This story is the latest installment in the NYT’s ongoing and apparently interminable series highlighting Trump voters and their fierce resistance to objective truth. Sad.
9
Clearly, Hillary was and is right about her prescriptions to help retool America so the people have the necessary skills and the country has the strongest team possible to compete on the global stage. This is how we unite the states. I say double down or forever hold our peace. Just like you get what you pay for, elections matter. #Hillary2020!
4
Interesting comments. What I also find interesting is the published comments critiquing (blaming) rural Altoonians about electing Trump. Could ANY politician restore this or similar tarnished community in Ohio, Michigan or Wisconsin? Hardly. Trump, Hillary ?Joe Biden (long gone from PA-but somehow still claims to know the common man from PA) will read Trumps road to victory book and try to simulate it.
I blame Trumps victory on numerous factors- including the media. When I say media- it was powerhouses like the NYT that found Trumps ‘charm’ to report on as his election opponents fell one by one. The free press and amusing antics reported on gave the forgotten voters in central Pennsylvania and other distressed places a blowhard to fixate on. Let’s see if Trumps replacement has any greater success. Biden is another old, white guy who’s glitter has faded long ago as his own social security benefits have matured. In spite of this gloom- are we not to acknowledge these people in rural (mostly white) communities? Trump is a con artist and a sham- is any candidate any better, or perhaps just a better (sincere sounding) con?
3
Do people really consider this journalism? Pick a few isolated people, who get to have their comments published in detail. To me it is a gross distortion to have the views of a selected few trumpeted across the media. No doubt the author had a great deal of material, so what we get is one author's selection of which views make the best "news".
The only thing worse than this version of "news" is constantly publishing the tweets of the president, which is an even more skewed version of "news", coming from a president who regularly decries "fake news".
The president's tweets are the fakest of them all.
4
@john A reporter visits a town, talks to several people to get a range of views and an unbiased overview of how people feel about an issue. Yes, that is journalism. What would you have had him do?
7
These isolated people are sadly, far from a select few.
3
@john As someone from the Altoona/Johnstown area, these views are in no way isolated.
4
4% unemployment and 23% poverty. Capitalism in a nutshell.
29
The comments here are indicative of why Trump won so handily here. People in NYC don't understand that many places in America had their economies decimated under policies created in the last 20 or 30 years. Cities that had thrived for over a century reduced to a shadow of their former glory. The problem is that most of the residents remember how it was and DO blame the economic policies for the decline. I'm a transplant from the DC metro area and while this area lacks in some of the rich cultural aspects available in a large metropolitan area, there are very intelligent people here and they tend to be more compassionate than their counterparts in the larger areas where the sense of intellectual superiority has given rise to a generation of snobs. If you truly want to be a party of the common man, perhaps you should stop assuming you know what they are about, stop assuming they are poor and uneducated and realize that maybe they don't want to trade a family life for a commute. Maybe their choices aren't do bad when they can own a 4 bedroom home with an acre of land for $150,000. What does that buy in NYC? As for Trump, he is rude and an egomaniac. That said, for the first time in years there are help wanted signs everywhere. I often say I'd rather have one TV in my house and have my neighbors all have jobs than I would have 3 TVs and have them not. All this corporate greed has cost us. We need to look for the common good.
10
@Greg
Perhaps there are no Mexicans, Muslims, or refugees from war torn countries in the Rust Belt. Perhaps that makes it easier to support a racist of little education. If it is true that there no snobs in Altoona, you have achieved a miracle unknown to the rest of us. Trump was expelled from middle school; his father purchased a degree from Wharton with a huge financial donation. Trump is functionally illiterate; he can't even read from a teleprompter without stopping to deliver a vicious rant against his many "enemies", similar to the ugly speech he made to a group of young Boy Scouts bragging about an orgy on a yacht and disparaging his predecessors in the WH. If there are more jobs, I hope it is not due to gutting the EPA; that might have an impact for your future voters. I think Hillary Clinton would have funded education, job training, and the funds needed for any job relocations. She would have done that without insulting ethnic groups or previous Presidents. The corporation I retired from had heating oil branches in PA; some were well staffed, others were difficult. I remember two branch visits; we stopped to buy things from the Amish, lovely people. If you are hoping for more and better jobs, you should also hope that Trump can make some money for himself. That is his M.O. in most places, especially in NYC and D.C.
11
@Greg, So, fundamentally, you're sticking your head in the sand. Your last sentence speaks volumes: "We need to look for common ground." Well, common ground will only happen when there is universal health care, higher wages for regular working people and investment in our national infrastructures and educational institutions. These are exactly the things Mr. Trump abhors and has sought to sabotage since his election.
As for the "heartland" picture you paint about living on the land and having jobs, that's fine, but don't complain when there are no young people left in your part of the country. People tire of working for slave wages; they go where there's sustainable economic opportunity and even though a place might look like a Norman Rockwell painting, this doesn't hold them there if they see no real future.
8
I truly question this compassion you speak of. Blair County is by and large white with very little exposure to minority groups. In the farming communities around Altoona there is a large percentage of Latin American immigrants who work as farmhands- Jobs that the white people around that area refuse to take. I visit this area twice a year to see family- some of them farmers themselves- and literally the immigrants are treated like third class citizens. Actually, they are not even acknowledged as part of the community. It’s easy to say that they people in that area are compassionate (perhaps to people who look like themselves) but they are faced with very, very little diversity.
8
When I saw this article, I became worried that my hometown would become a symbolic punching bag for those of us living in urban areas, and unfortunately the comments to this article validated my belief. I was born and raised in Altoona, went to Penn State at University Park, and immediately moved to a larger city looking for better opportunity than what awaited me at home.
I agree Altoona can be a backward place, and the people living there do not always vote in what is logically their best interest. I agree there is a level of self-victimization among the population, and that they project systemic issues within the city onto minority groups as a cause of their city’s decline; however vilifying them makes you know better than those on the far right that harass liberals.
My family was swayed and voted for Trump, as I watched in disbelief and anger. Over the past 2+ years of watching his actions, and multiple conversations, they now realize their mistake. But I don’t blame them for making the initial vote for Trump. Altoona is a depressed Rust Belt town, struggling with an opioid epidemic, that has a population who is underskilled and many times undereducated. They were looking for hope, a change to the status quo, a reversal to the decline. Unfortunately Trump filled that void for them. Stop speaking down to people from these parts of the country. They are more aware than people arrogantly think, and are by no means a lost cause. They can still be brought into the fold.
15
@DM
It is unfortunate that Clinton took PA for granted, against the advice of her husband, Bill Clinton. She had much to offer poor communities; she was wonky and persistent. It took her years to get benefits for single women with dependent children; she got those benefits. She got medical care for First Responders from 9/11. She had to fight for every benefit; she never gave up. If there are more jobs, perhaps there are some benefits from the urban transplants bringing in money to invest in the community. Those would be the urban snobs you reference.
5
@DM - I'm sorry but why was your family looking for hope and change from a guy who was notorious for stiffing his contractors, lying repeatedly and cheating people with a phony university?
Then there's the matter of his bigotry, his womanizing and his mistreatment of disabled people and grieving families of fallen soldiers.
Is this the behavior of people with any kind of awareness?
6
There seems to be a good bit of mean spirit-ness in the comments here. The words of the pledge of allegiance, in part, say ...."one nation....with liberty and justice for all". Or how about united we stand, divided we fall? I'm grateful that at least a couple of candidates running are speaking to the economic issues crippling much of America, including its rural parts.
8
So once again, the NYT has checked in on rural America and it hasn't really changed. Still roiling in resentment and clinging to its delusions about Trump. Don't waste inches coming back again. The majority of the country who thinks these people did the rest of us a disservice with their dopey ignorance do not want to read about them....again.
11
@rukiddingme Speaking as an elitist New Yorker, yeah, I want to read more about them.
4
Thanks a whole lot, Altoona! How's that working out for you?
18
So, if they truly can't parse Republican lies about how they are making things better for Altoona, or they're so distracted by social issues that they'll vote anti-choice rather than focus on their town's future, the Democrats are not gonna win these people back.
It's hard to keep a straight face while someone tells you that Trump is doing all he can for small business or that 'truth' comes from Fox News or that Trump brought back 'what jobs he could.' That's why these folks don't get no respect.
Counting on Joe Biden to re-create the old Democratic coalition is just as delusional.
21
@Karen Owsowitz: Agreed. What is wrong with these people? Don’t they know that Trump is a con-man who hates them precisely because they’re hard-working, Catholic and blue-collar? Trump is doing absolutely nothing for them. Biden, Man of Scranton, has his work cut out for him.
18
@Karen Owsowitz These people say that Trump is doing all he can for the working man but they can't come up with any specifics. It's wishful thinking. It's also a lie.
19
@rukiddingme People don't like being pressed to account for their opinions -- they're more comfortable mouthing slogans (whether it's Build the Wall or Medicare for All).
It's easier just to ride along with the common blather, so they don't have to work through things for themselves or confront some neighbors' nonsense. It just sounds so much worse when they're repeating Trump's lies and meanness.
6
Biden is by far the newest and freshest face in the Democratic field:
A guy who can bring to the Democrats the demographic of white working class voters!
No other Democrat in that large field is capable of doing that, at least not among the "name" candidates.
4
I don’t understand Trump at all: his English skills are horrible. His sentences make no sense.
It’s no wonder his pundits always claim, “what he’s actually saying is ...”, and a myriad of interpretations emerge.
So much for clarity.
14
Excellent! We will use your elitist words as the calling for all people who arent blinded by leftist rhetoric and re-elect our President in 2020. Thank you.
1
@DB: Trump hates the working-class, as did his father and deported grandfather before him. He has fooled them into believing that he cares about them. He doesn’t. Can’t you see that?
He’s a draft-dodging coward whose sons enjoy slaughtering defenseless animals under the guise of “male-bonding”.
The White Working Class is seriously under-informed. There are no saviors.
28
@DB You haven't heard about djt's historically low approval ratings and how he'll likely be impeached because of his behavior in his office. He has betrayed his oath of office, "to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, repeatedly and has lied over 9,000 times in his first 800 days. Re-election will never happen but jail time when he's out of office just might.
19
If my fellow Pennsylvanians who live in the rural areas see some financial advantage to voting for a candidate other than Trump, they will do so. Voting is secret, and even a anti-abortion evangelical will pull the lever otherwise if the kitchen table proposals benefit him/her and his/her family. Many here voted for Trump - hoping. The hope is evaporating.
9
“ Older voters in particular, and especially those who had manufacturing jobs, believe that Washington has become out of touch, and are more likely to be Trump supporters. “ My question to Trump supporters is doesn’t Trump have a PhD in “ being out of touch “ ?
12
@Perry Neeum
They might want to check on other factory towns where Trump promised to open the shuttered factories, e.g. Indiana. Those were Carrier A/C jobs; Carrier is now manufacturing in Mexico.
7
The Democrats better be careful and not treat these people as being unworthy and in contempt. Remember Hillary Clinton and how she referred to those who supported Donald Trump as deplorables. She looked down upon them and they in turn refused to give her their vote. These folks better be treated fairly and with respect if the Democrats want their much needed support. Otherwise they are sure to lose in 2020.
13
@KMW
She said a half were a basket of deplorables and she was right. Maybe even low balled it.
25
It is not looking down on anyone to call people out when they support odious positions. To say that much of what this president and many of his supporters advocate is un-American and steps on the rights of others is not looking down on people, it is being truthful. (Something this president knows nothing about.) It is to be hoped that people can evolve and learn. If they don't want to or cannot, we must call it as we see it. If people think that someone is looking down on them for saying "I don't agree with you, or you are uninformed", that is their perception and their problem. Democrats must not cater to regressive views to win elections. I hate what is happening to our country under this Administration. That being said, I don't think that compromising on equality, human rights or the environment to win an election is ethical or worth such a high price.
5
@KMW. Just for the record HRC won the popular vote.
1
To most people in places like that he has done more harm than good....just ask the folks in Indiana. The only thing feeding Trump support is cult personality. People who are mean love him. I generally avoid those folks because they are antisocial and cultish and just generally unpleasant folks. They are different from the ones who just want to wreck government, the libertarians. It’s definitely about Trump the disrupter. But the folks whose economies have hollowed out he’s only exacerbated the hollowing. He misrepresents everything all of the time. No one really believes anything he has to say.
