Why an emblematic American city has turned to Trump

Reuters ^ | August 30, 2016 | Timothy Aeppel

[2ndDivisionVet]

White working-class men used to be a major political and economic force in Muncie, Indiana. After years of eroding prosperity and dwindling power, they think they’ve found their champion.

MUNCIE, Indiana – One night a month, retired auto workers shuffle into a former elementary school classroom here to discuss their legal fight against the company that cancelled their health care benefits seven years ago.

But the conversation often turns quickly to presidential politics.

“It can get pretty heated,” says Gerald Poor, the group’s 77-year-old president, of their political discussions. “I call it to order if it gets out of hand.”

Their anger is understandable. The group is a remnant of a once-powerful United Auto Workers union local, which at its peak in the 1960s represented over 5,000 workers who made transmissions in Muncie for BorgWarner Inc, the global auto parts maker. An American flag drapes the wall at one end of the room, portraits of former labor bosses line the other, salvaged from a union hall that had its own baseball field.

For this group of mostly white, working-class men, the last two decades have brought much loss. In this election – with the victory of the populist Donald Trump as the Republican Party nominee and the strong run by the populist Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Party crown – many say they feel they’re finally being heard again....

[2ndDivisionVet]

Not just in Muncie, I reckon.

[headstamp 2]

Home of the “Rockcrusher” 4-speed.

[Theodore R.]

The first Mrs. Goldwater, an early abortion advocate, was from Muncie.

[tumblindice]

I drive by the closed plant all the time. UAW refused to negotiate so the owners shut it down. Believe it was New Venture gear, Chevy owned. Neighbor was weeks away from her pension vesting.

[Albion Wilde]

These pseudo-sympathetic caricatures of “white males” are backhanded repetitions of the “Trump supporters are so dumb” and “why don’t they hurry up and die” undertone that is the best the mainstream media can manage.

[Red Badger]

My Hometown
Bruce Springsteen

I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I’d sit on his lap in that big old Buick and steer as we drove through town
He’d tousle my hair and say son take a good look around
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
In ‘65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night in the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come
To my hometown
My hometown
My hometown
My hometown
Now Main Street’s whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain’t nobody wants to come down here no more
They’re closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain’t coming back
To your hometown
Your hometown
Your hometown
Your hometown
Last night me and Kate we laid in bed
Talking about getting out
Packing up our bags maybe heading south
I’m thirty five we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good look around
This is your hometown.......