Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post has covered Trump for the past year.
In this very interesting article, she reports on the Trump “movement.”
She interviewed people at his rallies and here summarizes why they love him.
They want the “old America” back, the one they knew as children and young people.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It is not because the want old America back. It is because they are devastated by the assault on the middle class by th oligarchs –the cabal of corporate persons and billionaires. What they want back is a chance to put food on the table and not have to choose between rent and food security, let alone between health care and anything else. This series of charts predicts this level of hurt!
They have been robbed and beaten butTHE MAIN REASON hey will vote for this monster, is a DEVASTATING LEVEL OF IGNORANCE
This level of ignorance comes at a time when the greatest dual propaganda machines in history –television and the internet— sells lies as truth.
These people, like the animals on Orwell’s “Animal Farm” are far removed from th revolution that shaped our nation. Like the animals on that farm, the charter that they posted in the barn –like our Constitution– has been forgotten.
Like on that farm, the population is generations past the ones who fought for freedom an democracy… they don’t remember, and it is that IGNORANCE that put the pigs in the farmhouse.
It is not 1984 which is Orwell’s percent novel, but “Animal Farm”… go, get it from the library and read it. By 2084, if we are not destroyed by climate change, double-speak will be the way it is, because already Lies are the new Truth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8bihhjH3nI
Love the capital letters there: DEVASTATING LEVEL OF IGNORANCE
“Charlie Bevers, a retired social studies teacher in his 60s from Moore, Okla. who said he was increasingly frustrated that the federal government has so little respect for the Constitution.”
Mr. Bevers, there’s a difference between the federal government and the congressional Republican majority. Any social studies teacher should know that. Too bad that neither you and probably the vast majority of students in your classes will never understand it.
“‘When I grew up on Miami, it was English-speaking and now 75 percent of the households are non-English speaking,’ said Tom Morrissey, a Vietnam War veteran in his late 60s… ‘I want my home town back,’ he continued. ‘And you can call me racist or whatever.’”
I’ll call you a racist. Don’t need “whatever.”
“Steinke said the country needs a chief executive more than a ‘politician-in-chief’—someone who can cut government bloat without destroying schools, who can ease taxes without destroying schools, who can get rid of regulations without wiping them all out.”
How about a citizen who takes the time to educate him- or herself about how these things actually work and votes accordingly? Either that or time to invest in ruby slippers.
“‘He’s a regular guy,’ Stirling said. ‘He eats Wendy’s on his plane.’”
You had me at Wendy’s. Add it to the list of qualifications needed to serve as president.
Oh brother. Just reading this is enough to give me chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Greg B
Shaking my head at the retired social studies teacher. God tell me he wasn’t union !
God his poor students.
But you saved me the cut and pasted of the bigot couple. Sure glad I live in NY, Never had a problem with any store owner making me order in Spanish even when I worked in Spanish Harlem and the South Bronx . Another reason for not retiring to “Gods waiting room” apparently you have to learn Spanish to buy a loaf of bread. (easy LOL)
“‘He’s a regular guy,’ Stirling said. ‘He eats Wendy’s on his plane.’”
Gol’ dang it! I eat Wendy’s on my plane too! Doesn’t every regular guy?
That too. The piece had to be satire or was it.?
Love you all…I can sit quietly while Greg, Joel, 2old2, Joe….speak my thoughts. Thanks guys.
Just when you think it can’t get any more bizarre, any more Trumpian, we have the spectacle of Joe Piscopo stumping for the bloviator in chief. But wait, there’s more, Piscopo has been consulting with Christie about a possible run for governor!! No thank you, 8 years of Christie was enough. With apologies for being a tad off topic.
This is how I felt at the beginning of the election cycle. Trump said all the right things…until he started saying ALL the wrong things. I don’t like HRC or the Clinton Foundation. When Trump started his ranting, name calling and bullying is when I immediately stopped listening to him. I felt a calm in the Bernie Sanders movement. I felt a fairness in his speeches and philosophies. If it were a Sanders vs Trump election, I think hands down our country would wake up Wednesday morning to hope of 4 better years under Bernie Sanders. Now all we have to look forward to is either more of the same we’ve had for 8+ years or the thought of America in total disaster. It’s a sad situation.
Agreed! So depressing!
Trump’s biggest promise is to bring the jobs back. I wonder what all of those fooled people would think if they knew where most of the jobs really went.