30
Blair Country voted for Romney and for McCain. This is not where hopeful DEMs are going to find the votes they need to retake PA.
5
@J Jencks Yes, Trump may once again win Blair Co. In 2020, but if his portion of the vote there falls to 60% from 2016's 70%, chances are good he'll lose the state. And I have a feeling this erosion of support will be the story in other Trump-leaning counties in Pennsylvania as well as in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio.
4
It seems to me that the good folks of Altoona have chosen their victimhood. It’s much easier to stay in a dying town and complain than it is to do some research, and then move to an area where opportunities are plentiful and wages are higher. I know my city has permanent “Help Wanted” signs by their entrances for the many manufacturers here in my area (West Michigan), and the cost of living here isn’t outrageous yet. And we aren’t even all that far from Pennsylvania! As I said, it’s easier to sit and complain and blame everyone else for your misfortune than it is to actually DO something about it. Change is growth and growth is change!
21
I grew up in Blair county and left 20 years ago. I was one of the extremely rare people from the area who got a college education and got the heck out. Believe me, despite the opportunity where you are, you may as well live in another country, the people in Blair County have zero interest in leaving their bubble or ANY type of change or forward movement.
26
@A Bird In The Hand
Clinton even offered job retraining funds, and travel expenses for relocating to where jobs were. Maybe these voters fell into the abortion rabbit hole. Or, they just liked Trump's hate speeches against "others".
4
I have lived in a number of places in the U.S. in my life. I know from experience that there are those who choose to stay where they are in spite of the economic downturns and there are those who move, adapt and reinvent themselves. The ones who dig-in are usually the resentful folk who want to blame someone else for their problems. For them it's the illegals or minorities or the Chinese or Hillary Clinton or the 1960's who are to blame. Truly, they think flying the flag on their pickup and raging against liberals is the answer. I recently completed a job assignment in central Michigan, a region packed with Trump cultists who unconditionally support him even though his "policies" (that's a generous term) have done nothing to increase economic activity or bring back all those high-paying manufacturing jobs he promised. Mention this to the Michiganders and all they can do is complain that Obama lied about them keeping their doctors and that armies of socialists are coming to "destroy their way of life." It's truly sad.
34
Outside of a few extremely hardcore pockets, I'm just not sensing all that much enthusiasm for a round two of the trump disaster. We had our reality show and now we want a leader back in control.
16
Altoona is a shopping center town. The one time higher paying manufacturing and railroad jobs have gone. Trump saw this and promised the world. A conman needs someone to con. Unfortunately, the people of Altoona, in desperation to live a decent life fell for it, and will again.
18
Altoona is having its 15 minutes of fame and a NYT write up due to Hillary's ineptness, some help from Jill Stein and unquestioned Russian interference in our elections. I'm tiring of the narrative of forgotten middle America. I'm somewhat justified as I'm blue collar and had to reinvent myself more than once. One subject voters (pro-lifers) that support a thrice married adulterer just don't command my attention, not worth the discussion. Dems need to focus on young voters, minorities, unions, make the health care arguments, acknowledge climate change, support the environment and do all of it loudly. They will win if they do regardless of how Altoona votes.
Peace to the people of Altoona
22
@Frost: Re-education for the people of Altoona. Mandatory civics classes in the local diners and bars.
10
@Concrete Man
Clinton offered education benefits for them and their children. They were worried about abortion, socialism, and a left wing takeover of their sad slide into economic oblivion.
6
I suspect a large portion of Trump's base are indeed motivated by the "entertainment" factor of his vulgar reality television show style more so than any substance of which there is very little to none. Many of these angry white working class folks are either not the slightest bit interested in American & global politics or they just want others who don't look like them to suffer economically as much as they have. Living vicariously through the vindictive behavior of Trump must fulfill some visceral pleasure The notion of a greater good in American government, beyond their own miserable plight in life is entirely foreign to many of these Trump supporters. Empathy for anyone beyond themselves and their families, let alone outside their tight knit community, is in very short supply. Donald Trump is their anti-empathetic icon who embodies selfishness and greed. It seems highly probable that many who claim to support Trump based on his anti abortion stand are using their faith as a pretext to support a public figure whose entire adult life, both past and present, is the embodiment of anti-Christian behavior.
21
The "forgotten American." Anyone can hear that dogwhistle. And people say the Democrats play identity politics.
14
"Her strong opposition to abortion will weigh heavily in her decision, she added."
Well, then perhaps she might consider the overall "morality" of her guy, 'lil DJ Trump.
Spoiler: he is amoral.
22
@Karen Lee - And he's probably paid for multiple abortions.
2
Pennsylvania is my native state, and the family roots go deep - back to the 1700s. I traveled the state for years, lived in Central Pennsylvania, and know it well. Give its people, the rural and small town people, a reason to vote for someone other than Trump. Carville also said, "It's the economy, stupid." So far, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are on the money; the others not so much.
13
As the class division in America is starting to increase many people, especially rural residents, are feeling an economic burden. Many working class people are responsible for making America run, and yet they are the ones who struggle the most; Trump noticed their struggle and took advantage of rural residents by creating fear that he could protect them from. He created a fear that centered around their jobs, telling them that immigrants were the problem, giving the working class people a tangible solution to their fear; by keeping out the immigrants. Besides creating a tangible fear, Trump also spoke their language, which made them feel connected, and now many of them think they have a man in the White House who understand their needs. However, as Trump's presidency is halfway through many of them are starting to see that Trump said empty promises, this is perfect for the Democrats if they want the White House in 2020. Unfortunately, many of the leading Democratic candidates are focusing on social issues rather than economic issues that affect the blue collar workers. Since many of these rural residents are frustrated with Trump, they are willing to vote for a Democrat who thoroughly understands their struggle. It is crucial for the Democrats to realize that if they focus mainly on social issues, they will be popular amongst young people who may or may not vote, but if they focus on issues that are important to rural, older Americans, they can take back the White House.
11
@Celine Carter
Biden can do that, as can Warren. Bernie is as full of it as Trump is; he promises free stuff with no way to pay for it; he has no policies or tax plans in print. He has rarely been out of VT, or D.C. We live in a global competitive world which requires education and skill sets. And, he just too angry at everything, shouting all the time. I cannot imagine him abroad with world leaders: Queen Elizabeth II, Macron, Trudeau, et al.
We need to look to the future. I want 4 more years of this loathsome president so that after he reduces the country to ashes, we can reorganize into smaller countries. I may be a senior, but I can't abide these selfish, unable to adapt, willfully stupid, intolerant deplorables and wish for them a smaller, less influential country where they can wallow in their homogeneity.
19
Trump is exactly the president that this country deserves. Altoona even more than most. It is common for citizens of the US to take pride in their ignorance. They should be proud of their ignorant president as well.
The people of the US have been well educated to be good serfs. They love their cruel overlords, their cults and their cruel elected leaders.
I do not believe that you can change the minds of the brainwashed masses of the US. The majority do not live in a world based on fact.
27
@Chris, Please remember that a majority of Americans didn’t vote for the monstrosity in office. To many millions of us, he’s a nightmare, and we’ve been furious and upset since the day he was elected.
He is trying to destroy everything that actually IS great about this country and trust me, countless Americans are working hard to undo the damage he has caused.
17
@Andrea P.
Trump lost the popular vote by approx. 3M votes. He won the Electoral College vote by 77,000 votes in PA, MI, and WI, States Clinton took for granted, against Bill Clinton's advice. He went home; I wish he had stayed and campaigned on her behalf in those States. He might have salvaged some votes.
1
Sarah Vogel, who owns a coffee shop downtown, said Mr. Trump was “doing what he can to help small businesses and rural areas.”
Translation: nothing.
He's busy high-fiving the mob at Mar-a-Lago. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, in this case Altoona, PA, the locals sit in their rundown bars swigging longnecks and consoling themselves with their shared state of victim hood.
36
@george eliot Oh, she thinks Mr. Trump is doing something for small businesses like hers but she can't tell you what it is, which means he's doing nothing but she can't admit it. This is why we have Trump. It's all about emotions and ego and not about the actually economy or America's actions in the world.
12
Trump is quite evil and mean, and just naturally sleazy -- but the Republican party enabling his impact can be held accountable.
The for-profit media feasting on Trump glitz is equally to blame. Accordingly, we cannot entirely blame the sad-sack Pennsylvania voters.
17
“I’m dumb as a stump. I like having a President who acts like a jerk and panders to the worst side of human nature. So what if every one of his policies will make my life more miserable? I can live without health care, education, a decent wage, clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. I’m OK ignoring climate change and it’s fine by me if we’re privatizing land and resources that should belong to the people, not domestic and foreign oligarchs. Don’t offer me real opportunity and rational solutions to what ails me and my community. Don’t confuse me with facts. By all means don’t challenge me. Just play to my prejudices and ignorance, and by golly, you’ve got my vote.”
If that represents a large enough chunk of the voting public to elect men (and they’re nearly all men) like Trump, McConnell, Gohmert, King, Gaetz, McCarthy, Jordan, Nunes... then this nation is doomed.
Yesterday McConnell spoke to a gathering in his home state of Kentucky - a state that receives far more federal aid than all but one or two others, and gets far more money from the U.S. Treasury than its residents pay in taxes. He railed against universal health care, and proudly proclaimed he would be “The Grim Reaper” in Congress to block all such programs — just chilling given he was promising to sign death warrants for many among the millions without adequate health insurance and access to health care.
The crowd roared its approval. It’s like watching a nation commit mass suicide.
53
@chambolle, sadly, you are correct.
And yet, the Republicans convinced their low-intelligence voters that the VERY evil "Obamacare" would have "death panels".
Sickening.
10
@chambolle
Isn't it amazing that those whose parents, grandparents et al died of Black Lung disease vote for a man who has managed to stop them from accessing health care under the ACA? They don't even know what it is. Some get care from Konnect, a made up name for the ACA which actually provides their benefits. We need another FDR who somehow found a way to connect, or another Bobby Kennedy who went to those communities and gained their trust and respect before he was murdered. I traveled through West Va., a beautiful State, with lovely people who have been so left behind. It just makes you despair; they rejected Clinton who was as much on their side as was Bobby. She needed Bill to make the connection for her.
2
Trump could probably sell a lot of these people their own shoes.
A good con man is worth his weight in gold.
14
What would the difference be?
“There is no federal program to help businesses like ours to reshore our jobs,”
Was there a federal program that helped businesses like yours offshore them in the first place?
OR were you, as per the most popular American business model these days, trying to reduce your labor costs so you could grab a bigger slice of your business pie for yourself?
Why do you want the government to help you bring jobs back that you sent elsewhere?
13
“Another thing I like about President Trump: He doesn’t use language that you have to get a dictionary to understand,” he said.
Yes, why would you want to learn a new word or two? This comment is frightening and illustrates the dumbing down of America. But that works to the Republican's advantage. Low info voters. Sad.
37
@Graydog, to be fair, as a seven year old, I wouldn't have needed a dictionary to understand 'lil DJ Trump's pronouncements.
His vocabulary is, at best, that of a second grade student.
7
@Graydog. My thoughts exactly. Zero intellectual curiosity. Same as trump. Its depressing that there are so many whose minds are closed.
8
@Graydog Mr. Zupon, the quoted speaker, should instead be asking if he wants to explain to his children the words that Trump uses.
7
A form of entertainment? Are you kidding me? Go dig out re-runs of The Apprentice if you want to watch this guy act bluntly and boorishly. Is it entertaining to you that he lies all the time. And when people say "oh, all politicians lie". No some politicians exaggerate. Trump is an unadulterated liar. Is it entertaining to you to be lied to about manufacturing jobs being brought back to your rust belt community. Those jobs were sent overseas because the Republicans you seem to see fit to vote for want that. The corps who fund their campaigns would rather pay someone overseas a $1 a day with no bathroom breaks than pay you a decent living wage. The only thing that's important to them is giving their shareholders some of the money that they've saved by not giving you a decent salary and benefits and of course a nice fat bonus for themselves. They don't care about you! And stop worrying about nonsensical issues that don't help make your life better economically. Prayer in schools, abortion, guns aren't going to help put your kid through school. This is why people on the 'other side' don't see you as smart. Because you can't see a guy like Trump/Bush/Reagan coming a mile down the road to sell you a bill of trickle down goods, distract and misinform you. You wind up with the short end of the stick and they get tax breaks for the wealthy. When they talk tax cuts you're only going to see a pittance. It's really hard to watch people vote against their own best interests.
