Economic anxiety is not why Trump was elected.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

The triggered snowflakes in this thread who can't handle the fact that the vast majority of white people do hold racially biased views is funny. Newsflash, racism is not just about burning crosses and calling people the N word.

Most walked into the voting booth, scratched their ass and let out a fart, and mindlessly voted for Trump.

Lmaoooooooo. I literally can't breathe.

[Antonio the Sixth]

blah blah blah something something those racist hicks

Truly the pinnacle of #analysis

[DINGO Joe]

As people have noted, WV actually only has about 13000 miners out of more than 700,000 jobs in the state, so why are they so coalcentric...

There's one other fundamental issue that you don't raise and that is that coal jobs tend to support other jobs in local communities.  When the mines shut its not just the miners that lose their jobs but also what happens is since the main industry of their community has effectively closed there is a lot less money in the local economy so other businesses locally lose revenues and have to downsize or close which cause the people that work for them to be laid off.  I think that's the fundamental reason why many voted for Trump: this is a process that for whatever valid reasons or not have been happening for decades - not just in areas with the coal industry but in communities that traditionally have been supported by a single industry that's downsized or closed - and no one has really paid any attention so when someone appears and offers what appears to be very simple reasons for and very easy solutions to your problems (which wouldn't actually help - but then again they never were meant to) then its only natural that you'll get people who move in that direction. 

The "retraining" thing is a bit of a meaningless cry as well for several reasons.  Firstly you have to consider that because the coal industry tends to employ older people who've worked their entire lives in the industry and that means that frankly they aren't very good targets for retraining.  Someone who's say, 50 and worked in the mines since they left school is going to struggle to get a job in a totally different industry since a company is very unlikely to employee someone who's that old with no experience in their industry or anything close when there are likely younger candidates or people with lots of experience applying for the same job.  And whatever job it is its going to pay less than what they earned as a miner so it will seem like a move backwards anyway.  Secondly in order for retraining schemes to work you need there to be jobs available for the people that you are retraining and that is unlikely to be the case when it comes to this particular case.

There's no easy solutions to situations like this - I'm a Green so naturally I think that we need to move away from fossil fuels and towards renewable, environmentally friendly forms of energy but I'm also a human being and understand that you can't just close the mines and expect things to change overnight.  The policies that many of the Democrats in this thread seem to be suggesting are followed are worryingly similar to those pursued by Thatcher in the 1980s in the mining communities of Britain and they only resulted in many ex-coal communities having 90% unemployment for many years, people being put on disability benefits even though they are fit to work to give at least some people a slightly better living (and also to make unemployment figures look slightly better) and the issues resulting from those are still very much present now.  Its not just a case of doing retraining schemes or whatever - the history of government-ran retraining schemes isn't great; they don't tend to be overly useful or helpful - and the most important thing is to encourage new industries to move to traditionally coal areas and provide new jobs that are more sustainable in every way to those communities and means that the harm of closing the mines from a purely economic perspective (although not from a local pride perspective which is also important and much harder to fix) is less.  Perhaps you also could put more money into the coal miners pension fund to allow miners who lose their jobs at an age near retirement to instead take their pension early rather than be unemployed and have no income coming in at all: that might help as well.  Whatever solution there is will take lots of time, money and effort though and I don't know whether there is the political will on the side of the Democrats to try and pursue such policies - the Republicans never would because of ideological reasons.

Well, I do acknowledge that that's why everyone is there in the first place as there is very little economic opportunity otherwise in these frequently difficult to get to places (although before coal the timber industry came through and obliterated the fairly small but sustaining agriculture/commons society that existed in the first place).  Also, as the mining jobs disappeared, not everyone left all at once or at all.  Because coal mining of the underground variety can be a hard job people frequently retire early or go disability so the population left tends to be older and more disabled than the general population and that's the case with WV as it has the highest disability rate for people under the age of 65--at 14.4% of the under 65 population way above the national avg of 8.6%.  Combine that with WV high percentage of people over 65 and it's no wonder that WV has the lowest workforce participation rate of any state in the union at 53% versus a national rate of 63%.  It's not that WV is lazy, it's old and broken.

