Talking with a West Virginia friend underscored to me a large part of @realdonaldtrump’s appeal to his base (aside from the evangelicals who see him as a means to their religious end, whether that is enacting their beliefs into law, or bringing about the rapture) 1/5
My friend lives in West Virginia and was traveling to another part of WV for work. Sitting down in a restaurant, the waitress looked at her and said “Where you from? I know everyone from around here. You ain’t from around here” 2/5
My friend was surprised at the waitress’ hostile tone. She answered that she was also from West Virginia. “Where?” the lady demanded. When she answered, the waitress said that wasn’t REAL West Virginia. They considered that to just be part of DC. 3/5
The waitress at that WV restaurant said my friend shouldn’t be allowed to have a West Virginia drivers license or vote in their state because she wasn’t really one of them. 4/5
This WV lady wouldn’t accept my friend even though my friend was white, spoke with a southern accent, and was FROM WV herself, because she wasn’t WV ENOUGH. Now imagine how they’d react to Hispanic, black, middle-eastern. This deep fear of anyone different drives Trump’s base 5/5
