I read this to try and, as the author mentions throughout the book, climb over my empathy wall. I want to understand Trump voters; I want to understand what motivates lower middle-class folks to vote against their interests. I want to understand what motivates nature lovers to support candidates that want to dismantle the EPA. To say "republicans vote that way for religious reasons" may contain a tidbit of truth, but it certainly reduces a highly complex web of causes into an overly-simplified catch phrase. This can diminish the humanity of the "other," and isn't that one of the root problems facing our country and world?
This book was fantastic for so many reasons: the author filled much of it with an environmental history of rural Louisiana, all of which was completely unknown to me. Most of the interviews were framed within this environmental context, most of the interviewees speaking against the EPA.
I can't say I understand these folks, but I am closer than I was before reading this.
I'd suggest that in addition to protesting, contacting legislators, and standing up against racism/bigotry/sexism/xenophobia, we need to employ judicious use of empathy. Simply reducing Trump voters to "dumb hillbillies" builds no bridges, expands no minds, and misses the "deep story" behind our current political climate.
To be clear, I'm not defending Trump voters– I simply want to better understand them, to try to comprehend how somebody could vote for the guy... because around half the country did, and they are humans that deserve some effort to be understood.
As a popular recent meme says, Trump voters have better coverage than Verizon. "Can you hear us now?"
Yes, we can, and I'd suggest we need to listen. As a humanist I'd suggest we must.