In fact, I would posit that the biggest industry in WV is the elderly and disabled as it has the highest percentage of the population that collects a govt check of any state.  Plus the medical and other services they need do employ quite a few people, just like coal miners employ other people.  However, since people don't flock to WV to retire like they do to Florida and given the shape of WV population pyramid (see link in previous post) it's going to see a peak in the old population in about 10 years followed by a sharp decline, and given the overall health of WV almost certainly sharper and faster than  the nation as a whole. 


One other sad aside about WV, Black Lung disease has actually had a resurgence in the last few years as it seems that technology and the thin seams of coal left have conspired to create a new issue.   You have to bore through more rock to get to the coal that's left and apparently the silica dust create by boring through rock is finer than the coal dust respiratory devices were designed to protect against and it's led to some huge numbers of diagnosed black lung in the CAPP coal regions

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/22/613254363/scientific-studies-confirm-a-spike-in-black-lung-disease

At the same time Republicans want to give coal companies a big decrease in the tax they pay  for black lung disease meaning a govt bailout of the fund or letting the miners die

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-coal-blacklung/us-black-lung-fund-will-need-taxpayer-bailout-if-coal-tax-falls-gao-idUSKCN1J029I

Kind of the history of the miner, darned if they do and darned if they don't.  It's a good thing that it's a dying less labor intensive industry.

[BBD]

Stop.

It's true though.

Literally every interaction I've had with Trump supporters is the same. It's anecdotal, sure, but I've dealt with many, my family is made up of many, and they all seem to be a carbon copy of one another.

They hate immigrants, full stop. They try to play coy by saying they love legal immigrants, but that facade falls apart when they try to interact with someone who can't speak English. I've seen it happen over and over.

People who immigrate to the United States should speak English. Why is this considered offensive?

Because you are forcefully tearing a culture away from people, which is no different than genocide. America is an enormous country, and we have plenty of room for people to self segregate into a group based on shared values including language. This is - or should be - the beauty of America. We need to prevent contamination of the pieces that make the whole and that includes many languages.

I (as a child of immigrants myself) do think it is valuable for immigrants to learn the language of the country, though. Not because it appeases bigoted nativists but because it does genuinely make their lives easier, especially if they don’t live in a place with a large and active expat community from their homeland.

Immigration should not be a burden on taxpayers in the say that, say, the safety net is.  It's one thing to have social welfare benefits for American citizens; it's quite another to have these benefits for non-citizens, and especially for folks who are not legally in America.  And while many of the memes on Facebook and such that talk about "Illegal Aliens getting welfare" are false, they DO impact our safety net when they go to a public hospital ER or a public psychiatric unit.  Their children DO go to school here, and that adds to the education budget.  

The issue with English is simple.  Americans should not be forced to learn Spanish simply because a large percentage of its new immigrants are Spanish-speakers that don't wish to learn English.  This is a different issue than in Ellis Island years because the Ellis Island immigrants came from diverse places across the sea, while current Hispanic immigrants from Mexico come from next door.  The idea of forsaking their homeland and becoming American doesn't apply in the way it does for someone from Europe or Asia.  

Many folks are resentful of having a greater need to learn a foreign language.  They are resentful about having to provide bi-lingual services at their businesses, and they resent (in some areas) how NOT being bi-lingual puts them at a disadvantage for some jobs.  This wasn't the case prior to 1965, when immigration was based on quotas designed to ensure that the ethnic makeup of America didn't radically change.

These changes have been great for industry; they now have a base of low-wage non-unionized workers for their businesses (in the case of much of the Hispanic immigrants).  They have been good for the immigrants, who do enjoy a higher standard of living in America than they did in their country of origin.  But has it been good for American citizens that we have had large influxes of immigrants from other places who are, culturally, quite different, and whose legitimate needs have placed a burden on American taxpayers?

