Nick Kristof has an opinion piece in today’s NYT in which he interviews Trump voters (yes, yet another piece in the NYT featuring interviews with Trump voters).
http://nyti.ms/2omPNBS
The Trumpistas all benefited greatly from programs receiving federal funding. One is a woman who was able to escape an extremely abusive relationship, another is a man who was able to go from a minimum wage job to a good paying manufacturing job, another was a woman who was gang-raped in high school, another is a 70-year-old woman, barely getting by, who depends on a federally funded job.
All bemoan cuts to the programs that benefited them and say cuts need to be made elsewhere; you know, to people who don’t “deserve” help. For example, I’m sure the Hispanic guy who benefited from the job retraining plan would think that the programs that helped the three women are a waste of money. (This reminds me that every time I’ve seen a Republican politician calling for increased funding to cure a disease, somebody close to him has that disease).
The kicker is that they all say they’d vote for Trump again.
This points up the central weakness of the Sanders “plan” to attract WWC voters. These voters aren’t to be won over by promises of single payer health care or free college because they don’t think they’ll benefit. They’re going to view these programs as “free stuff for the blacks.” They elected Trump to be cruel to to others; they just didn’t realize that they and others like them could be swept up in that net.
This attitude reminds of that great Craig T. Nelson quote>