General Discussion

Steve Almond, in his book "Bad Stories," gives three examples.

Josh, Harvard educated, works for non-profit research institute partly government funded. Voted Libertarian in 2016. Almond asked if he knew the policies he voted for. Nope, it was a protest vote. Josh had lost his job and the Obama stimulus package paid for his family's health insurance. Zero Republican votes. Did Josh remember that Democrats allowed him to keep his coverage? Nope. Grievances (probably stupid bullshit about Democrats being "corporate" or "neoliberal" and corrupt because they have to pay for campaigns like everyone and somehow that makes them corrupt) more important than reality.

Almond's wealthy neighbor voted for Trump, complaining about Democrats never did anything for her, that after her parents died there was hardly any money left and her daughter's private university tuition was too high. "What was this woman saying in the end? She was saying that Obama had failed to honor a bargain whose terms she, as a citizen, felt free to shift according to her whim. It was an argument of such subjective force and ingrained entitlement, as to be impervious. ... She saw no relationship between her life and the election beyond the lazy hope that the new guy would give her more stuff than the last."

A small business owner on Obamacare, husband needing a liver transplant, voted for Trump because he was a businessman who could shake up Washington and bring jobs back; she chose not to believe that Trump would get rid of the ACA. "She represents our national habit of taking our grievances seriously but not our vulnerabilities."