The American citizens who ask these sorts of questions never really get a straight answer.  They get lectures about how in diversity there is strength, without really showing how that principle applies to their situation (let alone demonstrating how it is actually true).  And, yes, they get the xenophobic reactions to evaluate, but they also get to be called xenophobes just for asking the question of "How is this good for the folks who have been citizens of this country for their whole lives?"  When they see "diversity" in other parts of the world, they see it not as part of the richness of those nations, but as a problem that needs to be overcome or managed.  Greeks and Turks on Cyprus.  Flemish and Walloons in Belgium.  The problems of unassimilated Muslims in much of old Europe.  Hindus and Muslims in India.  The world has not become the Melting Pot America tries to be.

If folks want to know the cause of much of the "anger" surrounding this issue, it is simple; folks are angry because they have to bear the costs of these non-citizens to some degree, they don't get an honest answer as to why this is either right or good for them from their government, they get lectures on diversity that range from political correctness to indoctrination, and they experience their intelligence being insulted on a number of levels.  And the ILLEGAL immigrants make that worse.  When their kids mess up, they go to jail.  When their tag light is out, they get a costly ticket from Officer Friendly, often after being pulled over with a request to search their car.  When folks crash the border, however, they seem to get to stay endlessly, without consequence.  The illegal addition to their home will come down faster than an illegal alien will be deported, even if the illegal addition to one's home is safe and functional.  

Perhaps someone here will be able to explain why immigration in the manner that we have now is good for me and for my family (as well as for my country) without mentioning how good it is for the immigrants.  

The issue with American Indian languages were simple. American Indians should not have been forced forced to learn English and other European languages simply because a large percentage of the new illegal settlers were Europeans that didn't wish to learn American Indian languages.  

Many American Indians were resentful of having a greater need to learn a foreign language. They were resentful about having to send their children to boarding schools to be indoctrinated in the ways of the illegal settlers, and they most certainly resented how those that did NOT give up their identity and culture to the illegal settlers were put at a disadvantage. That wasn't the case prior to when illegal European settlers arrived, when the ethnic makeup of America didn't radically change thanks to disease and genocide brought by the illegal settlers.

Those changes were great for industry; most American Indians were eradicated, enslaved, or paid slave-like wages. They were good for the settlers, who enjoyed a higher standard of living in America than they did in their country of origin. but was it good for the original inhabitants that there were large influxes of settlers from other places who were, culturally, quite different, and whose supposedly legitimate needs placed a fatal burden on American Indian societies?

The American Indians who asked those sorts of questions never really got a straight answer. They got lectures about how in being "culturally enriched" and having their land stolen from them there was strength. They were called savages and brutes for just asking the question of "How is this good for the folks who along with their ancestors lived in this land for thousands of years?"

If folks want to know the cause of much of the "anger" surrounding this issue, it is simple; American Indians were angry because they had to bear the costs of those illegal settlers to a great degree, they didn't get an honest answer as to why it was either right or good for them, they got lectures on cultural enrichment that ranged from forcible relocation to indoctrination, and they experienced their cultural heritage and intelligence being insulted on a number of levels. And the ILLEGAL European settlers made that worse. When those settlers crashed the border, they seemed to get to stay endlessly, without consequence.

Perhaps someone here will be able to explain why immigration in the manner that existed then was good for the average American Indian family without mentioning how good it was for the settlers.  

[Person Man]

A lot of this stuff is tldr but still I can relate to a few things I saw. Its reasonable to expect people to speak English if they stay here but Spanish is still the primary language of millions of native-born Americans.  That said, I would be fine with English being a "common and unifying language of commerce and culture". On the other hand, I think society damages people when they discourage the use of their family's native tongue. This was especially a problem with my family in the sixties.

[Indy Texas]

Stop.

It's true though.

Literally every interaction I've had with Trump supporters is the same. It's anecdotal, sure, but I've dealt with many, my family is made up of many, and they all seem to be a carbon copy of one another.

They hate immigrants, full stop. They try to play coy by saying they love legal immigrants, but that facade falls apart when they try to interact with someone who can't speak English. I've seen it happen over and over.

People who immigrate to the United States should speak English. Why is this considered offensive?

Because you are forcefully tearing a culture away from people, which is no different than genocide. America is an enormous country, and we have plenty of room for people to self segregate into a group based on shared values including language. This is - or should be - the beauty of America. We need to prevent contamination of the pieces that make the whole and that includes many languages.

