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Taking it back from Trump

By Richard O’Brien

There are a lot of ideas bouncing around about how Donald Trump won the election. Many centre on the somewhat patronising theory that anxious blue-collar voters supported Trump because they feel disenfranchised by the system and want change. To be sure there are many blue collar voters who are rightly anxious. Many of them want meaningful change. Some of them supported Trump.

Most, according to exit polls, did not, with 52% of voters earning less than $50,000 voting for Clinton. Trump’s support came predominantly from higher income earners, in particular conservative ones. Among voters who identified as white evangelical/born-again Christians 81% voted for Trump, compared to 16% for Clinton. Among all other voters 59% supported Clinton while 35% supported Trump.

Exit poll data is unreliable but it suggests that rather than Trump supporters being have-nots who want to change the system, it is socially conservative haves who are fearful of what they see as a left-wing elitist agenda. They are opposed to marriage equality, racial equality, gender equality and anything that appears to address income inequality. Their political influence has grown, yet their numbers have not.

On the current count Donald Trump has 60,265,858 electoral votes. That’s nearly 600,000 less than Hillary Clinton, but it’s also about 700,000 less that Mitt Romney lost with in 2012, and a bit over 200,000 more than John McCain got back in 2008. Support for the Republicans hasn’t increased one bit, it’s gone backward under Trump. He won because not enough people turned up to vote against him.

In Australia, where our governing conservative Coalition has its own share of brutal fanatics, we have seen the rise of the so called patriots groups and the inevitable return of the ever opportunistic Pauline Hanson. With just 4% of the vote, Hanson’s One Nation holds four Senate seats and a desperate government by the short and curlies. She and the other three horse arses of the apocalypse will only be further emboldened by the election of Trump, as will other zealots.

So where do we go from here?

There are a lot of people saying we need to listen to, and understand, the people who are voting for these politicians. That’s easy. You can hear their opinions on talkback radio, read them in the comments on Andrew Bolt’s blog or listen to them coming from the mouths of the candidates themselves. They are messages of racism, misogyny, hatred, division and blame.

If you want to know the thoughts of the ‘common folk’ who support Trump or One Nation, they are probably best summed up in the words of Melbourne Anglican Archdeacon Bradley Billings:

“The social elites cohere around some non-negotiable positions on various social and public policy matters that have taken root and become entrenched in social and political discourse across the Western world. Those who question them, or who even raise doubts about them, are immediately shouted down as racists, bigots, sexists, misogynists, Islamophobes, and homophobes, and silenced by a variety of means”.

So listen to them all you like but they won’t listen to you. They rally against a language they term “political correctness”, and we try to accommodate them. In the meantime they have rewritten the language to fit their agendas. Asylum seekers are illegals, tax cuts are called tax relief, social security has become welfare dependency and people who make use of that social security system (as 70% of Australian households do from time to time) are called bludgers.

Against this backdrop wage growth has frozen while profits have grown exponentially. Climate change denial has prevailed against overwhelming evidence. Corporations have become the largest beneficiaries of government spending.

They have succeeded in this because we have allowed them. They are united, we are not. Trump and Hanson gained power by exploiting decades of social neglect, growing income inequality and the erosion of democracy. Those things occurred because progressives spent too much time arguing with their opponents and each other about what they believed in, and nowhere near enough time fighting to achieve it.

They despise our values, and for all our good intentions, we despise there’s. As far as they are concerned, they are at war with values such as feminism, racial equality, gay rights, environmentalism, workers’ rights, tolerance, secularism, economic fairness, multiculturalism and anything else that challenges their view of the world.

I embrace those values and I don’t care if people think they’re being shouted down by me doing so any more. An equitable, humane, and secular society, where education, the eradication of poverty, and people’s health and happiness are a priority, and where discrimination against race, gender and sexuality is not tolerated, is the society we should have, and it’s should no longer be up for discussion. We need to reverse inequality and rebuild our democratic institutions now.

That won’t get rid of the Trumps and Hansons. Narcissistic bullies like them will always be around. We shouldn’t be building a better society to win over their supporters, we won’t. We should be doing it because it’s a good thing to do.

There is more wealth, knowledge and access to information in the world today than at any other time, yet we live in an era of perpetual austerity measures, lower wages, growing poverty, inequality and marginalisation. If we want a better society then that, we need to fight for it with the same resolve, self-belief, and determination to win as our opponents, and we need to do it together.

What am I doing about it?

