16 thoughts on “What Liberals Miss About Trump Country”

  2. One of the points often made about the US is that we are essentially a classless society with respect to birthrights and bequeathed positions in society as was the case in monarchies and their courts.

    We know that is not true, of course. Old money is our royalty. New money gives a huge advantage to establish newer “royalty”. Yes, people do climb the social and economic ladders, but not as well as or as often as many other Western nations. The recent college admissions scandal points out the importance of inheritance and parentage in reaching financial and subsequently social success.

    And their is a stigma in many places about “punching above your weight class”. Or as the Ken Burns documentary on country music titled one of its episodes, “don’t get above your raisin”. And this true in both white and black communities. Not so much among first generation immigrants, however.

    The library article in the NYT pointed that out in an interesting fashion. It is almost as if the people in some rural communities would rather “not make it” on their own than “make it” with outside or government assistance. Which is fascinating given that in a modern industrial society, few people rich or poor, do without subsidies. And to put it into the rural community lens just think farm bills from Congress.

    Or Big Pharma which owes a large part of their enormous profits to taxpayer funded research. Or hedge fund managers who pay a lower tax rate than middle and upper middle income brackets. And in a supposedly progressive tax system.

    There is a lot to chew on with regards to American classes. And what constitutes the widening political divide.

    IMHO

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  3. The author proposes the political Left can exploit an existing class-based division within the Republican Party to gain adherents. I doubt it.

    The difficulty arises from the word “exploit.” To exploit someone typically means to use or deceive him in some way. But there are limits to how much people will allow themselves to be used or deceived.

    Recruitment to the political Left has always had this problem. At some point the rubes figure out they are being played, and they don’t like it.

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    1. Liberals tend to see everyone as a class based on income. But there is a difference between low income Democrats and low income Republicans.

      The low income Democrats think something has been taken from them and want government to get it back for them

      Low income Republicans want the opportunity to improve their lot and are not willing to have government steal on their behalf. For them, the ends do not justify the means.

      Liberals, being entirely obsessed with money cannot see that difference because it is based on principle and not class.

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      1. “ The low income Democrats think something has been taken from them and want government to get it back for them

        Low income Republicans want the opportunity to improve their lot and are not willing to have government steal on their behalf. For them, the ends do not justify the means.”

        Source? Or just more happy horse shit stated as fact?

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          1. My ‘observation” is trump is losing his mind and destroying what used to be the GOP with him…

            Having trouble keeping enough popcorn in the pantry.

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      2. Eh, as far as I can tell, liberals are obsessed with making sure the ruling class is reflective of the demographics of the population.

        They’re exactly as interested in helping poor people as Republicans are, which is why most people don’t bother voting.

        There hasn’t been a working class party in this country since the 70s, so working class people have either tuned out, or are voting for Republicans because they at least make appeals to the common man. They’re much better at the game than Democrats.

        It will be interesting to see if the left wing of the party can build working class solidarity again. The rich most certainly have class solidarity, as evidenced by the Ellen drama.

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        1. But the poor today life far better than the Rockefellers did a century ago.

          That is so because we let the Rockefellers live better than did their peers at that time.

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  4. It worked for Trump.

    Infrastructure? Nope

    Better, cheaper healthcare for everyone? Nope

    Wall paid for by Mexico? Nope

    Eliminate the deficit? Growing instead, hugely.

    Reduce the debt? Get serious.

    Rubes or not, about 46% or so of the electorate were “played” as you put it.

    IMHO, of course.

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    1. RE: “Rubes or not, about 46% or so of the electorate were ‘played’ as you put it.”

      You assume that other people care about the same things you do, but go ahead and tell Trump supporters they are stupid for supporting him. This problem of convincing people they don’t understand the world they see with their own eyes is exactly why the Left has a recruiting problem.

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      1. They weren’t stupid for supporting them. They were sold snake oil and got suckered. Happens to the best of us, and more often to the lesser of us.The problem is they seem to expect results that were promised that haven’t even been truly addressed. Infrastructure, health care, not one peso for the wall, but defense dollars transferred, debt and deficit, not one of those things promised have even been proposed let alone brought to fruition. Promises made promises kept….to the big corporations and the top 1%.

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      2. I never said they were stupid, just that they were “played” by Trump. Some very smart people were taken in by Madoff, too.

        Trump won with a brilliant strategy by his campaign manager and hubris by his opponent to get a razor thin margin in a few key states.

        And there were enough voters who felt, with justification, that both parties had abandoned them and Trump was the “outsider” who might turn things around. And it could happen again.

        The Democrats have passed a lot of legislation that is being stalled in the Senate so that jt appears the investigations into the regime’s misdeeds are all that is happening.

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