Trump’s very name makes me feel nauseous, and I live in Florida, so the news this November 4th made me immensely sad. What’s wrong with my fellow Floridians?
But then according to the vote map, he didn’t win it by much, even though the whole red center of the state seemed to prefer him (51.2 to 47.8). Listen, there are two Floridas. The coasts have lots of Yankee immigrants living in fancy beachfront homes, and that’s what you see in the tourist brochures. They are retired; they don’t care much about schools or making America better for future generations or much besides their Wall Street dividends. They just want to enjoy their retirement. Yet they brought their generally higher education and some progressive values with them.
The center of the state is deep south, root-hog-or-die, poor and struggling. But why would they vote for a privileged, born-rich New Yorker? Trump changed his residence from New York to Florida, from Trump Tower to Mar a Lago. This was for political reasons, he doesn’t pay residence taxes on Mar at Lago. The mayor of New York said he didn’t care, because Trump didn’t pay taxes in New York, either.
His own fake county of residence voted against him, by the way. The two counties with big universities, and hence more educated folks, also voted against him. I was glad to see the places to which I want to relocate voted against him (Tallahassee and Jacksonville.)
But why did the rednecks vote for him? By the way, “redneck” is not a derogatory term around here and I’m rather fond of rednecks. I can think of two reasons: They are struggling, anxious and afraid. When Trump tells them it’s the immigrants fault they want to believe that. Alternatively, it’s the deep state’s fault, the elite cabal, the swamp that needs draining. It’s a matter of life of death, you see, a battle between good and evil. Like followers of a cult leader, they MUST believe or they are doomed. You see how that worked out for the People’s Temple or Germany in 1945.
But are my redneck buddies just stupid? I find they are no more stupid than some of my college professors. A lot of them are at least nominal Christians. They are a fairly honest lot. They do not think someone will just stand up and tell bald-faced lies, as Trump has done repeatedly. They just can’t conceive of it. Those who accuse him of lying are those evil swamp-dwellers. And isn’t he a businessman, a political outsider who will make America Great Again? Besides the deep state is coming for your guns and you won’t be able to defend your little daughter from Mexican rapists! That’s powerful stuff, folks.
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