Well I’m running for the senate as part a bet with One Nation Senator Brian Burston, hoping to get enough votes so that he has to wear a loincloth. It’s a stunt sure, but one I hope will get me enough exposure to talk to a broader audience. If people are interested they might listen to some other things I have to say, it can’t be any crazier than what One Nation are doing.

If enough of us believe in a better future and are prepared to fight for it together as best we can, then others will join in. We don’t need to reach out to our opponents, or try to cleverly convince people, we just need to show them it can be done.

This article was originally published on I’ll say this …

 

25 comments

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  1. Steve Laing

    You’ve got my vote!

  2. michael lacey

    46% of Americans did not vote maybe lack of choice helped ! The choice was between a corrupt Queen and a fascist!

  3. Keitha Granville

    the problem with the USA election is that voting is not compulsory so the result is more easily affected by any particular group – in this case I agree that the wealthy conservative had a much more powerful influence than the rust belt battlers as we have been told. They will gain nothing froma Trump Amercia, he will look after his own end of the town. They don’t pay tax now, as he doesn’t, and they don’t want to – he will make sure of that.
    Those at the bottom of the pile who believed him will gradually realise they have been dudded.

  4. totaram

    Not enough people turned up to vote against Trump because Hillary didn’t enthuse them to. Have you thought about why? Because, they all, including Trump believe in neo-liberal trickle-down economics. In that case, is there a difference? Why bother? For some Trump promised a difference (whatever it was, hard to tell, but he tried to be different), so they went for him. The future will tell what Trump really means to do. Good luck to all!

    As for you, what do you stand for? Yes, yes, your values and good intentions. They mean nothing if you are still fixated on “budget repair”. It’s like someone who has the best intentions but still believes the earth is flat.

  5. Annie B

    Great article here … tku Richard O’Brien.

    Figures are not final yet, but it is appearing that the voter turn-out was the lowest ( so far ) for the past 20 years of U.S. elections. … Both candidates also managed to garner for themselves, the lowest % of popularity in U.S. election history. ( I stand to be corrected on that ).

    Which is not at all surprising. ….

    When faced with a dilemma ( which these two candidates represented ) … and the fact that voting is not mandatory in the U.S., many most likely looked out the window and said – ” hell – it’s raining, I ain’t goin’ out in that” … . It IS that simple, considering so many there are politicially illiterate. … Why bother. ??

    The only time they ( the people ) will remotely approach some sane consensus in who they choose to run the country ( under the very watchful eyes of various agencies ) … is if they make voting compulsory. Of course, many would shriek about that – ” it is undemocratic ” … but considering democracy made its exit there, some many years back, I doubt that complaints could hold water. … However, while they hold on to their outdated and outmoded constitution and how they acknowledge and interpret its meanings – this will not happen.

    That country has to learn a few lessons – – and learn it they will, given time. !!

  6. cornlegend

    Washington, D.C. – Billionaire globalist financier George Soros’ MoveOn.org has been revealed to be a driving force behind the organizing of nationwide protests against the election of Donald Trump — exposing the protests to largely be an organized, top-down operation — and not an organic movement of concerned Americans taking to the streets as reported by the mainstream media.

    Anti-Trump protestors in Austin today are not as organic as they seem. Here are the busses they came in. #fakeprotests #trump2016 #austin pic.twitter.com/VxhP7t6OUI

    — erictucker (@erictucker) November 10, 2016

    With evidence mounting, the question must be asked; is George Soros working through his front organizations to foment an American revolution?

    @BeshoyBadie @desjax @erictucker Pretty evident that the signs were printed by Soros and Creamer groups. IIRC Soros linked w/ MB & Huma pic.twitter.com/KgXvIQr2b8

    — MEGATRON (@MEGATRON_1488) November 10, 2016

    “This is a disaster. We fought our hearts out to avert this reality. But now it’s here,” MoveOn.org staff wrote to members on Wednesday. “The new president-elect and many of his most prominent supporters have targeted, demeaned, and threatened millions of us—and millions of our friends, family, and loved ones. Both chambers of Congress remain in Republican hands. We are entering an era of profound and unprecedented challenge, a time of danger for our communities and our country. In this moment, we have to take care of ourselves, our families, and our friends—especially those of us who are on the front lines facing hate, including Latinos, women, immigrants, refugees, Black people, Muslims, LGBT Americans, and so many others. And we need to make it clear that we will continue to stand together.”
    Perhaps the most absurd part of the protests is that President-elect Trump hasn’t made a single policy decision yet — and, in fact, the entire section of his website regarding banning Muslims was scrubbed shortly after his election. This denotes that anything said during the campaign was most likely simple election campaign rhetoric and subsequent framing of said rhetoric by the opposition.

