking in and out of OUR government representatives, no remaining DOJ, SCOTUS, pervasive greed and now openly immoral and corrupt governments state and federal.
Lots of damage and questionable how, and if, we can fix it all.
If I got it all wrong, feel free to let me know. But that’s my take.
They are adults. Many claim Christian values. Yet they choose the vileness of fox and other dehumanizing media. They voted for the cruelty and terrorism Trump promised to inflict on others. They are getting what they wanted.
One of my brothers lives in rural Tennessee. He's not a Trumpie, but he said that anyone who put up a Harris for President sign would probably get bricks (or worse) through their windows. He keeps his head down.
My other brother is an active stock trader who lives in a wealthy area of New Jersey. He would vote for a potted plant if it had an "R" beside the name. For a variety of reasons, we haven't spoken for years. As near as I can tell, he doesn't have anything to do with any other family members.
That is really sad, but, yeah, it's really about low taxes and regulation. An article or post I read sometime back stated that all NFL team owners donated to republicans, yet look at all of the minorities they present, such as Bad Bunny, etc. & wish Trump would quit using them as a whipping post example.
Yes, rural AMERICANS are often dis-informed by an angry, propagandized media machine. But, when it comes to their own best interests, one might think that there, at the very least, they might care to understand what’s going on. Providing a certain-to-fail bailout to Argentine Trump/Bessent supporters while American farmers suffer through a tariff inspired attack on their own livelihoods does not seem like a difficult concept to master. Seems to me if these farmers are smart enough to hedge their bets against weather and international markets in the futures markets, they ought to be smart enough to understand what’s in their own best interests.
Thank you for reminding us of our shared humanity. It has gotten lost by so many after the successful 40 years of psyops against the American people to manipulate our thinking into accepting shoddy stereotypes which then can be used to create suspicion, fear, and hatred of the “other”. The enemies of democracy excel in using their book of stereotypes to exploit the cracks in a wonderfully diverse country. Divide and conquer. A perfect set up for a feral genius conman to exploit with a full onslaught of Orwellian lies and deception. We cannot reclaim our American democracy and create the next, more inclusive version of it until we systematically reject these stereotypes and relearn how to see each other as humans. And deal with each other with mutual support, mutual respect, and mutual trust. We have a long way to go to undo such deep deliberate societal damage. We can start now. We must teach our children well.
They are, by whole, bigots. Just because one prefaces their comment with .... I'm not racist but.... is in fact a bigot. And talk to them long enough and one does in fact get there.
I agree. I have also encountered pretty shocking vicious racism in big cities. I don’t think we have really come to terms with how drastically rural communities have been hollowed out. These were once thriving communities. All four sets of my grandparents were farmers, same for my husband, except one set were fisher (folk). There were many businesses associated with supporting these farming communities when they were thriving, and that is all gone. Very little, if anything was ever done to help these communities transition to a new future. Amazon has had a similar effect on a lot of formerly successful small retailers. Our city used to have at least half a dozen specialty lighting shops and plumbing suppliers. They are all gone, along with the expertise they represented. You can order cheap lights from Amazon or Home Depot, but hardly anyone knows there are, or used to be other options. I do see signs that economists and other experts are starting to realize that we need to pay attention to these left behind regions, and build more resilience into our supply systems, agricultural systems, computing systems, a realization that we need to move toward systems that are considerably more distributed and diverse with greater emphasis on the resilience of local systems and communities. I hope that the Trump administration is the last gasp of an ideology that is long past its best before date. I’m definitely ready to move on.
Direct democracy, like Citizen's Assemblies, might be part of the solution. I'm a rural Western American and when we sit down and talk to each other about how to solve problems, we’re an awesome team. In the 1990s, we were forming consensus-driven community groups and getting stuff done. Then the Bundy's "Mormon Militia" set their sights on us and we’ve been under attack since. I'm looking forward to working together again in a post-MAGA world because I truly love my neighbors — especially our diversity. We used to have the most delicious potlucks …
You are certainly right to some point, and I had the same views before. But now that Trump and GOP policies are hurting them more directly than before, I cannot reconcile that narrative with their blind support. I mean for which reasons would somebody votes against his direct interest? Or, which of Trump policies could gather their support right now, if it wasn't what I was referring to?
Agreed, not enough space to describe how amazing it is to grow up in rural Wyoming and discovering later the sense of privilege and might your rural community brings but always at the expense of others, the environment, the animals and the wildlife.
LOL, my Confederate forebears started at a plantation in Louisiana that was overrun by "the Yankees," and ended up settling in Texas after the war. Most of them are still there, but my mother (UT Austin, class of '46), moved to California to vote her inherited prejudices here. My brother went along with the program and now has homes in both TX and CA, voting solidly Republican - not b/c he loves Trump, but b/c he doesn't want to pay taxes. And he doesn't care if others are hurt by Repub policies. Somehow I escaped, and spent my youth fighting with my mother over Vietnam and the Civil Rights Act...
There are some really good comments here, including some close to home that I hadn’t considered. We underestimate the non-economic factors that swirl in rural communities (of which I came). A preference for small government to keep government out of their business while at the same time having local government staffed with people like them. The disdain for the urban elites who disdain them. Preference for demographic homogeneity (and its not just racism but not discounting that at all). Even semi-economic factors like not wanting to be seen on the dole or taking SNAP.
All of this and incredibly poor messaging from Democrats at a national level. And probably poor economic programs directed toward rural economies rather than rural poverty. Even allowing states to “hide” the Affordable Care Act under different names such as Sooner Care (guess the state).
I thought Biden’s economic program should have meant a lot for rural communities, many of which rely on small scale industry, but it take someone to carry that message. The structural imbalances that exist now will be hard to overcome.
That is really the point. A simple prompt on ChatGPT will give you the years (and the related policy changes) that made heartland then-Democrats shift to the GOP.
A rural supplicant me, our first indoctrination is fealty to Father God, the one true king. Until I could dismantle that identity, I could not work with and for representative democracy. You all sound so glib and harsh, but it is the work of a lifetime to get out from under patriarchy and monarchy.
Lately I’ve been thinking about the urban-rural divide in my extended family, which goes back at least 100 years. I also remember reading French Revolution history, which had a lot of urban-rural components. Chinese history also has an urban-rural divide. I’ve begun to think media moguls and oligarchs recognized this longstanding divide as an opportunity to exploit a preexisting emotional subject within families who have watched as their children, siblings, and cousins left rural communities for cities. The loss of family members to city life seems to have left many remaining family members feeling their loved ones judged them as somehow lesser.
You know, I live in a rural area. I have also lived in Boston, New Orleans, Portland,ME and Albany NY. Many people living in small communities are just the same, and many people in cities came there by way of Hooterville. Can we please stop talking about us all as if we are two different species?
You're short selling the influence of AM talk radio stations playing in the pickup truck on drives to and from local farm and ranch stores every Saturday morning from February to September. Rural radio stations mostly have been bought up by closely held corporations controlled by MAGA males. Montana's stations in particular all seem to be controlled by the same ultra-conservatives in Seattle.
Correct. Auto manufacturers were recently removing AM radios from cars for a year or two. The rural voters pushed their congresscritters to pass laws to force car makers to keep the AM band because there are dead areas for the FM band. They got rid of CD players instead.
Whittington NRA memorial had Russian flags flying on either side of a monument indicating where to turn. The flags up the driveway may have been flags of other countries, but I didn't drive in to find out. I looked it up online and there is a private airstrip nearby. My conspiratorial mindset has me thinking it's perfect for cartels to fly in & out of to do business and the Russians like to stir up age old sentiment between the nortenos y the confederates from nearby Texas..
