[LarryDarrell]

My own personal opinion is that the Great Recession and it's repercussions (inequality, deaths of despair, the hallowing out of middle American economies, the opioid crises, Flint water crises, etc) over last 10+ years have really ramped up a zeitgeist of inevitable doom. I don't really blame anyone in the Midwest for being full of doom and gloom, because for the most part that's all they have known for the last decade.

My other opinion is that more so than racism and actually believing Trump would make America great again, that most of the support that pushed Trump over the edge came from wanting to burn the whole thing down.

[mercer]

I'd say 99% of my post-millennial friends (zoomers?) live with not just the assumption that their lives are shittier than previous generations, but more importantly with the assumption that the dire climate change predictions are true.

While some of them might still have kids, or act 'irrationally' in relation to that belief, it's there, and I can't help but feel it's going to have huge effects over time as these people become politically active and vote.

To be clear, that's putting aside my beliefs on these issues. Just describing what I'm seeing.

[Loughla]

I would agree with that. During the last election cycle (and already this one), the one thing the polls consistently got wrong was just how pissed "Joe-Midwest Average Voter" is that his life is much worse than his parents' were at the same age.

When people online and in the news express how they just don't understand why people still support Trump, it's because they're not trying to understand. If all you care about is disrupting as much of the system as possible and pissing people off as much as possible, you're getting exactly what you wanted.