A lot of Trump supporters are frightened because they think their days of coasting on white mediocrity are coming to an end. And they're right.
26
Don't these people see how they're damaging our nation, their religion, and the value of truth and decency?
Don't they care? How can they not care?
I just don't get it, and I never will.
22
These are the same ones that will give #45 a second term and would like to see him have a third one as well. These people are afraid of the future. Some are still sorry the South lost in 1860-1865.
Please vote. Please!
20
It's all just so sad isn't it?
15
Trumps recent political rallies resemble old fashioned tent revivals, thus the affinity for a guy how plays golf on Sunday morning. Papering over the real Trump as Ralph Reed and Jerry Falwell do, reveals the devil's bargain. Give us Gorsuch and Kavanaugh and all is forgiven.
10
You say he doesn't condescend to them?? Please, that's exactly what he does constantly. It's pandering to the lowest common denominator nonstop. Prior to running for president, Trump said that if he were to run he'd have to do it as a Republican because they were "so stupid they would believe anything." The con is a constant with this man, a film-flam artist and cult leader. He has successfully sold these people on the idea that he will preserve the primacy of their white Christian culture in the face of a diversifying nation and that is really what it boils down to, and why they have bonded to him in defiance of any facts or disqualifying evidence.
26
@Michele That quote you reference in your comment has been deemed to be false. I know it was popular story when the 2016 election was ramping up, but just wanted to jump in to say it's not true: https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/10/politics/trump-quote-facebook-trnd/index....
A "religion" whose leaders tell their flock it would be a sin not to vote for Donald Trump is not a religion at all. It is a political movement trying to grab power first and foremost. These so-called Bible Belt churches should be disqualified from charity exemptions. They are not charitable in the least.
25
“The mistrust of the national news media runs deep. Headlines that have dominated the national news, such as a payment Mr. Trump directed to silence an adult-film actress who alleged he had an affair with her, have been viewed suspiciously, or even batted away."
I think this also explains why the story of the Trump family possibly defrauding the IRS out of millions in taxes seems to have had little reaction.
9
The evangelical community has has traded its Bible-based beliefs for a showman- businessman who just wants their votes; he does not want their religion because the religion of Don Trump is Don Trump.
10
“The mistrust of the national news media runs deep. Headlines that have dominated the national news, such as a payment Mr. Trump directed to silence an adult-film actress who alleged he had an affair with her, have been viewed suspiciously, or even batted away.
“’Nonsense,’ Lisa McCarter, 58, said from her front-row seat in the stands at the Landers Center in Southaven, Miss.”
Each Trump rally attendee is an exemplar of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
9
I have had it with their lies and down right ignorance.
I have heard repeatedly that I am supposed to channel the anger of the all important Trump voter, how about someone on the other side channeling my anger at having another presidency stolen after a Supreme Court justice was stolen form Obama.
What about my anger at having a true American hero and a great leader vilified to the point that people chant, “Lock her up!”
What about my anger at having to deal with the consequences of a sexist lying pig in the White House?
What about my anger about having the US look like a bunch of fools who refuse to believe in science?
What about my anger at the people who consistently vote against their own best economic and social interests?
What about my anger at having a president pick trade wars with our allies and elevate petty dictators and oligarchs?
What about my anger at having a traitor for a president?
What about my anger at having a Republican Party that places victory and partisanship above everything?
What about me and my anger?
19
" Beware of false prophets, which come yo you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
14
Trump supporters including the white Christian right believed his Birther lies. Such Trump supporters make excuses for his obscene behavior as a sexual groper of women and his thousands of overt lies. Trump supporters have been conditioned by years of hate radio and Fox News propaganda to reject facts in favor of hate: all of their woes are caused by immigrants, people of color and the liberal elite. There is no way to convince these hardcore Trump supporters that he has nothing but contempt for them and will continue to rob them as he has robbed students, workers, tradesmen, and his own investors all of his life.
We cannot count on these "Bible Belters" (what a hypocritical label) to restore decency to our government. We, the majority of Americans, must outvote them across the land and remove the Republican menace from our government.
Get out the vote: November 6th!!
16
any body sports Trump is against every think America build and believe
1
"One of us"? These self righteous, biblical, Tammy Fay, Osteen hypocrites wouldn't know Jesus if he walked among them.
17
" He's one of us". Of course he is. Study after study has shown that the main motivators for Trump voters were bigotry, fear and xenophobia. "He's one of us". Most assuredly. Spouting pious religious platitudes while living a life not within light-years of that espoused by their so-called redeemer is almost a proverb among evangelicals (no pun intended). "He's one of us". No doubt. I'm sure there are lots of folks at those rallies that were making $200,000 a year when they were three years old. "He's one of us". Dear lord, may I never be in a group that can make that claim about someone like Donald Trump.
11
As a transplanted southerner, I wish I could make these "folks" believe that no Yankee, least of all Trump, will ever think of white southerners as anything but ignorant rubes. I got treated like some kind of exotic character who walked off the set of Gone with the Wind until I gave up and started talking like Dan Rather. The blue state liberals in agony over Trump's rise are for the most part blind to how rudely they treat people with southern accents who don't share their cultural interests. It's driven the south into the arms of our President, who at least bothers to get on a plane and go see them. He enjoys it because it feeds his ego, but at least he goes. Some of the Dem candidates booking trips to Iowa need to think about booking trips to Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Dallas. As their disgraced cultural icon Mr. Allen said, half of life is showing up.
2
“I don’t really look at him as a politician,” he said. “Even now, I look at him as just one of us. He doesn’t act like he’s above you, as a person.”
Put simply, this person is delusional. I cannot believe we live in the same country. I cannot wait to vote next month. In fact, I'm voting early.
5
@AnthonyTHANK YOU, Anthony!!
From a former Hoosier who lives among these southern “people “
Just an editing adjustment, in the name of truthful accuracy: Everytime the word "Evangelical" is used for these passionate Trump supporters, the word "hypocritical" must appear before it!
One of them just told me yesterday when I asked about Trump's untruthfulness: "He's not lying, He just exaggerates a bit!"
8
This should surprise no one. When as a presidential candidate, Donald Trump was openly embraced and endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacist groups, the light should have gone off in everyone's head that after positioning himself as the champion and saviour of (white) working-class folks, they would ultimately claim him as one of their own.
This is not winning.
WAKE-UP, America.
7
Am I the only one thinking maybe it's time for the ' evil liberal elites' up north to cut our losses, unite, and secede from the Union? Let the racist, mysoginists enjoy the bliss of their ignorance without the ability to use our tax dollars to bail them out from the realities of climate change and, environmental pollution. 26 once in 500 year events in 10 years and still claiming science is a hoax. I'm tired of being the villain in the their collective delusion. The struggle is real and the future cant be salvaged with catchy slogans and empty compliments.
32
@wcdessertgirl
it would benefit us more to push the red states of the union and let them fend for themselves.
10
It is as the story stated, outside of cities and suburbs. I live in rural Pa., and this might as well be Jonesboro Tenn. I recommend a prisoner swap, we take those who want out of the “funhouse”, and give those who want entrance into that house.
7
I couldn’t agree more.
I have had it with their lies and down right ignorance.
I have heard repeatedly that I am supposed to channel the anger of the all important Trump voter, how about someone on the other side channeling my anger at having another presidency stolen after a Supreme Court justice was stolen form Obama.
What about my anger at having to deal with the consequences of a sexist lying pig in the White House?
What about my anger about having the US look like a bunch of fools who refuse to believe in science?
What about my anger at the people who consistently vote against their own best economic and social interests?
What about my anger at having a president pick trade wars with our allies and elevate petty dictators and oligarchs?
What about my anger at having a traitor for president.
I’m with you. I say get the hacksaw and start cutting, a union with people who support Trump and his ilk, isn’t one I want at all.
5
Support for Trump is linked to blatant racism and politcal power for the Christian right. Everything else is a cover act.
24
If one good thing comes out of this (so far) unmitigated disaster, then it will have been unmasking the stark hypocrisy which likes at the root of the "evangelical" movement, where the word "sinner" actually translates to "someone who's not just like me".
Put another way -- if Trump is one of "you", then ask yourself if Trump is the kind of person of whom Christ would approve. And we all know the answer to that.
16
I hate to be pedantic, but Maryland is below the Mason-Dixon Line, thus technically making it a Southern state, and we overwhelmingly went for Clinton in 2016.
11
True, I used to live in Md., and most from Md. would fight you tooth and nail on this. I got into an argument with a local High School History Teacher and that and slavery in Md.
MEMO:
FROM: The Lord
TO: The Bible Belt
RE: Donald Trump
"Thou shalt not bear false witness." NO exceptions.
