Couple things here
Why did so many rural Americans turn to supporting a narcissistic, amoral New York billionaire celebrity demagogue? Because he shared their values? Because he was a likable guy? Because he had brilliant solutions?
No: Because they were desperate and felt unheard in our political system, and resentful as economic growth in metro areas passed them by. So they chose the craziest guy in the hopes it would do something, anything.
Now that Trump will be leaving the stage, leaving his jilted supporters with a broken nation and nothing to show for it, perhaps it’s time for a reset.
The path toward healing our nation runs through these left-behind areas.
Indeed, many of these areas were once Democratic. But urban/rural polarization has now reached an extreme level. These days the biggest predictor of your party affiliation is the density of where you live. That’s a problem of the “two Americas” that is pulling our country apart.
If he wants to be a successful president, Joe Biden needs to — and I think is smart enough to — prioritize and make investments even in areas of the country that he “lost.”
Listen these rural folks and show them that Democrats have the ideas and solutions, while the Republican playbook keep them fed on a diet of resentment while doing nothing of substance except passing a tax cut that mostly benefits the wealthy anyway.
Realistically, Democrats won’t “win” rural America any time soon, but if they can improve their margins in rural counties and lose by less, then it is a solid path to a stable governing majority in our system which disproportionately benefits rural votes.