29
Western PA, West VA, et. al. are not NYC or Silicon Valley. Desperate/dispirited people seek new approaches regardless of the later implications.
6
@Bob
NEW approaches? They're not seeking anything new. They're seeking the same old. They're believing in a pipe dream that some politician is going to bring them back to the "good olde days."
11
@Bob That's what those areas did in 2016. Now is the time to evaluate whether they benefited from Trumps actions.
Trump's magic is that he uncovers and speaks to the problems so many Americans are experiencing. Trump's curse is that almost all of his solutions are wrong. Tariffs? Americans pay them. Leaving TPP? Formerly lucrative markets for US products shop elsewhere. The supposed tax cut? Deficits through the roof for the foreseeable forever. Problems with the ACA? He wants to kill it with no replacement, costing millions their health insurance.
7
“He’s doing what he can to help small businesses and rural areas,” she said. “I don’t know if I can give any specifics.”
“I am a registered Republican,” Mr. Herman added. “I like Republican ideals on the economy. But I don’t like the way that it’s translated..."
What do you do with an obvious disconnect from reality?
Not much- except pray there are enough voters in 2020 who do not mirror the above.
32
Calling Trump blunt style entertaining by Altoona's voters can only attests to a grim and distorted reality. What is ever more lamentable is the similar allegiance many other voters hold around the country, who are just as oblivious to his aggregious conduct, which may be a sign of an impaired chromosone that abstract clear thinking.
6
Trump made promises that were impossible for him--or anyone--to keep. Hopefully voters can realize this, and Democratic candidates at all levels can provide arguments these voters can believe. It begins with respecting one's audience, and not taking them for dupes or suckers (as Trump did).
10
When I saw returns in 2015, I was mortified that PA had gone for Trump. In contrast to that twit James Carvel (you know, that Southerner with the heavy accent), who says that PA is Alabama with Philly on one end and Pittsburgh on the other, PA could never be like the South or Utah or Indiana or Oklahoma. These places are vacuous, uncouth and boring.
PA has been the bastion of freedom for people of different religions, ethnicities, and race.
The problem is that only some parts of the state have prospered, falling victim to cheap labor in the South and overseas. Lower income whites felt left behind and were eager to blame other people and the democrats.
Hillary should have used her family history and Biden his birthplace, but they rarely campaigned in NE PA.
PA spars with Illinois for #5 in population, but no one could rival PA for the combination of history, art museums, and outstanding universities/colleges.
If the Dems want this state back, they need to go to Scranton, Eire, Harrisburg and Allentown and not take them for granted.
12
@bigdoc
I agree that better connections are needed, and hope Biden can do that. However, I lived in CT for 22 yrs: The Metropolitan Museum, The Frick, The Smithsonian, The incredible Natural History Museum, The Modern, The Air and Space Museum, the Boston Museum, the Guggenheim and the museums at Yale and Harvard might come up to your standards.
It is an excercise in futility to think the voters in Blair County will change their mind and vote Democratic again with the delusions they hold. Entertainment indeed. It’s up to the Philadelphia & it’s suburbs to ensure Pennsyvania again goes blue.
13
I'm a little floored by the small business owner who thinks Trump is trying to help small business, but is conflicted (it's sorta ok?) by his stance on immigration. Got to wonder what circus mirror she's been looking in.
11
“Another thing I like about President Trump: He doesn’t use language that you have to get a dictionary to understand,” he said. “That’s kind of enjoyable coming from a president of the United States.” Mr. Zupon.
Trump is said to use a 5th graders vocabulary.
Some may feel that the president should be brighter, more eloquent, and better educated than we are.
Lets hope a few more people come out to vote who share that belief.
13
The problem with America is that they get their news from TV. People should be reading newspapers, several of them a day. News articles allow the author to provide an in-depth account of the subject.
The TV news gives you maybe two minutes before they either run to commercial or move on. This is no way to form an opinion that is well rounded. Read conservative newspapers, liberal news papers and everything in between. Don't let your opinion be generated out of sound bite.
14
Rural residents of Pennsylvania are good trusting people which is where a con man like the Tangerine Toddler makes hay. We have a President Pro Temp of the PA Senate who bottles up legislation designed to help victims of Priest abuse because his wife works for the Diocese of Harrisburg. The campaign promises of my future state senator are right out of the 1940’s. And we were the first state where gerrymandering was tackled (successfully). It’s a state which doesn’t want to leave the past. My very talented children live elsewhere.
16
“He’s doing what he can to help small businesses and rural areas,” she said. “I don’t know if I can give any specifics.”
the gop advertisement hook, line, and sinker.
i feel bad for these people.
23
@Chris. Dont... because it’s people like them that could possibly get Trump elected again. So feel sorry for those of us who want him out of office and have to live with two more years, at least.
9
Every day, people across the country are waking up to what a fraud trump is. The only thing keeping him afloat at this point is fox news, and they will only continue to do it as long as the money is good. Places like Blair county have not seen any economic miracle since trump took office, and they won't going forward either, because there is no economic miracle to be seen.
It's just more of the same for these people until they realize they've been had.
18
There is a fundamental flaw in this article.
Blair County (where Altoona is located) broke in favor of Romney in 2012 by 66%, and in favor of McCain in 2008 by 62%. Obama, of course, won PA in both those elections. So winning Blair County is not needed to win PA.
It is true that PA's swing voters are critical for any candidate to win the presidency. But this focus on a GOP stronghold doesn't tell us much about who those swing voters actually are and where they are to be found.
8
It disgusts me that Americans only care about themselves in the present year.
The planet is dying under the Trump administration, but that apparently isn't important to Trump supporters.
I can only hope Mr. Zupon's faith in “The guy [who] has all the money in the world but is still looking out for the guy who made the country what it is,” is shocked by the truth of Trump's soon to be revealed financial disclosures.
The impact of Trump's tax reform to enrich the already rich, while throwing table scraps to the middle class, is already evident to everyone not blind, but apparently not his base.
17
He will flare out like Joe McCarthy, 1954: a rather sudden threshold will trigger an avalanche, complete with public denials of association.
9
I can't see the residents of Altoona voting for any Democratic candidate because the party has swung too far to the left. Abortion on demand, green new deal, support for illegal immigration and a host of liberal causes makes these people support Donald Trump. This is middle America and they still hold conservative values unlike the coastal elites. There is something refreshing about these people. They are hard working Americans who liked what they saw in Donald Trump. He was sincere and truly concerned for their wellbeing. I believe he still is. He will probably again win their support.
2
Sincere. Fascinating adjective to apply to a 72-year-old man-child who’s entire brand was built upon and sustained by the art of the swindle.
25
@KMW You know what? I'm a liberal, and I'm a hard working American too. I put myself through college and graduate school, I'm a professional, and I could be considered a coastal elite, but none of that means I don't work hard. What is so refreshing about people who are so easily conned by a con man? What I find refreshing are all the principled people who have not fallen for Trump's hate mongering.
17
@KMW
I qualify as a Coastal "elite". There are no abortions on demand anywhere; abortions performed outside of back alleys require medical documentation given by at least three medical professionals who present their medical opinions and documents to a hospital Board of Directors. That is how legal abortions are approved, none are "on demand". I do not know of anyone who supports immigration outside of checkpoints and screening by trained border patrol officers. There are many conservative voters on both coasts. FYI: It takes hard work to survive in NYC, NJ, SF and L.A., Portland and Seattle, and Takoma. I commuted from CT to one of the Towers, got up in the dark and arrived home in the dark. Later I drove I95 to get to a job in Stamford. I don't know where you are getting your "fake news", Fox maybe? If yes, please know that Fox defines itself as "entertainment" not news. That allows Fox to be completely biased, never fact checked, and full of hate speech.
1
I grew up in rural southwestern PA and I wish pro-life, pro-union Democrats weren't such a rarity. Imagine if an anti-abortion candidate ran on a platform of healthcare for all and paid parental leave. It's painful to see the Catholic vote go to someone like Trump to represent them, whose contempt for so many vulnerable demographics flies in the face of a consistent life ethic. The most vulnerable of us all are preborn persons, but an unplanned pregnancy should not doom a family to poverty and reliance on systems that stigmatize those they serve.
All that said, I wonder if people will remember Trump's broken promises to coal miners. My home town is the entry point to a literal trail of ghost towns and abandoned coal mines. "Trump digs coal" would have been tough to ignore. But in 2016, coal never should have held such promise to begin with.
15
@Yaël
I spent five years traveling around Pennsylvania as the head of a statewide non-profit, and fully understand why Trump was popular (as compared to Clinton). People hoped for the best with him, while seeing no support from her, and now the hope is fading. I agree with you that a candidate running on healthcare for all, ways to tackle income inequality, and other kitchen table issues will have a real shot despite the issue of abortion pro or con.
6
@Yaël
Hard to know whether you are pro-free choice or against it. I am old enough to remember when abortion was illegal; girls went to filthy clinics in Tijuana, or to midwives in back alleys; they often were left sterile at a young age. Those with money flew to Japan for safe, legal abortions. There is no justification to return to a time when young girls' lives were ruined by pregnancy at a young age, with no marriage or support system in place. Bright girls who "made a mistake" left college or university, dreams cut short, a baby to care for. You might think about tending your own garden, so to speak.
@Ellen "While seeing no support form her" Really? She advocated improving and strengthening Social Security, improving and protecting the ACA, expanding job training, offering financial support for relocation in quest of employment, an increased minimum wage, among others. How are these policies not seen as supporting the disadvantaged???
2
Entertaining.... Wow! Embarrassing is more accurate.
This is reality folks.... not reality tv. Holy Moly!
But seriously, this should be required reading for early state primary voters, and candidates. The goal is to win the election. These folks vote, and the Democrat's can't risk just labeling them deplorables. People like Warren need to explain how their proposals will help these guys, rather than just the educated coastal populations. Explain it simply, make it quick, be direct.
37
@Scott Trump is a danger to the entire world. What's not deplorable about a man who voted for him because he found his crude and hateful speech "entertaining"?
7
@Scott. I don’t know how Elizabeth Warren could speak more clearly than she already does about how her proposals would help these guys. She has a gift for down-to-earth plain talk about public policy.
But many vote on image and rhetoric, I think, not substance.
And the results of Mr. Tackett's coverage are so surprising?
Not really. Apart from the the fact that the primary religious foundation is Catholic, this community is so very similar to the many others that gave us Trump. Don't just listen to their voices, rather hear their voices.
They like Trump not for the sake of ethics - although his stance on packing the courts with religious ideologues most certainly comes into play for some. They like him because he speaks more plainly. He doesn't focus on how he will get things he promises done, he just speaks about the vision and that seems to be enough for many.
I found it curious but not surprising that the only name to come up in this piece was that of Joe Biden. Why?
Because these people feel that he relates to them and that they can relate to him. Does anyone really believe that wonkish talk from Warren or Sanders will warm the hearts of the good people of Altoona? That will never happen.
These citizens will vote and vote with their own heart. If the candidate cannot win their hearts, then they will not get their vote.
And while Altoona is a but a microcosm of America, it provides a very good glimpse on much of Trump's America. An America where policy related granular town halls are not going to sway too many. An America in which plain talk matters most. And yes, an America that believes strongly in "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." Win that America and we will drive back Trump into the swamp.
20
I agree with you.
Clearly large numbers of Americans don’t vote with their head (i.e., facts, rational arguments, history) but vote based on feel and emotion. It’s a terrible way to make important decisions, but that seems to be how it is.
Obama captivated and inspired people for positive reasons. Trump did the same, only for negative reasons. It makes no sense to me—my political ideology shapes my identity and worldview—but I think it explains how some Obama voters also voted for Trump.
