Twister,

Just a non-scientific wild azz guess here, but I think both the far right and far left could use a look in that mirror. I come short of fully appreciating the far left's compassion for their fellow citizens, or as we used to call it, "bleeding heart liberals." I don't know if the far left believes it, but they act like there exists such a thing as a free lunch. Economist Milton Friedman proved there isn't, in case anyone actually believed it.

There's no shortage of lunatics, left and right. Cases in point, the MAGAtards who believe (agnostic) Trump was sent by God to save the U.S. How fvckin' idiotic is that? Of course the counterpoint might be the voter who believed that if Obama was elected, he would pay her cell phone bill. Yeah, that's idiotic too.

The best analyses I've read indicates that MAGAtards were created because the Democratic leaders left the blue collar segment of the middle class behind by catering to the educated white collar segment of the middle class. There's lots of evidence pointing to the truthfulness of that argument.

Unfortunately the MAGAtards were conned. Conned by one of the best grifters ever - Trump. Trump campaigns on populist policies that appeal to the "left behind" lower and lower middle class whites, promising to restore family wage middle class manufacturing jobs, either knowing that ain't ever gonna' happen or being as stupid as he often acts. Trump employs the Hitleresq tactic of blaming "others," in this case illegal immigrants, of taking their jobs and buying houses that they could otherwise own. Totally untrue. Illegal immigrants take low paying jobs that whites generally won't do and lower middle class Americans can't afford to do. And illegal immigrants don't buy houses because they can't qualify to or afford to even if they did qualify. But MAGAtards are willfully and conveniently ignorant, or they really are stupid. Probably some of both. It's no wonder Trump loves the uneducated. They are so easily manipulated.

Trump never had any intention of helping "ordinary" middle class white Americans. He doesn't remotely understand or relate to them, having lived his entire life in the bubble of the ultra-rich. Trump is supported financially by other ultra-rich billionaires who don't give a sh!t about average Americans. So he and they formulate policies that benefit the ultra-rich and do little to nothing for middle class Americans. And it's working. The top 10% of Americans account for 50% of the US GDP. Fully 50% of Americans are economically irrelevant to the prosperity of the US economy. That likely includes you and me.

So Trump thinks the economy is doing great, because it is doing well for the rich and ultra-rich and those well invested in the stock market. But more than half of Americans don't have enough extra cash on hand to cover a $400 emergency, living literally paycheck to paycheck. The rising prices that don't affect Trump and his ultra-rich cronies do hurt average Americans, but Trump is incapable of understanding that. Trump relates to and understands grand ballrooms and Gatsby style parties at Mar a Lago.

And switching gears for a moment, WA state is not hopeless. The pendulum swings left and right. Currently it's too far left. The key to balancing it is for the far right to allow moderate Republicans to succeed in primaries. Moderates and independent voters have been waiting for such a candidate for years. The last R gov candidate lost because he is a Trumper. The previous two R gov candidates lost because they were too Catholic, and therefor anti-abortion in this clearly pro-choice state. This state badly needs an Evans style Republican.