There are a few things that bother me on this "woe is white America" narrative, so indulge me while I vent.

(1) I hate when Trump voters are mischaracterized as some sort of victimized, marginalized, and ignored white underclass. It's bullshit. The average Trump supporter is comfortably middle class -- they just tend to lack bachelor's degrees and be white. The "white working class" thing bothers me for this reason -- it unfairly lionizes the Joe the Plumbers of the world who think they're poor and oppressed because they are just average Joes and have chosen to blame their unhappiness on Obama and liberals and "snowflakes" and such. I don't think there is a lot of sympathy for these folks tbh and their so-called "plight" is much different from some poor hillbilly who has turned to meth and Oxy because the coal mine laid him off. My heart bleeds for that guy and I want to do everything to help him, but honest -- I say screw the Archie Bunker types. If that's how they want to be then Trump is the right guy for them and they aren't worth it.

(2) It bugs me when uneducated whites are equated with rural -- again playing up this sympathetic narrative about poor forgotten rural folk. The real sticking point to me are these areas -- mostly smaller or declining cities or even major areas -- where the economy is still designed for the 20th century and we need to find a way to Pittsburgh-ize them and bring them into the 21st. That takes work and real reform that a charlatan like Trump isn't going to bring them, and we need to work toward solutions. I think there is real opportunity here because there are a lot of areas that just are stuck in 1975 and haven't moved since. I've seen some of them first hand. I do think these areas saw heavy upticks in Trump support mainly because they felt like a hail mary pass or a grenade lobbed at DC was worth the risk (which was very little to them). Not an easy solution, but the discussion needs to be redirected to fixing their problems and not just looking for scapegoats to blame or creating false narratives about crime in Chicago to make them feel better about themselves. Education reform is key, and that ain't happening under this guy and Betsy fucking Devos.

(3) At the end of the day I think these narratives are little more than underhanded ways to fuel more racism and racial division, and I do think that is the underlying point in spreading this narrative. Trump's message was predicated heavily on making white Americans (at least under or uneducated white americans) feel like the "us" with everyone else as the "them". It was ugly nationalism through and through and needs to be defeated. I think this narrative just fuels it further.

End rant.