5 minute Read: Trump Has Betrayed the People of Coal Country. They Love Him Anyway. "He thinks our people are idiots."

[634-5789]

..."Despite all the faith these locals have put in Trump, his second term is threatening their precarious existence. Few places in America are as reliant on the federal government. According to a recent study, 45 percent of the personal income of ­Buchanan County residents comes from Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and government disability programs. Federal dollars also account for about 15 percent of the county budget, subsidizing nearly every aspect of local life—education, economic development, disaster recovery, housing, sewer infrastructure. And Trump has succeeded in jeopardizing or eliminating nearly all of it...."

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/trump-coal-country-grundy-rural-appalachia-virginia/

[senseandsensibility]

1. What is left to say?

I truly don't know. But IMO the Dem party should forget trying to "win them over". Concentrate on other poor/disadvantaged people who are more open minded and Independents.

[Grins]

2. Similar story in the formerly great WaPo years ago

People lining up the day before or seversl hours early just to see a dentist. Story mentioned “buckets of teeth” being disposed of at the end of each day. Patients - YOUNG PATIENTS - in their TEENS and 20’s having ALL their teeth pulled.

Friends of mine in health care told me why: “Meth-mouth.” They were addicted to Methamphetamine.

Their teeth were blackened, stained, rotting, and falling apart due to Meth. So bad their teeth could not be salvaged so they were removed.

They also were defiant in ‘not takin’ no handouts!’

Missing the irony that that was EXACTLY what they were in line for and hoping to get.

[Maru Kitteh]

3. He is genuinely disgusted by the people that love him.

Hate is one hell of a drug.

[keep_left]

4. "He's not hurting the right people!".

That's a paraphrase from a quote in a NYT article about (delusional) working-class Trump voters. It was featured prominently on Rachel Maddow's show as well.

The full quote is "I thought he was going to do good things. He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting!"...Trump's policies weren't attacking the brown people enough, and were in fact harming nice white people like her.

https://democraticunderground.com/100220948418#post10

MAGA chuds are perpetually perplexed when Trump sells them out--over and over again. He demands an entirely one-way loyalty from his subjects...er...fans, and it is they who always pay full price for their fealty to him.

[Vinca]

5. Well, they must be idiots to keep supporting him. When you vote to "own the libs" you end up owning yourself.

[doc03]

6. I live in coal country, they still think coal is

coming back. I don't get why these people would want their children working in the mine. All the miners I know are either dead and or disabled.