The Associated Press had a story recently that claimed that the vote in rural parts of the Midwest that “historically” swung blue shifted red for Donald Trump because Democrats have allegedly moved too far to the “left” for many rural voters. Tom Bakk, a former Democrat turned “independent,” said “We’ve got to see if we can get the Democratic Party to moderate and accept the fact that rural Minnesota is not getting more conservative. It’s that you guys are leaving them behind.” The AP reported that despite losing Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Trump won 14 more counties in those states than in 2016--albeit in counties with low populations, which Joe Biden was able to overcome with gains in urban and suburban areas.
But the truth is that there is a serious disconnect in this country if people think that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s progressive ideas--which are more idealistic aspirations than a “socialist” threat to the “system”--are more out of line than that of QAnon fanatic Marjorie Taylor Greene, a newly elected representative from Georgia. Greene has warned of an “Islamic invasion” of the government, accused liberal philanthropist George Soros of “collaborating” with the Nazis even though he was only 15 when WWII ended, and wants to help Trump on his “secret mission” to battle the alleged child sex trafficking ring run by “deep-state” satanists, pedophiles and cannibals. Is that crazy enough for you? Rural voters were actually so enamored with that kind of insanity to believe she was more “suitable” than the Republican incumbent? A photo of her on the Southern Poverty Law Center website shows her standing next to a black female supporter wearing a "FUND THE WALL" T-shirt, which suggests that some voters don't really care so long as their own personal prejudices are "satisfied."
It seems that rural folks (which includes small towns) have been most fascinated by Trump sharing their conspiracy theories about urban areas and political “elites” getting all the attention and the ignoring of their own particular wants and desires. They think that just because Trump made campaign stops in small towns in rural areas that nobody heard of outside the counties they reside in that he actually “works” for them. He actually just works on their self-obsessed prejudices against the “others”; if you ask them what exactly Trump has done for them, as John Klepper has done in his exploration of Trumpworld, it has nothing to do what he has done for them personally in a substantive manner, but what they believe he has done to harm the people who are the subject of their own various outlandish conspiracies and demonizing. It shouldn’t be surprising that most of these people have lived their entire lives without even having associated with an “other” on any level save what they see on television screens, especially on Fox News.
Those who are “warning” Democrats about not further “alienating” rural Americans should actually be asking themselves just to what extent do Democrats have to “compromise” their ideals to satisfy those voters whose own prejudices and bigotries have been emboldened by Trump? This fraud that Democrats have strayed too far to the “left” is just another conspiracy theory. The Clinton administration was infamous for its going along with the right-wing agenda of the Republican-controlled Congress, and real progressives only saw disappointment with the Obama administration. The Trump administration agenda was so far to the right, so demonizing and dehumanizing, so corrupt, immoral and unethical, that almost every comment coming from the left of it seemed “radical” to those who found Trump’s gutter-level rhetoric appealing--to 74 million in this past election.
Where Trump has taken the country should not be treated as a “dire warning” for Democrats, but for the country as a whole. Trump’s behaving like a Third World dictator contesting the election should be a dire warning to people that “leaders” like Trump are a danger to the very principles that this country was founded on. If rural America cannot understand this, and choose to actively support the corruption of this country’s principles as embodied by Trump, and allow their own prejudices and hatreds be their “guide,” then that is the true danger the country faces. No one should be expected to compromise their belief in something better to satisfy self-serving bigots.
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