26
I've heard it before: dumb Southerner. At my midwestern university, when I was told I wouldn't succeed there like I did in the South--but graduated cum laude. When my son transferred to a northern middle school--but he graduated from a prestigious New England university with two bachelor's degree and was cum laude--and then became an attorney.
Trump is just repeating what he has heard, not surprising since he's probably never had an original thought. It doesn't make him right, but it does make him look like the jerk he is.
8
Another example of this president's divisive use of 'Us vs. Them' at its best -- this may work for TV ratings, but it's no way to run a country.
10
They like Trump because he is a fighter, he has kept his promises (or at least sells that very well), the economy is strong, and he communicates in a language they understand. You can wring your hands all you like, but in my opinion, the other side should be taking notes!
3
@DALE1102 - Trump rants incoherently and he has the vocabulary of a ten year old.
He's in the process of trashing the sound economy President Obama left him. Pay attention.
3
@DALE1102
Oh please... "communicates in a language they can understand??" That's not a good thing considering how ignorant Mr. Trump sounds every time he opens his mouth. I'm not wringing my hands. I'm voting.
3
This Bible-belt born and raised ex-southerner understands all too well the affinity some southerners -- particularly older, particularly "Christian" identifying -- feel for President Trump. It is because Trump is fluent in the dialect of the fake Christian -- a language that southerners (many but not all) have been taught to speak since infancy. Trump instinctively knows the value of our vernacular: employ it effectively and one can feel good about engaging in all manner of un-Christ like behaviors.
34
“I don’t really look at him as a politician,” he said. “Even now, I look at him as just one of us. He doesn’t act like he’s above you, as a person.”
Comments like this absolutely mystify me. I simply cannot understand how people come to a conclusion like this.
19
Southern voters may believe he doesn’t “condescend” them, but then most people don’t believe they are being conned until after the fact, and then it’s too late. It’s why a majority of voters in New York, New Jersey, and in Donald Trump’s own district did not vote for him.
Trump supporters will find out the hard way, but unfortunately so will others. Trump eliminated The Clean Streams Act, which prevented coal companies from dumping toxic refuse into mountain streams. It’s the surrounding communities that eventually will suffer the consequences causing serious health disorders, The increase in mountain top mining will increase heart conditions, cancers, respiratory problems, stillbirths, etc., and what does Trump do? He wants to eliminate health care, or sell cheap policies which exclude pre-existing conditions.
The same with his tax cuts? The government will need to continue to operate but thanks to Trumps feckless tax cuts the question will be: defense funding or Medicare and Social Security? The most needy will certainly find out.
In the meantime, climate change worsens, FEMA is running out of money, the Panhandle waits for water and electricity to be restored, Trump supporters proudly wear their MAGA hats, sometime, in the not too distant future they will learn just how badly they’ve been conned. But in sum, it’s not his supporters who are directly responsible, it’s Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, for they certainly knew better.
24
Hear, hear!
How many articles can you write about the same thing. We all get it they love Trump, we get it. What about the rest of us? People talk about the Liberal media, looks pretty Right leaning to me the majority of the time. Don't see anyone asking Black women how they feel or why they vote the way they do. No, because the Media doesn't see us as individuals. Ms. Haberman why don't you get out of comfort zone & do some real reporting.
18
@Paula Excellent point!
1
In 18th Century England, folks we associate with fundamentalist sects were regarded as victims of "Religious Enthusiasm." A feature of religious excess that had caused a century of incredibly destructive religious warfare in the previous century. The Enlightenment that led to our founding fathers and the creation of the US Constitution, was dedicated to avoiding the worst consequences of religious enthusiasm in public life, and especially in the context of government. Hence the "establishment clause"in the Constitution forbidding any attempt to bring religion into any part of our jurisprudence. The British did no one any favors by persecuting "sectarians" and encouraging them to migrate to the New World where they could "freely" practice their religion. It's why there is a Bible Belt across South Central US, tracking the settlement patterns of Protestant sectarians (Baptists and Evangelicals and others) who settled across Appalachia and the upper South. Never learned to moderate--tho they mostly didn't own slaves they bought in to the racism that support the slave economy. They don't change their minds because evidence doesn't affect revelation. In the end their own ignorance poisons their communities to the point where they collapse on themselves into opiate addiction and dismal poverty. We can hope they die off. But the downside of that is that the greater community gets dragged down with them.
9
@Dwight Homer
Thank you Dwight.
Fifty five years ago when I was in High School we studied Orwell's 1984. Most of classmates didn't understand it then and still don't understand. I look back and still don't understand it.
I look back at what pitted me against the "authorities" and still pits me against the authorities. Every depiction of 1984 looks like post war Britain when it should look like a Dallas suburb.
When I say Scalia was a Sophist and a scoundrel it is because I know that Scalia knew the Bill of Rights passed in 1789 was specific in saying that Quakers and others scrupulously religious in obeying the prohibition in taking up arms were exempt from military service.
I grew up in a conservative society that predated the French Revolution. I know Saudi Arabia is the most conservative society on Earth and that is why it is so ruthless in its oppression of any kind of dissent. Cromwell's England was Saudi Arabia. That is the essence of conservatism.
I am in Canada and I am a Canadian but I am very frightened. I remember the words of Irving Layton a poet and essayist who loved to challenge conventional wisdom "What power ignorance, that makes your possessors seem so strong?
It is my fellow Montreal Jew, Irving Layton who dedicated a book of poetry to Jesus, called for For My Brother Jesus. That book turned Jesus into wiser more understanding older brother from the Jesus that took delight in slaughtering my people.
1
And people wonder why the Christian Church is loosing people in droves. The TV preachers are bad enough. Having a grifting liar in the White House is the last straw.
12
False prophets, anyone, anyone? He has righteous white anger, but what else does he have? He’s not godly in the least. This just unveils the ends justifies the means.
7
If he really wants to be one of them, can he at least wear that t-shirt he's holding? The yellow would go well with the orange tan....
4
“I think the good Lord forgave him...”
No, She did not. Nor will She forgive those many white folks that rage with hatred only moments after the prayer is given at Trump’s klan rallies. All those Southerners wearing their Trump Christianity on their sleeves have shown themselves for what they really are ~ ignorant bigots fighting off the inevitability of a non majority white nation, and it will Only change when their pretend Lord takes them.
13
It's more accurate to call Trump's "Christian" base Christianists. They identify themselves in opposition to what they are not: brown, Muslim, feminist or queer. Trump panders to their sense of militant, aggrieved white conservatism. Of course they love him.
13
Eye-opening and truly frightening how divorced these people are from reality, although that level of what Orwell called double-think is required to call oneself a Christian nowadays.
These people do not seem to mind when a white man labels them "dumb Southerners". In fact, it's seen as a credit to his "outspokenness." But woe to the white woman who labels half of them a "basket of deplorable" or the black man who points to their strange attachment to their guns.
6
I guess certain people brain washed by religion are the same people gullible enough to be conned by an godless man like Trump. It all looks like a one big circus tent with the preacher performing "miracles".
What a sad hypocrisy to see these people who claim to have god given values and morals, selling their souls to someone who lives his live without any.
If there is a Jesus, he is surely weeping in heaven.
7
Please, not another one of these articles in which the reporters don't challenge the ignorance (and by that I mean their dearth of factual information) of the people they're interviewing. Isn't there ever a follow up question? Wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, I suppose.
How about a profile of those of us who don't consider this journalism.
9
I grew up in the Bible Belt, Southern Georgia. This article is on point, there’s really nothing else to know.
The truth is these white male bible thumping hypocrites have sold their souls for a single issue - abortion - and to keep their women “in their places”. I won’t get into people of color.
These are same people living in GOP southern states with divorce and unwed pregnancy (many teen age) rates at least 3 times the national average.
Unfortunately they will be the ones who will suffer most under Trump’s healthcare, public school, trade and racist policies. The Bible got this one right “you lay down with the devil......”
These are not the conservative Christians with a sense of Christian values and morals I grew up with.
2
Well bless your hearts! If “youse guys” knew much We in the south resent all the condescending Yankees who keep moving by the 10’s of thousands to the beautiful ( and low tax states) of our Southland. Stay home if u feel that way about us! We really don’t want you and your nasty accents. Enjoy the cities thAt have been ruined by the Democrats .(Newark,Baltimore Chicago, ) Don’t come down hear and ruin our cities too.
Have a nice day now! The South is rising again.
2
@Barbara Gibbes Great, let them come to Nevada instead and bring their open minds and open wallets. Your loss, our gain.