88 percent of the lost jobs in manufacturing did not go to China, Mexico, or another 3rd world country.
The factories are still here. Those jobs were replaced with automation, robots. Only 13 percent of the jobs that were lost went to countries like China and Mexico and now even those countries are automating jobs.
“Research last year found that trade accounted for just 13 percent of America’s lost factory jobs. The vast majority of the lost jobs — 88 percent — were taken by robots and other homegrown factors that reduce factories’ need for human labor.”
http://www.mrt.com/business/technology/article/Mexico-taking-US-factory-jobs-Blame-robots-10463731.php
America has the 2nd largest manufacturing sector in the world and a couple of years ago it was #1.
Lloyd Lofthouse:
Good catch.
😎
The futurists of past predicted we would theoretically have to work less to achieve the same standard of living, which is great.
So I think today’s problems boil down to people wanting a higher standard of living, more and more, and more people on the planet.
Automation produces more wealth for no work required. The distribution of wealth is always an issue.
Throughout most of history about 5 percent of the people held more than 90 of the wealth and power and the other 95 were mostly peasants/serfs/slaves struggling to survive with an average lifespan of 35 if fortunate.
It is obvious that is the world the oligarchs want back.
Thanks Lloyd for always bringing the conversation back to reality with facts. The difference today however re your quote of 5% of oligarchs always historically having 90 – 95 % of the wealth, is that the rapid redistribution solely upward in the past 20 years of off shoring and blatant bank fraud and blatant disregard of anti trust laws, is now, for the first time in human history, far less than 1% of oligarchs own this same amount of wealth. It is no longer the upper 2% to 5%, but power and money reside squarely within the New Normal, of less than 1% of the billionaires who own the world and all of us.
In ancient societies, early man banned together for the good of the entire community, and it only began to change toward competition between them when someone devised the process of interest charges. As the agrarian society changed from socialist ownership to private ownership, greed took hold and domination of oligarchs took hold…and here we are near the end game it would seem.
The automation extends to warehousing and distribution centers for online sales.
Some abandoned factories are now eccentric condos where huge pipes and gears and such are cleaned up and become part of the “decor.”
“Incubators” for start-ups proliferate. For those who are not in orbit of Silicon Valley or MIT/Harvard, the coaching for entrepreneurs seems to resemble the TV program Shark Tank.
Some “innovation cities” hold routine convenings of venture capitalists who hope to make a financial killing.
There is not much talk about the failure rates of startups. One of the most recent incubators in our town has been organized by a mega-church.
I will forego discussion of the connection of these developments to the exaggerated attention being given to STEM and STEAM as if there is nothing else that will matter as this generation enters the labor market.
” Only 13 percent of the jobs that were lost went to countries like China and Mexico….”
And those jobs were from Trump enterprises.
It is difficult to explain the appeal of Trump. in addition to the racist appeal, he has touched upon the frustration of blue collar workers that have watched manufacturing jobs disappear. While the Democrats have embraced “free market” ideology as a solution to everything, they have stood on the sidelines and ignored many working class families. The free market is an economic belief, and it is not really a solution to anything. Just like testing does not improve learning,the free market offers no magic bullets and has caused a lot of collateral damage.
Trump’s racism has sparked a huge spurt of Latino voters. In Florida where many Puerto Rican have sought refuge from their hedge fund induced economic crisis, Latino voting is up 137% so far. Other states such as Nevada and Texas are reporting increased voting rates in Latino communities. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-latinos-idUSKBN1310YU
“While the Democrats have embraced “free market” ideology as a solution to everything…”
This isn’t true at all. The whole point of raising taxes and government spending on infrastructure to create jobs is not a free market solution to everything. Maybe you mean free trade?
I agree the Dems have been far too free market oriented for my tastes, but let’s look at the facts:
Republicans: Telling those blue collar workers that if the rich pay much lower taxes and we end NAFTA, the rich will use that money to become job creators, creating lots of high paying jobs (non-union of course, since unions are evil) just for them.
Democrats: Taxing the rich to pay for programs to spur the economy and make higher education cheaper to create more jobs.
I realize that those blue collar workers have heard empty promises before, but in fact they did better under Democrats than under Republicans. Sure they didn’t get their high-paying union jobs back, but it’s not as if the Republicans are offering that either.
All the Republicans offer is blame. And not blame because of free market ideology. Blame of the other. Blame of the minority. Because the free market ideology is exactly what the Republicans are offering themselves.