    The left wing organization is one of a number of progressive organizations affiliated with Soros’ Open Society Foundation. Soros-affiliated organizations across the world are deeply connected to various color revolutions, the Arab Spring, and a number of other political uprisings across the globe.

    http://thefreethoughtproject.com/soros-trump-protests-revolution/#eFxZJRKuvbCirobR.99

  7. Jexpat

    There’s a term for what writers like Mr. O’Brein are attempting here: it’s called “sophistry.”

    Whatever the fvck cornpone is talking about, I don’t know, but it’s obvious that he doesn’t know anything about Americans -or what’s going on in much of America.

    Blaming George Soros? LOL.

    Please.

  8. cornlegend

    Jetpak, I realise you have trouble with comprehension and I take that into consideration , along with your love of conspiracy but FFS, even you could read the info, surely?

  9. John Brame

    Thanks Richard, you have my vote.

  10. jimhaz

    @ Jexpat

    [There’s a term for what writers like Mr. O’Brein are attempting here: it’s called “sophistry”.]

    I do not understand at all why you would refer to this article as sophistry.

  11. Nato

    Bahahaha

    “As far as they are concerned, they are at war with values such as feminism, racial equality, gay rights, environmentalism, workers’ rights, tolerance, secularism, economic fairness, multiculturalism and anything else that challenges their view of the world.

    I embrace those values and I don’t care if people think they’re being shouted down by me doing so any more. An equitable, humane, and secular society, where education, the eradication of poverty, and people’s health and happiness are a priority, and where discrimination against race, gender and sexuality is not tolerated, is the society we should have, and it’s should no longer be up for discussion.”

    “There are a lot of ideas bouncing around about how Donald Trump won the election.” and the one shared by all those Trump/Hanson voters is that, by holding to this philosophy, the first paragraph shows people such as the author do not represent them and the second that such individuals cannot be trusted with power.

    Please do it. You can obviously unite the divided left and appeal to the centrists and with such amazing communication skills those rightards will think “Wow! I really am a sexist, racist, homophobic, Gaia raping, elitist, bigoted, fundamentalist, elitist racist. Thanks for purifying me of my sins, Richard!”

  12. Jexpat

    jimhaz:

    This bit for example: “Most, according to exit polls, did not, with 52% of voters earning less than $50,000 voting for Clinton. Trump’s support came predominantly from higher income earners, in particular conservative ones. Among voters who identified as white evangelical/born-again Christians 81% voted for Trump, compared to 16% for Clinton. Among all other voters 59% supported Clinton while 35% supported Trump.”

    This is nearly meaningless- it’s making an assertion based on (several) overall aggregates nationwide, and as opposed to a more accurate and giher resolution look at the dispositive voters (who turned the election) in key electoral states. There’s little doubt among anlysists where the election was lost to Clinton- and who didn’t.

    Trump carried white working class men AND women who voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012 in these critical districts, and the appeals to them (repeated in rallies and campaign ads over and over) were based on the loss of jobs and financial distress (realised and potential) among these groups (who also have been shown to have experienced RISING mortality rates over the past decade+

    This underscores one of the fundamental mistakes that lost Clinton the election (and also cost Democrats big on downballot races). Identity politics plus attacks on Trump (dominating the coverage every day) along with McCarthyite rhetoric directed at times against those admired by members of the progressive base is (and always was) insufficient to win a majority of state electoral votes.

    Particularly when its up against class politics and dissatisfaction with the neoliberal economic status quo.

    Memo to the Labor party: embrace neoliberalism and ignore class politics at your peril.

  13. Jexpat

    Former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich sets it out:

    “A respected Democratic political insider recently told me most people were largely content with the status quo. “The economy is in good shape,” he said. “Most Americans are better off than they’ve been in years.”

    Wrong. Recent economic indicators may be up, but those indicators don’t reflect the insecurity most Americans continue to feel, nor the seeming arbitrariness and unfairness they experience.

    Nor do the major indicators show the linkages many Americans see between wealth and power, stagnant or declining real wages, soaring CEO pay, and the undermining of democracy by big money.

    Median family income is lower now than it was 16 years ago, adjusted for inflation. Workers without college degrees – the old working class – have fallen furthest.