@Barbara Gibbes
this yankee and his family have spent about 30,000 in your state this year vacationing. if we stay away by the millions, your low tax state will be broke.
rise up again if you wish. we will squish you like bugs.
4
@Barbara Gibbes - Actually the south is sinking thanks to climate change and the greedy politicians you vote for.
You rank low in health care and education, your air quality is poor and your water quality is getting worse.
2
"...a warrior for the folks."
A nice, toxic blend of obliviousness and racism.
11
You self-described "dumb Southerners" have now given up any claim that might once have had to Ethics and morals - of ANY kind. Your blanket support of a narcissistic sociopath has marked you. Your unabashed hypocrisy has doomed you. You cannot say one thing and do the opposite for convenience and still have any credibility.
If you wonder why many of us ("us" meaning not you) distrust and oppose you, it is because at least WE still have the moral courage and ethical compass to do so. You are lucky that we do, for without US, YOU would have no voice. Consider that, if you will, when you vote, and search your souls for what may still be there. It's too late in December.
8
One would think that these Trump supporters would be curious as to why 9 out of 10 NYC residents did not vote for Trump. I spoke to one of these Trump supporters and the person was saying how stupid the residents of Queens were when they voted for Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. My response was "Trump is from Queens." The only reply I received was the sound of crickets.
7
Clearly racism trumps faith. Are we allowed to go back and concede the Civil War? Let them go! Let them go! Let them ...
7
The great Blazing Saddles quote comes to mind as Trump's thought bubble, as he plays to his southern base: "Oh, baby, you are so talented - and they are so dumb!" It is a wonderous mystery how his true believers can be so pathetically gullible. He uses them, dumps on them, and they love it.
7
They say that genius consists of the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in your head at the same time. By that suspect standard, fundamentalist Trump supporters must be way off the map.
1
Mean spirited and ignorant. Yes they see one of their own in him.
15
potus has two core groups of followers: those getting rich (-er) & those getting fooled. It is tragic that southerners & christians think he is "one of them." If only they would wake up & realize they are being used, they might finally be able to pull themselves up out of the poverty that has defined them for generations. I no longer feel sorry for them. They voted for the party of hate & they deserve whatever they get.
12
Of course the Conservative "Christians" love Trump. He is against minorities, women and gays. He is for taking the vote away from non-whites, non christians, and women. In other words he is no different than his white "christian" supporters. Oh, and don't forget that most of the "Christian" Trump voters beleive that Trump will fulfill the prophecy that the world will end in a cataclysmic nuclear war where God will destroy all non believers and all "thru Christians" will go straight to heaven.
4
Exactly In what way is a so-called billionaire from New York “one of us”?
He doesn’t talk like them. Live like them. Dress like them. Socialize like them. Marry (or not) like them...
Other than history, he wouldn’t know anything to talk with them. He couldn’t sit through a meal with them without thinking of them as a “dumb Southerner”. A man who mocks everyone else wouldn’t mock them?
Why is he “one of us”? Because he shares their views on people who don’t look like them. That’s it.
Clinton’s scandals annoyed them, but Trump’s don’t? Gee. I wonder why... hmm, could it be that one of Bill’s biggest strengths was that he was seen as championing the African Americans. That he was “the first black president”.
I’m no fan of Bill. But, I can see a bigot everywhere I look in a picture of a MAGA rally.
You know. “I just tell it like it is”. Oh, wait. To them, “telling it like it is” means speaking what they mean by “is”.
Another bond with Bubba they ignore...
4
The South is a different animal. Rural in their thinking, strongly conservative, overtly religion bound and the poorest part of the country. There is no way to marry this group with the North or West Coast. The midwest is more like the North than the South. How can we recreate the amalgam of cultures we have always enjoyed? Get rid of the nitwit in the White House is the only solution. He is the guy stirring the White hot pot of divisions in this country.
3
US vs THEM is the oldest divisive tactic in the book; in this case, the exploitation of faith for political ends, as the only way the GOP can win is to pander to the religious wingnuts who seemingly only care about pushing a radical agenda to impose their fundamentalism on to the rest of the country, and ultimately the world.
Worse, they've embraced a platform of hate over love-thy-neighbor. Jesus would be proud, not....
1
“It is ironic that the warrior that they have found is a billionaire from New York, but he really speaks their language fluidly,” said Henry Barbour, a Republican National Committee member and party strategist based in Mississippi.
It’s ‘fluently’, Henry. Fluid is a noun and fluent is an adjective, used here as an adverb.
You know, all that school stuff.
10
Trump is a billionaire TV show host who has never experienced a day of hardship in his life. He has been accused of sexual assault by numerous women, and admitted to it on tape. He has a "sixth grade understanding" of Korea (Mattis' words). He mocks the disabled. He lies constantly. He has been married three times and cheated on all three wives, and he uses religion as a prop to cover for his unethical behavior.
I agree: He's definitely one of them.
19
There are quite a few Christians out there, admittedly not far right evangelicals, who do not like Trump and recognize him for the destroyer that he is.
2
Trump is NOT "one of us". I doubt he even goes to church ever anyplace. He is certainly not a Christian conservative. He is using you and you are falling for it hook line and sinker.
3
I can see God sitting somewhere, laughing uncontrollably with some Angels, saying: this is why I simply won’t wipe them out. They are one of my best sources of amusement and entertainment.
3
When Nixon resigned from the presidency, he enjoyed a 30-% approval rating. Do you know where the bulk of his supporters came from? You guess it -- the Deep South!
It was the scene of one of Nixon's last public appearances, made with the Reverend Billy Graham, of course!
So, decades later, should we be surprised that an area of the States, which blindly supports authority (and should, in my opinion, put down the Bible and pick up Rousseau's text on the social contract), would once again show its support for the Dear Leader?
(Yes, I know: America, love her or leave her... But I'm in Canada, and I don't want your nonsense spilling over into my country!)
3
These poor, misled, religion filled Southerners actually believe that an atheist real estate tycoon from New York City has their best interests at heart and are willing to overlook his many lies and hope that he will make the South, er, America great again.
3
Very simple. If trump were black they would never support him.
It's all about race and these folks will never change.
7
@Melinda - Nailed it. Totally.
1
I don't think there is any other group that liberals would be so open about hating. Don't you think they know what you think? Maybe the condescending, sneering hatred of them and Trump is the thing they have in common.
1
I don’t hate ‘them’. I don’t know ‘them’.
What I hate is a double standard and double speak that allows one president to be vilified for wearing a tan suit to a press conference and saluting an officer while carrying a coffee cup all while blaming anyone and everyone for ‘feeling left behind’ in the wealth of globalization.
As long as Trump tells you what you want to hear (coal is the best! Rogue killers assassinated the journalist! The left is a mob! There’s no due process by the left!)— you don’t need to look at how he leads the ‘mobs’ at his rallies in chants of ‘lock her up!’ Without any evidence OR due process. You don’t need to ponder whether a journalist can disappear/be murdered because it is verbalized by the president that the press is ‘an enemy of the state!’ You dismiss what used to be personal responsibility; character and accountability for a few seats on the court and what you presume to be ‘straight talk, or not taking any guff’, but what is simply divisive language.
It’s too easy to dismiss nuance as ‘hatred of them’. You can’t just show up at church, you actually need to think while you’re there.
@Nana - I'm a liberal and I hate ignorance, greed, bigotry, cruelty and hypocrisy. I have no problem admitting this.
2
@Nana
You hit it on the nail!! Bless your little heart!
"He's one of us!"
Yes, that's right. He is.
He puts kids in cages and you say that's just fine.
He chucks the EPA regulations on radiation and, Sure!
He cuts our ties with sophisticated Europe and that makes you do your Happy Dance!
He cozies with thugs and that's Old Home Week to Southerners.
He chuckles about grabbin' private parts and that's just so old hat that no one even giggles anymore.
Do I have a low opinion of Southerners?
I do.
I'm a Down-east Yankee, plain-speaking, prickly, factual.
Politicians who lie don't cut it with me.
Sexual assaulters don't either.
Donald J. Trump is EXACTLY the right fit for Southerners.
His brand is crass vulgarity and they laugh every time.
The South has had a century and a half to get some class, to not be laughing at racial and sexual cruelties, to get over their guns, to stop praising their religion's love of inequalities, to stop loving the Klan and strongmen.
It has not.
But it has never glorified its crassness as it has the last couple of years.
The "Southern Gentlemen" are gone. Mitch and Lindsey have taken off their masks and are just loud-mouths and bullies.
Yes, trump is as Southern as a mess o' hush puppies.
"He's just one of us!"
Yes.
And that has been the collapse of this country.