I think Biden has the best ability to connect with the greatest number of these folks who vote based on feel and emotion. He has a stable temperament. He has a nice speaking voice. He looks the part. It’s a sorry state of affairs, but for large swaths of the electorate it may be enough.
5
@It Is Time! So what is hard to understand about the Republicans taking away their health care?
5
@It Is Time!
WHY?
Because Biden is FROM PA!!!! That's why.
They feel some sort of "attachment" to him.
Voting is like gambling on sports. You shouldn't do it with "heart." Because if you do, you'll lose.
2
I choose to believe that although the people of some American cities like Altoona were conned by Trump's lies and sociopathy (after all, he is an very experienced grifter and liar). they still have a vestige of morality and at least some awareness of the truth of his authoritarian scheme to rule America.
He has used them enough, particularly in his tribal "rallies", and to support him any further would be disgraceful and a travesty.
The "working class" needs to clearly pick a candidate that recognizes them and does not use them merely as a pawn to gain power. There will be two Presidential candidates and one will still remain totally unqualified and a clear and present danger to America. I hope they do not let his propaganda and lies (and Russian trolls and bots) falsely influence them, again.
13
@RealTRUTH I no longer share that belief. Power has been more important than the process of democracy. Belittling and demonizing "opponents" is entertaining. We want simple phrases and empty promises not the hard work and compromise of making America better. I fear that we may have loss our last vestige morality.
4
The minority, that refuses to think for themselves and despite proof that 'great again' just isn't coming, is ruling the majority.
14
@MAM
The majority voted for Clinton by 3M votes. The minority got three key Electoral College States: PA, WI, MI. The EC needs to be repealed; there are no more slave holding plantations feeding cotton to Northern mills. No need to pander to the old Jim Crow South, the KKK, or the States which survive on taxes paid by the coastal "elites". Gerrymandering, and polling place venues need to be regulated. Working people should have access to the polls, early or late. Rural voters need more polling places in small towns, and some transportation to help elderly and non-drivers get to polling places. Vote by Mail should be available to all voters.
Entertainment? Yeah, so Trump's supporters want to be entertained. So laugh and gawk, and laugh again. Two thousand years ago in Rome's Coliseum Roman emperors fed Christians to the lions and gladiators who were slaves fought to the death. If you want entertainment, then who is getting fed to the lions nowadays besides the poor, the downtrodden, or our black and brown brothers and sisters?
27
The good, hardworking people of Altoona are also being fed to the lions. Eleven dollars per hour wage with limited benefits? Twenty-three percent poverty level? And, some still believe that the grit of tRumpism has been good for them, so much so that they want more? America is in deep, deep trouble.
7
Ms. H: The good, hardworking people of Altoona are being fed to the lions by choice. Don’t tell me that these good, hardworking people can’t pack up their families and move ELSEWHERE, where there are good jobs and higher wages. I live in such a place, just a few states away, and good jobs are going begging because there aren’t enough workers to fill them. Heck, even the local McDonalds starts their people at almost $10 an hour. Surely a manufacturing job in a place like this would pay better wages than the place those people are trapped in back in Pennsylvania. Sometimes you have to follow the money to survive, not just remain in place and wish for the good old days to come back again.
8
@A Bird In The Hand
They were offered transportation benefits to get job training for new jobs, and transportation to new job venues. They rejected the candidate who offered them a life line out of a dead zone. Now they sit in dying towns and half empty cafes, whining about immigrants taking jobs. Jobs went to Mexico where immigrants live and work now, with no benefits, low pay, and no worker safety regs. They got exactly what they voted for, a con job from a grifter who fed them a lot of hate speech, wound them up and flew away with their votes. Sort of like those old snake oil salesmen from way back times.
All a Democrat has to do is peel off a few thousand voters - a dozen here, a dozen there, in each little Pennsylvania town. Elections, just like the last one, are won at the margins.
As for what the core of Trump's supporters think, why even bother to care? Just appeal to the wavering moderates who are regretting their mistake of voting for him.
24
I think it would serve Trump voters in places like Altoona very well if they took a step back in time to the last campaign and took a look if anything, ANYTHING Trump promised them has come true.
23
Two thoughts. First, we have assigned way too much credit and blame for the economy on Presidents. This is especially puzzling when you have a Party wholly devoted to the idea that the governs has no place in the markets.
This is the Bernake-Yellen economy. And it’s strength developed over a painful 7 or so years of economic deleveraging following 2008. Not Trump.
Second, Trump cares nothing for the working man. He knows how to put on an act and talk like your friends at the bar. But he wouldn’t be caught dead in one of those bars.
27
Just read the comments to see why Trump "won" and why he sadly has a strong chance to get reelected. Its hard not to see a red hat and feel despair or worse. But that's one interpretation - the red hat to those wearing them may mean going back to a time when working class people without a college degree had decent jobs and things weren't so bleak.
The key to Trump winning is he addressed the working class whites - while Hillary with her campaign headquarters in Brooklyn famously ignored them. It should always be noted that Trump voters also voted for Obama twice in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania (because he actually addressed them and had an inclusive message especially in 2008).
For all the inclusive and not judging other talk, the left has no time or care for the working class whites - and this has only increased in the last few years.
They openly say we don't need their votes which is shocking - you don't want the votes of the largest voting block in swing states?
Trump addressed these people - that's the key to learn from - to talk to them - address their needs - that's how you get elected.
He did it in the worst ways but if you have a candidate that says I'm not going to look down on you and I understand your standard of living has been going down for decades (the term rust belt is not a new one) and we are going to improve things - you do that you don't win - you win bigly.
9
Democrats, please pay attention! These people are going to decide the 2020 election and they are not voting for anybody from Massachusetts, California or New York.
They don't want Medicare for all, or Socialism (whatever that means), or free college tuition or the Green New Deal. They're not even that interested in saving the planet. They have radar for expansive false promises that Democrats tend to obsess on.
It's the economy and jobs and healthcare with these folks. And maybe more importantly it's the style of candidate. Democrats need the opposite of Hillary Clinton -- the candidate who fits the bill the best, by far, is Pete Buttigieg. He is the only one who can bridge the vast chasm between the upscale urban millennial wing of the party and Blair County.
7
@Tom I agree, but people do want affordable healthcare for everyone (call it Medicare if you want to or call it something else, but they want it). They want the mobility to change jobs and not lose their healthcare. Parents do want more affordable ways to send their children to college. Very low cost community college and loan interest rates that stay at prime would go a long, long way to helping the next generation get it footing. And, Tom you are correct about Mayor Pete and what I call the mid-western perspective. They have clear, practical ideas for moving this entire nation forward.
2
Trump was right about one thing: he really was the candidate of "forgotten Americans," he just hadn't created them yet. It wasn't until they voted for him that he promptly forgot them.
17
Altoona was Trump country in 2016. And it will remain Trump country in 2020. But for pollsters that is not the issue. The turnout in 2016 was 20% higher than the turnout in 2012. Trump energized Altoona voters and that is what counts.
The more voters who stay home in 2020 the better for Democrats. It is not realistic to expect a Democratic victory in a city that is 2/3 Republican. But this article suggests that Trump’s following is somewhat disappointed and less enthusiastic. That bodes well for Democrats.
7
I wish those of us who are working hard, building lives, and contributing to our communities- but happen to live in cities- would be considered "real" Americans for once. That would be nice. It's another reason the Electoral College needs to be abolished. Every four years candidates run to be the President of Altoona (and similar) while the majority of Americans get the brush-off.
I want all Americans to have good paying job opportunities and high quality, full-coverage healthcare but bemoaning the passing of time and the changing of industries is no way forward. We won't be a global leader by wishing for the past.
17
@Dominic
The citizens who reject Democrats and "coastal elites" don't reject the Federal aid our taxes pay for. If we didn't support them, they would qualify as "failed States". They could have accepted Clinton's offer of continuing education, job retraining, and transportation to places where they could access those things. There was even funding for rent, utilities and groceries. They chose to stay put, complain about immigrants, minorities, and Democrats. Some of have moved on from Altoona and its problems.
This story is neither “mean spirited” nor one that calls the people of the town “stupid.” Those are your words. It’s simply a snapshot of rural America that makes one shudder.
19
@Peter ERIKSON
Rural America? 'Fraid not, Peter. Take a look at Wikipedia. It's about as "rural" as Oakland, California. And like Oakland, it's downtrodden and drug infested.
They've got their guns and bibles, because after WW II, their industrial base collapsed. Maybe silicon valley oligarchs would like to resettle there.
2
@george eliot. I’m sure Oakland would be happy to welcome you for a visit. You would find much more than a “downtrodden, drug-infested” city. Yes, Oakland has its problems with poverty and crime, but it also has vibrant multi-racial, multi-ethnic cultures, many beautiful neighborhoods, and thriving commercial districts.
In Mr. Zupon, a lifelong Altoona resident who twice voted for President Barack Obama, Mr. Trump has an unwavering convert. “The guy has all the money in the world but is still looking out for the guy who made the country what it is,” he said.
Mr. Trump was the plain-spoken truth teller Mr. Zupon wanted to see shake up Washington. “Another thing I like about President Trump: He doesn’t use language that you have to get a dictionary to understand,” he said. “That’s kind of enjoyable coming from a president of the United States.”
This is the kind of idiocy that is going to be the downfall of our country. Basically, amuricans don’t trust education and intelligence and god forbid they should have to crack open a dictionary because they don’t know how to use Google. DJT clearly doesn’t have a plan to help you or any one else. That is unless it benefits him and his cronies. You Mr. Zupon have been Trumped.
America will be a fragment of it’s former greatness after DJT gets done with it. God help our children who will inherit this disaster spiraling out of control.
Has no one watched Idiocracy lately? Oh I forgot, we’re living it.
93
@Crusty The Clown. The interesting question for me is, How could the same voter vote for Obama twice and then Trump? Obama has a vocabulary.
I'm going to do all I can to turn Pennsylvania BLUE in 2020. Many commenters won't get into the dung heap of replying to Trump fans by demeaning their opinions. But the Tvoters show an amazing lack of thinking and reasoning. I'd prefer to spend my time appealing to those who DO care about where America is heading. We're never going to change Tvoters minds, so let's concentrate on keeping our state safe from Russian hackers/trolls that stole the 2016 election. Let's change what can be changed, and not try to persuade the unpersuaded - we've certainly got a field of ideas and independent thinkers running. It's crucial that voters read, listen to candidates' issues and platforms. Not to the Ranter in Chief with his one-trick pony show.
29
These working class people are probably concerned about healthcare. Remember Trump promised everyone would have healthcare, and a lot cheaper too. So the Republicans controlled the whole government for 2 years. And did zilch regarding healthcare. And now they say their plan regarding it won't be unveiled till after the election. The garbage they feed us!
51
@Jim
...and now, due to Trump's tax gift to the rich (did THAT help anyone in Altoona?) we have even less money to fund health care, entitlements like SS and Medicare, education, infrastructure an other vital programs.
Have you breathed the air in Altoona lately? Now that Trump has destroyed environmental constraints to burn more coal and other fossil fuels, smog (remember THAT?) and concomitant respiratory disease will plague you and your children.
If Trump is so great, why is he destroying this country? Ask yourself and your children!
6
Once you get out of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh you get into what is called Pennsyltucky, uninformed people who vote against their interests.
32
@Vinny
Speak for yourself, Vinnie.
Lancaster County is one of the best in the state and votes precisely for its own interests.
Trump is a serial criminal with no discernible redeeming qualities. That so many in our country can support him is a searing indictment of our educational system, and arguably humanity itself.
31
Honestly, the only people who should vote for Trump, or any of his elected enablers, are racists, the greedy, and those who believe that woman shouldn't have control of their own bodies. Hopefully, that won't make up any place close to 50% of us.
24
"Hey, Trump was strong in PA in 2016 - we can't let this happen again so let's write an article saying this "may not" be true for 2020"
Please.
1
with the help of Putin and the next Cambridge analytica, Trump will win again. because it's not about politics but manipulation. it's about social networks and the bubble they help to create
who is willing to change this? who is willing to rebuild journalism?
6
His limited vocabulary is really refreshing to some of these folks. That's how you'd raise your child? "I like the lack of nous and verbs that are readily available to the man who leads the free world. I'd like you to grow up with an extremely limited vocabulary, too."