    Most economic gains, meanwhile, have gone to top. These gains have translated into political power to elicit bank bailouts, corporate subsidies, special tax loopholes, favorable trade deals and increasing market power without interference by anti-monopoly enforcement – all of which have further reduced wages and pulled up profits.”

    More here: http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/robert-reich-why-we-need-new-democratic-party-0

  14. guest

    Richard O’Brien,

    first of all, “there’s” = theirs

    You have been accused of “sophistry’. That is, fallacious argument. Which is a joke, when your argument is based on facts which are very interesting and irrefutable. It would be interesting to see how Jexpat frames his/her argument.

    Much discussion about the Trump success has centred around the disaffected poor in the Rust Belt. Governments have been blamed for their neglect. Some have blamed globalisation. Now you are saying Trump was supported by well to do “white evangelical/born again conservatives”, from the Heartland, from the Bible Belt and beyond..

    This makes sense, for the well-to-do have gained from the globalisation of trade and manufacturing at the expense of the local workers and are reluctant to give away any equality to gays, ethnics/immigrants, climate scientists, Chinese, marriage equality, gender equality…

    I am reminded of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel “The Great Gatsby”, in which the rich but crooked Gatsby wants to win back Daisy Buchanan from her husband Tom who in turn has a mistress Myrtle Wilson, wife of a garage-man who lives among the ash heaps, leftovers of industrial activity.

    Towards the end of the novel the narrator says: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…”

    I have become disillusioned with Christianity and some Christians, especially the ones like the Coalition of the Willing who smashed up Iraq and so much of the Middle East. Recently I have seen films about the Spanish invasions of the Americas, the use of slavery, the burning of Joan of Arc, the bombing of SE Asia, the demonisation of refugees…

    It is all about the money and the protection of vested interests at the expense of the poor…the fact that 1% of the population owns the same wealth as 50% of the world…and the rich get rich richer and the poor get poorer…and the tycoons are cooking the planet.

    The Trump “success” is an aberration. We shall see what we shall see.

  15. Athena

    Jexpat is correct. Joseph Stiglitz presents numerous facts and figures in his book “The Price of Inequality” and he has several presentations on You Tube on the same topic. He shows that the working class in the US are no better, and even worse off than they were 2 decades ago. Quoting those exit polls as fact is drawing a long bow. Less than 25,000 people were surveyed. That’s hardly a representative sample of the voters and no logical conclusion can be drawn from it.

    The use of food stamps is at record levels. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-03/food-stamps-still-feed-one-in-seven-americans-despite-recovery

    There have been numerous stories written of people in the US working two jobs or even three, and still not earning a living wage. There should be no such phenomenon as the “working poor” in a first world nation.
    http://poverty.ucdavis.edu/faq/who-are-working-poor-america
    https://www.rt.com/usa/241289-us-minorities-working-poor/

    From the second link you can see that the largest group of working poor are white people, even though a smaller percentage of white people are working poor compared to coloureds or Hispanics.

    I recently discovered a 4th cousin in the USA, who voted for Trump. She is half Mexican. When asked whether or not she was concerned about the racism being expressed by Trump supporters she said “That’s nothing compared to what my grandfather endured 80 years ago and what my family have been enduring for decades.”

    Let the left dismiss all Trump voters as racists at their own peril. Someone from Michigan recently stated that people in her area, who lost their jobs 8 years ago when the automotive industry went downhill, are still out of work. Trump represents change to these people. Perhaps for some of them it is potential change. They’re desperate and they have nothing to lose.

  16. jimhaz

    A Athena

    [Jexpat is correct]

    Nope – what he says was included in the article in ultra brief form, thats all, it is not sophistry.
    But lets not harp too much on about individual word choices – not relevant.

    There would be many reasons for groups voting for Trump. Income levels are one of the biggest factors, but for many of the white evangelicals (depending on location) there is a lot of inherent resistance to anything progressive. These people do not look outside the square or their square and are easily lead by deceivers.

  17. guest

    Jexpat and Athena,

    both of you discuss the misery of the poor. Your discussion in no way disproves the claims of Richard O’Brien that the male Christian right played a big part in Trump’s success.

    It is too easy to blame Obama, Clinton or any one government for the suppression of the poor and disaffected. The real source of damage is globalisation, which is claimed to have lifted millions out of poverty around the world, but has been absolved of causing poverty in the countries which have lost manufacturing ability, such as the USA – and Oz, of course.