In other words, Trump is treating rural Americans the same way he treated the glaziers, plumbers, and other tradespeople who helped build his failed casinos and whom he failed to pay: he's stabbing them in the back. No one should be surprised.
My county is one of those orange/yellow high-transfer counties. It went for Trump over 2:1 in 2024. Convincing many of these people that Trump is using them and that voting for a Democrat, and especially a progressive, is the smart thing to do, will be an uphill climb. They are bathed in propaganda. Being an (R) is who they are, and breaking through the shell is not easy.
Trump supporters are bathed in propaganda, but they are also stupid, and no one can fix that. They're just going to have to suffer direct and dire consequences before the truth of what they've done sinks in for them. Who knows the extent of the damage that will be done by then.
I don't know that I would go so far as to say that they're all stupid. I suspect that much of the resistance to the facts has to do with self image and group identity/reinforcement. It is difficult for people to reject a deep group identity. That group helps to define and support the individual. Rejecting it is burning bridges to both their past and their future. For many, it would be like leaving their religion: They have too great of an emotional investment. That is, it's easier to create rationalizations than to face reality. Indeed, as is the case with religion, continuing belief in spite of evidence to the contrary is seen as a plus, a marker of the believer's "commitment to the cause".
I am not sure that direct suffering will fix that problem. Perhaps this is an example of Stockholm Syndrome. Perhaps the most effective way of cracking that shell is from within; that is, when someone within their social in-group says or does something that breaks the continuity of thought. That allows them to start thinking outside of the normal boundaries instead of taking the easy shortcut of just allowing the group to think for them.
I live in a rural red state and many of the people who I meet are not stupid, but they do engage in group think and often get their news from FOX and associates.
Race/religion/culture (or tribe) has a lot to do with how people view politics and the world. People like to socialize with people like themselves. That is mostly what Protestant Churches in the South are. I can select a church and, depending on the denomination, it will probably be made up of people who look and act and think mostly the way I do. Some people may think differently from the group but will be reluctant to say so. The whole purpose of going to church is to socialize and fit in with the group. Otherwise, why go at all?
People love to say that people in red states vote against their self-interest as if they are stupid. But as you correctly point out, it is quite a bit more complicated. Many people see value in being in the tribe.
Very interesting makes me think. The only way out is through. Until a member of the group is willing to and able to speak truth to the group they will stay in the bubble of group think, belonging.
Some people stay in the group think bubble their entire lives.
I have been around churches and "Christians" most of my life. When people talk about their beliefs, they usually give the standard answers about Jesus and God and so forth. I often wonder if they really believe what they say and I suspect that many don't. But everyone knows the "right" answers and that is what they say if they are in a situation where they need to talk about beliefs.
The same is true of politics. Many people don't care that much about politics and keep quiet or give a standard answer. Don't know what they really believe or, indeed, if they have any political beliefs. Other than the belief that all politicians are crooks.
They also suffer from "sunk cost investment." They have invested so much in their beliefs that it is hard to go back, to admit you were wrong in the first place.
Right. I read about two surveys run in the same area. In one, they asked a bunch of Trump voters if they would change their vote if the election were run over again. Virtually none of them said they would. In the other survey, they simply asked who they would vote for if the election were to be redone. Harris was the resounding choice.
The second survey did not require the people to admit they were wrong.
Exactly. And the more a tribe feels attacked by another tribe, the harder is for people to engage in rational free thinking and dispassionate problem solving. Which is why it seems to me that a good strategy now for democrats is to just stay silent a bit and leave things the hell alone so that everything can follow due course, just make sure you don't get blamed. Not that there are many other options, by the way.
This is exactly right, and I have no doubt psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists have plenty to study for a very long time. I also think that, as angry as we all get about how a now-insignificant portion of the country has voted and who they support, it is important for us to remember that none of it is normal. This has been a truly long con and will take a heck of a lot of work to break through. We have to be willing to keep engaging. Hopefully we can encourage change peacefully, but there is a subset of MAGA that is hell bent on hate and violence. Those are the people who are the real risk, the ones to watch. They aren’t being conned. They’ve become willing and active participants.
If they just had to learn the hard way, the poorest states wouldn't keep voting red. The media propaganda in these places is so much heavier than anything you and I have had to deal with.
You're right and I hope some Democratic messaging strategists are paying close attention. It engraged me that the GOP has delayed deployment of the major cuts to social safety net programs until after the 2026 election, so that point ought to be hammered home too. Along with the big 'eff you' represented by Trump callously knocking down a part of the White House and building of a ballrooom (Who the eff goes to 'balls'? Not most of us) which will be TWICE the size of the White House itself. Good god, Matilda.
Donors. That’s who. The ballroom is for Trump to hold fund raisers to line his own pockets on the backs of those wealthy enough to not notice they too are being swindled.
Goes without saying, Joan. Yep. But my further goal, other than blowing off steam (which has become necessary in these unbelievably disturbing times) was to point out where Trump&Co's focus is: they only care about themselves, just like the aristocratic class in Europe of yore. This administration wants to eliminate the American experiment in opportunity for all, and I think that should be made plain.
You’re so right about the need to blow off steam. Holding in the anger and frustration only hurts you. Venting on forums like this make us all realize we aren’t alone. America is increasingly an insular society. We can do so much from the comfort of our large single family homes we barely need to see or even know our neighbors any more. I was housebound for much of 2024 and it’s such an isolating experience.
Or in my case my small single family (retirement) home! I have to force myself to get out sometimes. I think I developed some hermit habits during covid. This helps!
Yep. I'd like to see that. You must have noticed Trump's posture when sitting on a regular armchair. Distinctly like he's sitting on that 'other throne.'
I foresee MAGA cotillions and debutante balls in which well-groomed and remarkably young MAGA females are presented to the highest-value MAGA males for potential matings. The afterparties could make DC into another Cape Town or Reykjavik. Nocturnal MAGA love the nightlife.
Responses to Hillary's comment about the WH on FB have been along the lines of, "So happy you didn't get to live there, bitch!" and, "Bet you didn't complain when Obama built a basketball court!" Not kidding.
A good analysis as far as it goes, but it joins the legacy media and other pundits and critics in refusing to discuss the elephant in the room--the broad and deep strain of bigotry in white America, and DJT's role in energizing it.
You overlooked a longstanding American pattern: rural and Christian nationalist Americans prizing their White identity over their economic self-interest.
Trump is far more interested in his multi-million dollar ballroom than rural America. The man with the gold toilet seats doesn't give a sh*t about the welfare of average Americans, or the American farmer. Didn't we all know this, from the start?
You are right. Donald cares about himself and what he thinks is good for himself and maybe his children. He does not care about anyone else and that includes the sycophants around him and his supporters. Everyone outside of his family is expendable when they have served their purpose.
I think that Donald is a strange case. He seems to be a person who is completely amoral and has no feeling for other people.
But as you say, this all has not been a secret. Anyone could see it if they looked.
That's why I resent the people who voted for him as much, if not more, than DJT himself. We knew DJT was/is a selfish monster with no morals, no ethics, no conscience. That's scary, for sure, but even scarier are the people who voted for him despite this. One can only assume they are just as corrupt as they are clueless.
The last election saw Latino voters swing slightly to Trump in key states; enough for him to win. Among Latinos, according to Pew Research, the economy is the most important issue. I wonder if that might prove decisive in the upcoming elections in some states.
The irony in all this is that Rump wants to be a strong man, yet his every action weakens his power on the world stage. World trade is rerouting to avoid the USA as much as possible and China is gaining economic strength the US gave away.
