Trumps Empty promises to Steel Workers

[tomhagen]

[Fullduplexxx]

1. You get what you vote for ... we knew trump was lying why didnt you

[denvine]

2. I find it hard to believe how anyone could be suckered by the lying asshole!

To actually say he thinks he really cares for the middle class and poor. I was encouraged that his daughter saw through Trump's bullshit. There is hope with the youth of this country.

[maddiemom]

3. Did ANY of these people have any idea of Trump's history and reputation; or

were they only familiar with him from The Apprentice and know that he was "a rich guy" by name? It still puzzles me The truth was out there and stories of his lying and braggadocio were legion. He never presented a single plan as to how he'd actually accomplish his promises. Apparently nobody was bothered to check out Hillary's long, boring ideas that were, at least, presented on line. Anyone who believed Trump cared about steelworkers, or miners or even white collar middle class, just hadn't paid attention to who the man was. I'm from north of Pittsburgh but had a college boyfriend from the Monessen area, so knew the area fairly well when it was thriving. These are NOT stupid people, but they sure heard only what they wanted to from Trump.

[maddiemom]

4. Was reminded of Jay Rockefeller (can't get a richer name than that), who went to W.VA with VISTA;

He served in a couple of state offices, was a two term governor, then a U.S. senator from the state. Reactions on him may be mixed in retrospect, but I lived in W.VA when he was in his second term as governor. He was VERY popular, and the feeling of W.VA. natives at that time was that he'd paid his dues in the state. West Virginia was not an easy state for outsiders to be accepted at that time. Definitely a contrast of "rich guys."

[trc]

5. His daughter was "young" and "didn't know any better"

Well, between you and your daughter, who was the fool?

[yuiyoshida]

6. If they chose to watch Fox News...

to listen to Rush Limbaugh and right wing radio...than when the entire system collapse they
will probably say it was the Democrats fault. Um no, dudes, you voted for this party to be in full control.. its all on them.

[kiri]

7. limited sympathy

I have limited empathy.

I arrived in Pittsburg in 1970, fresh from a new PhD and post doc at Bell Labs. With a new salary of $22,000/yr. Eventually, I bought my first house, in Shadyside,in desperation because the owner failed to do anything he promised (because we were 'outsiders', no roots in Pgh), for $21,000. We did a lot of work to fix this up and convert it into a duplex, so the 'downstairs apartment' rent paid most of the mortgage.

We did this with attention to the history, and preserving the workmanship of the original builders and craftsman--from many ethnic lands. We discovered that no Jew could be a plumber--the union; every plasterer had to be Polish, etc.

I had a Volvo. Bought it in Providence when in grad school. In Pgh, no mechanic would work on it--don't have metric tools, don't work with commies, etc.

My neighbor, sort of hippie, described how he got a summer job at US Steel, and one day he saw his beloved VW bug picked up by a crane and dropped into the firey furnace!

I support unions in principle, but the union environment in Pgh in the 1970s and 1980s was anything but democratic, decent, liberal. They were brutish and intolerant.

[maddiemom]

9. The Steelworkers and other unions, including the U.M.W.A., ...

had an outrageous amount of power in this area of the country, especially. During that time, it was the old "pendulum swing" deal. Having been exploited for many years, unions went overboard in the other direction. A major problem was that the "old timer" workers, who remembered when times were hard, were fairly well satisfied, but the newer employees, who'd never really suffered, got out of hand. The Steelworkers with high school degrees were riding high, doing far better than many college degrees could provide (not that, if the world were fair, they didn't deserve it). Being part of a mining family at the time, including both union employees and management, I know that the veteran miners were often infuriated about losing work and money due to the whims of newcomers. "Throwing out your water" (drinking water carried with their lunches) traditionally signaled that everyone walked out in a strike. The "kids" found ANY excuse to do so, when the vets just wanted to finish their shifts and get payed. As a teacher at that poorly paid time for teachers, I know that we teachers all were amazed that the younger miners wouldn't miss the money. Then again, we often had students telling us that they could drop out to work in the mines or the mills and make way more money than we would. As sadly usual, a human lack of foresight.

[SergeStorms]

8. Anyone who knows Donald Trump......

could tell you he's a liar, con-man, a thief, and an egomaniac. Those are the people that know him! But these people knew better than us. They're from Pennsylvania, and apparently people from Pennsylvania know everything instinctively. They actually thought they could take Donald Trump at his word.

In New York we know everything there is to know about that spoiled, rotten, son-of-a-bitch. So why didn't they believe the people who know him best? They believed the right-wing lies about Hillary, and they were sucked in by Trump's lies about "the good old days" in America (something Republicans remember fondly, fearing the future) instead. I guess that's because that's what they wanted to hear and believe as well.

Ahhhh screw it. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Who's sorry now? ALL of us, that's who!