We say very clearly that rural America is hurting. But we refuse to justify attitudes that some scholars try to underplay.

Something remarkable happened among rural whites between the 2016 and 2020 elections: According to the Pew Research Center’s validated voter study, as the rest of the country moved away from Donald Trump, rural whites lurched toward him by nine points, from 62 percent to 71 percent support. And among the 100 counties where Trump performed best in 2016, almost all of them small and rural, he got a higher percentage of the vote in 91 of them in 2020. Yet Trump’s extraordinary rural white support—the most important story in rural politics in decades—is something many scholars and commentators are reluctant to explore in an honest way.

What isn’t said enough is that rural whites are being told to blame all the wrong people for their very real problems. As we argue in the book, Hollywood liberals didn’t destroy the family farm, college professors didn’t move manufacturing jobs overseas, immigrants didn’t pour opioids into rural communities, and critical race theory didn’t close hundreds of rural hospitals. When Republican politicians and the conservative media tell rural whites to aim their anger at those targets, it’s so they won’t ask why the people they keep electing haven’t done anything to improve life in their communities.

    • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      That is the choice we have. That is the reality. Vote however you want, but I think you know in your heart that one of those choices will be much worse for the country than the other. Sometimes all you can do is minimize harm.

      • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        And I’m telling you I won’t continue to cater to that. I will be voting 3rd party. All a vote for Biden would do is reward the selfish pieces of shit who voted for him in the 2020 primaries.

        • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          I’m not asking who you are voting for. I am asking when the election ends with either Trump or Biden winning, which result will be the least damaging for the country?

          • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Lol keep coping buddy.

            Biden can’t have my vote. No amount of force feeding me bullshit candidates will change that. If a politician wants my vote they’ll work for it.

            • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              I’m not asking for your vote. This is hilarious. You can’t even bring yourself to say which is worse for the country.

              • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                Yes. You can’t stand the fact that I’m making my own choice. My opinion clearly didn’t matter in the 2020 democratic primaries so it definitely doesn’t matter now.

                • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  It will matter when whoever becomes the next president picks one or two new Supreme Court justices. Who would you rather do that between Trump and Biden?