That just won’t work because the crypto market isn’t large enough for that to work. Being the world’s reserve currency is a very beneficial thing for a country. Of course Trump does not understand economics so he can’t understand what he is throwing away.
This "urban" Democrat feels for rural America because he grew up there. My home county's greatest export has been people; it reached its population peak in 1910. The only high school in the county (public or otherwise) graduates a future doctor about once every two years.
Part of the rural crisis results from policies that favor huge commodity farms. Coming from rural Iowa, Ag Secretary Tom Vilseck understood that. The current bunch? No.
A hallmark of Donald's administration is that you have people working in and overseeing areas about which they know nothing. It is a policy of deliberate ignorance.
That is also a hallmark of many right-wing people. They often have a superficial knowledge of the problem at hand and often see violence and/or coercion as the way to deal with said problem. Right-wingers are usually not deep thinkers, and they often don't know that things change -- usually because of technology and economics. Right-wingers don't seem to know that farming today is a lot different from farming in the 1850"s.
I also grew up in rural America in the rural South, went off to college, and did not go back.
Me too. My uncle was a farmer and both my parents grew up in small towns. I worked extensively in rural areas of the Midwest during the ag crisis of the late 1980s. Mostly trying to keep banks from going under as so many farmers walked away from their way of life. It was a heartbreaking introduction to the economic realities of rural America.
Why do rural voters choose against their own self interest? There would be as many answers as there are people doing the answering. But first of all, it is a very small percentage of rural persons who are truly themselves involved in farming. Those who are working may be ancillary, but if anything, they somewhat resent the actual farmers. As farms have become gigantic, and now usually family corporate, farmers themselves are the most wealthy individuals in the area. Living and having always lived in a rural area, I am far from enamored of the typical voter. There is a strange mixture of lack of knowledge and bitter resentment paired with a superiority complex of deeming themselves infinitely better persons than urbanites. Provincialism with indefatigable hubris. Trump with his crass proud ignorance and void in sophisticated nuance is the perfect fit.
"Many clearly felt that educated urban elites don’t understand their lives and values — which is true. Most people in New York or Los Angeles don’t have a good sense of what life is like in rural America."
Very true. And the schmuck from Queens is sooo understanding of their lives and values?
I remember seeing an estimate on maybe a quarter to a third of Germans still supported the third reich at the end of World War II. Those Germans believe the propaganda machine. I think a lot of Trump supporters will continue to think the bad things happening to them is Biden’s, Obama’s, Dem,the Dems fault
because they are in the right wing media bubble which is rapidly expanding (the Ellisons). There is also the social cost. I have Trump supporting relatives and for some to suddenly disagree with friends and relatives, they would be shunned and ostracized.
If you look at the level of current support for the AfD in Germany and the FPÖ in Austria, it seems clear that to this day at least 25% of Germans still support the Third Reich. MAGA will always be with us.
Don't forget the culture war stuff, which plays well in the heartland. Rural Trump voters have bought into these tempest-in-a-teapot "outrages" wholeheartedly.
This is what they voted for.
False hope those rural types will "blame" tRump for their problems...not a bit of it, as the more the pain level increases, the more that Rural Murka's propaganda network doubles down on "It's the radical, lunatic Democrats' fault", and so it goes.
Do NOT believe in a "Great Awakening" amongst the Red-state farm vote.
Yes, of course, this is what they voted for. The question of the moment is "why?". Understanding why they are voting the way they do is critical to fixing the problem. How is it that the Republican party and in particular Trump has managed to con the farmers and the workers into voting for them? It is ignorance, or low-information? Or do they simply fall the con because of emotions. The working class has valid grievances due to globalization and the decline of manufacturing in our country. Somehow Trump and the Republicans have been able to convince them that they hold the answers. The Democrats have not.
The left keeps asking the question and trying to please them based on their answers but it never works.
It never works because they are lying about the real reason rural whites vote in lockstep for Republicans: Racism
LBJ knew these people well. They haven't changed:
“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”
Correct. LBJ was an asshole, but he was a smart asshole.
Rural Americans have been brainwashed like people in a cult. Unfortunately, it will take a while for them to be able to deprogram. We need to keep GENTLY pointing out the situation to them to help them along.
we
No, not "we." That's an exercise in semantics. "They" - meaning the MAGA faithful, the right wing moderates, if there is such a thing, and farmers, the subject of this article. He is talking about them, not us. The only thing that ties us together is our citizenship so, in that sense, "we," but that's not what he's talking about. Dr. K is discussing a discrete demographic.
when it comes to voting there are actually identifiable people who voted for this. the "we" didn't apply here.
i hear you ... and we could sit here all day.... i just cant get over the fact that we, as a nation..... me, you, people driving around, people working....the plurality of us (the electoral college majority)....voted for this....and would probably do it again.
I agree with you on that, although I keep reminding myself that the people supporting this destruction of the nation are a minority. And they are doing their best to lock in their minoritarian rule because they KNOW that. Eventually, people will get fed up. Whether or not there's anything left to salvage after that is the great unknown.
We really need to do away with that damned electoral college.
And the Senate?
I'm on the fence regarding the senate, but we probably could do better without it.
Start with getting rid of unequal states and counties that make as much sense as if historical French provinces were still used as political divisions. Replace with ~340 districts of equal size divided into 20 cantons of ~50,000 people.
We definitely need to put a stop to the insane gerrymandering.
When you see a voting "district" that resembles a rattlesnake slithering through the underbrush, you just know that's how someone like Jackass Johnson or Marjorie Taylor Greenbacks gets elected.
Yup, even the 90M or so who decided to sit on their hands instead of voting… my mama always said, you get the government you deserve.
According to PEW, those who did not bother to vote skew Republican, so if everyone had voted Trump might have gotten a majority of the popular vote.
Actually, not quite. Interestingly, PEW results were almost even in both categories; those NON-voters who said they leaned politically toward either party AND those who said they would have voted for either candidate. Either way, the differences were a mere 3-5%. This surprised me. The MSM would have had us believe that the non-voter demographic weighed HEAVILY Democrat.
About 35% of American voters voted for Trump. IF the numbers are correct, and not "rigged" as Trump insisted they would be.
No, they were fooled.
I read Jess Piper, a Democrat who lives in rural Missouri,
Find some way to grow some of your own food. Maybe you grow micro greens, herbs, tomatoes or peppers, requiring little investment. If you have a hydroponic system, it could be many other things. But anything we do to sustain ourselves can make an impact on our lives.
And would again
And now the uber wealthy class (aka tech bros) are actually racing to incorporate AI into the mix. This technology, if left unchecked is a game changer unlike any other, for it won’t be part of the ‘mix’. It will wipe out employment as we know it. Peter Thiel said the quiet part out loud when he referred to the ‘tax of labour’. Let that sink in. He sees the cost of employment & wages as a tax on the ultra rich. The tax of labour. Something he will flick off his shoulders like an annoying deer fly.
If the workers are replaced by bots, who will buy the stuff the bots are making? Other bots don't need new clothes, food, electronics, the latest Apple device. Bots don't go out to eat or attend movies or concerts. Bots don't go to school, so we don't need teachers. They also don't need medical care. So if the oligs don't have actual people to "consume" their products, how will they keep making money? And won't their money be kind of useless? Bots don't need money.
The top 10% are already accounting for most of the consumption. That's why there is such a push to eliminate any government benefits for the other 90%. The billionaires really don't care if they live or die.
That’s right. Left unchecked (as it is on course to do) AI will fundamentally change society as we know it. Its primary mandate will not likely be to ‘make stuff’ or produce anything beyond control of the masses. We’re kinda already there, aren’t we? We (me included) need to more readily put down the tool in our own hands which is giving them unencumbered access.