And just as the South will never rise again, neither will the USA.
25
The South continues to vote against its own best interests. Elect climate change deniers as you get destroyed by climate change. Elect those who vote to keep your wages low. Elect those who vote to keep women second class citizens. Elect those who vote to keep your air & water dirty. Elect those who exploit you for your vote. I’m over it. Let them take care of themselves from now on without help from the North.
9
As it is written, so shall it be. Good Lord.
Would Trump want to sit down for dinner with these people? Would he choose them to socialize with? Would he want them to attend his private parties at his resorts? I'm sure that Trump misses the time when glamorous celebrities wanted to hang out with him; when he was in with the red-carpet crowd. Now he and Melania are relegated to the backwoods of our nation where people he never would've socialized with turn out to adore him. His social life is in ruins.
2
if people think god tells them he forgave 45's infidelity and not clinton's, lap it up when they are called 'dumb' and they are 'poorly educated', talking with and about them is a bit like constantly posting pictures of the loch ness monster and other assorted aliens.
they're free to believe they are dumb, poorly educated and get text messages from god. but, after a while it doesn't move the conversation any further.
after a while, you tune out the next-door crank constantly at the screen door, shouting at the kids to get off his lawn. why does the media do this?
The opening paragraph explains the state of today's America in one sad sentence.
3
Wealthy (thanks to daddy), educated, a celebrity, a prodigious liar, non-religious, thrice married, a serial cheater, a bully and a coward (based on his inability to actually fire anyone himself). These are the characteristics of our president that stand out to me. So what is it exactly they think they have in common? Because the only other characteristics I see are fear -- fear of the Russian investigation for Trump and fear of not being top of the heap by virtue of being born white for his ardent fans -- and racism.
So maybe it's all about fear and racism and the rest is just obfuscation.
3
It sure sounds like a strange cultural bond but then we Democrat's are always talking about diversity so it's wise to welcome every view. I think there are large parts of the South that are not over The Civil War and what the North did to them. The President is a master at mobilizing pure emotion as the primary motivator of voter loyalty once they buy into his venomous anti Federal government, angry/combative, take-no-prisoners style as appropriate revenge for the wrongs done them. That warrior persona Trumps even truth or enables, as did one quoted loyalist, to brush aside obvious hypocrisies and double standards. Now that the Supreme Court has been tarnished we have only the media to portray something I still have faith in and a takeover of the house as a crucial battle to be won. I can even say I have faith in Fox News because watching it reveals a distinctive style of shaping the message they want to deliver, propaganda as news. If there was more media support it would evidence a more honest message. Perhaps Fox's style is a subtle, not very conscious influence, the President has learned from to make accusations of fakery so freely, his supporters instinctive response being to mistake lemmingization for legitimization and go over the cliff of reality with him.
1
If they can believe in an imaginary man who lives in the clouds, they can believe Trump cares about them and isn't a crass, vile con man. The gullibility is actually consistent, not a contradiction.
4
Trump and many right-wing southern "Christians" are united in their hypocrisy.
Trump loudly proclaims to care about America and its people but actually cares only about himself. For him, his supporters are simply tools for self-aggrandizement. He hugs the flag on stage before launching attacks on the U.S. Constitution and people.
The southern "Christians" loudly proclaim their faith, they promote a gospel of hate and greed that is completely opposite of everything Jesus taught. They hate immigrants, strangers and everyone perceived as "other." They refuse to help those in need, want to merge government with religion, and idolize wealth all the while proclaiming their faith in Jesus, who instructed his followers to love their neighbors as themselves, to keep church and state separate ("render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what is God's), and to eschew worldly wealth.
Luckily, there are genuine Christians across the South. Hopefully they will make their voices more clearly.
4
"...he seems to be getting the job done." Utterly remarkable, perhaps unprecedented, how eight little words, assuming for argument that they are even true, have led so many self-described devout people to completely undermine what they earnestly claim are the core values of their religious-directed lives. "Hypocrisy" does not fully and accurately provide a satisfactory explanation for this political phenomenon. Is Trump the unique embodiment of a present day Jim Jones cult figure whose control over these supporters is unbreakable, despite his narcissistic life of amorality?
4
@John Grillo
I, too, have found the word "hypocrisy" to fall short in
describing of this phenomena. "Cognitive dissonance" (both willful and subconcious) is well and truly at play amongst this portion of the electorate.
When you saw the evangelicals and the christian right prayed with Trump in the Oval Office. you can see how phony it is. Or Franklin Graham said, " God put him up there ".
I believe the constitution with " Separation of Church and State ". I believe you have the right to your faith and I respect it. But when the evangelicals and the christian right fully support amoral Trump, they lost the moral high ground. Humanity bears the ethic and morality which are not exclusively to religion.
9
Poor white southerners seem to have made a binary decision on Donald Trump. Trump identifies himself as being against "them", the same "them" the people poor white southerners are against, be they Latino, urban minority, upper class, educated, lgbt, etc. Trump is not "them", therefore he is good.
3
Never would I have imagined that an individual like Donald J. Trump, a longtime New York City con artist, a womanizer par excellence, an adulterer, and a destroyer of norms and human values, would be so embraced by the so-called Bible Belt. Where did it all go wrong for this part of the country that would make them believe that Trump is their true savior. Our country is in very deep trouble.
14
@LennyN Scratch the theological surface and you find Trump manipulating his talking points like a skillful seducer. If I were a believing fundamentalist, he'd be my sign of impending apocalypse. Think of Trump as the Anti-Christ, and you can really scare yourself. He touches those "end times" nodes regularly, and at some point the really out there crazies are going to recognize the "signs." If you're really superstitious you'll see that all the indicators are there that a war coming.
"What it was that he was sayin'
But they loved it when he told them
They were better than the rest"
Don Henley
Insecure, fearful, weak minded people have always sought to comfort themselves by belittling others, so that they can feel better in comparison. The southern christians have amply demonstrated a near total lack of Christian values or the moral courage that comes with true faith. They have, instead, abdicated decisions to a small group of power-hungry men who tell them what to think in matters of both church and state, and in return tell them they are better than the enemies - the black, brown, women, and liberals who for so long they had to pretend not to fear and hate. The actual Christians have begun to come forward, but too few, too late.
The southern christian movement is driven by insure, fearful people who are, at heart, bullies. Is it any wonder they see a kindred spirit in trump?
I thought I could escape them by leaving the south. Now it appears they, a minority of America, will take over our government. Vote like 2018 is your last chance.
11
Some things never change like the faces on those attacking those trying to bring civil rights for "coloreds" in the 1960s and the faces at the Trump rallies.
I know why my brother Jesus wept and he is still weeping.
Please don't call them Christians.
Saudi Arabia is the world's most conservative nation that is the GOP blueprint.
1
@Memphrie et Moi Saudi is also a virtual theocracy. Salafism runs the show. For every woman who gets to drive today, there's a takeaway of her independence somewhere else, the mullahs want to control.
2
@Dwight Homer
I thanked you for your excellent comment which hasn't yet been printed. I studied British history and learned about Cromwell's Catholic genocides. Cromwell's Britain was Saudi Arabia without the joy of strong male bonding. There is very little difference between Roundhead Protestantism and Saudi Wahhabisme.
Not too impressed with the southerners. They prove Winston Churchill was right when he
said that know the truth about democracy
talk to the average voter for five minutes.
These southerners cast serious aspersion
on democracy in America. Wonder what
Alexis Tocqueville would have thought
if he talked to these southerners.
2
@s.khan He regarded Americans with considerable suspicion, feared the influence of mobs that he saw in abundance. Democracy in the 1820s was still an exciting experiment. But he watched the electoral process in parts of the US with dismay, in which some places, whisky was the currency used to buy votes.
1
The problem is not the dumb Southerners, as Trump believes they are.
The problem is the way power maps are drawn in this country. Should Idaho have as many Senators as California? Not ever. Not a chance. NO WAY. But they do.
The "leaders" of Congress come from some of the least populated, poorest economic states in the Union. Ancient Mitch? He's from Kentucky. Outside of booze, horses and baseball bats, it's no mecca for commerce. Paul? His state is home to cheese, the Packers and the teetering Harley Davidson corporate headquarters. Susan Collins? The population of her entire state could fit in the suburbs of Chicago.
One person. One vote. No electoral college. We can't fix the Senate yet, but we must get to a place of citizen equality.
10
Southerners see themselves as outsiders. They say the rest of us are looking down on them. But really, in saying that, they are looking down on the rest of us; asserting both their difference and superiority.
