Letter to Peanut Politics: I Supported Trump, Now I Regret It.

I live in one of the poorest parts of Georgia and I'm one of the few members of my family and community who no longer support the president. The fact that my own rust-tinged trailer is distinguished by a lack of signs in favor of Trump is a personal point of pride. I begin each day by mentally preparing myself for whatever Donald Trump latest assault on working people is.

His decision making is hurting poor people, working class voters everywhere, including the rural, white, black and working class like me and my neighbors. It will hurt many of those whose support for Trump has been among the stringent and vocal.

Here in rural Southeast Georgia, the wiregrass region I love, the scenery is offset by stark markers of rural poverty. Dilapidated barns, abandoned farm and outhouses, and mobile homes. Areas in nearby small towns and communities reveal more than a few empty bank owned homes. This isn't all that surprising, considering that the area I live is one of the poorest n the state of Georgia. Yet despite their relative ubiquity, I'm go smacked by the juxtaposition of the name Trump, synonymous with exorbitant wealth, in front of a rusting mobile every time I see one.

According to the many Trump supporters I know, Trump won their loyalty because of his so called outsider status and promise to not only take on, but dismantle, a corrupt, ineffectual political establishment. And now some of them are having regrets about supporting this fraud of a president. Many of these people, myself included, have struggled financially due to job loss and foreclosure. We often have had to rely on things like public assistance to get by. Is our collective financial instability the fault of a crooked political establishment? Many people here sure think so.

One of Trump's most apparent and effective wants of playing up anti-establishment credentials was calling out and criticizing Hillary Clinton's ties with Wall Street bigwigs like Goldman Sachs. Despite being a billionaire himself, Trump lack of political experience helped enable his populist appeal. He claimed to want to save the middle class which is a bald lie in part by changing current tax laws that allow billionaires to pay lower taxes on their enormous paychecks.

Trump, let's face it is a fake and a fraud to many who supported him. He lies on a daily basis, he's untrustworthy and I will not vote for him ever again. Poor people who have been victims of foreclosure, including the white and black working class ones in my community are having buyers remorse with their vote for Trump in 2016. Many people here lament the face that the size of their families and networks have dwindled because people have been forced to relocate out of economic necessity. I can't help but worry and wonder how many are empty homes (mobile or otherwise), will be soon dot the landscape I love so well. I am a red state South Georgia Democrat who voted for Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama....even George Wallace in 1968. I vote don't for Trump, but believe me I wouldn't vote for him again in a 100 years.

Wayne
Millwood, Ga
Retired