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Thread: Expeditions to Trump Country

  1. #1
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    Expeditions to Trump Country

    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...merica/543288/

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...lt-white-house

    https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...LWN/story.html

    https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...-trump-country

    http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/califo...172928346.html

    Since the time of the election, there seems to be a new genre of political journalism built around people leaving the civilized coasts to explore Trumpland, making contact with the various tribes of the interior "to understand". Bold explorers attempt communicating with the natives of that rusty, dusty land to learn the nature of the dark spell that swept through the heart of darkness. Most leave with biases confirmed, but also a trove of stories to tell of fear, misfortune and ignorance.

    As I read some of these, I can't help but think they tell us more about the explorer than the explored.

  2. #2
    Yppej
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    I'm on the coast but I don't have to go far as my neighbor has a Trump bumper sticker on his truck. He is a very decent man, though I sense from occasional comments at political odds with his environmentalist wife, also very nice.

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    Quote Originally Posted by LDAHL View Post
    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...merica/543288/

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...lt-white-house

    https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...LWN/story.html

    https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...-trump-country

    http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/califo...172928346.html

    Since the time of the election, there seems to be a new genre of political journalism built around people leaving the civilized coasts to explore Trumpland, making contact with the various tribes of the interior "to understand". Bold explorers attempt communicating with the natives of that rusty, dusty land to learn the nature of the dark spell that swept through the heart of darkness. Most leave with biases confirmed, but also a trove of stories to tell of fear, misfortune and ignorance.

    As I read some of these, I can't help but think they tell us more about the explorer than the explored.
    Started to read the first article and don't believe WI is Trumpland. I do know many people who voted for Trump though and a few of them regret their decision. There is hope yet.

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    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    I used to live in WI and have many friends/family there and I don't think it is Trump land either. I lived in a rural are when going to grad school too and the people did not seem like the people interviewed. I am guessing Trumpland may be the South.

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    Simpleton Alan's Avatar
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    I used to live in WI and have many friends/family there and I don't think it is Trump land either.
    He got over half the popular vote in the state, so the math may say otherwise.

    Although, I think the premise of the argument is wrong. It's not that parts of America are Trumpland, it's that large parts of America are not Hillaryland or Bernieland. Trump just happened to be the anti-Progressive as well as the anti-Republican establishmentarian, which made him stand out from the crowd.
    "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ~ Albert Einstein

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    Quote Originally Posted by Alan View Post
    He got over half the popular vote in the state, so the math may say otherwise.

    Although, I think the premise of the argument is wrong. It's not that parts of America are Trumpland, it's that large parts of America are not Hillaryland or Bernieland. Trump just happened to be the anti-Progressive as well as the anti-Republican establishmentarian, which made him stand out from the crowd.
    I think that's true. In some ways, 2016 was the mother of all protest votes. So many of these people attempting to explain Trump voters in faux-anthropological terms seem blind to the resentment their own attitudes toward those voters creates. They are prisoners of their own mindset. It's easier to believe in large pockets of ignorant racists beyond the pale (probably in the South) than that you're aggressively annoying.

    Wisconsin used to be pretty reliable for the Democrats, but over the last generation or so has become more of a swing state. A lot of 2008/2012 Obama voters went with Trump in 2016. A lot of angry Berniecrats stayed home. Mrs. Clinton didn't make much of an effort in Wisconsin, and ultimately paid for it. Just look at the cover of her book. What Happened. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Asked and answered.

  7. #7
    Williamsmith
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    Thanks for posting the article links. If you take the time to read them, and actually digest what is being said, you’ll learn a lot. Symbolism.....oh yes. But it’s really a family affair. Where I grew up, my dad told me, (paraphrasing)

    ”Dont think you aren’t being looked down on....people think you are just the backwash of West Virginia. And you are, but that doesn’t hold you back one bit. In fact, it makes us stronger because we know we’re the underdogs. And no matter what are weaknesses are, we are going to prove people wrong. Well get ahead despite it all. We won’t give up on our brothers.”

    Trumpsim is brotherhood. He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.

    https://youtu.be/T_xzD8Pn4nM

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    Senior Member CathyA's Avatar
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    That song used to be so important to me..........back when I had hopes and dreams. It seems so different now.

  9. #9
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    On Facebook I just read this essay by Charles Eisenstein: The Trap of Righteousness. As a member of the Northeast privileged elite, I can see a lot of wisdom in his words. Here's an excerpt which relates to the OP.

    The activist Susan Livingston wrote me about a proposal she had written for an Occupy group at Caltech opposing its biofuels contract with BP. She said, “It came because I was troubled by the militant attitude of some of the folks at the teach-in. I didn’t see the care I’d like for the community of the conflict—the multitude of low-level bureaucrats, small stockholders, and franchise owners whose livelihoods depend on BP. What are they—collateral damage? And especially after seeing The Drilling Fields about the human and environmental devastation in Nigeria at the hands of Shell, I’m not real fond of singling out BP in response to the resentments of some privileged students who want to have their cake and eat it, too. But we’ve got to start somewhere, and with privilege comes the capacity to mount an effective campaign of resistance.”

    In this comment, Susan is drawing a key connection between privilege and militancy. Militancy, the mentality of war, always involves collateral damage. Something must always be sacrificed for the Cause. The sacrifice of others (the “community of the conflict”) is also the defining mentality of elitism: for whatever reason, those others are less important than me, my class, my cause. The privileged are always sacrificing others for their (the others’) own good. If they sometimes sacrifice themselves too, that doesn’t mitigate their elitism.

    This is not to say that the oil companies should be allowed to continue what they are doing in order to preserve the livelihoods of filling-station owners. It is just that everyone needs to be seen and considered, not written off.

    I think maybe Trumpland was sensing its place as "collateral damage" in a changing world.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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    Whatever there motives, and at a certain point who gives a flip (it's like those people who keep analyzing whether a politicians heart is in the right place or not when their policies are obviously not - enough already can we just start judging things by actual actions and other objective things rather than unknowable things). Regardless of motive, putting in Trump was pretty disastrous in results. I'm not saying great choices existed at least by the point it was down to Trump and Hillary, and some voters didn't show up to vote out of apathy about the choices, and some who did show up to vote were disenfranchised when they tried to vote (pretty rickety election system we've got) and yes only a few people's votes in a few key states actually matter at the end of the day ... but yea having Trump as a president what a disaster.
    Trees don't grow on money

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