29
As the election progresses through the democrat primaries and the in-fighting that will occur between the democrat candidates and party leadership, the good people of Altoona and the rest of middle America will quickly come to the realization that the current crop of democrat candidates are not the champions of the middle class or middle class American values.
And despite the unceasing cacophony coming from the liberal media, President Trump will carry the day again and win a second indisputable term.
Keep America Great.
6
@Brewster Millions
The Democratic Party won by 3M popular votes. Next time we'll take the Electoral College votes, too. If necessary, your Trump voters will get the same foreign aid we now squander on the countries where they get their opioids.
The author of this article mentions a gentleman named Gib Beckwith, who lost his job as a tool and die maker..a lot of people aren’t aware that tool and die makers are incredibly skilled people who take brilliant ideas and bring them to life. I may not agree with Mr Beckwith’s politics but I understand and respect where he’s coming from. If I’m a politician I need to understand why Trump appeals to him. I want his vote, he’s a smart and talented man.
Smart Democrat’s should go and talk to people in places like Altoona. They’re trying to tell you something about personal dignity, dreams, security and a future for their children.
17
@Timothy - Smart people don't vote for someone who lies a dozen times a day and cons people with phony universities.
7
@Timothy
Well, they didn't like Clinton; she didn't insult their dignity. She offered ways out. Manufacturing left under the Bush/Cheney Administration; it isn't going to come back the way it was. Unions, broken by Reagan, another right wing icon, are not coming back. Everything FDR put in place is now being destroyed, or attacked by Trump and the Koch Bros. That includes SS ; it also includes Medicare put in place by Truman, and finally legislated by LBJ. Notice a pattern here? All Democrats.
1
What an amazing surprise. Trump didn't come good on his promises. Everyone in New York will be shocked.
22
Industrial jobs that powered America in the last century are gone - outmoded by computerization, robotics and outsourcing to cheaper labor abroad. Trump could have tried to give enormous tax breaks to American companies to lure jobs back to the U.S. but that would have required Republican votes in Congress and that will never happen for that purpose. Republicans took the enormous tax breaks for them selves. Republicans get votes by promising things that don't cost anything and cannot really be achieved, such as Prohibition in the 1920s and public opposition against abortion today. Republicans historically relish controlling other peoples' lives while gaining access to the nations tax money in the process. Folks in Pennsylvania must be content with an anti-abortion Party because that's all they are going get from any Republican.
8
The poverty rate is an even 19 points higher than the unemployment rate. How is that even possible? Bread and circuses!
16
Sarah Vogel says Trump has helped small businesses but she can't offer any specifics. Wow. People will think whatever they are told to think and not even need evidence. It's true on both sides. This is just a poignant example. If I were Ms Vogel, I'd be so embarrassed I'd be hoping the earth would open up and swallow me up after that quote was published. The reporter was almost cruel to include it, but I am also glad they did.
70
"Most of his supporters say they will stick with him, citing his blunt style, which some of them see as a form of entertainment ..."
Might I respectfully suggest that, if these supporters think that the U.S. Presidency is a form of entertainment for the masses, they stay at home and watch television, rather than go out and waste their vote to elect an entertainer to fill what used to be the most powerful position in the world?
To say that I am disgusted that, even now, anyone would still support trump is an understatement.
39
So this nearly all white, nearly all socially conservative, nearly all working class, nearly all GOP town is still struggling.
If the white supremacists are to be believed, this place should be the garden spot of the Western Hemisphere.
The bottom line is that the capitalists on Wall Street and their vast worldwide network of shareholders...from teacher’s pension funds to multi billion dollar hedge funds just can’t figure out a modern use for the Altoona Curve and railroads in general just aren’t what they once were.
Perhaps some brilliant new candidate can convince these people that “democratic socialism” ( or whatever new name they come up with) isn’t the second coming of Joseph Stalin and that with a little itty bitty bit of socialism, like higher minimum wages, low cost college and single payer health insurance they just might get a enough financial relief to take som risks and be able to release their own small scale renaissance.
Short of building a few more warehouses along I-99 don’t expect much from the Wall Street oligarchs backing Trump.
18
Altoona, PA has been losing population steadily since the 1930s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altoona,_Pennsylvania#Demographics
Here is the US Census data:
Year Population Change
1930 82,054 36.0% (increase from 1920)
1940 80,214 −2.2%
1950 77,177 −3.8%
1960 69,407 −10.1%
1970 63,115 −9.1%
1980 57,078 −9.6%
1990 51,881 −9.1%
2000 49,523 −4.5%
2010 46,320 −6.5%
Est. 2017 44,098 −4.8%
Altoona, PA sounds just like the small towns in the "flyover states" in the Midwest, which are getting killed as their population moves away to the big cities, where the jobs and the opportunities can be found.
They all seem to be populated by people who are set in their ways, fearful of change and of people who are different from them (in appearance, in thought, in religion, in outlook on life, etc), unwilling to consider new ideas, and demanding that things stay the same as they were when those people were schoolchildren.
"Time and tide wait for no man."
People, get used to a changing world, or you will get run over.
Nobody asked these guys to state what time in the past was the time when America was great.
Maybe the reporters should consider asking people on the street who support Trump that question. The answers would be very interesting.
30
“As far as the manufacturing goes,” he (Robert Kutz) added, “none of that has come back.” Well, duh. As Trump was spouting this nonsense early in his campaign, I was taking a Sunday drive along the Ohio River. Go to Ironton, Ohio. Nothing has come back. All the vacant lots where factories once stood are still empty. Go to Portsmouth, Ohio. I haven't seen the steel mills or shoe factories return to that community. It's all gone. But Trump said he's bringing it all back. I can only feel sorry for the people who bought into Trump's empty rhetoric and only get their news from Fox News a la Mr. Beckwith. I'd suggest he, and others, consider multiple news sources and develop their own opinions rather than toting the "company line".
36
I was born in this region of PA. My immigrant father, also a tool and die maker, moved us to better opportunities near Boston jumping from factory job to better factory job.
I returned to PA often growing up and saw its decline these many years including my coal-miner uncle in Uniontown who retooled and also moved away to better opportunities. My advice to "forgotten America" is to follow the immigrants and to move where the work is. There is no god-given right to live in the middle of nowhere, where they used to have factories, and complain about Washington as the bringer of all evils.
Had I stayed in PA, doubtlessly I would be a disillusioned and underemployed youngish white male. So I'm not without sympathy. But you cannot decry government handouts and in the same breath go-on about the good old days when there used to be a lot of government pork and roads to nowhere. You end up living on the literal road to nowhere.
If Trump "told it like it is" he would tell you to move. This is a big country with a lot of opportunities, just not in Altoona.
126
Very well said! I have been saying this for years myself. I was a mechanical designer for most of my working life and seriously considered relocating when I found myself at 50 years old, laid off and without any local opportunities. I chose to stay, but reinvented myself and looked into other career options eventually finding a job where I could regain my dignity, grow professionally and financially, and stayed there until I chose to retire at 66. What I learned, and what my children learned from that experience is that we have only ourselves to rely on; you take a hit, you get up and keep trying. It is not the governments responsibility to retrain you or to provide jobs in your neighborhood.
11
@Paul Palansky - A well educated populace benefits everyone. Providing affordable education and job training is in the government's best interest.
6
@Paul Palansky
The government collects taxes to protect and improve the lives of its citizens. That includes public health and public education. It includes clean air and water. It includes maintaining infrastructure and building new when required. We are not a country of anarchists or nihilists, no matter how many fringe wingnuts Trump gins up with his hate rallies. If you really prefer no operative government, try Somalia, Nigeria, Syria et al. They don't depend on government; they steal what they need, at gunpoint. They trash schools and clinics.
1
Seems likely they will all vote for him again.
7
All I take from this is our election system is broken if the entire thing is decided by a small subset of society.
We need the popular vote. Whether or not anyone is this article reflects my opinion is beside the point... the simple fact that they are voting on my behalf is a problem. That by living in a large urban city, my vote doesn't count. It just doesn't. This article is ALL about that. Can we finally say it aloud?
26
Shows exactly the outcome of Fox News, over more than a decade, having brainwashed viewers that they are the only source for info that can be trusted. If you live in a place where FOX is part of the culture it is no surprise you think the President is doing great things and that the opposition is dishonest or lacking morals. Until the country faces up to this problem it isn't going away.
19
This is a sad commentary on the kind of (white) voter who continues to back Trump. The president has broken almost every democratic ideal and is clearly racist and dull of mind, but yet you’ve got people like the woman who loves what Trump has done but can’t provide a single example. And there’s the guy who’s thankful that he doesn’t need a dictionary when listening to Trump. Take some classes, sir, so you can understand what’s going on in the world. Study the issues.
30
Gee Mr. Zupon, I doubt Trump has “all the money in the world” because if he did he would show his tax returns. All that being said if you watched real news you would have learned all his workers Trump has stiffed throughout the years, so much for taking care of the little people.
31
I'm a Pennsylvanian, born and raised in the state in a blue collar town exactly like Altoona. These people could be my relatives.
While I have pity for them, I have to speak the truth. I grew up in an utterly and outspoken racist environment that was 'deeply religious' and pig ignorant. A lot of these people in the article speak with much indirection, but I can assure you around the dinner table they look and sound exactly like Trump. In high school, my uncles cheered the assassination of Martin Luther King at the sunday dinner table, and I got my face slapped for outspokenly disagreeing.
I'd like to quote Dick Cheney when asked whether we should negotiate with Saddam Hussein before going to war. "We don't negotiate with evil, we defeat it".
Let's look elsewhere for those 44,000 votes. How about mobilizing the 50% of voters who don't vote at all? You know, the young ones. At least the ones who believe in the future and not the rusting and rotting past.
60
@Bobby - I give you a lot of credit for being able to rise above that kind of upbringing.
21
This article is profoundly depressing. What has happened to this country?
29
What, God's name, is entertaining about cruel bullying and authoritarian behavior?
31
I grew up in this region. It's hard to explain to those who live in economically booming regions of America the sense of low grade fear and resentment that its residents harbor--feelings that the area might never again become what it once was. I feel it when I go home. No one talks about the future, just a bygone era that's now gone thanks to ________ (insert convenient boogeyman here).
I think Democrats dropped the ball in 2016 by not focusing enough on places like Altoona and its sister communities across the industrial Midwest. Our candidates need to vigorously fight the notion that we are coastal elites, because good Democratic policies--if they were allowed to be implemented--would help regions like this immensely.
We are the party of the worker. Let's make sure rural PA, rural Wisconsin, rural Michigan, and rural Ohio know that this time around.
PA elected several new Democratic members to Congress in 2018 and handily re-elected its Democratic governor. This should be easy for the Democratic presidential candidate to reclaim... if he or she focuses on its people and shows them how they will truly fight for them where Trump did not.
34
Trump loves the poorly educated, and they love him back. See the quote from the guy who is glad he doesn’t need a dictionary to understand Trump. You should WANT to use a dictionary and learn new words! And yet these people are proud of their ignorance. It’s very sad, really.
137
@Nb
I'm with you. I was going to write my own comment about mr. Zupon the anti dictionary guy, but you nailed it so I wont bother
10
Demonizing desperate and frustrated Americans who fear for their futures and see their American Dream fading like a mirage is every bit as wrong, mean spirited and morally bereft as Trump's approach to anyone who seems like an "other". While I believe that Trump is the greatest threat to this nation, unless We as Democrats can't come up with a better response than blowing these folks off as stupid, this country won't be able to turn around, much less heal.
36
@Joyce Glassman
Is promising them a future you know will never materialize any better than deamonizing them?
No one is deamonizing them. They're point out that they are their own worst enemy.
12
@Joyce Glassman - I'm sorry but fear is no excuse for bigotry, ignorance and a complete lack of civility and critical thinking.
12
@Joyce Glassman
You said it 100%
This is where today's left is failing bigly - the fact that they openly say we don't need/want there votes is crazy (both in a 3rd grade math sense - you make winning much much harder and from an inclusiveness sense - in the saddest of ironies, the people of inclusivity are actually not soo inclusive when it comes to a certain group but they make the rules so its ok!)
