Robt Reich: Trump voters in KY and Tenn...

[ghostsinthemachine]

Today I'm in Tennessee (I just met someone who knows Dolly Parton but that’s as close as I've come to my idol).

Kentucky and Tennessee voted for Trump. In my free-floating focus group over the last couple of days in both states I’ve spoken with nearly 20 people who said they voted for Trump. Almost all of them told me this:

1. The reason they voted for Trump is they “hated Hillary” or “wanted to shake things up” in Washington, or "thought we needed a businessman."

2. They don’t like the job Trump is doing as president. (“He’s embarrassing,” “makes me ashamed,” “behaving like a child,” "chronic liar.&quot

3. Every one of them told me they regret voting for him (“never would have if I’d have known what an as*hole he is,” one told me).

4. They said their own personal economic position hasn’t changed from what it was last year, and Trump’s policies favor the rich (“he just cares about wealthy folk,” “said he’d drain the swamp and the swamp is worse.”)

5. Most are worried about Trump's mental capacity (“I don’t think the man has all his marbles,” “he could get is into a goddamn nuclear war,” "weird as hell,” “crazy as a loon.”)

6. Most don’t think he’ll finish his first term (“he’ll be impeached,” “kicked out,” “removed,” “he’ll resign.”)

7. Most don't trust him ("hasn't got a goddamn thing done," "blowhard," "huckster," "conman.&quot

8. Most would support a Democrat in 2020, if it was the “right” candidate ("both parties are rotten to the core," "sure, I'd vote for a Democrat," "used to be a Democrat but party got too liberal.&quot

9. Most said they’d support someone who “cleaned up the mess in Washington,” “got big money out of politics,” “made the system work for ordinary people.”)

10. Several of them told me that they'd support Medicare for all, or any system that lowered their health insurance costs. ("Spending a fortune for insurance," "insurance companies are the worst," "can't afford to insure my family.&quot

11. Several put education at the top of their list.

12. Not one of them supported spending money on a wall along the southern border of the U.S. ("stupidest goddamn idea I ever heard," "plain dumb," "guy ever heard of airplanes?&quot

More to come.

[Break time]

1. Each and every

Everything they claim to dislike about him was well documented long ago, all they had to do was some light research...

[Cosmocat]

17. Yep

nm

[workinclasszero]

57. Right

I think all they saw was a white man....that was good enough cause Fox and Friends said so.

[madokie]

61. Or simply just listen

Thats what the ear is for

[captain queeg]

2. 1. Hated Hillary or wanted to shake things up...and the businessman thing

I'd say from my conversations with many people, hating Hillary was their overall number one. That's a pretty sad statement, that you are will the flush the USA because you didn't like Hillary. I suppose many of them secretly, even to themselves, were against a woman president. But, I didn't like Hillary much, she's not very likable, but we the most qualified candidate for president we ever had.

Shake things up: I can identify with that, most Americans are sick of the way the government operates and I'd like to see something change from Business as Usual. But, not by electing a violent psychopath and serial liar with obvious mental disorders.

The Business one must come from the simpletons crowd. You don't have to look very far to see Trump is terrible at Business, and I'm sure we'll find that the reason he first became the Russian puppet is because no one in the states (maybe on German bank would) would lend to him any more.

[FakeNoose]

5. We've known about the misogyny from the get-go

No surprise, considering this is the heartland of Rush Limbaugh fans.

I'd say that other than #1, the other points are all good for the Democratic Party.
Certainly it gives us some great direction and points to work on.

[coolsandy]

6. I would be interested in "why" they hated Hillary so much. What did she ever do against them? Or

was it all about how the media portrayed Hillary and the success of 40 years of bashing and trashing or the Russian bots against Hillary or a combination of both. Maybe just pure sexism they hate strong, smart women?

[leon8822]

34. Most people including Progressives can't tell you why they hate Hillary

Also is there a link to this?

[Drunken Irishman]

53. Why? 25 years of media misinformation and attacks.

Not many candidates could come back from that - especially not many female candidates.

The media treated Hillary like shit when she was First Lady. They attacked her when she was too independent, bucking the traditional role of the First Lady and then attacked her not being independent enough to leave Bill after the Lewinsky affair. They've attacked her looks, her voice, her laugh, her views - she's been their whipping girl since 1992. That's all Americans heard from 1992-2008 was how awful, bad, opportunistic, bitchy and shrill she was. There was a bit of a reprieve after the Democratic primaries, but only so the media could use her as a tool to attack Obama - whether it was suggesting things would've gone much smoother with her in the WH or the constant question about A) whether she would primary Obama and B) whether Obama would drop Joe Biden and put her on the ticket because the only way he could ever possibly win in 2012 was with Clinton's name.