My Dad was an energy boomer. I grew up, in the 1950s and 60s, all over the country, but especially the South -- Texas, Virginia and Georgia mostly, but also some time in Kentucky, Tennessee and Louisiana too.
Starting a new school in a Southern state ALWAYS meant being asked; "Are you a Yankee or a Rebel?" I never got that question in Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, Minnesota or Ohio. Only Southerners were keenly concerned about whether we were one of them. Only Southerners doubted that, whether born in New Jersey, like me, or Texas or Georgia, or, like my brother, California, we belonged to the same tribe of "Americans."
Their culture taught them to set themselves apart -- Southerners first; and to view the rest of their country with hostility.
There's been immense change since then. But that attitude lingers in Southern politics; they claim they're victims, act as proud outsiders, AND claim they're both the greatest patriots and only "real Americans." They say we disdain them -- while politically disdaining all of us.
If they ever learned, or chose, to love the whole crazy quilt of this country, as well as their special place in it, our politics would make much more sense.
17
Well...yes, he is one of them. As his comment about “rogue killers” makes perfectly clear.
4
"“I think the Good Lord forgave him, so I can, too,” she said."
As if she -- or anyone on this Earth -- knows what the Good Lord thinks or does. To me, claiming to speak for one's god is the greatest blasphemy.
11
That blonde is wearing a Blue Hillary 2016 shirt, prominently displayed ! Surprised they left her in the photo!
3
“There is a sense for which someone who’s [a sociopath] from Queens can understand people from the South,” Mr. Reed said. “There’s this odd common bond between [a sociopath] who grew up in Queens [and afterwards going bankrupt, stiffing contractors, setting up fraudulent universities, and abusing wives, ad infinitum] and someone who grew up in the rural or the exurban South, that for decades people have looked down their noses at them, and they’re tired of it [even while looking all the more like suckers and hypocrites].”
3
D.j. Trump is a master politician with a limited range. He is a master manipulator, a teller of falsehoods and half truths and a gross exaggerator of every accomplishment, even able to convince people that drastic failures are somehow to be interpreted as successes.
Many people, especially southerners, hated Obama. If the wind changed directions and the day grew cloudy, it was all Obama's fault. Obama was DIRECTLY responsible for the rise in gasoline prices early in his terms. When the prices went down? Nope.
Consider what happened: G.W. Bush handed off the worst recession since the Great Depression to Obama, along with two inconclusive, disastrous wars. Over eight years in office, Obama wound down the wars and helped pull the country out of that recession, handing a growing economy to...D.J. Trump. Therefore! Trump did it. He's wonderful. He's one of us!
A lot of this has nothing to do with laws, policy or even the economy. One question not asked of attendees at Trump's rallies: how much Fox Noise do you watch on a typical day? For many, that's their only or main source.
People form opinions and then seek out information to confirm those views. In northern or urban areas, people are not so different, but the south is a special case because slavery and the civil war, and the long aftermath, crippled democracy and freedom of thought. Conformity was required and conformity was offered up. That's not looking down the nose at southerners, that's stating, cold historical fact.
8
Many people simply choose to ignore the facts and believe what they "want" to believe.
These southerners are so enamored with Trump that they cling to that "you're fired!", tough-boss image from the TV screen... and choose to believe almost anything Trump may say.
When you think about it, one can't be surprised. Many of these people chose to believe a long list of charlatans like Jim Bakker, Robert Tilton, Peter Popoff, George Alan Rekers, Tony Alamo, Harold Camping, Allen Parker... and many more.
Oddly enough, Trump is not particularly religious. He simply loves those adoring crowds who want to believe everything he says.
3
"...People are dispensable and disposable in Trump’s world.” If Trump is elected President, he warned, “the millions of people who voted for him and believe that he represents their interests will learn what anyone who deals closely with him already knows—that he couldn’t care less about them.”
—- From Tony Schwartz, who penned "The Art of the Deal" for Trump
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
—- Isaac Asimov
13
Just as in several novels from our nations rural past in which a travelling salesman or minister wins the hearts of the locals, Trump too is a Trojan Horse (the only kind of Trojan he's heard of). A few of the towns folks are suspicious, but many others become caught up in the excitement of the moment. Normally clear headed and sober citizenry are suckered in, while the ART OF THE CON is worked and this pathetic excuse of a man skips town with the money, memories of romantic encounters, and religious followers wondering how they fell for the ruse...
4
This is by far the most interesting part of our present national culture space. I don’t know what research in social psychology says about social cohesion related to semantic commonality, but I think the deepest messaging lies there. This immediate social identity and membership must be an enormously powerful effect. Reagan had some of the same semantic style. I think his great popularity came partly from that. The lack of deep recursion in sentence formation is probably one of identifiers of what this Trump effect is. That’s not the pied piper. “That’s Don. He was in advanced placement English class, but he didn’t get caught up in all the bull they teach there and that they teach in college classes too. This is what I don't like about all of them.” Who you are is in how you speak, regardless of the actual practice in policy positions.
2
Read “Heartland” by Susan Smarsh and “Hillbilly Elegy” (author not remembered) and there’s no mystery. Riches and winning are admired and for good reason. Speaking to hopes and dreams always works. Pointing out the threat from “the other” has been working since slavery. If the Democrats take the house and actually show they’re doing rather than talking it’s possible to change some minds.
3
One again the utter hypocrisy of the religious right is on full display. Had Obama spewed just one of the hundreds of offense and untruthful things, these same people would be up in arms. That they are willing to consistently and continously give the most immoral man walking the planet a pass says everything about their "values". This is not my president or my God.
10
If this wasn't so ludicrous, I'd cry! He's one of us. Yup, born with a silver spoon, being chauffeured around all his life, expensive schools and clothes, non-disclosure agreements, shady business deals, probable large-scale tax evasion, totally without scruples and a moral compass, on and on. Yeah, he's one of his base alright. Why do these people keep kidding themselves? Trump's policies will hit them hard, and then we will see if he is still "one of them."
43
@Birdygirl
Problem is it won't "hit them hard" until Trump is a distant, tragic memory (for those of us capable of critical thought processes) at which point whatever "pathetic liberal/progressive demon" inhabiting the Oval Office will, once again and as ever, shoulder the blame for the failed policies of their conservative predecessor. Remember, the Great Recession was "all Obama's fault" in these people's minds. There is no reasoning with them. They are anti-progressive and will be so until they die, which, due to the policies of the politicians they unfailingly support, will happen far sooner than they expect. "Also the fault of liberals," they will proclaim with pride on their deathbeds. It is beyond time to give up on these folks. They know better than the rest of us and are beyond salvation. There is no sense wasting any more time or print-space on convincing them otherwise.
I've looked at the Trump supporter group every which way and don't think I'll ever understand them. He doesn't have ANY life experience indicating that he understands them (unless you count evicting poor black tenants). He has never done anything giving an appearance of solidarity, compassion, or empathy with them. He has lived his life like a regal overlord. He's about as religious as the television that projects their religion. He is all talk and bluster, and the fact that his supporters find that sufficient is, and will remain, astonishing.
48
All the word couching and inferences apply to today’s Republican Party. Look in the mirror Republicans. The face of Trump staring back is the face of the Republican Party, without the Southern accent.
2
Grew up in Brooklyn, not Queens. Still, can see where/how a goodly number of Brooklynites would share with the Southern folks quoted, an affinity with PT.
Not unlike, in my experience, the African-American actor John Amos who co-starred in tv's Good Times, expressed admiration for John Gotti.
Thing is the reasons offered by the folks quoted didn't seem substantive or genuinely responsive to "why PT the adulterer" or what have you.
What links Trump to these folks is their undying devotion to the prosperity gospel.
As a young man, Trump attended the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, presided over by Norman Vincent Peale of "The Power of Positive Thinking" fame.
The southerners are steeped in Joel Osteen tea.
This way of thinking, pretty much as far away from the teachings of Jesus as you can get, is that you can will away your problems and that God will reward you materially for striving.
As a Christian, this bothers me more than I can say.
10
@Cousy he has actually been ejected by churches because of his behavior. Melania got him to an Episcopal in Florida (and she is Catholic). Why not a Catholic Church? He doesn't attend church in Washington D.C. & Episcopal Church only at Christmas when he is at Mar Largo.
1
Their faith in all things Trump is as unwavering as their belief in the Almighty. Facts and reason simply don't apply. It's a sad indictment of 35% of the people in this country.
14
President Trump represents the natural evolurion of an “us versus them “ politics based on tribal identities of region (soil), race (white), religion (fundementalist Protestantism), that first crystalized in William Jennings Bryan as a viable
national politician . Then, it was city vs. countryside, conservative Fundamentalist Christianity vs. science and the Enlightenment (Evolution), urban financiers ( gold standard) vs. paper currency ( fiat money and inflation). Not much has changed.