    So who are the beneficiaries of globalisation in the US and Oz? Why, those with vested interests, such as the well-to-do. So, vested interests plus worker unrest led to the Trump success. Yet many Republicans rejected him.

    But Clinton won the popular vote, Bernie Sanders aroused huge interest in a more Leftish approach (as did Probyn in the UK and Shorten here in Oz). Awareness of the poverty gap is playing a big part – and there are those who are playing the race card in order to spin the reasons for it (lack of jobs, welfare, terrorism, overwhelming numbers, etc).

    Globalisation plays a huge part because that is where the profits lie. Paying the workers at home decreases the profits. It is the well-to-do who are the robber barons.

    If you are not sure about that, look at the billionaire business man Trump: ruthless with his workers, wheeler dealer, multiple bankruptcies, tax-avoider, importer of foreign goods, isolationist, racist, misogynist, climate change denier…

    By their deeds ye shall know them.

  18. king1394

    Before the US election there seemed to be a lot of ‘liberals’ insisting that it would be best to vote for Jill Stein. What happened with that portion of the vote? Would it have made a difference?

  19. Jexpat

    jimhaz:

    Sophistry

    1. a subtle, tricky, superficially plausible, but generally fallacious method of reasoning.

    2. a false argument;

    The author engaged in precisely that in the passage quoted. My apologies for the typos in the above response- got caught up in something and couldn’t edit before the time expired.

    If you’d like a further discussion on point, with more accurate and higher resolution qualtitaive analyses and demographic breakdowns, we can do that.

    As to “guest” he’s likewise full of it when he says: “It is too easy to blame Obama, Clinton….”

    Both Obama and the Clintons (and the circle of sycophants reinforcing one another) actively pursued policies -and affiliations that degraded and impoverished mainstreet while sucking up to Wall Street.

    The mere fact that only one (aside from a couple of blatant ponzi schemers) of the tens of thousands of banksters and fraudsters whose demonstrable criminal behaviour contributed to the Global Financial Crisis and stole people’s homes, retirements, financial security- along with kids’ futures -was ever prosecuted sums it up.

    No need for further examination- though if anyone wants to go there, we could write pages upon pages about their deliberate failures.

    I’m up for it in political and policy detail, on any point. Just say the word.

  20. guest

    Thank you, Jexpat. You have blamed governments such as the Clinton and Obama. But you also mention Wall Street. And we can also mention well-to-do white born-again evangelical Christian males who are heavily involved in globalisation, which has robbed US workers of their jobs and caused their pain.And you have mentioned “economic gains which have translated into political power” – that is exactly what Richard O’Brien has mentioned, but you accuse him of sophistry.

    Sophistry is a word which is a two edged sword. So if you look around you will see various explanations about why Trump won, and we will not agree with all of them. So fire away – but you will not always meet agreement.

    We can see the same kinds of problems here in Oz. Just listen toTurnbull and what he believes are solutions to unemployment in Oz. Feed the rich and see the gains trickle down. Reaganomics. Sophistry.

  21. Athena

    “Jexpat and Athena,

    both of you discuss the misery of the poor. Your discussion in no way disproves the claims of Richard O’Brien that the male Christian right played a big part in Trump’s success.”

    @ guest

    I wasn’t aware that I was trying to disprove the claims of Richard O’Brien. I don’t recall that I even mentioned him. As for agreement. I’ve asked people why they voted for Trump and I’ve never known them to be racist or bigoted in the many years I’ve known them. They’ve told me their reasons. I’m assuming they know their own reasons better than you do. I’ve seen other people on social media who explain their reasons for supporting Trump. The reasons stated have everything to do with the working poor and nothing to do with racism and bigotry. There is good data available to support their reasons. Even Elizabeth Warren has stated this is a major reason why the Democrats lost the election.

    Yes, the wealthy elites vote Republican because it is in their best interests. They have the politicians right where they want them. You make it sound like only business people are responsible for globalisation, but they wouldn’t have such vast power if corrupt politicians didn’t allow themselves to be bought. I’m sure there are racists and bigots who voted for Trump too. That really isn’t the point here. The point I’m making is that for the working poor Hillary represented another 4 years of same ole, same ole. They’ve had 8 years of Democrats not listening to their problems. The government bailed out the banks during the GFC and left home owners to go bankrupt. There was no penalty for the high risk lending of the banks and they’re well on their way to another GFC. They’ve learned nothing. Some CEOs even got rewarded for losing a fortune, according to Stiglitz. Many Americans are also sick of war. The USA has been at war for most of its existence and Hillary is a known war mongerer. Yes, the seeds were sowed long before Obama was elected, but the MSM and the conservatives are really very clever at making it look like only the Democrats were responsible. And they can do that because the major party on the left in the USA, like the major party on the left in Australia, has been drinking the neo-liberal kool aid and is now pseudo left. They’re giving left a bad name and they’re still not listening to the Trump voters. I used to think how much worse can the situation get before conservative voters wake up and stop voting conservative? Now I’m beginning to wonder how much worse can the situation get before the Democrats and the ALP wake up and get back to their roots?