Only thing I would disagree with is while this is very very bad its not as equally bad as how Trump approaches the others.
5
OR, just by having an authentic candidate (like Elizabeth Warren) we might have higher turnout in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and their suburbs... and that would be enough to carry the state (and EC).
The importance of winning over Trump voters is over-emphasized.
Trump won by depressing Democrats’ turnout. If we had more turnout in WI, MI, PA (states largely ignored by Hillary’s poorly run campaign - don’t hate on me. I canvassed for her), that would have been enough.
It was silly to focus on Ohio and Florida to the exclusion of the other states that can all add up for electoral college.
Just a cities and suburbs strategy can deliver big results for Democrats (I’m not saying ignore the other parts of the state).
I AM saying that Enthusiasm and organization (mobilization) leading to higher turnout is a better strategy than trying to change minds. It’s harder to change minds of Trump voters (or change minds, period. That’s just science).
30
@Patrician Yet that strategy will mostly likely keep the Senate in Republican hands, and possibly make it difficult to hold the house. Better to expand the tent than make it smaller. Having just the WH and perhaps the House isn't enough.
@leastein
Sorry. I don’t understand your argument.
Actions that help Democrats win the state for the Presidential election completely overlap with the actions one needs to win that State’s election for Senate (Senators run statewide races).
If people across the state vote top of the ticket for president in one way, they vote for Senator in an analogous manner on Election Day.
If your argument was for the House, that would make sense. But, we know what it takes to win the House majority in 2018 and can follow the same formula local level: keep politics at local level for house seats while benefiting from anti-Trump sentiment at the top.
I AM saying expand the map: focus on states BEYOND Ohio and Florida. Not simply Ohio and Florida. I’m NOT saying forget OH and FL. But, see the number of visits Hillary made to OH and FL... compare it with those she made for WI (0), MI (1?) and PA. It was a poor strategy.
Will what I am suggesting diminish the importance of Ohio and Florida? Yes. But, it shouldn’t be as outsized as it is right now. Why should Ohio matter that much more than MI or WI? Everyone deserves time and attention.
We don’t have infinite campaigning resources. Best to devote them to cities and suburbs. But, have plans that benefit all Americans. Those are two different things: first is organization. The latter is: who we help with our policies. It’s very clear that Progressive policies (like Warren’s) benefit both urban and rural. Both red states and blue states.
2
I don't think these folks realize how expensive this 'entertainment' is. But I guess they'll have good memories as they work into their 70's.
42
@Rich. U got that wrong. Trump's policies, along with his cronies in the US Senate, will ensure that it becomes "work into their" 80s. Do I hear, 90s. You betcha!
12
@Ben Testa - Don't be silly. Once the Republicans have completely dismantled health care the life expectancy of these people is going to drop. They'll be lucky to make it to 70.
11
No one cited Trump for his polices and it is helping their community, but he's entertaining! Go to a movie if you want entertainment.
Trump supporters deserve everything that Trump gives them, empty promises, daily mendacity and nothing else. I imagine that anyone currently cover under the ACA is fortunate that the GOP decided to wait until after the 2020 election to repeal, because if they did, quite a lot of his supporters will have no health insurance as well.
53
Just curious.
Did they get better, cheaper healthcare that covers everyone?
Do they mind settling for a few dollars in tax cuts while the rich get the overwhelming majority of the benefits?
Does it bother them that the national debt has ballooned?
Did manufacturing jobs come roaring back?
Do the $11 an hour people mid that Trump & his party oppose raising the minimum wage?
Are they OK with rescinded regulations that allow polluters to contaminate our air & waters?
Just asking.
128
Don't ask.
2
Frustrating to read.
As long as people choose the 'facts and news' they adhere to, we are doomed.
There are no alternative facts. Just facts, and if we can't get that concept through then I am not sure what hope there is.
That one does not agree or like facts does not change the truth of the facts – at least it should not if people were acting rationally and logically.
25
I grew up in SW pa. The Flight 93 site is miles from my childhood home.
I love the place. It is incomparably beautiful, wild despite strip mining and ruined rivers. I had to leave, because there was no way I was ever going to fit in - I am not even that strange by comparison.
For a person who spent a childhood learning the subtle frequencies of the coded intolerance and entitlement in the "basic" views of quasi-industrialists (multiple generations working in a mass mailing place - this IS the problem), reading this article is like being in a five alarm fire.
As long as we expect America to be the best version of America from, what I guess is about 80 years ago, we will surely find ourselves behind the rest of the world.
46
These folks got Snake Oiled by a city slicker.
We understand it's hard to admit you got suckered, but it's better to cut your losses at Trump University and enroll in some good-old fashioned Democratic public policy, the kind that built the middle class from 1945 - 1980 before the Republican Robber Barons showed up and cut taxes for the rich and trashed living standards for the majority of Americans.
Don't get fooled again, Republistan, the Republican Party is nobody's friend except for the billionaire class.
A progressive income tax code, public infrastructure investment, green energy jobs, affordable universal healthcare, voting rights, representative democracy, and campaign corruption reform are what America desperately needs.
Only one party believes in those policies.
D to go forward; R for reverse.
Remember in 2020.
63
What the coffee shop owner doesn’t understand is that tRump has a proven record of showing business owners like her nothing but complete disdain. He bankrupted hundreds of businesses like hers (and mine) and refused them payment for flimsy reasons to build his fortune. She also doesn’t grasp that if he did come to Altoona, he wouldn’t even consider speaking to her, listening to her, or buying coffee from her.
And I’m glad people in Altoona think the US presidency is just another TV channel set up for their personal entertainment. Hey, if you’re bored, subscribe to Hulu or Netflix or get a library book or something. The leader of the most powerful nation on earth has far more important things to do than make you giggle. The fate of the entire world depends on that person’s intelligence, diplomacy, education and leadership. Trump has none of these skills, and it shows. So you may be enjoying your self-indulgent “diversion,” but the rest of us live in fear every day that this man could destroy this country. And take the rest of the world with him.
50
I would be interested to hear anybody from Altoona describe exactly what Donald Trump has done to make life better for them. I expect quite a few more comments like Ms. Vogel's "I don't know if I can give any specifics." .......Because there really are no specifics.
As for Mr. Beckwith's claim that he gets more truth from Fox News than anyone else.......we have to sadly acknowledge that there is no cure for proud, willful ignorance. Only those who choose to learn about the world by investigating all possible sources of information can begin to understand the issues and concerns our nation faces today. Those who stick with one source only (even the NYTimes) will never get an accurate sense of the entire picture.
39
Mr. Beckwith gets his news from Fox. “I know it is biased, but I get more truth out of their news than anyone else". "Truth" being the affirmation of his own beliefs and prejudices.
Exactly what will it take to get people like Mr. Beckwith to see outside their bubble? Nothing short of a national catastrophe, I'm afraid. Then, it will be too late.
22
It frustrates me that both parties are beating around the bush when it comes to rural voters. The GOP doesn't believe in providing gov't assistance, but they've successfully appealed to these voters by making them believe that the gov't only gets in the way of their growth or allocates all the $ to the cities, which could not be farther from the truth. The dems give them too much hope that they can bring back jobs or different jobs...let's be honest a lot of these rural areas are not coming back. There needs to be a consolidation of rural areas and assistance in helping those affected move to smaller tier cities. Altoona, for example, is 30 min from State College (home of Penn State) and 2 hours from Pittsburgh, which both have the infrastructure and talent to be a much better investment to create more opportunities for Altoonans.
11
Mr. Beckwith should listen to NPR, watch the PBS Newshour, or read The Times, Wall Street Journal or The Post for a month. The local libraries may even have the papers daily. Then turn Fox News back on. Just one month may give you the critical thinking skills to disseminate between truth and propaganda.
64
@Gripah - Agreed. My parents were Republicans but it was my father who introduced me to NPR and back then (pre Rupert Murdoch) the front page of the Wall Street Journal was required reading as soon as we entered high school.
My parents weren't well off nor were they very well educated (my mother didn't graduate high school) but they read three different newspapers and four news and business publications.
11
@Gripah agreed. The lack of critical thinking on Mr Beckwith's part is appalling. He is basically saying, I am dumb and proud of it, so there! Make America Great Again? I doubt it - not with people like him.
14
@Gripah
Literally all of those would just get classified as "mainstream liberal propaganda." There's no arguing with some people.
6
When I first emigrated to the U.S. from South Africa in 1986 I learned very quickly from Americans writ large that they had no time for fabricators, boorish behavior, hubris, bad manners and in particular lack of class and style. Staggeringly and in a nutshell all of the flaws possessed by the present occupant of the White House. The US and world is going to pay a heavy price if, heaven forbid, he is re-elected.
56
@louis10
Really? Where in this nation did you land and first, quickly, "learn" that, because by far the majority of this nation is exactly the opposite.
1
@Moehoward
Travelers enter in L.A., S.F., Oakland, Portland and Seattle on the West Coast. East Coast entries are NYC, Newark N.J., Boston. If you have never seen any of those places, my guess you are not that well traveled. My daughter stayed with a friend in Cape Town. She remembered extreme racism and a parochial attitude towards the outside world. Hopefully, that has changed now.
@Moehoward
Sorry for a comment meant for louis10.
I'm sure Democrats will take some of the blame for harassment of the President, impeachment talk although he was found innocent, frivolous lawsuits etc.
4
@Ryan
When someone, anyone, is President, EVERYTHING that person says or does is fair game for question and criticism. That's the way it is and the way it always has been. It's not harassment, and if there seems to you or anyone else to be a disproportional amount of interest or concern into this President's affairs, well, like I said, it is what it is. It's because this President brought it all on himself.
He wasn't found innocent. That's what HE said. That's what FAUX NEWZ says.
17
@Ryan he wasn't found "innocent" and you know it. The report clearly says there was not enough to prosecute. There is a difference.
20
@Ryan. From news accounts I’ve read, the Mueller report specifically says the investigation did not exonerate Mr. Trump—specifically did not find him innocent—on obstruction of justice.
1
I am always surprised that Trump supporters so easily dismiss his vulgar crassness.If their son acted that way wouldn't they have a talk with him.Treating people like he does must say something to his true character.
49
The hypocrisies of the trump voter is worse than Trump himself. How can you claim to be antiabortion but support a man who separates babies from their mothers, some of whom are so young and still being breastfed for nutrition? How can you vote for mere 'entertainment' when families are being separated at the border and this president has asked Americans to obstruct justice? I am more concerned about the Trump voter than Trump himself. They seem wholly unethical. There is no rational for voting for this man whatsoever.
84
If they're happy with what he's done they should vote for him again. But if they vote for him again, they should continue to get what they get now. But don't complain about it.
They listened to the promised "winning" during the campaign and can even be forgiven for falling for it. Now they have some actual experience. Fool me once, shame on you. But fool me twice, shame on me.
24
I have as much contempt for Trump as any human being alive, but it pains me to see all the people in this comment thread referring to the people in this article as morons or Neanderthals. How exactly is that supposed to attract voters back into the Democratic fold? Up until I moved to LA three years ago, I'd lived my entire life in the Southeast, and if a candidate came out here calling people from Georgia goobers or idiots, I wouldn't give that person the time of day regardless of what he/she was running for.
I fully recognize that many Trump voters were motivated by racial animus in 2016 (no matter how much the media tries to push the "economic anxiety" line), and I don't believe that the Dems should completely abandon their outreach to people of color in an effort to chase the working-class white vote. But "You're stupid" isn't a line we should be aiming at ANY potential voters. If that's the primary weapon in our campaign arsenal, we're going to lose again, and we deserve to.
31
@Doug Gillett
Thank you for this enlightened well written comment. I was thinking along the same lines. I live in Northeast Pa and find many comments here offensive and superior in tone. I just wonder if their writers expect us to believe they have something to offer to those they deem inferior.
This article, like others I’ve seen in the NYT and elsewhere is partly responsible for creating the image of ignorant low class people who live in places like Altoona, and PA is a favorite target. If they had the ambition to dig a little deeper and cast a wider net to determine the zeitgeist, they might learn something more defining.
9
The people in this article hate us too. You do realize they say even worse about us?