When she left State, they revved up the attacks again. This time Benghazi and then the e-mail scandal. From 2013 to 2016, she was hit and hit and hit by the media for everything ranging from Bill Clinton to the e-mails to Benghazi to not being likable to her illness to then the bullshit narrative that she stole the Democratic nomination from Bernie.

It was a constant assault. No wonder voters didn't like her - they've been told, non stop almost, for the last 25 years to not like her.

Problem is, she wasn't able to overcome the attacks like her husband. They stuck to her way more. Partially because of her personality, which is why those same attacks dogged Kerry in 2004, and partially because she's a woman and women are held to a completely different standard than their male counterparts. I guarantee you if Hillary had been twice divorced, and had children from three different husbands, she'd have ZERO political career. She would have never been First Lady, never Senator and never Secretary of State - and certainly never that close to the presidency.

But for Trump? It's no biggie. Bill had an affair. If Hillary had had one, her career would've been over the second it was leaked.

It sucks.

[Hortensis]

62. Wanna hear stupid and petty? Sally Quinn and her

society friends, including Andrea Mitchell btw, mounted a vendetta against Hillary when she was first lady. That "in" group was mostly or all conservatives, of course, and they apparently became every bit as invested in their nastiness as any Fox viewer. Those who wanted to stay or get on their A list for the "best" parties, critical for continued success, didn't cross this group by disagreeing with them. And actively agreeing with this group worked the way it does in any other.

So, back in the Clinton era, right-wing billionaires created new machines to turn out lies and create fake scandals, including Fox, which were viciously promoted at the highest levels by people we still see on cable, as well as the lowest (new email wildfires swept across the nation every week), and here we are.

Willingness to badmouth Hillary is still a job requirement at most MSM outlets, including most of MSNBC and world-class journals like the New York Times.

What's far more problematic NOW is that willingness to hide truths about what happened in this election and protect conservatives like Comey from investigation into their activities, including for possible collusion to throw the election, has also apparently become a job requirement at these media. "Oh, was the FBI meeean to Hillary?" is the group line.

The rot on the right also runs deep within much of our media.

[get the red out]

56. Fox and all RW media

She has been demonized by that bunch since Bill Clinton was in office. She is their most despised person in the world, probably even more hated than Obama.

[workinclasszero]

58. Because....

[mountain grammy]

8. Yes, they voted their hatred of Hillary

urged on by a 30 year smear campaign. I had plenty of problems with Hillary and my party, but she's qualified and competent and that should always be enough, especially when the other candidate is, well, trump.

After dotard was nominated, I heard PJ O'Rourke say.. "I think Hillary Clinton is wrong on almost every issue, but she's wrong within normal parameters. I'll vote for her." That is the best Republican answer I ever heard. Of course, she's right more than she's wrong, which is something most men, and many women it appears, can't handle.

[Duppers]

14. Misogyny, pure and simple. But it's worse in the South.

Don't hop on this old southern woman for saying that, please. I've seen it all my life.

Apparently, they make exceptions for a few dumbassed Rethugian women if they rant enough junk. Marsha Blackburn is running for Corker's seat.

[maddiemom]

28. Marsha Blackburn...

Says all you need to say about that mindset. The quintessential anti-Hillary.

[Cosmocat]

18. I cannot say it enough - the evil liberal boogyman

My entire adult life the political discourse has been dominated by the evil liberal boogyman frame.

I remember in the gym in 92 and instead of music they were piping Rush over the speakers.

I didn't get it, it was complete nonsensical gibberish to me.

I was like, who the fuck is this guy and why am I not listening to Guns & Roses when I am working out.

But, then I looked around and most everyone was eating it up. Me, I was like, WTF are these "limousine liberals" this jackass is babbling about all the time. But, it all struck a cord with otherwise sensible people.