I (as a child of immigrants myself) do think it is valuable for immigrants to learn the language of the country, though. Not because it appeases bigoted nativists but because it does genuinely make their lives easier, especially if they don’t live in a place with a large and active expat community from their homeland.

Immigration should not be a burden on taxpayers in the say that, say, the safety net is.  It's one thing to have social welfare benefits for American citizens; it's quite another to have these benefits for non-citizens, and especially for folks who are not legally in America.  And while many of the memes on Facebook and such that talk about "Illegal Aliens getting welfare" are false, they DO impact our safety net when they go to a public hospital ER or a public psychiatric unit.  Their children DO go to school here, and that adds to the education budget.  

The issue with English is simple.  Americans should not be forced to learn Spanish simply because a large percentage of its new immigrants are Spanish-speakers that don't wish to learn English.  This is a different issue than in Ellis Island years because the Ellis Island immigrants came from diverse places across the sea, while current Hispanic immigrants from Mexico come from next door.  The idea of forsaking their homeland and becoming American doesn't apply in the way it does for someone from Europe or Asia.  

Many folks are resentful of having a greater need to learn a foreign language.  They are resentful about having to provide bi-lingual services at their businesses, and they resent (in some areas) how NOT being bi-lingual puts them at a disadvantage for some jobs.  This wasn't the case prior to 1965, when immigration was based on quotas designed to ensure that the ethnic makeup of America didn't radically change.

These changes have been great for industry; they now have a base of low-wage non-unionized workers for their businesses (in the case of much of the Hispanic immigrants).  They have been good for the immigrants, who do enjoy a higher standard of living in America than they did in their country of origin.  But has it been good for American citizens that we have had large influxes of immigrants from other places who are, culturally, quite different, and whose legitimate needs have placed a burden on American taxpayers?

The American citizens who ask these sorts of questions never really get a straight answer.  They get lectures about how in diversity there is strength, without really showing how that principle applies to their situation (let alone demonstrating how it is actually true).  And, yes, they get the xenophobic reactions to evaluate, but they also get to be called xenophobes just for asking the question of "How is this good for the folks who have been citizens of this country for their whole lives?"  When they see "diversity" in other parts of the world, they see it not as part of the richness of those nations, but as a problem that needs to be overcome or managed.  Greeks and Turks on Cyprus.  Flemish and Walloons in Belgium.  The problems of unassimilated Muslims in much of old Europe.  Hindus and Muslims in India.  The world has not become the Melting Pot America tries to be.

If folks want to know the cause of much of the "anger" surrounding this issue, it is simple; folks are angry because they have to bear the costs of these non-citizens to some degree, they don't get an honest answer as to why this is either right or good for them from their government, they get lectures on diversity that range from political correctness to indoctrination, and they experience their intelligence being insulted on a number of levels.  And the ILLEGAL immigrants make that worse.  When their kids mess up, they go to jail.  When their tag light is out, they get a costly ticket from Officer Friendly, often after being pulled over with a request to search their car.  When folks crash the border, however, they seem to get to stay endlessly, without consequence.  The illegal addition to their home will come down faster than an illegal alien will be deported, even if the illegal addition to one's home is safe and functional.  

Perhaps someone here will be able to explain why immigration in the manner that we have now is good for me and for my family (as well as for my country) without mentioning how good it is for the immigrants.  

You forget that illegal immigrants are taxpayers themselves. They pay sales taxes. They pay property taxes. They have payroll and income taxes deducted from their paychecks using fake SSNs. (And unlike Americans of their income level, they will likely not get all or more of that money back because they likely do not file returns for fear of being found out.)

Explain how immigration is hurting you and your family. What is there that you want to do that you can't do because of immigrants? You want to go work in a slaughterhouse in rural Iowa for $8 an hour? Go up there and have a blast! You probably won't last as long at it as your immigrant coworkers, in no small part because you know you have better things to do and have been given tremendous opportunities in life to do them.

[Badger]

Stop.

It's true though.

Literally every interaction I've had with Trump supporters is the same. It's anecdotal, sure, but I've dealt with many, my family is made up of many, and they all seem to be a carbon copy of one another.