America is a culturally , regionally, and ethnically diverse nation and whether represented by Huey Long in Louisiana , Ronald Reagan in Philadelphia Mississippi, George Wallace in Selma Alabama, the “Southern Strategy” defined and made legitimate by Richard Nixon periodically becomes an overt part of our national politics.
Today, Trump has become by his “tribune of the people demagoguery” the current personification of this often disguised but never absent aspect of American politics.
3
Wow. A guy who was given close to half a billion dollars by his dad, does not pay taxes and STILL goes bankrupt 4 times - or is it 6? In the casino business? Good businessman? If this is these folks idea of a "good businessman", no wonder they seem to need so much help from the Federal Government.
14
It's amazing to me that the people who have suffered the most under Trump still support him. He has not brought any new jobs to these areas, cut medical and Opioids are costing them billions. It shows how gullible people can be
6
It will be interesting to witness what will happen once a democrat is once again occupying the WH.
Imagine the reaction of these religious types when this future liberal president is shown with any one of the numerous moral failings of our current president.
"Off with his head.
In their support of this man, religious conservatives have lost any moral authority they have once had.
3
People hear what they want to hear, and do not listen to what they do not believe. Facts, evidence and the truth may have no meaning and do not cause a change. We have two alternatives, either we figure out a legitimate method of reaching these people or write them off.
We cannot be so arrogant as to write them off. Clinton did that to all of our determent. How do we proceed?
@jlgold - The policies of Trump and co. are going to end up killing many of them off.
Yes, there were many enthusiastic Trump supporters at his rally in Johnson City. There were also protesters present and people like me who stayed home and wrote postcards for Democratic candidates.
The South is not monochrome. For the historic record, the Johnson City area was a Union stronghold during the Civil War.
11
@Isabel Bonnyman Stanley - Thank you for giving me hope.
1
The pithiest quotation in this article is “I don’t think it’s about any specific set of policy positions . . . " Of course not. Trump supporters in the South and outside of it NEVER investigate information but listen only to reactionary "news" and respond to rallies of group-think crowds. It makes them feel that someone is on their side. They might never find out that they have been manipulated. They might never find out that their jobs and salaries have not been taken by immigrants but by corporations that sent jobs offshore. Get retrained? Too much effort.
5
So, Trump doesn't look down on them. But why don't they look down on him? Any hardworking person who tells the truth and pay taxes is a better American than Trump is--why don't they see that?
14
“Even now, I look at him as just one of us. He doesn’t act like he’s above you, as a person,” Mr. Bledsoe said. There is no understating the importance of this sentiment in the south where class is far more important than it is in the urban north and along the coasts. Trump gives them permission to stand in the middle of the tracks, even as the locomotive is racing towards them.
3
The less support an idea has , the more fervently it must be believed in , so that a totally preposterous idea must be believed with unflinching faith - Keirkergard
Someone made this comment a week ago here in the comments section . It is exactly correct !
3
"I think the Good Lord forgave him, so I can too."
I thought forgiveness was something you had to ask for. Trump has stated he has never sought forgiveness from God because he doesn't think he's ever done anything to ask forgiveness for.
God has not forgiven him. And neither will we.
11
The Confederacy and the parts of the West that that have settled are winning the Civil War. It never really ended in 1865.
4
This southerner will vote straight democratic for the first time in Nov. Don’t put us all in the same basket please. This President & Congress have opened my eyes. I try to enlighten others to other viewpoints as well.
20
"Ralph Reed, the head of the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition, said that the coarsening of the discourse that Mr. Trump is criticized for has only added to his appeal among his supporters.
“There is a sense for which someone who’s from Queens can understand people from the South,” Mr. Reed said. “There’s this odd common bond between someone who grew up in Queens and someone who grew up in the rural or the exurban South, that for decades people have looked down their noses at them, and they’re tired of it.”
BUT the bond between Ralph Reed and EN RON was in the $300,000 he was paid as an 'ethics consultant' for their traders.....you know the one who laughed about letting Granny roast in the heat when the electricity failed...yeah, THAT Ralph Reed........
9
I moved away from Tennessee in the late 60s, but I still keep in touch with many of my high school classmates. On a recent reunion of about 25 women, I got the impression that about 2/3 were disgusted with Trump’s behavior and job performance and weren’t shy about saying so. The others weren’t talking.
In the past, Tennessee politics was mixed, carrying on the state’s tradition as a border state. I don’t recognize this trend, unless I attach it to the state’s Bible Belt tradition. Has Trump become the 21st century return of Jesus? He does have a strong cult following, and it’s the only way this insanity makes any sense to me.
17
@Leslie
Glad u left, Gooo Vols!
Trump IS a "warrior for folks." For RICH folks! Ive never heard even one Trump supporter ask "Why did Trump make rich peoples' tax cuts permanent but not ours?" It is because the only thing Trump cares about his supporters is getting their votes so he can continue to legislate the needs of the rich. The fact Trump supporters refuse to see this is maddening.
36
We only have ourselves, collectively, to blame for not enforcing a uniform education curriculum and allowing the influence of corrupted religious education to instill false values in a significant portion of the American voting public - to the point where our democracy is now dying.
We have four sets of realities in one nation, depending on where one stands in their politics. Each has its own set of news, set of facts, set of realities... We cannot go on like this and remain an orderly nation.
One of us? Only in the prosperity church of Trump.
---
Things Trump did while you weren't looking
https://wp.me/p2KJ3H-2ZW
28
Welcome to Trump University.
Tuition costs: White skin, white spite, Christian ill-will toward all, science denialism, acute cognitive dissonance, comfort with authoritarianism and rigged Republican elections, advanced hypocrisy skills, aversion to facts, history, critical thinking and American ideals.
Books: None required, but a free subscription to Fox News and hate radio propaganda gaslighting channels is included
The Trump University class of 2018 has left the surly bonds of reality to the face of fraud......and the love their university President.
These people will destroy the United States of America if we don't restore sanity in the voting booths on November 6 2018.
VOTE !
These citizens are an existential threat to the country.
112
@Socrates
The tired, anti-white stereotypes listed here are Exhibit "A" of why many people across the country can't stand liberals anymore. If it were against any other race it would be considered "racist". Actually, illegal immigration, not white people is the biggest existential threat to the country and yes, I will VOTE, but against "progressives".
@Socrates
One of the best comments I have read in a while.
One thing that stands out about these people is how unbelievably arrogant they are. And they complain that no one shows them any respect!!
And why? Maybe the preacher could do a sermon on Matthew 23:12
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
5
@J - If you feel that way why not move to a right wing utopia like Kansas?
They admire the “incorrectness” of the president’s language, which is characterized by xenophobia, intolerance, shaming and scapegoating, false equivalencies, lies, etc. yes, his “coarseness” was unheard of in public from former presidents, who also had much thicker skins as well. Sounds to me that they are bonded by a “stick it to my so-called superiors” mentality. Except that Trump has a history of sticking it to anybody and everybody when it’s in his personal interest. And that includes these very same people who believe his policies are helping them and making them wealthier, despite all evidence to the contrary.
107
It is unfortunate that Southerners keep confirming the stereotypes about them. It is exactly why Donald Trump the con man- who doesn't care at all about "dumb southerner" keeps targeting them; I feel sorry for them because they are the ones who are actually losing out.
111
@Xavier they are NOT losing out. They are "taker states" who take more from the fed govt than they pay in taxes. They are taking it from the blue states. They love to win and their man is doing it for them! VOTE IN NOVEMBER!
2
@Xavier Generous of you, but I feel sorry for those of us who tried to stop this lunacy (the only way possible: by voting for Hillary) but will still be losing out.
4
@Xavier
Dont all successful con men leave the mark blaming someone else ?
4
He's George Wallace without a Southern accent. Of course they love him.
98
It just makes my head hurt to hear these people.
74
Well to let the religious people of the south know, trump could be their false prophet. If they truly believe in the Bible’s words they all praise then they should have been warned of the false prophet looking as a lamb and wearing sheep’s clothing but speaking as a dragon, and his focus is political while the anti-Christ is religion. Trump fits the bill perfectly.
I cannot claim to be religious, just a spiritual person who believes in God and Christ, so I really don’t know the Bible well, but reading Revelations is what I did for those southerners who close their eyes to the things trump does and says and all the evil and wicked people that they praise and elect. Maybe they should read those Bibles of theirs a little better and stop being sheep who do and act as their pastors and president tell them to. Maybe think on your own for a change.
62
@Dave P.