DECADES of hate framing liberals, engendering a sense of victim hood in the people who are vulnerable to the bullshit, and driving a divide that has this country so fucking stupid we are rolling over to fucking Russia and no one seems to give a shit.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Basically, they bought the stories the Media used to make it a horserace. Media is much to blame. nt

[Stonepounder]

32. You really do NOT want a businessman/businesswoman as President. Not ever.

A Government does not run like a Business. A Government is not out to make a profit and does not negotiate win-lose (like negotiating with a car salesman) deals. A Government is supposed to do what is best for its people and negotiate win-win deals (negotiating mutually beneficial - like trade deals where both countries come out ahead).

A Businessman doesn't understand the concept of win-win, only win-lose. Which is not good for the people and not good for the government.

[NewJeffCT]

41. On the "businessman" issue

While it's easy to see Trump's been a bad businessman over his life, the last time we had a president run on his experience in the business world, it was George W Bush. Before that, I think it was Herbert Hoover and/or Calvin Coolidge. However, none of them are ringing endorsements for turning the country over to a businessman.

[LisaM]

51. Hillary is enormously likeable. Unfortunately, the media chose

not to show it. Just look at how she has been on the talk show circuit the last few days. Funny, wise, able to laugh at herself. There were many instances of this on the campaign trail, but that's not the narrative they decided to show us. It's maddening. I saw her speak in 2008 and she was great and the local news showed none of it.

[Drunken Irishman]

55. Yup. Here's a post I made just days before the election last year...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/12512568719

I was wrong in believing Hillary was going to win but I could feel the polls tightening and the GOP coming back around to Trump solely out of hate for Hillary.

[FakeNoose]

3. Hey this is great news

I hope Robert Reich is doing research for a new book or essay that will be widely read.
One can always hope!

[annabanana]

4. k&r . . . . n/t

[JI7]

7. By right democrat they mean george wallace type

[mountain grammy]

9. sadly, yes.

[SeattlePop]

10. Their Bible Is Fox News

And Fox said Hillary was crooked, corrupt, and horrible.

They believed it.

Now they can suffer.

[HAB911]

11. They knew what they signed up for

but I'm sure it still hurts

[JHan]

12. Well played

[Liberalagogo]

13. Who would have thought

that the clearly marked shit sandwich would taste so bad?

[Va Lefty]

15. I remember someone, might have been Steve Schmidt, saying before the conventions

that "Hillary hatred" was the only thing holding the republican party together. Paraphrasing from memory here, but he said if Hillary were not the nominee the party would split into an Evangelical wing, a Grover Norquist "small government wing and a neocon interventionist wing.

[MGKrebs]

37. I don't believe it though.

Remember the vicious attacks on John Kerry? They were making fun of his Purple Heart! They can and will demonize anyone.

[NewJeffCT]

46. Yes - I was just going to say that same thing

Bernie would not have been immune to the hate/outrage machine. With all the Trump/Russia connections and Trump's penchant for projection, Bernie going to the Soviet Union for his honeymoon would have been a huge issue.

And, while racism was certainly part of the reason behind the Obama hatred, I also stated on here before that if Hillary had won in 2008, the Tea Party would have holding up badly misspelled signs using the B or the C word on them instead of the N word...

And, in 2004, I had a co-worker that was a moderate Republican that HATED Bush. When he'd get calls in the office, he'd answer the phone with "vote for Kerry" through almost the entire summer of 2004. However, the day after the election, he admitted to voting for Bush because Kerry scared him - the Fox News/Limbaugh/O'Reilly machine drove the news cycle and the mainstream media followed their lead and drove up Kerry's negatives.

[herding cats]

60. Fear and hate is how they rally their troops.

It's not difficult to come up with something, it doesn't even have to be real, to demonize the Democrat running. After that all they have to do is whip up the fear and anger machine to influence the susceptible voters out there.

The only way we beat it is with high Democratic voter turnout. Which can't happen when we have outside forces successfully working to divide us against our own candidates, coupled with the Republican's voter suppression strategy. We do ourselves no favors pretending Republicans are going to suddenly wake up. The majority of their voters act as if they're a cult now. That's just the reality we're up against.

We desperately need to accept reality and focus. Times running out. In 2018 it is vital we make some headway for the 2020. We have a census year fast approaching which will pave the way for even more gerrymandering by the GOP if we don't focus.

Sometimes I don't think people understand we need to hold all our seats in the House in 2018 (not likely) and flip 23(!) more to regain control. Despite what we'd like to be true, most people just don't pay enough attention to break out of their ridged ideology. They live in safe, self affirming bubbles where they're not wrong and don't make mistakes. Their peers assure them those who don't agree with them are wrong and working against the core values they hold most dear. That's their reality when they bother to reflect on the matter, which isn't often.

