Rural counties are the bedrock of the Republican Party. In many of these rural counties and voting districts, over 80 percent of voters vote Republican. Racism, rural America and today’s Republican Party are inseparably woven together.

We can accurately measure the level of racism in a group or geographical area by using a proxy measure. That measure is the percentage of people who voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election. The simple reality is that the Trump presidency was such a disaster that no rational voter wanting effective government would ever vote for Trump.  For those with doubts about this, please see the Appendix at the end of this article

Sadly, the obvious reason for Trump’s godlike devotion from his voters is their mutual level of racism. Hence, why the proxy measure of measuring racism is so accurate. All these voters know is that Donald Trump is the most racist president in their lifetimes. That is all that  matters.

It is particularly telling that the only viable Republican alternative to Trump is Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. Governor DeSantis’s campaign doesn’t revolve around  ideas to improve our lives. He is focused on attracting Republican racist voters by denying Black history and the biology of sexual orientation in the classroom while spending Florida taxpayer money dumping unsuspecting immigrants into northeastern US cities.

Some background…

One thing Frugal Ron is an expert on is the people living in rural America. Frugal Ron was born and raised on a farm between two towns of about 350 people in Jackson County, Wisconsin. One can read about and talk about living in rural America. But, there is nothing like being raised in the rural United States and owning and operating a dairy and cash crop farm for 12 years (that ranked in the top 10 percent of gross income farms in the US at that time) to really understand farmers and rural people.

Before going further, a couple points…

First, not all rural people are racists. In farms and small towns, you will find some of the kindest, most decent, intelligent and honest people anywhere. These folks judge people by what is in their hearts, not by the color of their skin.  Of course, these people would never vote for Donald Trump. Sadly, these people are a distinct minority in rural America. Hence, the focus of this article.

Second, for the sake of space, simplicity and readability, when referring to racism, I am also including homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, anti-semitism and hatred of outspoken, powerful women; but not writing it out every time. Most Trump voters share more than one, or in many cases, all of these hatreds. Having written this, it is my observation that racist’s hatred for people born with Black skin is a whole level higher than their hatred of all the other groups combined. Even more telling, White racist’s fear of Black men drives Republican craziness about unrestricted gun ownership, assault rifles and the like.

Another thing I’ve learned is most urban Democrats have no idea of the level of racism that exists in the countryside. While listening to young, urban White people discussing how they try and stop their implicit racial bias (saying and doing things they don’t think are offensive, but are hurtful to people of color), I have to stop. In rural America, the racism and hatred is right up front. The “N word” is just part of the vocabulary and the hatred towards Black people is ever present. We definitely live in two worlds in the US.

Who are rural people?

Growing up, it always amazed me that after graduating from Taylor High School, the best and the brightest kids disappeared. Most went to college, some joined the military and a few got jobs somewhere else. Whatever, they were just gone. I never saw them again. They left, never to come back. I know the feeling well. I eventually did the same.

On the other end of the spectrum, many of the ne’er-do-wells in school never left Taylor. Some others tried to make it in the outside world and came back. In Frank Sinatra’s signature song, “New York, New York”, the lyrics include the line, “If you can make it there (New York City), you can make it anywhere!” Conversely, if you can’t make it anywhere else, you are always welcome back in Taylor, Wisconsin. I think these generalizations are very accurate throughout rural America.

Another large group in rural areas are former farmers. Some of these folks failed to keep up with technology and were forced off their small farms. Others retired and left because their kids wouldn’t live in rural areas or wanted better career opportunities. Along with former farmers are people who worked for feed mills, machinery dealerships and such that were also displaced. These folks fought progress and lost.

Another group you’ll find in rural areas are large commercial farmers and the agribusiness people that support them. Folks that can survive in today’s agricultural environment are some of the sharpest and smartest business people anywhere. These people easily have the brains to see right through Trump’s lies and BS. Unfortunately, because of their racism, they choose not to. This is extremely disappointing.

Misconceptions and aggrievement

All of these groups have a lot of resentment. The US government poured $billions in the last 70 years trying to sustain small farmers and rural America. It was never enough. Many former farmers are forever embittered and are sure they are the victims of government and corporations that forced them out of business. Their injustice is amplified by their perceptions that Black people all live off welfare and sit around all day watching TV, having sex, eating pizza and drinking beer on the taxpayer’s dollar. Further, they believe Black people are predisposed to breaking the law. The only protection (besides their arsenals) White people have is the thin blue line of police that are constantly handcuffed by liberals.