  22. Athena

    I’ll also add, only approx one quarter of Americans voted for Hillary. How many of them did so because they cannot afford to live without Obamacare? I saw many people on social media who intended to vote for her for that very reason. I’ve seen many since the election express their fear because they cannot afford their very expensive medical care. If I was on a low income and faced with spending $1,000 per month for medication, and that was a figure I saw quoted from one person, I’d vote for her too, regardless of the rest of her policies.

  23. randalstella

    Yet another asinine comment: Americans are sick of war – and so they elect Trump(?). Is there no basic principle of logic or plausibility that will not be ditched just to have a go at Clinton?
    No, she is not perfect, perhaps far from it. But she argues her case far better than the sledgers against her.
    As it turns out some of them here are Putin lovers, as if mass murder is the ultimate weapon of liberation. Maybe some of the theorists around here would like to meet the families of the bombed aid convoy drivers murdered on Putin’s orders in Syria. Try your theory in the real world.

    Hillary Clinton is projected to gain 1.8 million more votes than the fascist comb-over.
    She will have gained more votes as a Presidential candidate than anyone in history, except Obama.
    How long is this Trumpite, Assange-ista shit to go on about her being ‘the most unpopular candidate in US history’?
    It is counterfactual crap. It is the putrid propaganda of extreme reactionary bullshit artists.

    I’d tell you what I really think but I know that you are such sensitive souls.

  24. Athena

    “If you are not sure about that, look at the billionaire business man Trump: ruthless with his workers, wheeler dealer, multiple bankruptcies, tax-avoider, importer of foreign goods, isolationist, racist, misogynist, climate change denier…”

    @ guest

    I’m aware that Trump is a bad choice. I don’t believe for one moment that he intends to honour his promises. But I’ve also never been in the position of the working poor with no end in sight. I accept that their views and experiences are far different from mine.

    “By their deeds ye shall know them.”

    That is so true, and it applies equally to both sides of politics.

  25. Annie B

    Athena …

    it is true – Americans pay an exhorbitant amount of money at a pharmacy, for prescription medications. They have nothing like NHS. Nothing. I have seen the figures – even searched some comparitive prices to make sure that what was being said was fact. It is.

    …………….

    As for the Bible Belt – voting for Trump ? I know many Americans – friends of mine, a nano-miniscule number compared to the population. Barely grains of sand on a beach, BUT …. .

    Without fail – every one of them ( all religious in varying degrees ) … voted for Trump, and were super proud to announce that they did so. My email inbox ran hotter than hot – ( I had brought up the subject initially – silly me ).

    One friend said she knew someone, who was the sister of a friend, who’s son had worked for Trump and found him kindly and fair, voted for him because of their say-so, adding – ” I only go by what I know” — well she didn’t know Trump personally, but I refrained from pointing that out . … On the other hand that same person, religious to only a degree, hates Jews, blacks, and “grubby Latinos” while adoring the military, the flag and ( apparently ) all Constitutional rights. I listened (read), but avoided confrontation over the issues.

    Trump appealed to them, I believe, because they see themselves as white superior over everyone else, including other whites who happen to be members of different churches. … But that’s another subject for another time. He appealed to them also, because they are afraid – mortally fearful of being caste lower than their current place. AND he appealed because they have been listening to promises from the pulpit for decades … along the same lines “He ( Jesus ) will save you” … “I ( Trump ) will save you”. It was inevitable.

    Trump listed ‘sins’ … ( through misogyny, racism, bigotry, hatred ) … and they fell into line – as they always do in church, and in their scrunch-minded communities. … and so it became like a virus – spreading rapidly.

    Would love to know the exact breakdown of that particular part of the population, being responsible for Trump ‘getting in’. The evangelical white superiors, love globalisation as it gives them a chance to advance their own theories on ‘who has the Truth’ … a subject they endlessly debate, argue and nit-pick about, with others of their ilk.

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