She’s Never Going to Leave Her Loser Boyfriend

I’ve recently noted a new slate of articles and posts that bemoan the fact that white, rural voters — esp. if they lack any college education — continue to support Trump, even as his policies cost them their soybean farms, their auto factory jobs, their homes burned in forest fires, etc.  Why, these articles ask, do these people continue to vote against their own self-interest?  What will it take to convince them to vote differently?

You know, most of us know someone who regularly acts against their own self-interest and who simply isn’t going to change.  Don’t you have a friend who keeps dating guys who are no good for her?  Who won’t leave her loser boyfriend, even when he wrecks her car, steals her stereo to sell for drugs, cheats on her, treats her like dirt in front of friends and family, and gives her the clap?  No matter what, she makes excuses for him, believes that THIS time he’ll change, blames herself for his failings.  Even though friends, family, counselors, etc. point out to her that she is doing herself no favors, she won’t leave him.  Or, if she does, the next guy she finds is similarly bad for her.  Whatever emotional need these guys meet is more important to her than her practical self-interest.

Or maybe you have a relative who consistently undermines his own success.  About the time he starts to settle into a job, he gets mad and quits or gets bored and heads off to “be an entrepreneur,” based on his latest get-rich-quick scheme even though he lacks the needed capital, training, contacts, etc.  He dropped out of college because there was “too much systematic bullshit” and he got a dishonorable discharge from the service because following rules was for losers.  Years go by and he’s mad at the world for his failures, but he still refuses to get a real job and stick with it.  His image of himself as above the rules that apply to everyone else is more important to him than his practical self-interest.

And at some point, most of us throw up our hands, shake our heads, and shrug our shoulders.  She’s never going to leave that guy.  He’s never going to control his grandiose impulses.

There’s really no reason to think that some percentage of voters are going to be any different.  Sure, we think it would make sense for them to vote for the party or candidate who will help them get health care and a job, who will protect social security and the environment, who will keep weapons of war off the street and regulate food safety.  But their emotional need to look down on sluts who need abortions, on icky gays, on immigrants or black people is more important to them than their practical self-interest.  They’re not going to change.

So we need to simply accept this, ignore them, and do what we did on Nov. 6th — turn out our base.  I don’t know how many times we need to say this, but I’m going to keep saying it.