One hates Trump. The other loves him. Two West Virginians wait for the president to come to town.

[Demovictory9]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/one-hates-trump-the-other-loves-him-two-west-virginians-wait-for-the-president-to-come-to-town/2018/08/23/f9fade20-a61c-11e8-97ce-cc9042272f07_story.html?utm_term=.4352bb1e232d






Both Black, 60, and Cochran, 54, voted for Barack Obama in 2008. Since then their politics have diverged radically.

Black falls asleep most nights watching liberal commentator Rachel Maddow on MSNBC and calls Trump a “con man.”

“He’s only in it for himself,” Black said.

Cochran said he has supported Trump from the moment he rolled down the golden escalator and announced his candidacy in New York City. He said he falls asleep each night feeling safer knowing that Trump is defending the country from foreign enemies such as North Korea and Iran.

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When it came to Trump or most national issues, they jousted, like cable-news combatants eased into armchairs.

But on the issues they could influence, the ones that mattered most in their lives, the two were in harmony. Cochran hated the Affordable Care Act and Black backed it. Now, their bodies failing, both men support universal health care.

“I’ll give a little more out of my paycheck for everyone to be covered,” Black had said in an earlier discussion with Cochran.

“Me too,” Cochran had agreed. “We pay more every year to be told no.”

Back at the rally, the crowd was still cheering. The bus drivers had moved on.