Why the poorest county in West Virginia has faith in Donald Trump

[ehrnst]

Heartbreaking to see people in coal country truly believe that coal will somehow come roaring back under Donald. Heartbreaking that West Virginia has abandoned them time and time again. A stimulus for education and economic redevelopment akin to the Rural Electrification project is direly needed, but in an age of sequester and the demonization of 'government' anything, that is unlikely.

[geek tragedy]

1. Pretty simple--very white, poorly educated, culturally backwards

That's Trump's base. They'll buy anything that a con man who shares their prejudices is selling.

[Cakes488]

2. These people need help too!! I just wish these folks could see that Trumpass was born with a silver

spoon in his mouth and he cannot empathize or remotely relate with the poor. He does not care about the poor...if he did would
would of been seeing the fruits of that from the life he led. Why do they refuse to see that??? I know they are not educated but this just takes common sense.

[Thrill]

3. Yeah he's a white man

That's why

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

4. and this is what Trump thinks of miners when not campaigning

but our coal executive-loving, rightwing media here in WV ignores:

I keep going back to these somewhat-widely quoted comments Trump made about coal miners back in March 1990 in, of all things, a Playboy interview:

What satisfaction, exactly, do you get out of doing a deal?
I love the creative process. I do what I do out of pure enjoyment. Hopefully, nobody does it better. There’s a beauty to making a great deal. It’s my canvas. And I like painting it.

I like the challenge and tell the story of the coal miner’s son. The coal miner gets black-lung disease, his son gets it, then his son . If I had been the son of a coal miner, I would have left the damn mines. But most people don’t have the imagination–or whatever–to leave their mine. They don’t have “it.”

Which is?
“It” is an ability to become an entrepreneur, a great athlete, a great writer. You’re either born with it or you’re not. Ability can be honed, perfected or neglected. The day Jack Nicklaus came into this world, he had more innate ability to play golf than anybody else.

http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/coaltattoo/2016/05/05/donald-trump-and-the-coal-miners/

[tanyev]

5. I get why a lot of GOP voters don't like Hillary.

Decades of right wing propaganda about her has created a hatred towards her that will never go away. What I don't get is why they believe Donald Trump is capable of, or willing, to do anything that would help them.

[lapfog_1]

6. Sadly

Those people are going to vote for Trump. Being honest with them won't help anyone...

The reason is that honestly, there isn't anything that is going to help them (unless we just decide to pump free money into poor communities like this, and even that likely won't help them).

Coal isn't coming back. If it does (and humans need to stop extracting the ancient sunlight captured by the earth)... it will NOT employee anyone (or much of anyone).

Google does not need these people. Google might locate a big datacenter in the region (or facebook or whoever). It still won't employee anyone there.

The only thing I can think of that would help a community like this is for a half dozen skilled artisan manufacturing companies to locate here... companies that build hand-crafted something (furniture, clothing, food or drink). Something that can't be manufactured by automation someplace else. But it takes skilled artisans to make things that people will pay more for because of the uniqueness or the quality.

[NCTraveler]

7. Romney took that county 64 to 34 in 2012. nt.

[dalton99]

8. Half of them are probably on opioids

[iandhr]

9. As LBJ said...

... "If you can convince the lowest white man he is better than the best colored man he won't notice you picking his pockets."

[muntrv]

10. Also because Jeebus says they must vote for Trump. At least that's what the preachers tell them.

[beachbumbob]

11. Poor whites who see any one villianizing the so called

"Black welfare"....the same programs they used...gravitate to them because in their minds...they are white and entitled...and the others are not

[denbot]

12. We as a party, a people, and a nation, need to invest in areas like this!

If we can't, or worst, won't, do everything possible to get areas like this back in the game, we need to admit to ourselves we are useless and deceitful, like the republicans.

There is a lot of "redneckneck" bashing here, and I am also guilty of wanting to write off sections of this country as if they were some form of cancer because they don't see things the way I do, or possibly harbor a visceral dislike towards me due to my ethnicity.

Be that as it may, they are still or countrymen, and this is still our nation, and it looks like we we get another shot at governing via the Whitehouse, and the Senate.

We owe them as a people, for powering our nation during our Industrial Age, and as a party for their struggles in powering the labor movement. Most of all we owe them simply because they are our countrymen. We are obligated to them, because we are likey going to be in a position to help them.

Why the fuck do we seek power? To prove we're right? To help only those that we feel a kinship, or agree with? Do we do this to feel we're superior over those we oppose by winning a popularity contest? If so we have lost our way.

We know we have to transition to renewable energy. We know we need to rebuild our infrastructure for the coming generations. To do so will take matierals, and labor. We should center our manufacturing investments in places such as coal country, the rust belt, the parts of mostly rural America left behind when we shipped our factories overseas.

Frankly the job looks impossible, but so did going to the moon, and sure as hell, it wasn't a republican that got us going there.

[appalachiablue]

22. Rec- Excellent post and the truth about West By God Virginia!

Charlie Burton flatfoot dances to the string band's "Arkansas Traveler". Miller's Inn porch, Hampshire Co., West Virginia.