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Eugene Robinson: Trumps America is not the only real America
Humility is a virtue, but fake humility is a sin, or ought to be. So let me begin the new year with full-throated praise of some people and institutions that supposedly got their comeuppance in November: the mainstream media, “coastal elites,” share-the-wealth liberals, pointy-headed intellectuals and others said to be hopelessly out of touch with the “real America.”
In what too quickly became the consensus view, all of the above were put in their place by Donald Trump’s narrow electoral victory. We unreal Americans were demonstrated to be clueless, the conventional wisdom has ruled, and now are obliged to slink away and repent.
All of this is pure rubbish. It’s time to stop all the self-flagellation and raise our voices to insist that things such as knowledge, experience, qualifications and respect for objective facts still matter — now, perhaps, more than ever....
Do urban, coast-dwelling “elites” really have such haughty disdain for the heartland? That’s an odd way to look at a country in which, according to the Census Bureau, more than 70?percent of the population lives in “urbanized areas” and more than half lives in “coastal watershed” counties, generally within 50 miles of one of the oceans or the Great Lakes....
To read Trump’s win as some kind of sweeping victory for conservatism would be absurd. Progressive voices, loud ones, will be needed to hold him accountable. One thing we learned during the campaign is that Trump’s voters — unlike many congressional Republicans — do not necessarily see big government as oppressive. They rely on its help.
In what too quickly became the consensus view, all of the above were put in their place by Donald Trump’s narrow electoral victory. We unreal Americans were demonstrated to be clueless, the conventional wisdom has ruled, and now are obliged to slink away and repent.
All of this is pure rubbish. It’s time to stop all the self-flagellation and raise our voices to insist that things such as knowledge, experience, qualifications and respect for objective facts still matter — now, perhaps, more than ever....
Do urban, coast-dwelling “elites” really have such haughty disdain for the heartland? That’s an odd way to look at a country in which, according to the Census Bureau, more than 70?percent of the population lives in “urbanized areas” and more than half lives in “coastal watershed” counties, generally within 50 miles of one of the oceans or the Great Lakes....
To read Trump’s win as some kind of sweeping victory for conservatism would be absurd. Progressive voices, loud ones, will be needed to hold him accountable. One thing we learned during the campaign is that Trump’s voters — unlike many congressional Republicans — do not necessarily see big government as oppressive. They rely on its help.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-america-is-not-the-only-real-america/2017/01/02/a15239aa-ced0-11e6-a747-d03044780a02_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-e%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.2e4aa5d3a94a#comments