Increasingly I feel that's why they don't care if people lose healthcare and perish, they just want the planet so they use it's resources for AI without all of us pesky humans around. They will make a new society out of that scenario. Eventually they will have to allow all but themselves to perish for it to work. they believe in technology, power, and money, not in humanity, the greater good of all, or the human instinct to honor something greater than ourselves, our egos which has become somewhat buried lately.
NYT linked to an op-ed in a Chinese newspaper that I used Google to translate in English. It was written by a Chinese pundit about the book, The Global Trap, written 30 years ago now. In it was a term, "tittytainment", which you can also net search....the 80% of economic losers in society will have to be entertained (think Tik Tok, etc.) to distract them from the realization of their uselessness. We are already here, you will realize if you read the book. 100% everything that was predicted has come true.
Tech bros have the world divided: bros, breeders, serfs and vermin.
It’s a pain for the tech bros to have to house and feed the serfs.
Who the heck will BUY Thiel and the rest of the CEOligarch's products?
Surely that comment by Thiel indicates a coming P2025 holocaust as the poor workers and welfare dependants in disUSA are wiped from the face of the earth as an irrelevant burden on the chosen few. It seems very obvious!
Why are so few willing to face up to this clear and obvious danger?
1% of the 1% indicates a population of about 35,000 for USA. That being the case what's all this about breeding like rabbits gone mad which seemed to be Musk's approach as one of Thiel's devotees? Ok so only 5,000 or so will be needed for breeding purposes? And there will have to be a controlled cull too if the production/birthrate gets too high.
Should help climate restoration in the longer run? All this provided the robots and AI spirits in the machines behave themselves.
A salient fact: Employment in coal mining has declined since it's peak in 1922, and absolutely plummeted since 1980. There are probably more people employed as 'influencers' on TikTok in the US than coal miners.
Saw the other day the statistic that there are more yoga instructors in the US than there are coal miners.
and that happened without reducing the production of coal.
Wow does that take me back. Classic tune.
Me, too.
When my flying monkeys take to the skies ......
Aw, c'mon Terence, you should know us better than that by now. Did you not see the pics and videos from last Saturday's No Kings rallies? Or the rallies we held before that? We have not, can not, will not, and do not accept what our government is doing, and we will continue to rise and resist in any and every way we can for as long as it takes until democracy is restored.
You're right however, that is how democracy works - until it ceases to be a democracy as has now happened. Now we have to fight tooth and nail to restore it. That too is how democracy works. Freedom isn't free. It has to be fought for.
A lot of people on the left help set the stage for Trump by throwing away their votes on candidates like Ralph Nader, Jill Stein and Gary Johnson. Gore lost Florida by less than 600 votes. Nader got over 97, 000 votes in that state. Making your idea of the perfect be the enemy of the good has had disastrous consequences for our country.
Gore lost the election when the Supreme Court shut down the recount.
Scotus c-h-o-s-e to hear B v G. It was n-o-t required legally to do so. Americans choose to ignore this reality. Why??
And they c-h-o-s-e to shut down the recount. What's your point?
Yes, that's true. Although Gore actually "lost" by less than 400 questionable votes. The big problem in 2000 was that 1. The Republican candidate's brother just so happened to be the governor of Florida and 2. A friendly reichwing Supreme Court stopped the recount before it was completed - handing an unearned victory to the worst president of all time until Trumpkopf came along.
And spoilers aren't limited to the left - if Ross Perot hadn't jumped in as an independent, we might have had a second term of King Bush I.
If even a third of those idiots who voted for Nader had voted for Gore non of the things you list would have mattered because his win would have been too big to question back then.
Yeah, you're right. Hell, just in Florida alone would have done the trick, since that's where the election rigging happened.
Jill Stein has done more damage to the environment that any single Republican president, and she will do it again. She is just as stupid as rural farmers.
I have never been able to take Jilly Crystals seriously, and completely fail to understand how anyone could.
Similarly, Nader has done more damage to the American consumer than any single Republican.
I disagree.His book “Unsafe at Any Speed” led strong legislation which improved both auto and highway safety and has saved a lot of lives. The fatality rate today is far lower than it was 1965.
First, I never said 12 percent. I did say 12,000,000, or about 3.5%.
Second, I can't stand Schumer, and if a sewer rat primaries him in 2028, I'm voting for the rat.
Third, "mild-mannered and polite" ensures we don't hand Trumpkopf an excuse to declare marital law or invoke the insurrection act, which he's just itching to do. We're hoping to get rid of him without bloodshed. We already had one Civil War, and it wasn't pretty.
Finally, yes, radical change is needed. I believe the next generation of Democrats will help bring that about. It's ironic, but Trumpkopf has been the wake up call that we've desperately needed since 1980. It's a damned shame that it took such a catastrophe, but apparently, that's what it took.
Don't write us off so quickly, we're just getting started.
You expect a miracle overnight? It doesn't work that way. It never did. Do you see anyone in Russia rising up? How about North Korea? China? What do expect us to do? We're not >all< armed you know.
In the US democracy works by using our antiquated voting structure and gerrymandering to perpetually seat a dictatorship of the minority.
I am most curious as to what you would suggest? You are right in one regard: Americans still believe in the US system of elections, at least for now. So we protest, complain, call elected officials because we still believe in the system. We are unwilling to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
So what would you suggest? Armed revolution against one of the strongest military in the world? A military that has demonstrated that it stands behind the Trump government (at least for now)? "Fire in Winter" in the streets like Ukraine in 2013/2014?
I would be interested in hearing what your plan would be, how you would amass the power of the theoretical 63% who do not support Trump?
Violating the law and constitution, lying about election results, trying to overthrow a government, weaponizing the DOJ and SCOTUS, declaring war on cities, and gerrymandering states is how democracy works?
... their silence is assent.
Americans silent? Oh no they aren't. Americans have held two record setting, nation-wide protests in the millions against Trump, not to mention all the countless protests, weekly and monthly, in just about every city in the US since he has taken office. Where have you been?
What you really mean to say is that for a democracy to work the elected officials must listen to the people, which the Trump regime blatantly refuses to do, unless it's his base, of course, and then it's more show than substance.
I wonder if it was the threat of California politicians like Nancy Pelosi stating that if federal ICE and other agents, other states' national guards violated San Fran and CA state laws, then they would be arrested and prosecuted by California LE, etc. that really changed Trump's mind about sending them in. Maybe Benioff was worried his tech workers would strike and was the "friend" who changed Trump's mind...perhaps with a little bribe to have his software chosen to save money with AI vs $50,000 signing bonus/ ICE recruit + student loan forgiveness?
It boggles my mind that the mainstream media lied about the Biden economy, burying the fact that it was actually the best economy in the West and that wages increases were outpacing inflation with the greatest gains going to the lowest earners. As a result there was actually a decrease in economic inequality. The US economy was so strong that in June 2024 the World Bank increased its prediction for global growth, citing the strength of the US economy as the driver of that growth. Them mainstream media buried that story, apparently because they were too busy obsessing over the price of eggs as if bird flu was Bide’s and Harris’s fault.
“ Yes, the Media Lied About the Pre-Election Economy”
Dean Baker
https://cepr.net/publications/media-lied-about-pre-election-economy/
"Mainstream" media = Corporate Media. All the big corporations are backing the fascists and Trump, and that includes their faux "news" divisions.
The men who run the corporations (major weirdos, all of them) harken back to Dark Age, even Bronze Age, philosophy as the best engine/driver of human progress! They are that stupid. They think they are brilliant ("stable genius's") but they are not. They are dumb, and they are shockingly ignorant of history, economics, or the effects of technology on a society.
