Ian Reifowitz provided an insightful view into data that details the who and where of the current economic recovery. The job growth occurred in the more diverse urban areas and the predominantly white rural voters saw an actual loss of jobs. The conclusion many made was that the tale of the white working class economic voter a la Sanders was the correct version of what happened during the election. I maintain that the evidence does not actually support that theory, instead race, place and yes, gender, indeed played a major role in this tale, whether people want to admit it or not.
First, there is NO indication the kinds of jobs that employed rural whites in the past are coming back. Neither Sanders nor Trump have provided a path for bringing back those jobs except economic isolationism, which will not help. We depend on exports to keep our economy growing because as a country we can only consume so much. If we start trade wars, consumer prices will go up AND we will lose exports. Both of these things will completely kill our economy. And the truth of the matter is, automation is only going to advance and more manufacturing jobs will be lost. Globalization is not what caused the majority of manufacturing jobs to disappear.
The idea of “economic justice” only goes so far for rural whites. Raising minimum wage does not help if there are no wages to raise. Free or debt free college is fine, but does not help those in rural areas, no matter how much education they have, when employment opportunities are next to none. These voters do not want a social safety net in place to replace the chronic lack of jobs as evidenced by who they vote for on a regular basis. Economic justice a la Bernie Sanders works to a degree for urban voters, but not rural. This is a fact that Sanders and other economic justice purists seem to not understand.
What is actually needed is a complete rethinking as to what types of jobs can be created in rural areas besides farming and traditional manufacturing and fossil fuel jobs. The only person who had any ideas for this was Hillary Clinton, but she was drowned out by the white men who decided they knew better.
Rural whites refused to consider that Hillary Clinton might have solutions to their issues. She was advocating changes in the kinds of jobs that might be developed in their areas — jobs that they didn’t necessarily understand or that may involve high technology, such as “clean energy jobs”. They did not trust this narrative coming from a well educated woman.
Instead they looked to the white man who sneered at the “elite”, reflecting the anger they feel toward urban areas and minorities and educated whites. Urban areas saw the majority of job growth. Urban areas are more diverse and better educated. White rural voters think that minorities and educated women have had an unfair advantage, but the truth is they just happen to congregate in urban areas where the jobs are.
In the end it is not about the solutions that Trump is or is not providing, it is about his attitude toward minorities and anger at the “elite” that attracted them. The black President oversaw an economic recovery that benefited urban areas and minorities. As they see it, he helped “his kind”. Hillary is an educated woman who they felt would do the same, no matter what she said. They want someone instead who gives them permission to lash out at these people and provides them empty promises that the white rural working class will rise again without them having to adapt to accommodate technology, diversity and a new economy.
To rural whites, minorities are inferior and the only way they have been able to get ahead must be because they are taking advantage of the system. Get rid of the system minorities are taking advantage of and rural whites can once again prove how superior they are. They don’t like technology because technology takes away their jobs and replaces them with desk jobs in urban areas. They don’t like climate change because that takes away another traditional source of income for many who have labored in the fossil fuel industry.
It is for these reasons they are so eager to believe in fake news that demonizes those who are different or ideas that threaten the way they understand the world. It justifies their mistrust of anything that is not centered around their white rural existence. Any “news” and governmental policies that argue against all of these changes, no matter how outlandish or ill conceived, is what they want to believe and vote for. It makes them feel better and keeps the rest of the world from advancing without them.