Liberals and leftists are theoretically supposed to be kind and sympathetic to those in need, devoted to assisting even people they may personally disagree with. But kindness and sympathy have been in short supply since the 2024 election, even as millions of unfortunate Donald Trump voters begin to realize their vote may have ruined their lives.
As a snapshot of what’s going down around the country, rural Western Virginia Trump voters are discovering to their horror what life under Trump means for them. Podcaster Greg Sargent recently spoke to Lynlee Thorne, political director for organizing network Rural Ground Game, who confirmed that voters “are starting to feel the pain.”
Rural Ground Game informs rural West Virginians who may not closely follow national news about what’s coming soon for them, with their volunteers having to delicately explain Trump’s impending cuts to Medicaid, tariff price increases, and changes to their insurance policies. Nobody likes delivering bad news, but being the recipient is far worse. As Thorne explains:
“People are stunned that this is happening. Sometimes our volunteers are emotionally struggling because they feel like they are breaking horrific news to people in real time. And people are p***ed and scared and feel a little blindsided. So, while those of us who have been paying attention are well aware of these cuts, this is devastating news to a lot of people in rural spaces.”
He’s taking away the radio too?!
In another development that may have passed urban voters by, Republicans are also planning to save money by ditching public radio in rural areas, a service critical for delivering local news and urgent warnings of extreme weather events. Snatching that away is described as a “gut punch”:
“I think something for people to keep in mind is that it’s not just the radio stations — because a lot of rural people even now cannot get radio reception in their rural area from their home. So often when there is a crisis or a power outage or something similar, people are having to go to their neighbors who might be able to get radio reception and hear that news through the grapevine.”
Whether you feel any sympathy or not is your call. But, let’s face it, after having experienced one Trump presidency combined with his 2024 campaign going into explicit and terrifying detail on what he wants to do with a second, nobody can say that these voters couldn’t know what was coming.
It’s a sick irony that many of these Trump votes were to “own the libs”. It’s now clear the only people they owned were themselves, for the rest of their (now much shorter) lives.