We're getting to witness first hand how empires crash, crumble and fall. The stupidest .01% take control, and that's that.
Remember the Economist cover article in January 25 about the US Economy; The envy of the world.
Well, trumpty-dumpty has fixed that, hasn't he?
Both the Economist and the Wall Street Journal published articles on how good the US economy was, BEFORE the 2024 election. Didn't do much good. Biden was very good for the economy and the country but horrible at blowing his own horn.
Most swing voters don’t read either of those publications but they are likely to hear news published in the WaPo or NYT because they drive mainstream broadcast and social media coverage.
https://criticalread.substack.com/p/i-blame-the-media
Most people can’t remember that because they never heard about it.
The problem is that the Democrats outsourced their messaging to the media and the media to more interested in making money than pushing Democratic Party talking points.
You only need to follow the MSM money for the answer to your question
https://share.google/images/XC2kuC0aAih7fOSNi
This is the Democrats. They particularly failed in the land where Mother Jones operated. Sad ineptitude! At least democratic socialism is currently thriving in New York. A rural version is required. Get out of your comfortable oak panelled rooms Dem leaders sponsor the 100 progressives sharpen your message talk respectfully to the people. Their situation is deplorable they are not.
Much of this goes back to Obama's inviting the banks in at the last big banking begging session and asking them 'What can we do for you boys?' instead of laying down the law as FDR did (to a resonable degree) and also mocking Trump to no purpose apart from stroking his own ego.
The interview entitled “The sticking power of 'cultural identity' and other findings from the American Values Survey” at The Contrarian substack suggests progressive economic platforms won’t be enough. The American Values Survey is conducted annually by the Public Religion Research Institute and the 2024 results showed about 40 percent of voters are focused on preserving white Christian patriarchy. They will do anything to achieve their goal, including voting for an immoral conman and torching the democratic republic.
The survey results might also help explain why Obama, the first Black president, wasn’t as bold as FDR. FDR was white and old money, and his election in 1932 occurred two years after the stock market crash and start of the Great Depression. By then people were desperate enough to take a chance on unorthodox policies and had a clear idea of who was to blame for their misery. The 2008 election occurred simultaneously with the financial crisis, making it more muddled for many voters (some of whom think Obama was president when it started, not Bush 2). Consequently, the political momentum for progressive policies in 2008 wasn’t as great as in 1932 (although even with momentum FDR had a tough time getting the New Deal past congressional Republicans and the SCOTUS).
FDR also had a huge advantage in that the single biggest racist interest bloc in the country (the Southern Democrats) were on his side, and would vote for him all four times just like they voted for all his predecessors, because they were still voting against Abe Lincoln at the time. And, conversely, that there were still a lot of moderate-to-liberal Republicans on the other side who might or might not support him but would at any rate work with him like grown-up human beings. (Fiorello LaGuardia, one of the most iconic New Dealers of the age, was a Republican).
None of that applied to Obama or to any other Democrat who could get elected today. There situation is Lincoln's, not FDR's: the country is fully polarized, the other half wants to destroy the republic, and their people are fully on board with it.
The GOP has only three goals: 1) lowest possible taxation, 2) deregulation, and 3) self preservation. It has managed to use Trump to corral into its tent the large number of voters who care more about preserving what's left of white Christian patriarchy than they care about their own enlightened self-interest.
All the GOP deep-thinking about incrementalism, the rule of law, fiscal responsibility and limited government is just a facade. And originalism itself is just another facade hiding a death-grip on white Christian patriarchy - where wealthy white males with property worked tirelessly to preserve lowest-possible taxes and minimal regulation.
eg Russell Vought https://www.propublica.org/article/about-russell-vought-trump-shadow-president
When will voting for economic self interest (for example) outweigh voting to preserve white Christian patriarchy? That is what is needed. Those farmers who voted for Trump are confident that Trump is on their side, that he has just been ill advised by some White House person, and besides Trump was sent by God . . . .
Your analysis leaves out the racism (which other commentators address). At this point, many Republicans (aka MAGAts), vote for a Christian nationalist - white - ideal. It doesn't matter what the Dems might do for them - help them afford healthcare, etc. - if those benefits also go to "those" people.
"At least democratic socialism is currently thriving in New York. A rural version is required."
The problem with that is that a lot of the people most directly concerned with and most amenable to that message can't vote. (The illegal immigrants who increasingly do most of the backbreaking work in rural areas).
A hundred years ago, the sort of rural folk who flocked to radicals like William Jennings Bryan weren't farmers generically but farm *hands* and *tenant* farmers - people whose relationship to their boss or their banker wasn't all that different from their urban counterparts'. (They were immigrants back then too, we just hadn't closed the border yet, so they did actually have some rights). The bosses, on the other hand, the people who actually owned most of the things in the area? They were as reactionary as hell back then as they are today.
The conversation around farm country today gets confusing as fuck because people keep looking at the "farmer" (namely, the person who owns the farm, had it passed down from his father's father's father, owns four gas-guzzling pickup trucks and fifty guns, and can afford to waste his mornings sitting in diners talking to New York Times op-ed writers) and wondering why he isn't voting the way "farmers" (i.e. the people breaking their backs either working his land, or working their own little plot of land that he owns the deed to) used to.
I assumed the polling in NY represented voters not just anyone who lives there .
And MSM repeated the right wing lies,without refuting it with the facts. But right wing media flooded people with complete lies about the economy. Blaming immigrants for jobs that no one else wants, aside from the taxes they pay into the system with no return to themselves.
They get people to vote against their economic interests though the culture wars. For example, I never believed the Kochs cared about issues such as same sex marriage, but they were certainly useful to support their real issues of promoting oil.
Yes. Both brainwashed, by FauxNewz, and hateful. And will continue to support frump because their hate is stronger than anything else in their lives.
"And will continue to support frump because their hate is stronger than anything else in their lives." Bing bing bing bing bing!
Rural Americans have been the target of a systematic propaganda operation controlled by right-wing moguls, such as the Murdochs and the Smiths (Sinclair), people who know how to count senators and where to place their franchises. Rural Americans have been deliberately rube-ified. They did not spontaneously come up with the belief that the Upper West Side is Ground Zero for the Apocalypse. They are, in their way, victims of an industrial perversion of the First Amendment.
Rush L. on every truck radio in the 1980's laid the ground work for the brainwashing of rural America.
And it persists to this day. The angertainment industry comprised of Rush's progeny, Fox (faux) news, plus the online copycats have -- kind of unintentionally because it is all algorithm driven by social media -- taken over the Republican party. More at www.angertainment.info FYI
I disagree, respectfully! Politics is about choosing. They were presented two options like all of us. Bigotry and dehumanization of fellow human beings vs equal opportunities and social justice. They preferred the former to the extent they felt they are kept at the top of the food chain...
I am curious if you have been to rural areas, I mean truly spent time and experienced a rural area and interacted with its people? From your presumptuous comment I would guess no. It feels like the opposite version PK spoke of, “(sub)urban” folk not really understanding either, but I certainly could be wrong. Bigots are from everywhere. It is not fair or accurate to imply that rural Americans are the sole or even main problem here. I am from a small town in the heartland. My parents live there still. Sure, there are gross people there, but it’s no more than I encounter living in a city. In fact, I encounter a shocking amount of shameful behavior here. Rural Americans are often exposed to less on a daily basis, but they aren’t bigots. Many are kind people, welcoming, or they were before they started being spoon fed lies from the media they happen to consume. Fox wasn’t always as extreme as it is now. It has gotten worse over time, and many people didn’t realize and slid down the slope with Fox, now swimming in NewsMax, OAN, and worse. They aren’t just misinformed. They are intentionally disinformed and do not know it. As fellow Americans, Humans, they should be open to listening and understanding that what they’ve been told for decades are lies, but it doesn’t make them bigots. That sort of assumption just feeds into the vicious circle, turning them away from respectful conversation, and keeps us all angry and divided…exactly what Trump and his ilk want.