4
I think that the "truth" Mr. Beckwith receives from Fox News is at the heart of the problem with many of the people in our country. He says he knows the network is biased, but he gets his "truth" from watching their programs. Indeed he does, and what is that? A "truth" that defies factual reality, a "truth" that confirms his fears, a "truth" that further divides us into camps of us against them. He is the perfect Trump voter, and Democrats will never win over people like him. Sure, any Democratic candidate should speak to Mr. Beckwith and his fellows and tell them that he or she will be a President for all of us, but he or she should do so knowing full well that people like this are out of range, beyond the reach of a reasonable call to participate without hatred, fear, and rancor.
122
@Stephen Holland
Seems that "truth" for Mr. Beckwith is what he agrees with.
17
@Stephen Holland
This is true for any news organization, including NYT, and their readers. They choose the outlet that best enforces the views they already have.
The internet has only made this easier to live inside your own safe news/editorial bubble.
3
Lots of $11/hr jobs because we have plenty of illegal immigrants willing to work at that rate.... it’s simple labor force supply and demand: Econ 101.
If we forced employers to check the validity of social security numbers against taxable wage garnishments and offered tax deductions for small businesses that refuse to pay employees in under-the-table cash, we would make it economically impossible for illegal immigrants to find jobs and probably raise tax revenue in the process... win-win-win.
“You can come here but you can’t work here” should be the message.
THERE SHOULD BE NO $11/HR WAGES IN THIS ECONOMY. Goods and services should cost more, labor should cost more....
9
@Tom
Good Point!
4
@Tom
I’ve lived in PA for the past 24 years. The number of illegal immigrants living in the middle of the state is probably relatively small. In fact, a recent visit to Bedford, PA a mere 39 miles south of Altoona pretty much convinced me that remaining and new local businesses are doing all they can to hire local workers.
And perhaps you could speak to the current occupant of the White House about how to check SSNs and green cards. He seems to have run several businesses with undocumented workers for years.
22
@Tom
"THERE SHOULD BE NO $11/HR WAGES IN THIS ECONOMY. "
Then vote Democratic from President to dogcatcher! The GOP is against increasing the minimum wage, against extending Medicare, against Social Security unless it's privatized, all the things that help people like the Altoonans.
He may be entertaining to some, but he has no sense of humor, and he's done nothing for these people.
Barack Obama cut taxes on the middle class and extended healthcare to millions of people, many of them white and from rural areas.
9
I have lived in PA most of my life. This is most definitely the classic swing state. And Biden -- we call him "Our Joe" -- is popular here. His entry into the Dem race is an important turn of events.
11
Somebody needs to remind Mr Beckwith that his tax cut expires in 3 years. The corporate ones are permanent.
74
Ms Vogel just knows that President Trump is doing what he can for rural areas even if she can’t name a thing.
These people just know what they know and ignore the fact that this administration has no policy or plans that don’t enrich themselves.
35
“Another thing I like about President Trump: He doesn’t use language that you have to get a dictionary to understand,” he said. “That’s kind of enjoyable coming from a president of the United States.”
There you have it, folks: the logical result of the dumbing down of America at the hands of Republicans. They want small words and entertainment.
164
The war on education in full swing- demands to dumb everything down, demonizing “intellectuals”, punishing and blaming those with student loans, generally discouraging getting an education.
30
@Jim Anderson
Oh, the old "them educated folks look down on us using words we don't understand" thing.
Wouldn't Altoonans want someone smarter than themselves as President?????
14
@Laume
exactly! When I was in high school in the late 1960s we had Civics and "Problems of Democracy" (that was a course that seniors took) -- in Pennsylvania.
But don't worry, Betsy DeVos is on the case! Public money for religious schools. So we will have pious and obedient hard working paupers Ruled over by the Trumps and the Kochs.. the Republican dream society.
17
Ms. Vogel, who is "fervently anti-abortion" indicates that is a very strong reason she voted for trump.
Mr. Beckwith who gets his "news" exclusively from Fox, both on television and radio on the week ends states "not a one" of his family members will vote for anyone other than trump. He says he got a tax break. Does he realize he's going to have to pay it back in spades in a few yrs? No.
Ms. Vogel puts the importance of making life/health economic well being decisions for others over minding her own business - literally and figuratively.
This has gone on for forty yrs., and it continues. They're angry and frustrated that their circumstances have deteriorated. Yet they keep buying into the cultural issues and propaganda, blind to the fact that they're voting for people who have not, do not and will not ever help them.
They are fed lies from trump, Fox, and refuse to even consider these sources are simply using them to generate $$$, political power and feed the mighty egos of the Hannity, Ingraham, Limbaugh, Levin, Gingrich and others who laugh all the way to the bank at how gullible these people are.
I used to try to help, to understand, to be patient and be respectful and sympathetic to their feelings and viewpoints.
No more. Stubbornness and willful ignorance has its price.
83
More insidious than lying Trump is FOX. If this is all his voters will watch and listen to they are lost to the rest of the country. They really are living in an alternate universe. How do we get them back will be a problem Dems will have to solve.
18
Well Sarah,if you can't give any specifics how our corrupt[see the Mueller report]president is helping small business, then I suspect he's not.And to those who like his "blunt" style entertaining, it's hard for me to find 9500 lies and counting amusing at all.A huge tax cut for corp. and the 1% paid by people with no disposable income is really hilarious,doncha think??
40
The unspoken behind many rural voters' support of Trump is racism.
45
@Taz
And evangelicals. Is there any other explanation?
5
@Taz
Its extremely saddening to hear this and points to the blindness of many on the left to the needs of middle-America. If you think 47% of America is racist, I'm sorry but we clearly have a misunderstanding of basic statistics fundamentals.
Besides that, there are so many reasons why someone would vote for Trump over.... sorry whose you're representative? Looks like you're from NYC so AOC?
Not everywhere is modeled after New York and you represent an incredibly small minority in America. Your model is not applicable to us and is un-electable on this basis.
1
@Tom
Is there another Tom DeLay in the wings? I hope not. Your younger candidates look pretty good. AOC worked her way through college; she has a degree in economics. I think she has a solid base in the Bronx where she grew up. Perhaps TX is immune to economic forces. Lucky you.
He didn’t win Altoona because the voters thought he’d be different; that he’d fulfill their needs. He won Altoona because it’s residents were easily manipulated by Russian influences. So, really they got exactly what they were manipulated into voting for: an emperor with no clothes and bad credit. Here’s hoping they use their brains in 2020 instead of their internet “media”.
25
“There is no federal program to help businesses like ours to reshore our jobs,” said Tera Herman, the company vice president.
... What about the massive corporate tax cut? Not enough?
You want more corporate welfare?
What about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps? Better yet - let's spend the money on retraining, or debt reduction, or healthcare for the "forgotten workers"
22
This. This comment section right here is why Trump may win again. Nothing, I repeat NOTHING (including Trump doing nothing at all for these areas) alienates these voters more than people from highly urban areas judging them harshly and with more than a little derision. So what if he didn't change anything? The areas in discussion have been dying for a long time anyway under both democrats and republicans. Change never trickles to our parts of the country - regardless of who is in office. Please bear in mind that I say this as a liberal millennial democrat. It's entirely possible that it won't be candidates at all but their voters who turn off potential democratic voters in these areas. The comments here are denigrating and disgusting.
7
@Lauren Not to worry. They don't read the NY Times. But I agree that in our personal interactions with the Trump people we need to be a bit more careful in how we phrase things. And I say that knowing full well that they are not at all careful about how they phrase things to us; but in the words of a wise person, "take the high road"
10
@Lauren
Then what is the right way to approach these voters who seem to be motivated by spite as much as anything else ?
They don't seem to appreciate the public policy that might actually help them - healthcare, safety net, environmental protection, progressive tax code.
They would benefit from green energy jobs, better healthcare and higher taxes on the rich, but it's their spite that seems to get their vote.
Not much a rational candidate can do with such mixed up people.
17
So how many of these Fox watching folks that like the Prez cause he doesn't use big words are reading the New York Times AND the comment section? I'm going to hazard a guess: None. Our secret venting is safe from people that vote because of Abortion, the hot button issue that is going to save our safety in the world, our jobs, our healthcare, our future, our planet....Not!
9
Have any of these 'pro-life' anti-abortionists thought about the ongoing manmade-fossil-fuel abortion of the Earth's climate and fragile ecosystem that sustains not only all human life, but the life of the millions of other species ?
If they only knew the damage they were doing to the earth and their surroundings by supporting the Gas Oil Pollution party that repeatedly rapes the air, water and soil for profit.
Some people simply cannot be reached.
Pachyderm Spongiform Encephalopathy is a terrible American pandemic.
128
Can't the folks who support Trump for his "entertainment" value watch cat videos on You Tube instead? People's lives are hanging in the balance, as is the future of our democracy.
43
Trump the very flawed egocentric narcissist will be the image that evn the most conservative voter will have to face in 2020. Trump the reality will be out there in the public domain. Middle class voters will have to face that, He may have gotten a few conservative justices appointed to courts, but what else has he done to help working class Americans? If the Democrats put forward a progressive supporter of the middle class, a fighter for "real" universal health care for all at affordable cost, and quality higher education for all regardless of family income, and affordable quality housing and all the other things most Americans aspire to----If the Democrats stick to the bread and butter issues, then Trump will be toast. He has failed to produce much in his first half-term in office, He can't continue to promise and not deliver. Even the most gullible of Trump voters will realize that the man is all talk (or Tweet) but can' deliver what he promises.
8
Reading this article was a thoroughly depressing exercise...
“Another thing I like about President Trump: He doesn’t use language that you have to get a dictionary to understand,”
Mr. Beckwith gets his news from Fox. “I know it is biased, but I get more truth out of their news than anyone else,”
John Stultz, a local real estate agent, also finds Mr. Trump entertaining. Some nights he says to his wife, “I’m going home to watch the national news tonight to see what he said.”
13
Depressing portrait of people clinging to a past that couldn’t sustain itself. I can’t imagine many kids who leave for college ever return.
107
Yes. As each generation of the best and brightest leave for college never to return, these areas experience a constant "brain drain" which only reinforces their worst tendencies.
6
“...which some of them see as a form of entertainment.’
Seriously? We’re talking about governance and leadership. If you want entertainment, go to a movie.
So this is what it’s come to.
105
I think"entertainment value" is an important part of every Trump voter's decision matrix.
2
The truth is, it is American business leaders that took away the manufacturing jobs and preventing the jobs from coming back. The towns like Altoona will disappear sooner or later because of lack of knowledge in a knowledge economy.
37
The sooner the better. That will mean fewer Trump Republicans voting in future elections.
13
This story and it's people can be repeated in just about every town in PA, OH, IL, NO, GA, NC, SC, AL, MS, TN, KY, etc. etc.
That's why someone like Joe Biden is needed, towns like Altoona trust him. And these rural areas are the roadmap to follow for a Democratic victory in 2020.
22
He should run as a republican than.
2
@Mathias
Even as a Republican, Biden would be infinitely better than Trump.
When you vote, please realize that only two candidates have any chance of being elected, the D and the R.
Perot got 19% of the popular vote in 1992 and ZERO Electoral College votes. Look it up.
Look at what happened in 2016:
Trump won EACH of PA, MI and WI by fewer votes than were cast for EITHER of Gary Johnson (Libertarian) or Jill Stein (Green) in the respective state.
I wonder how many "Libertarian" or "Green" voters are happy with that outcome, and would ask for a "mulligan" if they knew that a total incompetent like Trump was going to be our "FEARLESS LEADER."
2
"Mr. Trump was the plain-spoken truth teller Mr. Zupon wanted to see shake up Washington."
trump may be plain-spoken but as of March 17, 787 days in office, the tally of lies & misleading statements is 9,014. (WP)
It's disheartening that some see him as entertainment.
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James Carville made the single, most cogent observation about Pennsylvania politics when he opined that, "Pennsylvania has Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and in between it is Alabama." And I say this as someone who once lived for a dozen years in Central Pennsylvania.
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@Jason Shapiro
He's 100% right on the money on that one.
23
@Jason Shapiro I have long-time formed from Philadelphia. They derisively refer to people who live outside of the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas as Pennsyltucky.
