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[quote=Anonymous]I grew up in the rural furniture and textile South. Except the furniture plants moved overseas and the textile plants went bankrupt.  Tobacco is winding down too.  And the area, which was no great shakes and pretty poor to begin with, is now deeply depressed.   So I get why they voted Trump. (BTW-- this was a part of the South with openly racist, homophobic people who have never met a Muslim, and fly a confederate fly on their pickup, so there is some of that too).

But, putting aside for the moment how we got here-- those jobs aren't coming back. But don't tell that to my High school classmates on my FB feed, who are waiting for Trump to revive the furniture, textile and tobacco industries. And these now 40 year old often dropped out of school the day they turned 16 to work in the furniture factory, like their dad and grandad.  So, they have no transferable skills or education.  It's a terrible position for anyone to be in. But, telling them manufacturing is coming back is cruel. It's just not.  And until someone is brave enough to be up front about that and offer real retraining programs, and tell them that their next job may pay less,  they are screwed.  It's like my whole hometown is waiting for Trump Godot.

And, BTW, this is in NC. So good luck with trying to bring in new industries to replace those that left while the politicians running the state are more concerned about making sure transgendered people are using the correct bathroom than bringing in new business. The whole state is being boycotted.

I was one of the few people I know in this area who was not shocked Trump won, because I get why people voted for him. But because I do care about where I came from, his win was tough for me.  I do believe that under his policies, my Fed job and college elite lifestyle in the DMV area wil be fine, I will pay less taxes and continue to have good federal health insurance. But my hometown will be worse of in 4 years than it is now.  And they do need real help. [/quote]

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