Who is Listening to Them?

Democrats are feeling their oats. They won! Warnock defeated Walker in Georgia, Fetterman defeated Oz in Pennsylvania, Hobbes defeated Lake in Arizona, Dems have 51 seats in the Senate, and so on. Never mind that they lost the House of Representatives . . .

In their euphoria, however, the Dems are delusional. Never mind that they lost the House? Oh, my. They will soon see that their loss of the House is the most significant result of the midterm election. House Republicans are going to make the political lives of Democrats miserable, and will make progress on Biden’s agenda a rough road indeed.

Democrats think they have dealt Donald Trump, who backed a lot of the losers, a major blow. They haven’t; he doesn’t care. He still has millions of supporters who will get him the Republican nomination. 1.7 million people voted for Hershel Walker. 2.5 million voted for Mehmet Oz. 1.27 million voted for Kari Lake. Millions! And millions more voted for Trump/Republican candidates all over the country. That they lost in some important cases is only part of the story. That there are millions and millions who voted Republican, even for lousy candidates, is the more important part of the story.

Who are they, these Republican/Trumper voters who almost won, and who actually can win in 2024? (With Trump or maybe someone worse.) They are lots of different people. I know a smart, intelligent physician who is one of them. I know a retired law clerk who is one of them. I know a suburban housewife who is one of them. I know a middle-manager with four kids who is one of them. (So is the mother.) I know a wealthy business-woman who is one of them. (So are her children.)

These are just a few of the Republican voters that I know. The bulk of them, however, are the folks Hillary Clinton called a “basket of deplorables” while she was on her way to losing the Presidency to Trump because she wouldn’t visit, talk, or listen to them. She couldn’t be bothered to travel to deplorable-land out there in the rust belt of the Midwest.

I actually grew up with these people. They were neighbors; I walked to school with their kids. They were nice people, hard-working, took care of their property, made their kids do their homework, took democracy seriously, and liked to drink beer and play poker on Saturday night. About half of them went to some Church or other on Sunday. They used to be called “the working class” before Hillary called them deplorable.

Today on the street where we lived in Youngstown, Ohio, every third formerly well-kept house has been demolished. That’s a lot of vacant lots, and a third of the people — gone. I don’t know where. But I think they may be working somewhere, and voting for Trumpers. Note that Trump-supported J. D. Vance defeated an excellent Democratic candidate (Tim Ryan) from a town near Youngstown by 230,000 votes.

So here is my question: Who is listening to these people now? Trump isn’t; he’s too busy hobnobbing with anti-Semites, white supremacists, QAnoners, and the like. He takes his base supporters for granted; he uses them. They’re his cult. He doesn’t have to listen to them.

So, who is listening to these people? Not the Democrats. They are too busy listening to the liberal, educated elites, to blacks, and to their Progressive/woke faction.

Republicans also are not listening. They are too busy trying to figure out how to please Trump, and excessively worrying about losing their seats of power.

It’s an opportunity for Democrats. These working folks used to be Democrats but are now voting for Trumpers. If Dems listen, though, they will get an earful because the working class doesn’t much like elites, and they definitely don’t like Progressive/woke foolishness. They have cultural differences with blacks, too. They should logically be Democrats, but the Democrats have left them.

Can the Democrats listen, make room for these folks back in their already crowded tent, and entice these good people to leave Trump and come on in? I don’t know, but Dems should try.

There are millions of these Trump voters, and they came very close to winning some midterm elections with poor candidates. They may very well cast the votes to win the next election for some would-be autocrat.

What do they want? Well, for sure they don’t want to be angry and revengeful. They just want good jobs, dignity and respect, an honest, capable, fair government, really good schools for their children, safety in their homes and streets, food and fuel oil they can afford, a strong military to protect the nation, and did I mention respect and dignity?

Just Sayin’.