Trump stepped in and managed “the politics of aggrievement” better than anyone. Rather than blame their own lack of initiative and education; it is easier for Trump supporters to blame Democrats, Jews and the media for their unfulfilled lives.

When Trump supporters say they see their traditional values under attack, it is important to know that their traditional values are racism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, hatred of powerful, outspoken women and a bastardized form of Christianity that favors taking from the poor and giving to the rich, separating children from their parents and glorification of constant lying and violence towards women. The disappearance of these values is the best thing that can happen to the United States.

Surviving racism

So, what causes this racism? Frugal Ron had a very typical rural upbringing. I remember growing up, listening to my father and his friends saying, “An awful lot of Niggers are going to have to starve to death before the rest learn how to work!”

My mother would tell anyone that would listen that colored people were better off when they were slaves. She regularly warned me that coloreds always carry knives and, “They’ll shiv you as look at you!”

Racism in rural areas is all pervasive. One Sunday (I was in sixth grade, or thereabout), I asked my Sunday School teacher why there was such a difference in the way church people and Jesus treated poor people. I’ll never forget his answer, “Jesus didn’t have to deal with Niggers.”

(Note: Carbon dated skulls with Negro features have been found in the area Jesus would have lived in at the time He lived. Not only that, Jesus’s hair was like pure wool, according to the Book of Daniel. That means His hair was kinky. The Book of Revelations says His feet were like burnished bronze. That means He was brown-skinned. Jesus was a Palestinian Jewish man who, as a child was able to hide from the King of Judaea by spending years in Egypt. So, He looked like an Egyptian. Working in Palestinian sunshine as a carpenter also meant His skin was darkened. The reality is, Jesus was far more likely a Black man than the White guy with a tan depicted in most Christian churches and literature.)

What happened?

So, getting to the crux of this article, why didn’t Frugal Ron turn out to be a racist, Trump supporter? And, what does this teach us about racism?

For one thing, I’m thankful I was born with enough intelligence to think for myself. Far more important are the life experiences that make us who we are.

More than anything in the world, I grew up wanting to be a farmer. In 1972,  after my sophomore year in college, I lined up a summer job at Quail Roost Farm in Rougemont, North Carolina.  Quail Roost Farm had the top show and production Guernsey herd in the US.

As soon as I got to the farm, the farm manager told me I wouldn’t be working with the cattle like I was promised. Instead, I was going to be on the field crew. My next shock was that I was the only White guy on the all Black crew of eight men. I’m sure they figured I would be on the next plane back to Wisconsin. Unfortunately, I spent all my money getting to North Carolina, so that wasn’t an option.

Anyway, that summer was one of the best in my life. My Black co-workers took me in as one of their own. I learned more about Southern culture and life than I ever could reading books.

On weekend nights, the White guys on the dairy crew would take me out and told me why I wasn’t getting to work with the cows. The state dairy milk production records association had caught the farm manager cheating on their milk production records. The last thing they wanted was some nosey kid from Wisconsin around the cows.

I never got to see or touch a cow that summer, but learned more about life than I could have imagined. I lost a bunch of idealism, but also learned skin color has nothing to do with honesty or integrity. The most important thing I learned is that people born with Black skin are just like people born with White skin. There are good and bad people in both groups. Most are just good people with hopes for the future and the same love for their families that most White folks have.

More life experiences…

After my farming career, I went back to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to finish up my bachelor’s degree. One of my favorite classes was algebra. I loved algebra and was really good at it. In my class, I wound up sitting next to a Black gal. We got to be friends and would compare weekly quiz grades. Unless I got a perfect score and tied her, her scores were always a couple points higher than mine.

So, here I was in a class I was great at and I was sitting right next to this gal with Black skin who was not only smarter than me, but also  better looking. Any illusions I ever had about White male supremacy were laid to rest in that Algebra 112 classroom..

What this means…

I actually worked with Black people in a setting where I was the minority.  I actually talked with Black people and listened to them. Over the years, I’ve gotten to know many other Black, Brown, Yellow and Red skinned people and many Jewish people. Compare my experiences with someone whose only contact with a Black person was buying a brat and beer at a Milwaukee Brewers game. That isolation from people who are different is how you maintain racism.