I agree the Republicans are obstructionists. Most of the clean energy and infrastructure jobs proposed by liberals have not materialized as Congress refuses to fund anything other than tax breaks for the wealthy. When blue collar workers hear Trump talk about protectionism to return jobs to America, they want to believe him. We should look at what Germany has done and the number of skilled manufacturing jobs they have managed to keep despite globalization.
Their point is somewhat understandable. One can. no longer speak without worrying which group they might give offense.
Campaigning used to be a civilized communication without the deeply personal attacks as developed over the past decades.
One was either a black or white American, not hyphenated.
Teachers used to be respected by both parents and students, not seen as an enemy.
Police officers used to be seen as friends, rather than targets.
The president used to act like one, without causing public scandals (mostly).
Rudy wrote, “Campaigning used to be a civilized communication without the deeply personal attacks as developed over the past decades.’
WRONG!
Rudy wrote, “Teachers used to be respected by both parents and students, not seen as an enemy.”
WRONG!
Rudy hasn’t read “The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession” by Dana Goldstein.
“In The Teacher Wars, a rich, lively, and unprecedented history of public school teaching, Dana Goldstein reveals that teachers have been embattled for nearly two centuries.”
https://www.amazon.com/Teacher-Wars-Americas-Embattled-Profession/dp/0345803620
Rudy wrote, “Police officers used to be seen as friends, rather than targets.”
WRONG!
Rudy wrote, “The president used to act like one, without causing public scandals (mostly).”
WRONG! Most presidents act like a president in public, except for Donald Trump, but in private they often act differently The public scandals from private actions is caused by leaks and the media?
I’m looking forward to how Rudy will reply to my comment in another obvious attempt to change the topic once again or ignore/dismiss the facts shared in this comment.
Like school reform, Trump tapped into people’s desire for fairness and equity, which seems like part of the universal human condition. Unfortunately being a champion of a level playing field does not jibe with bending the rules to win at all costs. Moreover the values of empathy and caring are at odds with the ultracompetitive values of winner’s rule and those who lose are losers.
Trump briefly tapped into one noble idea, he was just not aligned with it by his nature to know what to do with it. We need more fairness and equity in the economy, medicine, education, immigration, and social benefits. This was the message of this election.
It is more complicated than wanting the old America back. People are frustrated with both parties. Many feel like they are being ignored or cheated. Neither candidate is ideal. Trump represents anger. People are angry. So Trump represents them. It is too easy to dismiss the forces in play this election. Hillary has realistically 2-3 years to do something, then we start all this over again.
Congress won’t let her do anything. They’ve threatened to not confirm a single appointment during her term, and to investigate (or even impeach!) her the second she is elected. If Congress blocks her moves, how will it be her fault? But Congress will continue to get reelected, and Clinton will be blamed.
The good old days when the rivers caught on fire and lead gasoline was commonplace. The Ku KLux Klan ran rampant. Shall I go on?
This post shows that regardless of the background in education, career, age, and races; the emotional desperation, which is with making a living to survive as well as being frustrated and envy to immigrant store owner who does not adapt to the English culture, has driven people to be racists and fascists.
There are always two opposite forces “good and bad” to co-exit on Earth.
Many people prefer to be civilized and to work hard in order to achieve their success.
Few of people prefer to bully others and to take short-cut in order to achieve their success without a sense of humanity
There is no way to educate or to cultivate the beast to become humanitarian.
Unfortunately, greed, fame and fortune can transform educated and civilized NORMAL people to become ignorant and unethical people with a deep sense of remorse before their death.
Today, there is lack of leadership with true quality in worldwide.
Because we are in the era of the MOST ADVANCED information system, all BAD MEDIA outlets abuse their malicious writing skills to incite hatred and divisiveness, to fabricate story to distort the truth in good people, and to bury the truth in any corrupted corporate.
IMHO, all immigrants need to learn and speak a decent English so that they can appreciate freedom of expression in order to participate in all levels in election with confidence without being fear of bully like a typical politician in Donald Trump.
In short, educators will face the greatest challenge in cultivating HUMANITY and CIVILITY in all new waves of immigrants from VERY CHALLENGING MINDSET = corrupted, blind faith, fearful and violent under many years of living with terrorized policy in their original countries.
If Public Education cannot be strengthened to educate English speakers, please DO NOT welcome any immigrants who are brought up with MISTRUST of AMERICAN KINDNESS. Back2basic