Solid Piece at Cracked About the Rise of Trump

Cracked is a Social Justice Warrior dumpster fire, but this piece from one of its only actual talents (David Wong) is pretty good.

Apparently he grew up in a red county, and he sees the Trump phenomenon as largely about the haves -- largely centered in the cities - and have-nots in rural areas, which, he says, have "had the shit kicked out of them."

I'm telling you, the hopelessness eats you alive.

And if you dare complain, some liberal elite will pull out their iPad and type up a rant about your racist white privilege. Already, someone has replied to this with a comment saying, "You should try living in a ghetto as a minority!" Exactly. To them, it seems like the plight of poor minorities is only used as a club to bat away white cries for help. Meanwhile, the rate of rural white suicides and overdoses skyrockets. Shit, at least politicians act like they care about the inner cities.

It really does feel like the worst of both worlds: all the ravages of poverty, but none of the sympathy. "Blacks burn police cars, and those liberal elites say it's not their fault because they're poor. My son gets jailed and fired over a baggie of meth, and those same elites make jokes about his missing teeth!" You're everyone's punching bag, one of society's last remaining safe comedy targets.

Although he was born in a red county, he says (with a bit of irony) that he now "knows" everything he used to think is wrong because he know lives in a blue city and in a blue industry. I think he's kinda-sorta half-serious about believing all the stuff he used to believe is wrong -- while making the point that he probably only believes that because he's now been socialized by his dogmatic liberal coworkers to "know" the new received wisdom.

Good piece, I think. It might be useful for the GOP's own urban elite, who like to think of themselves as knowing cosmopolitans but who are really blinkered provincials, to read it.

Thanks to "Tusk."

posted by Ace at 12:40 PM

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