These voters love Trump because he listens
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Last week I drove a 20-foot box from Brooklyn to Arkansas and back. Ostensibly, the purpose was to move a couple to Fayetteville for a fee. But this was a chance to take the temperature of that strange terrain we call Middle America.
Each day, after hours of driving, I’d tuck into a bar in some town and talk to the people. They had a lot to say.
First stop: Wheeling, W. Va. At a little sports bar called T.J.’s, I met Chuck, a Vietnam-era Navy vet who is concerned about American foreign policy but generally confident in President Trump. “If you’re a Democrat, he’s the worst thing since Stalin,” he told me. “If you’re a Republican, he’s Jesus.”
On Venezuela, Chuck wanted more aggressive policies; on the Middle East, less. But when I asked him about the Democrats running for president, he struck a note I’d hear over and over: He wasn’t sure how much they cared about average Americans.
Chuck was especially dumbfounded that all the wannabes at the second debate agreed illegal immigrants should get free health care, while ignoring the plight of people born here.
My next leg took me through Ohio, Indiana and most of southern Illinois.
In Vandalia, Ill., a little town that was once the state’s capital but now doesn’t have even Uber, I called Callie’s Cab Service to take me to a sociable bar. Callie herself picked me up.
Callie used to be a Democrat but no longer votes. When I asked her if Dems had moved too far left, she said no. “Not too far left — too far gone. They don’t care about Americans.”
At a bar called The Blind Society (a hipster paradise that looks like it should be in Greenpoint), Amy, the owner, was easy to spot: She sported a fantastic bob hairdo with blond highlights and was very much the woman in charge.
Amy described herself as a liberal, but not a progressive. She’s worried about Democrats’ socialist rhetoric. And this, as far as I could tell, was the far left of Vandalia.
Both Amy and an attorney I’d met earlier, Matt, had other options: They didn’t have to live in this beat, depressed town where they grew up, but they do. They have allegiance to this naïve concept known as “home.”
Where New Yorkers see decay, they see hope. They don’t want to see their way of life vanish.
In St. Robert, Mo., I had my most extensive conversation with strong Trump supporters. Sitting at a picnic table outside my hotel, I spoke with a family from North Carolina whose son just graduated from a nearby boot camp.
They told me they like Trump because he does what he says he’ll do and is for the people.
I asked about the disdain many feel toward him. One woman said she hears a lot about norms and how presidents are supposed to act. To this she generally responds: “You told me society’s reasons, not your reasons.”
Our conversation touched on myriad topics. In general, these folks, whose son had just pledged his life to our country, were tired of hearing about how awful America is. They think it’s pretty great.
The idea of removing Confederate statues even made them angry. “That’s our history, those statues aren’t hurting anyone,” they said.
This was a friendly, down-home group; they even let me hold their baby. Meanwhile, cars and trucks were coursing through this small center of giant America, where I could sense that many others felt as they did.
More than anything, people in this flyover country — which had smacked Northeastern sensibilities in the mouth by electing Trump — want to be heard.
They are tired of the lectures, tired of hearing what’s wrong with them, their towns, their lives — their country. Trump may be a bully and a tycoon from Queens, but they believe he listens, hears and understands.
They see a man who truly cares about them, who won’t toss their lifestyle into the dustbin of history and cover it over with a green, high-tech and service economy.
Theirs is an America New Yorkers rarely see, but one that is vibrant, full of life and dignity.
They aren’t asking for much. They simply want us to listen.
David Marcus is The Federalist’s New York correspondent.
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“They told me they like Trump because he does what he says he’ll do and is for the people.
I asked about the disdain many feel toward him. One woman said she hears a lot about norms and how presidents are supposed to act. To this she generally responds: “You told me society’s reasons, not your reasons.”
Our conversation touched on myriad topics. In general, these folks, whose son had just pledged his life to our country, were tired of hearing about how awful America is. They think it’s pretty great.
The idea of removing Confederate statues even made them angry. “That’s our history, those statues aren’t hurting anyone,” they said.
This was a friendly, down-home group; they even let me hold their baby. Meanwhile, cars and trucks were coursing through this small center of giant America, where I could sense that many others felt as they did.
More than anything, people in this flyover country — which had smacked Northeastern sensibilities in the mouth by electing Trump — want to be heard.
They are tired of the lectures, tired of hearing what’s wrong with them, their towns, their lives — their country. Trump may be a bully and a tycoon from Queens, but they believe he listens, hears and understands.
They see a man who truly cares about them, who won’t toss their lifestyle into the dustbin of history and cover it over with a green, high-tech and service economy.
Theirs is an America New Yorkers rarely see, but one that is vibrant, full of life and dignity.”
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Thanks for getting rid of that offensive pic.
...President Trump in his "Salute to America" last week extolled the values of American valor and reminded us all that "for Americans, nothing is impossible." It is this sense of American pride and adoration for the land of opportunity that rallied voters across the nation in 2016 to defend the ideas of individual liberty and national sovereignty that make our country great.
Nowhere was this more true than in America's heartland, where generations of Americans have served in the military with pride and succeeded at the highest levels in the nation they love, for the people they love.
However, if you've paid attention to the policy proposals from leading candidates vying to take on President Trump in 2020, you wouldn't get the sense that this Middle America demographic is one they're chasing. In fact, you'd probably think each one is consciously choosing to abandon the ideas that motivated voters from Mississippi to the Midwest, and to instead focus on winning the race to the left in order to capture the soul of the new Democratic Party... https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/opinion/campaign/452058-democrats-are-too-far-left-to-win-middle-america%3famp
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.dailycaller.com/2019/05/22/journalist-discovers-america-loves-trump “Imagine our surprise to discover the unbelievable truth. Not only were there really thousands of people at the rally, but the overwhelming majority of those in attendance actually love the current U.S. president!” https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/trump-nation/#/?_k=3jcta7 Trump Nation
They’re not clichés. Who are Donald Trump’s supporters? The USA TODAY NETWORK interviewed voters in every state to find out.
These voters love Trump because he listens
He may very well listen, to the wrong people methinks.
He listens to we the people. He cares about working and middle class America and works for our improvement just like Reagan did. He rejected the establishment of both parties.
The owner of this group and the seeder decided to censor a comment that was neither off topic or disallowed by the rules of this forum.
The comment disagreed with the conclusion of the seeded article, but of course disagreement is allowed. The comment expressed a legitimate point of view that is held by millions of Americans, and in fact to one degree or another by a majority of Americans. Nor does the comment, which contained an expletive, violate the coc. Expletives used judiciously are allowed. I think two words was sufficiently judicious.
We need to stop the censorship binge here.
John, we strongly like President Trump and have every intent to vote to re elect him to four more years. We have our reasons as seen in this seed and links and other seeds by myself and others here as to why we do do and the political, economic, judicial, security points that support our decision. And yes some of it is cultural as well as we working and middle class people felt abandoned by the establishment of both parties. And yes there is a large minority of folks like us in outlying exurb to rural areas of your states too who like him and reject what the core urban areas in our states promote. So, instead of trying to flip us the bird in the form of a cap, why not actually sit down and listen to our concerns and why we who did so voted for Trump and what it might take for your party to do in its platform, take on issues, and Presidential nominee to persuade us otherwise in 2020?
Trump listens to the American people and he keeps his promises. That’s why we in the heartland like him as strongly as we do.