Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:51 pm
It is no surprise to many Americans that Republicans would not exist as a political party without a significant number of stupid people in the electorate. Up until a couple of weeks ago, no Republican ever had the courage to articulate their embrace of “the stupid” among their base. Most establishment Republicans comprehend that there is only so much abuse even their ignorant supporters will take.
Republican frontrunner for the presidential nomination Donald Trump is the exception. He not only openly embraces ignorance; he told his supporters that “he loves the poorly educated.” What he failed to tell his supporters was that without the “poorly educated,” his candidacy would have been over eight months ago.
Trump thrives on the “telling it like it is” portrayal of his rhetoric, but if he really told it like it is, he would “turn his favorite word loser” on his stupid racist supporters; not the educated professionals in the press pool assigned to cover his race-baiting campaign. Donald Trump is a racist bully and a charlatan, but he is not fool enough to insult the people keeping him on pace to win the Republican nomination for president. So he tells “the losers” that he loves them because they are poorly educated (read stupid).
Recently, the New York Times published a report on what they labeled “Trump geography” that was a result of attempting to get to the bottom of “one of the most bizarre mysteries of modern political history;” why in dog’s name does any American support Donald Trump, and what kind of idiots are those people?
Some journalists did a little research and discovered that in the counties where Trump is most dominant, particularly across the South, there are large numbers of white high school dropouts, and unemployed white people who will not even look for work. And why should they?
The poorly educated, poverty-ridden counties of Trump’s America receive inordinately large sums of public assistance like food stamps, welfare, housing assistance and healthcare while claiming America sucks. They are also guilty of massive Social Security fraud in seeking permanent disability payments for minor injuries or phony conditions. In fact, it is a problem that is so rampant in “Trump’s America” that “attorneys have created a cottage industry out of offering to secure taxpayer-funded disability income for perfectly normal clients when they pay a one-time fee for a lifetime of living off of government subsidies.”
There is a perfectly good reason that Trump’s seemingly incoherent candidacy correlates with many in his base; their failure and inability to obtain a high school diploma and their personal choice to withdraw from the labor force. The “Trump counties” also have a historically consistent record of voting for segregationists, and have an above average percentage of its residents living in government subsidized mobile homes.
Since Trump and his ignorant base claim being “politically incorrect” and stereotypical are honorable traits, they will not mind hearing the bald truth that according to the empirical evidence, they are nothing more than “lazy and stupid white trailer trash.”
In a speech during a campaign rally, Trump even “acknowledged the veracity of his intellectually challenged trailer trash;” the base that wants Trump to “make America great again.” Although Trump generally regards normal people to be “losers,” to appeal to “the stupid” he claimed that he “loves the poorly educated” to wild applause.
It is noteworthy that regardless the state, “the poorly educated” Trump loves were “poorly conditioned” to shun the value of education like they shun the idea of work. Their stupidity is not down to poor schools or ineffective teachers. It is remarkable that in the past Trump has never revealed a special “affection for illiteracy and ignorance;” neither in his underlings, business associates, nor any of his children. But he does love stupid voters he can easily manipulate; a fair percentage of whom failed to earn even a high school diploma.
An author at the ultra-conservative journal National Review, Kevin Williamson, penned an essay identifying just a few personal problems typical of Trump’s supporters. He particularly noted that even in the best of economic conditions and under the friendliest government policies, the career options for high school dropouts will always remain poor to non-existent. Trump is aware of this fact, but instead of embracing the GOP’s mantra and telling his stupid base to accept “personal responsibility” for creating their own low standard of living, he verifies that blaming everyone else is acceptable.
Donald Trump is like all Republicans and claims in public that his poorly educated base’s financial misery has nothing whatsoever to do with their rejection of work and education; it is because of Mexicans crossing the border, Muslims in the Middle East, poverty-wage Chinese workers, and the African American man they believe illegally occupies the Oval Office.
The trailer trash high school dropouts who have stopped filling out job applications are responsible for their own American dream’s death. And if their little region of “America is going to Hell” like Trump is wont to claim, it is their own fault. Still, Trump has enjoyed a raging success in telling his incredibly stupid supporters that it is everyone else’s fault they are ignorant and poor and they believe him.
Trump does not love the poorly educated in the sense his “poorly educated” base believes; he loves them because they are too incredibly stupid to see through the sophistry an intelligent charlatan is selling. Tragically, if Trump did win the White House and send his “poorly educated” base deeper into poverty and despair, they would continue blaming immigrants, people of color and likely President Obama.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
- Opinion: Lock Them All Up. Trump’s DOJ Violated U.S. Law By Ignoring His Crimes - Fri, Oct 22nd, 2021
- Opinion: The House Select Committee Can Avoid the DOJ and Arrest Steve Bannon - Mon, Oct 18th, 2021
- Opinion: Steve Bannon Belongs in Prison For Planning Another Violent Coup - Wed, Oct 6th, 2021
