According to an article in Salon.com with the lengthy title "Who are these idiot Donald Trump supporters? Trump loves the poorly educated -- and they love him right back," an analysis in the New York Times broke down where Trump supporters are most congregated.
Journalists found that in the counties where Trump is most dominant, there are large numbers of white high school dropouts, and unemployed people no longer looking for work. An alliance with the incoherent personality cult of Donald Trump's candidacy correlates strongly with failure to obtain a high school diploma, and withdrawal from the labor force. The counties also have a consistent history of voting for segregationists, and have an above average percentage of its residents living in mobile homes.
The article subtitled "Urban poor are parasites who need personal responsibility. Trump fans are victims of economic forces. Yeah, sure," explains the disparities of how the right wing defines the mostly-black urban underclass juxtaposed with how those who participate in the "personality cult" surrounding Donald Trump are perceived by the media, by Trump himself, and by the public at large.
Of course, Trump's demagoguery appeals to the poorly educated, the intellectually unformed, those with incoherent rage at something, at anything which is seen as some macroeconomic economic forces largely beyond their control which keeps them from being upwardly mobile and taking their rightful place among the middle class. The Chinese are blamed for currency manipulation and the transfer of low-wage manufacturing jobs abroad, and the Mexicans are blamed for criminality and the taking of low-wage jobs domestically.
Someone, anyone is to blame for their despondency and precarious financial existence, but themselves. Of course, they are the first to point fingers at the black underclass as being irresponsible, lazy, and angry. It is an anger they share, although largely directed in different directions - not wanting constructive social change, but rather social stagnation and the return of an idealized past that never was. It is the anger of the entitled.
Trump himself has said: "I love the poorly educated." Who loves the "poorly educated" more than a demagogue? Who else can direct their incoherent rage at "the other" and use their lack of knowledge and sophistication to define the world in very simplistic terms, largely shaped around a figure like himself, with no coherent policy prescriptions? Who else defines his skill at "dealmaking" as the answer to all domestic and international dilemmas? And if you don't believe it, Trump will be the first to offer to sell you a copy of his tome The Art of the Deal. If not that, how about some Trump steak knives?
Interestingly, these government-hating, overwhelmingly white individuals, populating the counties that support Trump "have made a cottage industry for lawyers in Social Security fraud or the seeking of disability payments for minor injuries or conditions." Well, the hypocrisy speaks for itself!
In another interesting, if sad, wrinkle, this marginalized demographic is the only one in the country experiencing declining longevity and the reasons are bleak. Drugs and alcohol, and suicide are clearly the proximate reasons, according to a study. It is the despair of a group who once had social prominence and hegemony and now see little, but declining fortunes after being bypassed by those they considered their inferiors.
Trump speaks to them and makes their rage real. Of course, he has little to offer, but this same rage and resentment -- and therefore, his ascension -- may signal the shattering of the Republican party, a once great party which now has little to offer as well, but disillusionment and juvenile boasts about the shutdown of government.
Perhaps it is only a matter of time before this Republican party goes the way of Trump steaks, Trump airlines, and Trump vodka and I, for one, will not miss it! Enough of the demagoguery, the anti-intellectualism, and the science denial! Enough of the race baiting! Enough of the bastion of extremists the Republican party has become!