I lived in a small town in farm country in northwest Ohio for 6 years. It was a very insular community. The town is 95% white. If you don’t interact with someone like yourself, you have no idea if you are prejudiced or not. Having lived in several states, I have found that everyone is prejudiced.
I agree that everyone has some degree of prejudice. It's probably unavoidable. The question is whether you vote with an eye to keeping the "other" down or not. The rural areas consistently do just that. Atheist here, but I seem to remember some Scripture that says something like, "By their fruits, you will know them."
That’s why I left rural NW Indiana as soon as I got out of college & never looked back. Racist, 98% white, KKK strong & open. Coupled with little opportunity.
Career took me to live in a variety of rural areas. Yes, there are some nice people, but there’s deep anti-government bias while taking their crop & ag subsidies, SSA & SSI, small business loans, etc. But my job in the National Park Service was “waste, fraud & abuse.
In one job, these same folks campaigned 20 years prior to have “the feds” create the national scenic river to stop a dam being built…they wanted us to be de-funded. (2008-2014).
The GOP force-fed them the blame government, the urban poor, blame others propaganda since Nixon. They will be in economic pain & still love the GOP.
Matt Stoller here on Substack wrote up some history on the KKK in Indiana being some kind of multi-level marketing gimmick like Amway back in the day.
They marketed hate, seems on brand for them to grift, as well.
You've really nailed the problem. The big question: how to counteract the all the reichwing propaganda? With billions being funneled into these "news" organization, supplemented by "social" media, including InYourFaceBook, 4chan, 8chan, QAnon, not to mention "Truth" social and, of course, 卐itter. It's a huge, well established ecosystem. Ann Coulter once disgustingly said "We own the media! We own it!"
Spot on for one of our many problems that took years in the making. The media print, digital and social are consolidated, owned now by the powerful, rich and connected.
Look in the dust bin for the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the Clayton Anti-Trust Act. Now add in all the ways for decades both parties set up ways around campaign contributions (PAC’s, etc), compromised campaign finance legislation at every turn, lobbyists with “offerings” walking in and out of OUR government representatives, no remaining DOJ, SCOTUS, pervasive greed and now openly immoral and corrupt governments state and federal.
Lots of damage and questionable how, and if, we can fix it all.
If I got it all wrong, feel free to let me know. But that’s my take.
They are adults. Many claim Christian values. Yet they choose the vileness of fox and other dehumanizing media. They voted for the cruelty and terrorism Trump promised to inflict on others. They are getting what they wanted.
One of my brothers lives in rural Tennessee. He's not a Trumpie, but he said that anyone who put up a Harris for President sign would probably get bricks (or worse) through their windows. He keeps his head down.
My other brother is an active stock trader who lives in a wealthy area of New Jersey. He would vote for a potted plant if it had an "R" beside the name. For a variety of reasons, we haven't spoken for years. As near as I can tell, he doesn't have anything to do with any other family members.
That is really sad, but, yeah, it's really about low taxes and regulation. An article or post I read sometime back stated that all NFL team owners donated to republicans, yet look at all of the minorities they present, such as Bad Bunny, etc. & wish Trump would quit using them as a whipping post example.
Yes, rural AMERICANS are often dis-informed by an angry, propagandized media machine. But, when it comes to their own best interests, one might think that there, at the very least, they might care to understand what’s going on. Providing a certain-to-fail bailout to Argentine Trump/Bessent supporters while American farmers suffer through a tariff inspired attack on their own livelihoods does not seem like a difficult concept to master. Seems to me if these farmers are smart enough to hedge their bets against weather and international markets in the futures markets, they ought to be smart enough to understand what’s in their own best interests.
Thank you for reminding us of our shared humanity. It has gotten lost by so many after the successful 40 years of psyops against the American people to manipulate our thinking into accepting shoddy stereotypes which then can be used to create suspicion, fear, and hatred of the “other”. The enemies of democracy excel in using their book of stereotypes to exploit the cracks in a wonderfully diverse country. Divide and conquer. A perfect set up for a feral genius conman to exploit with a full onslaught of Orwellian lies and deception. We cannot reclaim our American democracy and create the next, more inclusive version of it until we systematically reject these stereotypes and relearn how to see each other as humans. And deal with each other with mutual support, mutual respect, and mutual trust. We have a long way to go to undo such deep deliberate societal damage. We can start now. We must teach our children well.
They are, by whole, bigots. Just because one prefaces their comment with .... I'm not racist but.... is in fact a bigot. And talk to them long enough and one does in fact get there.
I agree. I have also encountered pretty shocking vicious racism in big cities. I don’t think we have really come to terms with how drastically rural communities have been hollowed out. These were once thriving communities. All four sets of my grandparents were farmers, same for my husband, except one set were fisher (folk). There were many businesses associated with supporting these farming communities when they were thriving, and that is all gone. Very little, if anything was ever done to help these communities transition to a new future. Amazon has had a similar effect on a lot of formerly successful small retailers. Our city used to have at least half a dozen specialty lighting shops and plumbing suppliers. They are all gone, along with the expertise they represented. You can order cheap lights from Amazon or Home Depot, but hardly anyone knows there are, or used to be other options. I do see signs that economists and other experts are starting to realize that we need to pay attention to these left behind regions, and build more resilience into our supply systems, agricultural systems, computing systems, a realization that we need to move toward systems that are considerably more distributed and diverse with greater emphasis on the resilience of local systems and communities. I hope that the Trump administration is the last gasp of an ideology that is long past its best before date. I’m definitely ready to move on.
We need to give the talk radio/Fox/NewsMax, etc. media a name. I am proposing we refer to it as the angertainment industry. See www.angertainment.info
Direct democracy, like Citizen's Assemblies, might be part of the solution. I'm a rural Western American and when we sit down and talk to each other about how to solve problems, we’re an awesome team. In the 1990s, we were forming consensus-driven community groups and getting stuff done. Then the Bundy's "Mormon Militia" set their sights on us and we’ve been under attack since. I'm looking forward to working together again in a post-MAGA world because I truly love my neighbors — especially our diversity. We used to have the most delicious potlucks …
Right!
You are certainly right to some point, and I had the same views before. But now that Trump and GOP policies are hurting them more directly than before, I cannot reconcile that narrative with their blind support. I mean for which reasons would somebody votes against his direct interest? Or, which of Trump policies could gather their support right now, if it wasn't what I was referring to?
Same might be asked of all the right-wing supporters in Europe.
Agreed, not enough space to describe how amazing it is to grow up in rural Wyoming and discovering later the sense of privilege and might your rural community brings but always at the expense of others, the environment, the animals and the wildlife.
LOL, my Confederate forebears started at a plantation in Louisiana that was overrun by "the Yankees," and ended up settling in Texas after the war. Most of them are still there, but my mother (UT Austin, class of '46), moved to California to vote her inherited prejudices here. My brother went along with the program and now has homes in both TX and CA, voting solidly Republican - not b/c he loves Trump, but b/c he doesn't want to pay taxes. And he doesn't care if others are hurt by Repub policies. Somehow I escaped, and spent my youth fighting with my mother over Vietnam and the Civil Rights Act...