The same goes for homophobia. I grew up certain there was something terribly wrong with homosexuals and they needed to fix it.

The day care we sent our two-year old daughter to while my wife and I were both University of Wisconsin students (my post-farming academic tenure), was partnered with the education and child development departments at UW. The day care sent out a letter to all parents that they were hiring an openly Gay teacher.

By this time, I’d figured out homosexuality wasn’t contagious, so i didn’t object. The fellow they hired was just a great guy and my daughter loved him to death. For those Republicans that are aghast that we would let our daughter be influenced by a Gay person at an impressionable age, that daughter has been married to the same guy for over 12 years and they have three kids. If the Gay pre-school teacher was trying to groom our daughter to become a lesbian, he failed miserably.

The point of all these throwback memories is that my not becoming a racist Trump supporter has little to do with my genetics and nothing to do with the water I drank. It was all about my life experiences breaking me out of the mental prison of racism I was raised in. Understanding this journey is key to understanding the causes of rural racism. The antidote to racism and all the rest is living and working with people who are different.

I’m not so idealistic that I think we can eliminate racism by simply intermingling. Some of the most racist Republicans I know were born and raised in privileged urban areas.

People like living around people who think like they do. Consequently, White rural people will continue isolating themselves. The only cure for the racism of  most White, rural Republicans over 60 is dying. But, for many younger, White rural people moving to urban areas, there is hope.

Appendix

Over and over on this website, we have documented the Trump disaster. However, for those that need a reminder:

• Trump is the only president to have negative job growth during his term since these records were first kept in the 1930’s.
• Trump had the lowest GDP growth of any president since those records were kept in the 1930’s.
• Trump’s $3.1 trillion government spending deficit in 2020 is the largest in history. Trump increased the federal spending deficit each year he was in office.
• Trump dramatically increased federal government spending each year he was in office. During his term, he increased federal government spending over 63 percent. No president, Democrat or Republican, has been so spend crazy since World War II.
• The US’s international trade deficit increased every year Trump was in office. The 2020 trade deficit was 47% larger than  President Barack Obama’s last trade deficit.
• The Holy Grail of conservatism is for government to keep out of the marketplace and never pick winners and losers. Trump violated this rule with his ineffectual trade war. By protecting the US steel industry with 30 percent tariffs, he caused immeasurable harm to US manufacturers competing with foreign made products using cheaper steel.
• Trump increased the unemployment rate by 36 percent during his term in office.
• Following the record 28 percent drop in annual abortions achieved during the Obama term, Trump turned around 30 years of declining abortions in the US by having more abortions at the end of his term than at the start. Trump compounded the abortion problem by nominating three Supreme Court justices who are completely out of synch with people in the US. Following passage of unenforceable abortion laws in Republican states, abortions are now more available and cheaper than ever.
• On foreign policy, Trump showed that his real master is Vladimir Putin. For decades, Putin has tried to undermine Western faith in democratic elections while trying to destroy NATO. Trump has been a willing pawn, even ordering all US military personnel out of Germany on his last day in office. (The order was quickly deep-sixed by the US Joint Chief of Staffs.)
• Trump’s response to the COVID pandemic was the most disastrous policy response to a threat in US history. While Oceania, east Asian countries and Canada controlled the pandemic with minimal life lost, Trump ignored the advice of the US experts that leadership in those counties followed. Trump claimed COVID was something like the flu, would go away soon and was a concoction of Democrats and the media. During Trump’s term, the US racked up the world’s highest number of COVID deaths  and one of the highest per capita COVID death rates. His misinformation campaign became the heart of Republicans aligning health care decisions (not getting vaccinated) as a mark of their fealty to Trump. This resulted in another half million more people, almost all of whom were not vaccinated, dying of COVID in the next two years after Trump left office.

With his record high deficits record high spending and market interference, Donald Trump is the antitheses of a conservative. His ability to muck up everything he touched illustrates his incompetence. His record high number of lies during his term made it impossible to trust or believe him. Trump’s efforts to undermine the democracy our ancestors fought for is a strange kind of patriotism.

Trump’s lack of intelligence combined with his repulsive behavior made him and the US the world’s laughing stock. Not since the British burned the White House during the War of 1812 has the US had so little international respect as during Trump’s presidency..