
Millions of ordinary Americans support Donald Trump. Here's why - projektfu
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/07/donald-trump-why-americans-support
======
api
I've been hammering on this issue for a while.

While I can't stand Trump personally and many of the things he stands for, the
fact is that the American left has enclosed itself in a small number of alpha
cities (look at the county election map) and effectively written off the rest
of the country.

The objective fact is that it is _impossible_ for American industry to the
American worker to compete with industry in countries with no EPA, no OSHA, no
workers comp, no unions, an artificially low currency, and artificially
depressed wages. This isn't about being globally "competitive." It's just not
a fair fight. If this is the reality of globalization then it means the
working class in developed nations is permanently relegated to poverty and
dependence. The latter goes radically against these peoples' values. They
don't want welfare. They want jobs.

Both liberals and old-guard conservatives have completely ignored this issue.
Too many people are getting rich off labor arbitrage for one, but the more
immediate reason is that it doesn't affect them very much. They tend to be
urban, wealthy, and disconnected from the places and the people this issue
does affect. Case in point: Orange County California (where I am sitting) is
historically a Republican enclave but this year it went for Hillary. It's also
very wealthy, educated, and fairly urban (and becoming more so). Meanwhile
historically Democratic rural areas went Trump. You do the math.

You can't write off your entire working class and rural population in a
democracy. This is the result.

~~~
waterphone
The urban bubble is definitely a problem. There are so many people who simply
do not understand life outside of that bubble and who dismiss anyone not part
of it. Their solution for most problems rural people have is "move to a city",
which rural people who enjoy their way of life but may still suffer from some
challenges understandably find offensive and dismissive. I say this as a
somewhat left-leaning person who lives in an extremely rural area, in my own
little bubble of mostly liberal people.

The thing is, however, that there _are_ a lot of ignorant, racist and proud
people in rural areas. Some of them are people I know. It can be
overwhelmingly offensive being around them in groups as they reveal just how
racist they actually are, with a smile and a laugh, either not caring how
others might think about them or not realizing why what they just said is
offensive. Go to a gas station or small store or mechanic around where I live
and you'll encounter people standing around and talking about how Trump's
going to round up all the Mexicans and Muslims and kick them out finally, or
celebrating the fact that "Trump's going to finally lock up Hillary". So, I'm
torn. It's a stereotype of rural life that people are ignorant and racist, but
it does in fact describe a lot of people. And post-Trump, they've been
emboldened to speak their mind more openly.

~~~
lightbyte
>Their solution for most problems rural people have is "move to a city", which
rural people who enjoy their way of life but may still suffer from some
challenges understandably find offensive and dismissive.

At some point you need to accept reality and move on

~~~
waterphone
And that's the attitude many rural voters are revolting against, right there.
Tired of being told how to live their lives by arrogant city dwellers who
don't understand or have any experience with rural life at all, yet see
themselves as smarter and better and qualified to tell rural people what to do
and assuming _their_ way of life is suitable for everyone.

------
mdaniel
Haven't we had enough of this topic, _especially_ here?

~~~
toomuchtodo
I still see people blaming Trump voters instead of the Democrats, so no?

