Trying to interpret Iowa voters

This morning I was trying to catch up on my news reading for the week, and took a look at yesterday’s New York Times. One of the pieces I looked at was by Trip Gabriel, reconnecting with some of the people he had spent some time with in Iowa over the last year.

I was wondering about the Democratic party’s ground game when I read this paragraph:

“Maybe it’s time to have some change,” Mr. McKibben [laid-off Maytag worker, now working in a prison] allowed. “I saw neighbors I knew were strong union people with Trump signs in their yards.”

Are there really no authority figures, either in the union, or the Democratic Party, or at colleges in the area, who could address the underlying issues and show the folly of this reaction?

I would put that lack of response in the unacceptable category, whereas my reaction to Jackie Furman, a 70-year-old retired commercial bakery manager is stupefaction. Her comment:

“I’m ashamed to say we caucused for Obama” in 2008. “My view is he purposely got into the presidency so he could ruin America.”

I know a number of people who voted for Trump, something I would’ve never contemplated were I a US citizen. I would never suggest that he purposely ran for president to ruin the United States, although that outcome is more likely with him as president then with Barack Hussein Obama.

Don’t let my take on this article dissuade you from reading it. It is well written and worth reading.

And please feel free to share your reactions to the article, and to this post.

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