Trump won the white working-man vote..

[Kosh]

As I alluded to in a different thread.  Many/Most of this group are the same people that for years have been railing against the poor for using any sort of welfare security net to help them get by and improve their situation.  You know the group, "pull yourself up by your bootstraps".  Now they bitch and moan that the economy, society, the world has passed them by.  Unemployment is low, yet they lack the skills nor the will to achieve the skills needed to get a better paying job.  They want their coal mining, street sweeping, snow plowing, assembly line, and foundry jobs back.

But there's a direct line between the tea party and someone like Trump winning. The far right has managed to instrumentalise the disenfranchised for their needs. It was even more bizarre with the Tea Party, given who stood behind that so called movement. It was billionaires, who wouldn't even wipe their asses with one of their recruits. And all these people went willing against their own interests.

I totally agree with you. My parents took advantage of the affordable health act to get insurance rates at a much lower rate than they could have otherwise. My step father collected unemployment longer after unemployment benefits were extended back in 2010.

Due to his farming being somewhat seasonal, he had a factory job that he did when he had time. It was called a flex position. He could literally call in the day before his shift and tell them he wasn't coming in.

The factory ended that shift and he collected unemployment as long as he could. It's only welfare or socialists programs whe someone else is benefiting.