There are some really good comments here, including some close to home that I hadn’t considered. We underestimate the non-economic factors that swirl in rural communities (of which I came). A preference for small government to keep government out of their business while at the same time having local government staffed with people like them. The disdain for the urban elites who disdain them. Preference for demographic homogeneity (and its not just racism but not discounting that at all). Even semi-economic factors like not wanting to be seen on the dole or taking SNAP.
All of this and incredibly poor messaging from Democrats at a national level. And probably poor economic programs directed toward rural economies rather than rural poverty. Even allowing states to “hide” the Affordable Care Act under different names such as Sooner Care (guess the state).
I thought Biden’s economic program should have meant a lot for rural communities, many of which rely on small scale industry, but it take someone to carry that message. The structural imbalances that exist now will be hard to overcome.
That is really the point. A simple prompt on ChatGPT will give you the years (and the related policy changes) that made heartland then-Democrats shift to the GOP.
A rural supplicant me, our first indoctrination is fealty to Father God, the one true king. Until I could dismantle that identity, I could not work with and for representative democracy. You all sound so glib and harsh, but it is the work of a lifetime to get out from under patriarchy and monarchy.
Lately I’ve been thinking about the urban-rural divide in my extended family, which goes back at least 100 years. I also remember reading French Revolution history, which had a lot of urban-rural components. Chinese history also has an urban-rural divide. I’ve begun to think media moguls and oligarchs recognized this longstanding divide as an opportunity to exploit a preexisting emotional subject within families who have watched as their children, siblings, and cousins left rural communities for cities. The loss of family members to city life seems to have left many remaining family members feeling their loved ones judged them as somehow lesser.
I think you have hit the nail on the head there.
You know, I live in a rural area. I have also lived in Boston, New Orleans, Portland,ME and Albany NY. Many people living in small communities are just the same, and many people in cities came there by way of Hooterville. Can we please stop talking about us all as if we are two different species?
You're short selling the influence of AM talk radio stations playing in the pickup truck on drives to and from local farm and ranch stores every Saturday morning from February to September. Rural radio stations mostly have been bought up by closely held corporations controlled by MAGA males. Montana's stations in particular all seem to be controlled by the same ultra-conservatives in Seattle.
Correct. Auto manufacturers were recently removing AM radios from cars for a year or two. The rural voters pushed their congresscritters to pass laws to force car makers to keep the AM band because there are dead areas for the FM band. They got rid of CD players instead.
Whittington NRA memorial had Russian flags flying on either side of a monument indicating where to turn. The flags up the driveway may have been flags of other countries, but I didn't drive in to find out. I looked it up online and there is a private airstrip nearby. My conspiratorial mindset has me thinking it's perfect for cartels to fly in & out of to do business and the Russians like to stir up age old sentiment between the nortenos y the confederates from nearby Texas..
In other words, Trump is treating rural Americans the same way he treated the glaziers, plumbers, and other tradespeople who helped build his failed casinos and whom he failed to pay: he's stabbing them in the back. No one should be surprised.
My county is one of those orange/yellow high-transfer counties. It went for Trump over 2:1 in 2024. Convincing many of these people that Trump is using them and that voting for a Democrat, and especially a progressive, is the smart thing to do, will be an uphill climb. They are bathed in propaganda. Being an (R) is who they are, and breaking through the shell is not easy.
Trump supporters are bathed in propaganda, but they are also stupid, and no one can fix that. They're just going to have to suffer direct and dire consequences before the truth of what they've done sinks in for them. Who knows the extent of the damage that will be done by then.
I don't know that I would go so far as to say that they're all stupid. I suspect that much of the resistance to the facts has to do with self image and group identity/reinforcement. It is difficult for people to reject a deep group identity. That group helps to define and support the individual. Rejecting it is burning bridges to both their past and their future. For many, it would be like leaving their religion: They have too great of an emotional investment. That is, it's easier to create rationalizations than to face reality. Indeed, as is the case with religion, continuing belief in spite of evidence to the contrary is seen as a plus, a marker of the believer's "commitment to the cause".
I am not sure that direct suffering will fix that problem. Perhaps this is an example of Stockholm Syndrome. Perhaps the most effective way of cracking that shell is from within; that is, when someone within their social in-group says or does something that breaks the continuity of thought. That allows them to start thinking outside of the normal boundaries instead of taking the easy shortcut of just allowing the group to think for them.
Very good comments.
I live in a rural red state and many of the people who I meet are not stupid, but they do engage in group think and often get their news from FOX and associates.
Race/religion/culture (or tribe) has a lot to do with how people view politics and the world. People like to socialize with people like themselves. That is mostly what Protestant Churches in the South are. I can select a church and, depending on the denomination, it will probably be made up of people who look and act and think mostly the way I do. Some people may think differently from the group but will be reluctant to say so. The whole purpose of going to church is to socialize and fit in with the group. Otherwise, why go at all?
People love to say that people in red states vote against their self-interest as if they are stupid. But as you correctly point out, it is quite a bit more complicated. Many people see value in being in the tribe.
Very interesting makes me think. The only way out is through. Until a member of the group is willing to and able to speak truth to the group they will stay in the bubble of group think, belonging.
Some people stay in the group think bubble their entire lives.
I have been around churches and "Christians" most of my life. When people talk about their beliefs, they usually give the standard answers about Jesus and God and so forth. I often wonder if they really believe what they say and I suspect that many don't. But everyone knows the "right" answers and that is what they say if they are in a situation where they need to talk about beliefs.
The same is true of politics. Many people don't care that much about politics and keep quiet or give a standard answer. Don't know what they really believe or, indeed, if they have any political beliefs. Other than the belief that all politicians are crooks.
They also suffer from "sunk cost investment." They have invested so much in their beliefs that it is hard to go back, to admit you were wrong in the first place.
Right. I read about two surveys run in the same area. In one, they asked a bunch of Trump voters if they would change their vote if the election were run over again. Virtually none of them said they would. In the other survey, they simply asked who they would vote for if the election were to be redone. Harris was the resounding choice.
The second survey did not require the people to admit they were wrong.
I admire your willingness to look for better solutions to what seems like such an intractable problem. Engineers!
Exactly. And the more a tribe feels attacked by another tribe, the harder is for people to engage in rational free thinking and dispassionate problem solving. Which is why it seems to me that a good strategy now for democrats is to just stay silent a bit and leave things the hell alone so that everything can follow due course, just make sure you don't get blamed. Not that there are many other options, by the way.
This is exactly right, and I have no doubt psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists have plenty to study for a very long time. I also think that, as angry as we all get about how a now-insignificant portion of the country has voted and who they support, it is important for us to remember that none of it is normal. This has been a truly long con and will take a heck of a lot of work to break through. We have to be willing to keep engaging. Hopefully we can encourage change peacefully, but there is a subset of MAGA that is hell bent on hate and violence. Those are the people who are the real risk, the ones to watch. They aren’t being conned. They’ve become willing and active participants.
If they just had to learn the hard way, the poorest states wouldn't keep voting red. The media propaganda in these places is so much heavier than anything you and I have had to deal with.
Shocking news. Trump lied to his supporters and is now stabbing them in the back?
They must also be pleased to learn Trump will pocket his winnings with a $230 million check from our tax bills.
I guess we should be grateful that Trump is only asking for $230 million and not $230 billion.
Give him time.
You're right and I hope some Democratic messaging strategists are paying close attention. It engraged me that the GOP has delayed deployment of the major cuts to social safety net programs until after the 2026 election, so that point ought to be hammered home too. Along with the big 'eff you' represented by Trump callously knocking down a part of the White House and building of a ballrooom (Who the eff goes to 'balls'? Not most of us) which will be TWICE the size of the White House itself. Good god, Matilda.