[mopinko]

16. pretty heartening news. i have been quite worried about how the

trumpkins were gonna take it the day he is frog marched out of the white house. seems not many will be that upset about it.

[Cosmocat]

20. I would not get too happy

"Hillary" isn't going away.

All this hillary hatred was what they had for BHO, what they had for Bill.

It didn't take them long to duhumanize and hate frame Gore, Kerry, Dean, Pelosi ...

They WILL very quickly be ginned up like the half witted dolts they are, to believe whoever the titular head of the "liberals" is the spawn of satan.

[mopinko]

39. yeah, there sure is that.

i worked for a congressional candidate in wis a couple cycles ago. they were running ads against her that "she had the whole democratic party behind her- obama, pelosi, all those evil liberals" when the sad truth was that she had NO.ONE. behind her from the party. the dccc wouldnt help her unless she hired one of THEIR campaign managers, and fired the woman who helped her stand up her campaign, and who she trusted.

she was squarely in the koch brother's sights because they had business interests in the district. they had even managed to stuff one of their puppets on a county board.
and she got zip from the party. she had no way to counter the smears. you would think the party would give a damn about that, but no.
all they cared about was how much money she could raise. i saw another local candidate who got the same treatment. ffs, write them a damn check. that's what people like me give you money for. (ok, i dont give the dccc money for this very reason, but still, a lot of good dems do.)

[Cosmocat]

47. The unfortunate reality of politics

I have been around enough to know exactly what you are talking about.

LOTS of good people get pinched out like this.

[Mountain Mule]

19. Trump is an asshole - who knew?

I was born in Kentucky and many in my family still live there - Trump supporters all. One of my cousins is a well educated woman who has nothing better to do with her time, than post "YAY Trump" BS on Facebook. She knew full well what Trump was like before the election, yet she still voted for him and still supports him now. Some Kentuckians are just plumb loco (sometimes even me, although not about Trump).

[Bernardo de La Paz]

21. Intereresting. Link? Or are you typing from memory? Were you there?

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

23. "cleaned up the mess in Washington"

And yet they'll vote GOP downticket every single election and then fucking wonder why things don't fucking change.

[Le Gaucher]

24. I doubt this is the predominant view in that part of the world.

Most will say what the other person wants to hear.

[spooky3]

30. I wonder about all the people who refused to talk

with Reich, particularly if he explained who he was (if they didn’t recognize him). This is very likely not a random sample.

[smirkymonkey]

25. I wish they would let their congress people know those things.

Maybe then they wouldn't be so afraid of impeaching Trump after all.

[Chasstev365]

26. Read the list again.

THIS is why Bernie Sanders appealed to so many. And what does the DNC do? Purge the Progressive wing of their staff.



OMG: Talk about tone deaf!

[JHan]

27. I was waiting for a post like this , I truly was

Expected.

[Chasstev365]

36. So: what's your point?

[JHan]

38. My point is predictability

[Chasstev365]

43. Wow: That is SO insightful!

[JHan]

45. thanks.

[murielm99]

29. Your post makes no sense.

They article says they wanted a businessman. Since when is Bernie a businessman?

The article says that the Democrats became too liberal. They don't perceive of Bernie as a liberal Jew from New England? Since when?


The progressive wing is not being purged. That may be your new meme, but it is a lie.

[JHan]

31. I laughed too,

[lunamagica]

52. Maybe you should read it again " 8. Most would support a Democrat in 2020, if it was the right

candidate ("both parties are rotten to the core," "sure, I'd vote for a Democrat," "used to be a Democrat but party got too liberal."

And you think far-left Sanders would appeal to this group?

[Juliusseizure]

67. No evidence Sanders had better chance

You're not going to find evidence Sanders had a better chance of winning. If there was, you'd have a point. But there's not.

Granted his base was passionate. That factor can't be underestimated. His personal integrity and sincerity is unmatched, the anti-Trump. Also a big factor highly appealing to angry working class voters.

But he would been crushed by three issues. Taxes, being a socialist, and religion.

He'd be equated with a communist takeover. The Kochs alone would have spent 50 billion to stop him. He's a Trotsky revolutionary to the elite and big business who've invested vast resources over 40 years to corrupt politics and hoard mass wealth and power.