Amen Brother.
When will reporters don their straight faces and report the facts as they are: That the "language" that these two groups share so deeply is not one of shared experience or a belief in god.
They're all sharing the common language of white racism.
159
Yes, real news would be nice. Also would be nice if 69 Minutes challenged him with facts. Sadly no.
1
Trump is laughing all the way to the bank.
36
Let's face it, except for New York, California, the media, and late night talk show hosts Donald Trump is very popular.
7
@MIKEinNYC
40% approval rate, especially in a booming economy, is not "very popular."
@MIKEinNYC That actually isn't true even if you'd like it to be, sorry. More people dislike him than like him in this country.
1
@MIKEinNYC, Trump didn't get the
majority votes in 2016. It is the quirk of
American system, electoral college, he
is the president winning three states
with the thinnest margin. If the majority
votes decided the election he would have
lost. He is a great beneficiary of forefathers'
suspicion of masses electing the president.
4
"I think the Good Lord forgave him, so I can, too..."....I wonder why she thinks that?...seems like the "Good Lord" can forgive those you want forgiven, and not forgive you do not want forgiven...
89
Reading this article the phrase "ignorance is bliss" comes to mind.
48
What about being USED by the biggest self serving con artist of all times do these folks not understand? He saw and has capitalized on their sense of being victims and only he can save them. Their refusal to read and listen to the opinions of true American intellectuals and shut off Trumps mouthpiece, Fox, has turned them into sheep going to slaughter. They are supporting a POTUS who is destroying our hard earned democracy and attempting to drag his critics down with them. No way.
51
The picture says it all: blinded by faith.
18
The only reason "he doesn't owe anyone anything" (if that is even true, which is unlikely) is that he filed for bankruptcy six times. And Trump is "just different" so it's OK to overlook his sex scandals while condemning (and attempting to impeach) Bill Clinton for his less scandalous scandals. Well, hypocrites will be hypocrites, and so-called "Christians" have certainly taken hypocrisy to new heights.
78
@Glassyeyed he owes everyone everything - he lives on credit and loans from Russia.
3
In secret Donald Trump despises most of the people he attracts to his rallies. He has particular disdain for people in the South and he often belittles them as does just about anyone from time to time.
He has little in common with people who come to his rallies. His whole modus operandi is one gigantic con job ,not unlike those of fascist dictators in the past.
And while some people in the south are racist like Donald Trump , we must remember with empathy and compassion that it is a dangerous stereotype to assign outright to Southerners. Assuming that all Southerners are racists is just not true.
What we probably do know beyond a reasonable doubt is that Donald Trump is , with great consistency ,a racist and a liar.
50
He sure is! I'm glad I'm not.
5
More from sunnyshel:
He sure is and I'm glad I'm not! How anyone can be is another matter altogether . . .
“There is a sense for which someone who’s from Queens can understand people from the South,” Mr. Reed said. “There’s this odd common bond between someone who grew up in Queens and someone who grew up in the rural or the exurban South, that for decades people have looked down their noses at them, and they’re tired of it.”
Seriously?
Hey, people, I'm from Queens. Grew up there, worked there my entire career, lived there into my 30's. My mother lived there till her late 90's. Still live within walking distance of the Queens city line. Eat there, drive there all the time. No one I know grew up like Donald Trump. Almost no one from Queens likes Trump--check out the votes from 2016. Virtually no one within a 30-mile radius from Queens identifies with him. Well, maybe a few nasties.
6
Unsaid in all this is that he appeals to white southern racism, pure and simple.
As to the rest, the quote at the end says it all -- yes, there is a double standard between this guy and Bill Clinton's sex scandals, but "God has forgiven" this one, so what else can she do but support him.
Isn't there something somewhere that says it is interesting that God has the same prejudices that his followers do?
24
"Old times there are not forgot..." Dark Ages? Jonestown? Dixiecrats and Nixon's Southern Strategy?
Speaking of "promises kept," I'm certain how my "big, beautiful healthcare for all" and all those checks signed by George Soros (for the anti-45 marches my wife and I attended) will arrive with the mail any day now.
"Look away, look away..." before it's too late. VOTE!
22
"He's one of us," indeed. That Bible-Belt denizens—folks who fill the churches and sing the loudest—adore Trump should surprise no one. In the Jim Crow South where I grew up, the land of Prohibition and public rectitude, you could find in many sizable county seats the local bootlegger, the sporting house, the back-room poker table, the barber-shop betting cards. And a bit farther down the road were openly flourishing sin cities like Hot Springs, Arkansas and Phenix City, Alabama. Need a quickie divorce? Want an abortion? If you had the means, you could find the ways.
118
@Doug Connah
From someone sorry to say she grew up in Texas:
extensive political corruption, control of local economies by city councils and mafia-like chambers of commerce, ubiquitous hostile sexism and racism, anti-intellectualism, anti-"elitism" (ie against any educated or otherwise technically accomplished person outside of white insiders), head-in-sand climate denial and promotion of fracking as "economic growth", flag-waving and anthem singing as symbols of "patriotism"......
Trump fits right in!
AARGH
3
Though I have tried, I do not understand Trump’s support in the Bible Belt. Southern men pride themselves on honoring women. Yet, they ignore the Billy Bush interview documenting Trump’s disrespect of women. Southerners have deep religious and family values. Yet, Trump’s many violations of those values are minimized and explained away. Southerners have pride in their heritage. Yet, Trump’s comments about ignorant Southerners is forgotten. Southerners love the rural, simple life. Yet, Trump is as big city and gold plated as they come.
As a country, we face challenging societal and environmental problems. The blind love of Trump is like whistling past the grave yard. Soon, our Nation will have to make hard decisions and we don’t have the common ground to do so. And worse, I no longer trust our government to make hard decisions that are in the interests of the majority of us, including Southerners. What a mess that we have left for our grandchildren.
24
Apparently, Taylor Swift still has some work to do. I would like to point out that New Mexico is a southern state. Trump did not win New Mexico. He did not win the popular vote in New Mexico. He did not win the electoral vote in New Mexico. Also, I am a Democrat, and I believe her. That is, I believe both Blasey Ford and I also believe Stormy Daniels. If you watch their respective videos, you can see the honesty just pulsating through their bodies. What these people who support Trump are really saying is, "He's just as dumb as us, which is why we like him."
24
As a Texan, I know there are more democrats in Texas than republicans, but democrats don't vote. Less than 50% of women in Texas are even registered to vote. Only 40% of Latin Americans vote. The percentage of millennials who voted was about 20%. If we don't vote, we can't win. Maybe Beto O'Rourke will get people to the poles and we can rid the senate of Ted Cruz, but it will require a massive voter turnout.
29
This bond, such as it were, plays out like any one of Sinclair Lewis's great novels: "Elmer Gantry," "It Can't Happen here," you name it.
And, as in Edgar Lee Master's excellent "Spoon River Anthology," we see just how thin the veneer of moral piety really is among these people.
The sad irony is, Don is the exactly the East Coast private school elite the base would soundly reject otherwise. But he is substantiated proof you can just slap an "R" in front of your name and you can do whatever you want to these people as long as you're poking someone in the eye on their collective behalf. That's all they require, and they will gladly give up clean air and water, Social Security and Medicare, and robust wages and educational systems to get it.
Even Don himself must privately marvel at just how easy it is to be a demagogue.
64
@Annie Laurie
He doesn't know what demagogue means and couldn't pronounce it anyway.
2
People who can convince themselves that Trump is trustworthy, ethical, and concerned about anything other than himself, are people who will believe anything. It seems they don't want to know any troublesome facts about their hero. Is their admiration of Trump really about his claiming to be anti-abortion, or about his view on white people being superior? Or is it just that they don't know anything of his history?
38
It is not a stretch to see why bible belters have a bond with trump, at least not based upon my experiences with them. He feeds their prejudices and reinforces them and tells them that it is okay.
51
The people described in this article seem perfectly decent and intelligent. But after reading their statements, I still can't understand their reasoning. Yes, the President now promotes anti-abortion politics, but otherwise I don't see that he offers them anything. Sometimes I feel they have struck a bargain with the devil: President Trump backs them on social/cultural issues, but at what cost to the country, its traditions and institutions, and civic virtue?
21
After reading this, I look down on them more than before, if that's possible.
67
I'm note sure I'd call what the President is doing winning but then I'm not one of his acolytes. I'll never understand their blind faith in this man who practices many things preached in the Bible.
10
Trump came from the privileged, upper middle class section of Queens. It is absurd to claim that a childhood there gave him an understanding and bond to Southerners.
