How about this? It’s the relationships. Poor white people understand the importance of this election. Right now, we’re voting based on what we know and who we know. And we know Republicans.
Do you think we don’t care about wars and foreign policy? People don’t see pictures of every soldier, marine, airman, or sailor that dies in these wars. Yet, we know that our sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, nieces and nephews, and grandchildren are among the many lost to war. We are the ones sending them off to fight these battles. And we are the ones receiving their bodies if they don’t make it home alive. You think we do not care about economic inequality? 6 of the 10 poorest counties in America are over 90% white. You think we don’t care about free college? What does that matter when we can’t get jobs afterwards because we don’t have the same connections as white people from well-to-do families? Or because the jobs have to go to minorities to fulfill some sort of quota?
After this election, we need to have a seat at the table. We’ve been at the table with the Republicans for many many years. You want us to suddenly beg some elitist coastal liberals who we don’t know to invite us to sit at their table? According to recent election statistics, that too late invitation has not been reciprocated.
I asked a millennial, a white male, who he was voting for. He said Donald Trump. Right now Donald Trump is the favorite. I equate it to the horse races. Trump already has the Kentucky Derby. He’s a proven winner (just ask him). We are now at the Preakness. If he wins, we’ll work for a Triple Crown. And if he doesn’t, we will switch to the one that stayed on her tail and work to win Belmont. We know that whatever bad things you think will happen with a Trump presidency, it won’t make things any worse for us. None of these establishment politicians are going to do anything to address our interests.
If YOU were hearing us, you would stop asking that ridiculous question about why poor white people support Republicans. I supported Hubert Humphrey in 1968, until Richard Nixon convinced me that he would be the better choice.
And it was the same with Bill Clinton. I liked Bill Clinton; still do. I liked what he had to say. But here’s the thing, talking about the special needs of minority interest groups is not the answer to every question. Democrats lost me years ago. I’m unconvinced. You want to help them? Teach them a new song.
And teach him how to pick their friends. It’s not just you, it’s the company you keep. Al Sharpton? Jesse Jackson? Really? George Clooney? Are you kidding me? Bruce Springsteen? My millennial daughter, who is also a Trump supporter, asked, “Who is he? And I don’t care.”
You cannot randomly select a few white faces with southern accents to pass on your message. You cannot hire one white guy named “Jim Bob” to funnel all your messages through. You can’t pretend you go hunting and like chugging down beers, when you’re really an awkward big city liberal. You cannot show up in a handful of rural white spaces in the months, weeks, days, or minutes before you need us, to convince us that you get it. Get what exactly? You haven’t been gathering the data and cataloging the issues we face. You haven’t been on the ground with us all of these years. You spend too much time cultivating relationships with diverse “minority” communities to actually address any area of genuine concern to people like me. Until you spend some real time in our communities listening to us instead of talking at us, you can go ahead and take a seat.