Donors. That’s who. The ballroom is for Trump to hold fund raisers to line his own pockets on the backs of those wealthy enough to not notice they too are being swindled.
Goes without saying, Joan. Yep. But my further goal, other than blowing off steam (which has become necessary in these unbelievably disturbing times) was to point out where Trump&Co's focus is: they only care about themselves, just like the aristocratic class in Europe of yore. This administration wants to eliminate the American experiment in opportunity for all, and I think that should be made plain.
You’re so right about the need to blow off steam. Holding in the anger and frustration only hurts you. Venting on forums like this make us all realize we aren’t alone. America is increasingly an insular society. We can do so much from the comfort of our large single family homes we barely need to see or even know our neighbors any more. I was housebound for much of 2024 and it’s such an isolating experience.
Or in my case my small single family (retirement) home! I have to force myself to get out sometimes. I think I developed some hermit habits during covid. This helps!
Agree. 💯
I took home a bag of books for a holiday & I often wonder if anyone ever looks at them (pics), let alone read them, to catch a clue.
You mean extorted.
I stand corrected.
Throne room, not ballroom.
Yep. I'd like to see that. You must have noticed Trump's posture when sitting on a regular armchair. Distinctly like he's sitting on that 'other throne.'
I foresee MAGA cotillions and debutante balls in which well-groomed and remarkably young MAGA females are presented to the highest-value MAGA males for potential matings. The afterparties could make DC into another Cape Town or Reykjavik. Nocturnal MAGA love the nightlife.
Three lines of barf emojis.
Me, too! Terribly and terrifyingy wrong.
You think they care about the White House?
It's a symbol of our country, like the flag. As Hillary Clinton said "It's your house. And he's tearing it down."
Responses to Hillary's comment about the WH on FB have been along the lines of, "So happy you didn't get to live there, bitch!" and, "Bet you didn't complain when Obama built a basketball court!" Not kidding.
Ugh.
They'll never see those images.
A good analysis as far as it goes, but it joins the legacy media and other pundits and critics in refusing to discuss the elephant in the room--the broad and deep strain of bigotry in white America, and DJT's role in energizing it.
You overlooked a longstanding American pattern: rural and Christian nationalist Americans prizing their White identity over their economic self-interest.
Trump is far more interested in his multi-million dollar ballroom than rural America. The man with the gold toilet seats doesn't give a sh*t about the welfare of average Americans, or the American farmer. Didn't we all know this, from the start?
You are right. Donald cares about himself and what he thinks is good for himself and maybe his children. He does not care about anyone else and that includes the sycophants around him and his supporters. Everyone outside of his family is expendable when they have served their purpose.
I think that Donald is a strange case. He seems to be a person who is completely amoral and has no feeling for other people.
But as you say, this all has not been a secret. Anyone could see it if they looked.
That's why I resent the people who voted for him as much, if not more, than DJT himself. We knew DJT was/is a selfish monster with no morals, no ethics, no conscience. That's scary, for sure, but even scarier are the people who voted for him despite this. One can only assume they are just as corrupt as they are clueless.
Yeah, we had four years prior to understand this, and still they voted for him.
Once was incomprehensible, twice is beyond the pale.
Rural voters value theor bigotry over their economic well being. Those who don't move away to a city.
I just hope dems stand strong and don't bail them out
The last election saw Latino voters swing slightly to Trump in key states; enough for him to win. Among Latinos, according to Pew Research, the economy is the most important issue. I wonder if that might prove decisive in the upcoming elections in some states.
Lots of those men would also not vote for a woman for misogynistic reasons
Fully agree too. No bail out
The goals are:
Screw America.
Let putin and bibi win.
Create chaos and wars. The import taxes are screwing foreign economies and create loss of jobs and problems.
Seed discord with previous allies, style divide to reign.
Support dictators.
In between of course fill his own pockets, the ones of his family and his supportive billionaires.
And still... Not many still do not understand? Lol
The irony in all this is that Rump wants to be a strong man, yet his every action weakens his power on the world stage. World trade is rerouting to avoid the USA as much as possible and China is gaining economic strength the US gave away.
Keep it mind that one of his main goal is to get rid of the dollar as currency and replace it with untreacable crypto shit. Get rid of that fucker pdq
That just won’t work because the crypto market isn’t large enough for that to work. Being the world’s reserve currency is a very beneficial thing for a country. Of course Trump does not understand economics so he can’t understand what he is throwing away.
So sad and so true
President Trump told us what he thinks. I dont care about you, I just want your vote.
It doesn't get clearer than that!
Excellent and succinct summary of the strange world we inhabit now.
This "urban" Democrat feels for rural America because he grew up there. My home county's greatest export has been people; it reached its population peak in 1910. The only high school in the county (public or otherwise) graduates a future doctor about once every two years.
Part of the rural crisis results from policies that favor huge commodity farms. Coming from rural Iowa, Ag Secretary Tom Vilseck understood that. The current bunch? No.
"The current bunch?"
A hallmark of Donald's administration is that you have people working in and overseeing areas about which they know nothing. It is a policy of deliberate ignorance.
That is also a hallmark of many right-wing people. They often have a superficial knowledge of the problem at hand and often see violence and/or coercion as the way to deal with said problem. Right-wingers are usually not deep thinkers, and they often don't know that things change -- usually because of technology and economics. Right-wingers don't seem to know that farming today is a lot different from farming in the 1850"s.
I also grew up in rural America in the rural South, went off to college, and did not go back.
Me too. My uncle was a farmer and both my parents grew up in small towns. I worked extensively in rural areas of the Midwest during the ag crisis of the late 1980s. Mostly trying to keep banks from going under as so many farmers walked away from their way of life. It was a heartbreaking introduction to the economic realities of rural America.
Why do rural voters choose against their own self interest? There would be as many answers as there are people doing the answering. But first of all, it is a very small percentage of rural persons who are truly themselves involved in farming. Those who are working may be ancillary, but if anything, they somewhat resent the actual farmers. As farms have become gigantic, and now usually family corporate, farmers themselves are the most wealthy individuals in the area. Living and having always lived in a rural area, I am far from enamored of the typical voter. There is a strange mixture of lack of knowledge and bitter resentment paired with a superiority complex of deeming themselves infinitely better persons than urbanites. Provincialism with indefatigable hubris. Trump with his crass proud ignorance and void in sophisticated nuance is the perfect fit.
I grew up in a small rural town on a tobacco farm. You are absolutely right.
Yes, the superiority complex, nails it.
"Many clearly felt that educated urban elites don’t understand their lives and values — which is true. Most people in New York or Los Angeles don’t have a good sense of what life is like in rural America."
Very true. And the schmuck from Queens is sooo understanding of their lives and values?
I remember seeing an estimate on maybe a quarter to a third of Germans still supported the third reich at the end of World War II. Those Germans believe the propaganda machine. I think a lot of Trump supporters will continue to think the bad things happening to them is Biden’s, Obama’s, Dem,the Dems fault
because they are in the right wing media bubble which is rapidly expanding (the Ellisons). There is also the social cost. I have Trump supporting relatives and for some to suddenly disagree with friends and relatives, they would be shunned and ostracized.
If you look at the level of current support for the AfD in Germany and the FPÖ in Austria, it seems clear that to this day at least 25% of Germans still support the Third Reich. MAGA will always be with us.
They used to stay under their rocks. But since frump speaks out so do they.
Exactly. The need to belong is powerful in this species and many others.
Don't forget the culture war stuff, which plays well in the heartland. Rural Trump voters have bought into these tempest-in-a-teapot "outrages" wholeheartedly.