31
Why did you not ask them about his long history of tax fraud (YOUR story!) or the kids separated from families? Why not push back on their portrait of him as a Queens boy? Why not ask them about the character he played on his show vs his history of failed businesses? Why not ask them about the tax law that enriches the uber-wealthy? Why not present them with facts rather than eagerly writing down their deluded beliefs without question? I don't get the purpose of this "portrait."
26
@L and R Thompson I have seen videos of Trump supporters being presented with exactly these facts, and asked what they think. To am person, they have waved these away, or explained how the media lies, or given an alternate version if the story that justifies or denies the facts. It's pretty ironclad with most of these folks.
5
@L and R Thompson
Because they are immune to facts?
4
I grew up in the South with white, conservative parents, back when everyone was a Democrat, so I know the drill. I appreciate that people really do work hard. But hypocrisy is the heart of the culture. Trump supporters like him because he is rich, which, despite the Jesus talk, is what they really admire. Try being an outspoken person locally, speaking about racism, classism, sexism, and see how far outspoken gets you with Trump supporters. So, except for some pockets in the cities, people with liberal views leave or keep quiet. Trump is hardly the first person to find how easy it is to manipulate this sector of the population, nor will he be the last. But also keep in mind that despite lagging the rest of the country, as a whole white southern men have become more open minded and modern over time. When I was a child in the 1960s they were perhaps 40 years behind the rest of the country, and they have made about 40 years of progress since then, so are much more tolerant about race and equal rights. Give them time. Change can take decades.
24
@William Meyers "because he is rich"--that's what I keep being afraid of. That and "because he's been on TV." If those are our criteria for high office, we're on very boggy ground.
2
@William Meyers
Glad u left us.
We should see 2 things in this Trump's base will vote for him again likely 90 % maybe even grow if the economy stays good. The other thing is 2018 is not even close to a done deal these folks are just in "Luv" with Mr. Trump and they will vote; they always do.
Like So-crates says vote our lives depend on it.
3
Nothing will ever change the minds of people such as those quoted in this article. The only hope is to outvote them.
46
True --Trump is one of them. Few things better capture what is wrong with some evangelical sects (and with Trump) than this line.
25
The worst thing any person can do is accept something as true just because they want to believe it. This is the fundamental problem with any faith-based belief system, and the reason why this President's followers aren't to be trusted.
21
Liberals and GOP Never Trumpers have a powerful argument against Trump and the GOP they are not using and that is morality. Folks disgusted by Trump have the moral high ground by a long shot and yet I don't hear it enough. MLK used it. ActUp used it. The upside-down world where evangelicals think Trump is one of them elevates saying you are Christian and giving lip-service to it with what it actually means to practice Christianity (or any other major faith.) Call it out. What Trump says is the almost polar opposite of what Jesus said. The people profiled in this article are worshiping Trump and the US (nationalism - my country/right or wrong) versus Christ and US principles (patriotism - let's live up to our ideals.) This is a wedge where we could move a few percentage points - There are evangelicals who will see it. I know there are. We don't need to convince that many to tip the scale back towards the commandment that we love on another. We have truth and righteousness and the words of religious texts on our side. Use them.
20
@Makefieldlee
But it's not a powerful weapon against trump supporters because they do not care about his immorality. They simply do not care.
4
I'm very glad, ecstatic really, I'm not one of them. I like my morality straight up, unwavering and Biblical at its core.
13
Interesting. A southern voter was tired of Clinton's personal scandals, but not of Trumps.
The last I remember is that Clinton is a Southerner who came from nothing, and Trump a Northerner who was born with a golden spoon in his mouth. Clinton never declared bankruptcy, Trump at least four times. As for Trump owing nothing, best check with Putin, the Saudis , and who knows how many others.
Elitist thy name is Trump.
90
@Harry
Exactly. Trump has proven that racism is what his followers believe in most.
Everything else that is associated with the rubric of Christianity or conservatism or cultural values are merely dressing and Camouflage.
3
How could anyone have referred to this basket - I mean this group of wonderful, enlightened, forward thinking, patriotic, plain spoken folks as ‘deplorable’?
They are the heart and soul of the nation - But what’s become of their conscience and their brains?
8
@Jonbrady They never had much of either to begin with.
1
This article talks about the voters in the Southern Bible Belt.There is no mention of the equally devout church members of the African American churches.They are not at rallies cheering him.That would be because he makes disparaging remarks about A Hole countries in Africa and with the exception of Kanye West is blind to the discrimination visited on people with dark skin.The whites in the Bible Belt are still living in the era of Reconstruction after the Civil War.Of course a bigot like Trump would appeal to them.
83
@JanetMichael I agree with you, but I would say that they are living in the era that began when the Republican Party of Lincoln that lead the fight against the South in the Civil War gave up the fight for Reconstruction in 1877, withdrew their forces, and left the ex-slaves at the mercy of of a defeated, angry, and scared white population that was, in general, not merciful.
He’s certainly “one of them”. But unfortunately for the health and prosperity of this country, being “one of them” is not a virtue - but is the primary point of concern.
20
"He speaks their language fluently." The reporter tiptoes around the most obvious meaning of this sentence: the anti-nonwhite, anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-education sentiments that make them feel (rightly, I think) that blue America looks down on them.
83
The contradiction between Southerners' attitudes about Bill Clinton and Donald Trump can be explained also by who else forgave them. Not just the Good Lord has forgiven Trump but also his party. We Democrats love the circular firing squad.
7
“I don’t think it’s about any specific set of policy positions, but it’s about somebody being a warrior for folks,”
Yeah cutting back EPA regulations so we the people get dirtier air and water, the great warrior.
48
I think many Americans have reached a point where if you still support Trump, you will be dismissed as someone who matters. As Trump swirls us down the drain, they can follow him down into the muck. Good for them. In the meantime, the rest of America will step out of the tub and carry on.
18
I've always believed the Bible to be total baloney. But then I kept hearing the TV preachers ranting about something called the Book of Revelation and its claim that an "antichrist" soon will appear and set the world on the road to Armageddon. I recall the bible-thumpers declaring that Clinton, and later Obama, were strong candidates for this role (which was a stretch). But now along comes Trump, who appears to fit all the criteria of a demonic, yet popular, leader who will usher in a thousand years of misery and tribulation (which seems entirely possible, considering the damage that he has managed to create in less than two years) and yet not a word from Falwell, Robertson, and the rest of the false prophets of doom. C'mon boys, looks like your opium dreams are about to come true. Better get moving.
32
The sympathy between the South and Trump seems to demonstrate the difference between mental age, physical age, and moral age. We only have to observe the playgrounds, metaphorical or concrete, to see that people attract people of equivalent mental or moral age as strongly as they attract those of similar physical age.
10
One has to think about the many characters Al Capp could find among these people if he were working today.
8
There's every reason for "bother" and concern as the distance between Church and State grows smaller, and we inch increasingly forward toward a new Southern Confederacy.
10
“He’s a businessman and he doesn’t owe anyone anything,” she said.
Actually, he owes people billions; he just walked away from his debts.
248
@Socrates . He did so much more than simply "walk away" from his debts. He knowingly and with unquestionable intent distorted, flouted and subverted the law as he bullied his way into many bankruptcies, torpedoed the USFL and far too much more to enumerate here.
4
@Socrates
I try to avoid saying things like "deplorables" but the ignorance of these people is staggering. It is all fueled by FOX news and the orange head's reality TV show. This is ruining our nation. Of course I believe in free speech but how can we conquer all the outright lies? Sue FOX as Alex Jones has been sued? Press crop strike in mass over the murder of Kashoggi?
3
If Pres. Trump's Southern base hasn't heard him refer to "dumb Southerners," it can only be because his supporters watch exclusively FOX news, the Trump propaganda machine. His uninformed base is in denial.
170
To safe our democracy we need to vote, bring out the vote and boycott advertisers on FOX.
2
@renee
It's worse. They simply don't care. If Hillary accurately describes them as deplorables, they are all riled up, but when Trump calls them dumb Southerners, that's fine with them.
Like all Republicans, hypocrisy is their most essential characteristic.
Confederates have always been attracted to other Confederates.
We should give them their own country.
The United States of White Christian Spite.
November 6 2018
145
When they wanted to split off and do exactly that,the rest of the nation refused to permit it.The Confederacy has been getting its revenge ever since,but installing a corrupt buffoon in the White House was truly their most dramatic victory.Nobody,however,can ultimately “win” this tug-of-war. It seems likely to remain an exhausting,depressing part of our political life for as long as the country survives.
1
@Socrates We should have let them leave the first time they wanted to.
3
@Socrates
White Spite maybe but they are not Christian.
1