He's Jewish. I'm Jewish too btw. Kennedy's catholicism was a huge obstacle he barely overcame despite his immense talents, money, and organization. Romney was mormon. Huge factor in his loss.

That "silent majority" would not have voted for a Jew, or any candidate other than a white Christian male. That was their highest priority after Obama.

[ffr]

33. So then, they're all dimwits?

Dim wit -- A dim witted person who knows nothing aka. stupid. Technically, the biggest moron on earth.

The real question from all of this would be, have they learned their lesson and are they willing to lock arms with their democratic neighbors in the next elections??? It's not good enough that they just don't like GOP policy at this time, but will give them another dimwitted chance on the next go around and the next and the next and on forever. Because, if that's the case, there's only one form of energy I'd put towards studying them, humiliation.

[JHan]

44. The last Dem to win Tenn..

was Bill Clinton ( waves at your avatar)

since then, they've voted Republican for President.

Voted Bush Jr ( they also voted Bush Sr in 88), voted McCain, voted Romney. They've been buying Republican memes wholesale for some time now.

[HughBeaumont]

35. "The party got too liberal"????

That's almost as seriously silly a line as "thought we needed a businessman".

[bigbrother05]

42. "Party got too liberal" equals all the bigots went to the GOP and so did I

When LBJ pushed through the Civil Rights Act he knew there would be repercussions, but it was the honest and fair thing to do.

All those saying "too liberal" buy into a GOP zero sum game, anything someone else gets means I get less. They think each rung on the ladder can only hold one person, so they'll gouge your eyes out to keep their place.

[Cosmocat]

48. DECADES of hate framing liberal

and democrats running from the term because of that has left us with pretty much half the country programmed to have their brain shut off when it is spoken.

[BumRushDaShow]

40. "got big money out of politics"

So they vote for a billionaire who appoints more billionaires to his cabinet while continually flaunting his (crass and tacky) "billionaire's" lifestyle by golfing every weekend (and of course doing the snowbird thing in winter in Florida), and showcasing his government-employed jet-setting children while on their Aspen ski vacations, and they expected a different result where he would not to do that? And then many of them insist that we "give him more time"?



IMHO, I really think when these types of people answer such questions, they leave out a significant part of the REAL reason "why" they so cravenly voted for him.

[Cosmocat]

49. Yeah

that sums it up ...

[world wide wally]

50. I hope this means there may be hope for America still

[Maven]

54. Used to be a Democrat but the party got too liberal

Yeah, in other words, too friendly to black/brown people, immigrants, women and gays.

Fuck them. They will continue to elect racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic leaders who pick their pockets. They don’t deserve to be “saved”.

In the short term, we now have to protect vulnerable groups from the hate that has been inflicted on them by these Trumper scum. Long term, I’m more interested in giving people who have the electoral system stacked against them (i.e. blue states and counties) more power, than rescuing these willfully ignorant people from the abyss into which they’ve thrown themselves.

[workinclasszero]

59. "too friendly to black/brown people, immigrants, women and gays"

Bingo!

Now their Con man pResident and all the other damn republicans they voted for are killing their medicare to give to the multi billionaire koch bros and soon may get their kids killed in some godforsaken shithole half way around cause the MIC is hungry for blood.

Good jobs assholes, FU!

[tomp]

63. I am so sick of the stupidity and bigotry of the american people.

1) the things they want for themselves are the liberal agenda, but they would rather not have them if it means social equality.

They want someone to the right of hillary, a person, in fact, who would not give them what they want, except agreement with their bigoted values.

If the democratic leadership pushes a more rightward candidate, they will destroy the party. The party will split, guaranteed. It's just about split right now as evidenced by the hillary/bernie war taking place right here on du.

We have to move left and explain to people that they cannot improve their own situation without social justice. It cannot happen.

2) they should have known about trump. unforgivable stupidity.

[DFW]

65. It's even worse than that:

"the things they want for themselves are the liberal agenda"

Until you call it "liberal," and THEN they are against them. It's calling something "communist" in the 1950s, and now, as then, they haven't the faintest idea what either word means.

[tomp]

66. "bernie is a 'socialist.'" nt

[Timmygoat]

64. OK I get it

So they hate Hillary - she is a strong woman, and I have always found her to be fair and really smart (not like the person they elected)But - don't let us forget she won the popular vote, and much of the rest was because of gerrymandering and probably some tampering with the voting systems.