That's a very very partial picture of it. There's a lot of hate about social change, people are terrified of trans people and that has been effectively turned into a culture war issue.
Also your economic story doesn't hold water. The Biden administration successfully placed tons of factories all over the country with tax incentives for clean energy, but those factories could never trumpet what they were doing because hate for Democrats and for Biden and for clean energy is stronger than any desire for jobs. Similarly the destruction of the CHIPS act and its unpopularity in rural areas also shows that the economic opportunity aspect is just an excuse for the cultural hate that has been worked up.
The best way to understand a Trump supporter that I have come to is a person that hates Democrats more than anything, and will do anything possible to bully them, including the economic destruction of the country. I have a lot of family like this, and for years I thought they were just joking or exaggerating about their hate, but the past year has shown me that they were earnest. It's not the 1990s anymore, this is a visceral culture war above all else.
For no reason. Trans people aren't doing anything but trying to live their lives but the concept of being trans disrupts their view of the world. People fear what they don't understand and because they don't understand the real reasons for their struggles, everything they don't understand can be conflated by a confident liar saying they are related.
Possibly the most succinct summary has been sitting in pop culture for a quarter century but how it could apply to real life never clicked with most people: "Fear is the path to the dark side"
> The Biden administration successfully placed tons of factories all over the country with tax incentives for clean energy, but those factories could never trumpet what they were doing because hate for Democrats and for Biden and for clean energy is stronger than any desire for jobs
Nothing has changed here. It's doesn't matter what they've claimed they're doing, there are still no jobs here and working class Americans feel abandoned.
The vast majority of Trump voters around here voted for him because of the economy. The trans stuff was seen as evidence that the Democrats were so wrapped up in first world problems held by a tiny minority that they didn't even notice that the majority of the country was actively struggling to make ends meet. It's not about the trans people, it's about the narrative that Trump shaped about how that related to these people's economic lives.
IMO - the trans stuff feels like a moral panic, like on the same level as the Satanic Panic of the 80's - or the violence in video games panic, or any number of other things - I'm just waiting for the storm to blow over.
All of this is made much worse by social media too, which fans the flames hotter than it ever could have been before.
I'm not American, but the issue I saw time and time again from Americans getting interviewed by various news organizations was inflation, specifically food prices. So many people said that food was cheaper when Trump was president, so they want him and his food prices back. This is of course totally disregarding that the rest of the world also had massive inflation, and most of it comes from increased oil prices because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and governments printing money to use for Covid stimulus. The tariffs probably didn't help either, but I don't know how many of those Biden kept so I don't know if any side can be blamed there. I doubt all these new tariffs will help though.
I actually saw a couple people saying that they've received a check from Trump during Covid, and mentioned that as a clear reason to vote for him. I thought it sounded dumb when I saw that he insisted on having his name on the stimulus checks, but apparently it worked. I also saw some people, southern women and big city black men, saying that they definitely didn't want a female president. That was probably part of why Hillary lost, and making the same play this time wasn't very wise from the democrats, although I would probably blame Biden for not dropping out earlier and leaving them very little choice.
Maybe its more relative prices have gone up. Europeans were already used to paying more so paying even more is part of the norm. However things have been really cheap in the US for a long time. Taking the inflation as a whole(ie. not just looking at egg prices) this is likely the beginning of a long term permanent inflation that is coming due to things like China possibly aging out of manufacturing and the replacements being more expensive. People think they can turn back the clock so they try. Eventually they will be forced to get used to the new reality.
In the last 30 years, which other nominee for president by one of the two parties that matter has made addressing the struggles of working class America the center of their platform?
No, they're the byproduct of a failed educational system and culture of unearned entitlement. They expect others to save them from drug addiction while doing every possible to prevent help. And they only have this power because of the Senate represents land instead of people.
I applaud you for trying, but HN doesn't want reason or understanding w.r.t trump or his voters. Way easier to label everyone/everything as fascist nazis and stick your head in the sand.
Thanks. I know. I'm here every few weeks with a fresh attempt. It went over better before the inauguration, but now that Trump is actually implementing the policies that he campaigned on it's a bit harder for people to stomach the idea that his voters are anything other than orcs.
I'll probably give it a rest here for a few more weeks.
Nah, there are plenty of us here, we've just mostly gone underground in the face of the mindless hate and anger that's been dominant the last month or two. Echo chambers are self-reinforcing that way.
Also your economic story doesn't hold water. The Biden administration successfully placed tons of factories all over the country with tax incentives for clean energy, but those factories could never trumpet what they were doing because hate for Democrats and for Biden and for clean energy is stronger than any desire for jobs. Similarly the destruction of the CHIPS act and its unpopularity in rural areas also shows that the economic opportunity aspect is just an excuse for the cultural hate that has been worked up.
The best way to understand a Trump supporter that I have come to is a person that hates Democrats more than anything, and will do anything possible to bully them, including the economic destruction of the country. I have a lot of family like this, and for years I thought they were just joking or exaggerating about their hate, but the past year has shown me that they were earnest. It's not the 1990s anymore, this is a visceral culture war above all else.