17
I tell people I live in Philadelphia, not Pennsylvania.
19
Sarah Vogel's strong opposition to abortion will weigh heavily in her decision. ... Those who want laws enacted to affect people who make choices they're offended by should seriously evaluate their own demons and mind their own business. The arguments for banning abortion says volumes more about their need for control over others than any rhetorical rationale they can provide to support their stance. The government has no place interfering in our private medical decisions -- especially when legislating from a position of ignorance.
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@SilentEcho
I am in favor of most abortion rights. Like a lot of Americans, I draw the line at unlimited late term abortion on demand.
I seriously doubt that Sarah Vogel's anti-abortion stance has anything at all to do with a "need for control over others." There are millions of Americans that consider abortion as taking a life. I happen to disagree--- until proven wrong---but I respect their opinion.
7
@Concernicus - I find abortion abhorrent so it's important to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Democrats are the only ones whose policies decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies and therefore the number of abortions and statistics prove it.
20
@Concernicus I'm inclined to agree with you about their anti-choice views, but it seems to ultimately come down to their need to control other people's lives.
6
Reading the stories about the people in this article and it's what i thought all along - Trump supporters are akin to a CULT...They believe everything Trump says, they only watch a truth deficient partsain network (FOX), and they remain oblivious to the fact that Mr Trump has laughed at blue collar and poor people his entire life...
The 2016 election made me totally understand how evangelical preachers who beg for money in exchange for your salvation are able to pull off their stunts....When you have a cult like following, you tell your people to jump, and they reply "How high"?...
198
Glad some who voted for Trump in Pa are beginning to think for themselves and realize he is simply a grifter. Talks a good game but accomplishes nothing, not because of Democratic opposition but because he is simply incompetent and ignorant. As for working class people? He uses them bus not taken one concrete step to generate realistic jobs for them. It’s all Trumpian rhetoric to him. He means absolutely none of it. As for those that support him for entertainment value, I have never heard of anyone less deserving of their right to vote.
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Robert K. Kutz, the president of a local labor council, put it more bluntly. He said some union members who voted for Mr. Trump were starting “to realize that the promises came up empty” and will vote against him in 2020.
“As far as the manufacturing goes,” he added, “none of that has come back.”
Hello! You folks actually thought that a well-known con man (Trump University, 6 bankruptcies, and a lot more) was giving you the "straight dope"?
Some of you like him as a form of "entertainment"?
What a collection of misbegotten rubes. Yeah, a "basket of deplorables" is about right.
Make a better selection in 2020, if you can wrap your heads around the concept of "better."
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@Joe From Boston
Not only are those "manufacturing" jobs gone, they're NEVER coming back. And I emphasize NEVER.
So, when a politician, Trump or otherwise, suggest or implies or leads you to believe that they will get them back, a bell should go off in your easily-misled head: DING - This guy is blowing smoke.
34
@Moehoward
A bell like that goes off in my head a lot. I call it question everything before you decide what you believe
1
@Moehoward Candidate Hillary Clinton in fact stepped up and told coal country the truth: coal is on its way out, and it’s not coming back. Former coal workers are going to need to retrain for new jobs in a new economy—and Clinton affirmed our government’s responsibility to help them with that transition.
For her truthfulness, she got misquoted by the press—who omitted the part about helping coal country workers—and decimated in coal country at the ballot box.
2
It's really difficult to read about these people supporting a treacherous clown like Donald Trump while at THE SAME TIME being hurt by his actions. No, he's not "doing what he can" for you. No, he's not "entertainment." He couldn't care less about you. In fact, he almost certainly looks down on you. Wake up.
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@nectargirl I find this somewhat patronizing. Dems have not done much for the industrial wasteland. While Trump has not done much, he at least talks about it.
Which actions are hurting the heartland? Whether you are talking about tax breaks for the wealthy, or something else hurting the heartland, I have not heard this well articulated by many Democrats.
Dems should work on their messaging.
7
@nectargirl. He doesn't look down on them, he never thinks about them at all.
12
@Patriot
I'm just a citizen, not all "Dems," nor do I claim to speak for the Democratic Party. How is what I said patronizing?
Tariffs are hurting the heartland. Trump's lies (what you mean when you say he 'talks' about it?) and white supremacist rhetoric are hurting the heartland. Anything that hurts the country is hurting the heartland. Climate change denial, the growing gap between the ultrarich and the rest of us, dangerous naivete on the global stage, kowtowing to Putin...it all hurts all of us, including the heartland. The long-term damage is unfathomable.
Trump has never in his life cared at all about anyone else, much less a poor or working class person, who he views as beneath him. Familiarize yourself with his biography. No person of conscience could or should ever have voted for him.
34
I grew up in Altoona in the ‘50’s, joined the Navy, saw the world and after a brief return during community college and later to assist my parents, left and seldom looked back. A sad town with few attractive areas and no trace of rush hours.
Unfortunate, since the area has beautiful surroundings, numerous recreational opportunities and fundamentally decent people. Tragically, reverse Darwinism prevails and other than health care jobs for the aging population, few opportunities for young professionals or skilled labor exist.
Still visit once in a while and hope someone will reply and tell me how wrong some of my observations are...
50
With all due respect to Mr. Beckwith who says he gets his news from FOX and, despite its bias, believes he gets more “truth” from FOX than other sources, every survey and study shows that FOX news viewers are the worst informed demographic.
I also wish the people interviewed had been asked if they are fine with the facts, as found by the Mueller Report, that Trump and has campaign were aware of election interference in his favor by Putin and Russian intelligence, did not report it to the FBI, and thus welcomed help from a hostile foreign power. Are they happy that Russia, with the intent of destabilizing our democracy, selected Trump as its favored president? Are they not concerned that Trump usually denies the truth of what our intelligence services and those of our allies state, so he can support policies and beliefs that benefit Russia, not us?
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@J. They're not concerned, because Trump (and his sycophants at Fox "News") tell them not to believe it.
15
They would rather support a Russian propaganda machine that agrees with them than vote liberal. Funny how they like Biden.
Nice plug for a republican lite candidate.
5
@J. As somebody who grew up in a town just like Altoona in NE PA, I can tell you that no, they aren't really concerned if Russia aided Trump. In fact if you told them that Putin wrote a check for a million bucks to the Trump campaign they would remark upon how smart it was for Putin to do that.
Let's not forget that over and over during the campaign Trump made statements like "Do we have to be enemies with Russia? can't we be friends?"
They are clueless about the threat to democracy that this raises.
Sad. For all of us.
8
I wish the people in Altoona, and other places, who are genuinely concerned about re-electing Donald Trump all the best. They do seem to be struggling with Trump and I appreciate that.
The Trump supporters, in this article at least, who will support Trump no matter what seems to be Fox News watchers and those who get some weird pleasure out of owning the libs. No surprise there.
Women who support Trump because he says he wants to take away their reproductive rights confuse me, but I don't think they believe *their* rights will be taken away, just the rights of other women.
But the people who voted for Obama, twice, and then for Trump I truly don't understand. They could have chosen McCain or Romney, whose generic Republican politics line up much better with Trump. What did Obama offer, twice, that lines up so well with Trump? I see the two as polar opposites but these voters must have seen something.
Trump doesn't use 25-cent words but he's created a constitutional crisis. Surely the voters in Altoona didn't want that. What did they think would happen?
34
@M
The people you reference could have supported McCain, Romney, Rubio, or a host of other republican primary candidates. Trump won.
The voters were faced with a choice. The contemptible Clinton or the horrible Trump. Fed up---they chose Trump.
1
@Concernicus - I wasn't a big Hillary fan but she actually cared about the environment and affordable health care, issues that will literally hit these people where they live.
7
@M. Actually the voters of Pa. have very little choice of who the candidates will be after the primaries are over. Our primary election is held in the third week in April. Generally, by that time the candidates for both parties have been selected. That was the case in 2016.
Trump was the nominee of his party before we ever held our primary. Clinton won something like 65% of the Democratic vote in Pa in 2008 but it did her little good since she would not have been able to win more delegates than Obama in the few remaining primaries.
As a result of the frustrating primary situation I certainly have the feeling that my vote counts for nothing and I don’t pay as much attention as I should to the candidates and their platforms.
The photo of the Juniata Works in the article is a photo of the place where my uncle and grandfather worked. Altoona is known for the Horseshoe Curve, the place where Obama spent an evening bowling gutterballa while Hillary sampled boilermakers, possibly either at the Unter Uns with the German Americans, or the Buccinese Society with the Italians. Altoona is not known as a place that ever votes for Democrats. Even without the Altoona vote Pa. electoral votes have gone to the Democratic candidate in the six elections between Dukakis and Hillary Clinton.
1
'“He’s doing what he can to help small businesses and rural areas,” she said. “I don’t know if I can give any specifics.”'
I'm not sure anyone can.
'Mr. Beckwith gets his news from Fox. “I know it is biased, but I get more truth out of their news than anyone else,” he said. “And it’s on my radio. On the weekends, it’s on. I won’t watch NBC or CBS anymore.” He said no one in his family, “not a one,” will vote for anyone other than Mr. Trump.'
Well, this one speaks for itself.
166
The very first voter quote containing "I don't know if I can give any specifics" after saying Trump is helping her really illustrates the ignorance of the Trump voter.
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@Matt
That quote was very telling.
They can’t seem to ever give any specifics.
That should give them pause.
4
@Matt
That quote floored me, too. Then I realized: Is this "the ignorance of the Trump voter" or is it the AWAKENING of the Trump voter? There's a big difference.
3
A Republican county chairman states "There is not a lot of disposable income at $11 an hour".
Mr totally out of touch Chairman, do the math, there is no disposable income at that hourly wage.
Why on earth do decent hard working Americans, that earn $11 an hour, vote for these people?
84
@Heidi
Mr Chairman,
Unskilled factory workers made $11 an hour in 1975.
That this wage hasn't changed, doesn't that tell you something?
50
@Heidi
They do not have time nor education on their side. It has been hard for them to do anything but crash and turn on garbage TV when they return home from working two and three jobs. It is a vicious cycle when you are poor and largely forgotten. To say nothing of the loss of hope they live with.
9
@GGram - Neither of my parents were well educated. My father worked seven days a week. Both my parents read everything they could get their hands on and that included multiple newspapers.
10
Silvio Berlusconi, three time Prime Minister of Italy between 1994 and 2011, ruled as a rascal and a rogue. Italian voters, never seeming to tire of his shenanigans, kept putting him back in office more for his entertainment value than his governing skills. Outrageous clownishness would seem to be a successful political strategy, assuring, as it does, daily headlines for the clown in question.
43
@Reed Erskine
Trump makes Berlusconi look like an angel.
6
@Reed Erskine Good analysis. Silver lining: his clownish behaviour appears to diminish his power. That was shown by a Republican legislature stopping any action other than a tax cut. And the Mueller report mostly serves as a public service announcement telling everyone in the White House to ignore the president's illegal requests. If he wins another term, which I hope he doesn't, he could wind up bleeding control as the legislative branch starts asserting its constitutional powers more aggressively.
3
And didn't they vote in a blonde porn star for her entertainment value?
It's like Italy figured why not be entertained if they're not gonna do anything for us. Well here we are, same boat.
3
Depressing to think a trump supporter believes trump has helped small business and rural areas but can’t really think of any examples, yet she will vote for him again. Even more depressing to know trump supporters find him “entertaining” enough to vote for him again. Depressing to know that a trump supporter gets all his news from Fox, which he calls biased and truthful in the same sentence.
126
When they are in the receiving end they won’t like it at all.
4
You mean tax cuts for the rich and putting babies in cages aren't really improving their lives? Who knew?
118
Many people have found out the boast Trump made when he was nominated that he was the only one that could "fix" everything was devoid of any fact or skill. In the three years since Trump took office he has fixed nothing. "Entertainment value" has nothing to do with people who are worried about tomorrow.
118
@John
And the sad thing is, the 77% increase in the National Debt since he took office is going to have a big effect on these people.
66
@GGram
They have no idea of the level of self harm they visited upon themselves and the rest of the working class Americans who didn't vote for Individual 1. The crushing debt level will never be felt by the 1% that it was in service of.
18