They hate immigrants, full stop. They try to play coy by saying they love legal immigrants, but that facade falls apart when they try to interact with someone who can't speak English. I've seen it happen over and over.

People who immigrate to the United States should speak English. Why is this considered offensive?

Because you are forcefully tearing a culture away from people, which is no different than genocide. America is an enormous country, and we have plenty of room for people to self segregate into a group based on shared values including language. This is - or should be - the beauty of America. We need to prevent contamination of the pieces that make the whole and that includes many languages.

I (as a child of immigrants myself) do think it is valuable for immigrants to learn the language of the country, though. Not because it appeases bigoted nativists but because it does genuinely make their lives easier, especially if they don’t live in a place with a large and active expat community from their homeland.

Immigration should not be a burden on taxpayers in the say that, say, the safety net is.  It's one thing to have social welfare benefits for American citizens; it's quite another to have these benefits for non-citizens, and especially for folks who are not legally in America.  And while many of the memes on Facebook and such that talk about "Illegal Aliens getting welfare" are false, they DO impact our safety net when they go to a public hospital ER or a public psychiatric unit.  Their children DO go to school here, and that adds to the education budget.  

The issue with English is simple.  Americans should not be forced to learn Spanish simply because a large percentage of its new immigrants are Spanish-speakers that don't wish to learn English.  This is a different issue than in Ellis Island years because the Ellis Island immigrants came from diverse places across the sea, while current Hispanic immigrants from Mexico come from next door.  The idea of forsaking their homeland and becoming American doesn't apply in the way it does for someone from Europe or Asia.  

Many folks are resentful of having a greater need to learn a foreign language.  They are resentful about having to provide bi-lingual services at their businesses, and they resent (in some areas) how NOT being bi-lingual puts them at a disadvantage for some jobs.  This wasn't the case prior to 1965, when immigration was based on quotas designed to ensure that the ethnic makeup of America didn't radically change.

These changes have been great for industry; they now have a base of low-wage non-unionized workers for their businesses (in the case of much of the Hispanic immigrants).  They have been good for the immigrants, who do enjoy a higher standard of living in America than they did in their country of origin.  But has it been good for American citizens that we have had large influxes of immigrants from other places who are, culturally, quite different, and whose legitimate needs have placed a burden on American taxpayers?

The American citizens who ask these sorts of questions never really get a straight answer.  They get lectures about how in diversity there is strength, without really showing how that principle applies to their situation (let alone demonstrating how it is actually true).  And, yes, they get the xenophobic reactions to evaluate, but they also get to be called xenophobes just for asking the question of "How is this good for the folks who have been citizens of this country for their whole lives?"  When they see "diversity" in other parts of the world, they see it not as part of the richness of those nations, but as a problem that needs to be overcome or managed.  Greeks and Turks on Cyprus.  Flemish and Walloons in Belgium.  The problems of unassimilated Muslims in much of old Europe.  Hindus and Muslims in India.  The world has not become the Melting Pot America tries to be.

If folks want to know the cause of much of the "anger" surrounding this issue, it is simple; folks are angry because they have to bear the costs of these non-citizens to some degree, they don't get an honest answer as to why this is either right or good for them from their government, they get lectures on diversity that range from political correctness to indoctrination, and they experience their intelligence being insulted on a number of levels.  And the ILLEGAL immigrants make that worse.  When their kids mess up, they go to jail.  When their tag light is out, they get a costly ticket from Officer Friendly, often after being pulled over with a request to search their car.  When folks crash the border, however, they seem to get to stay endlessly, without consequence.  The illegal addition to their home will come down faster than an illegal alien will be deported, even if the illegal addition to one's home is safe and functional.  

Perhaps someone here will be able to explain why immigration in the manner that we have now is good for me and for my family (as well as for my country) without mentioning how good it is for the immigrants.  

Change the word "Muslim" to "Catholic and Jewish" consider all those "unassimilable" Italian, polish, and east european immigrants "forcing us to learn Italian, Yiddish, etc., understand all someone needed to step off the boat legally today was pass a TB test, then ask yourself the same question 125 years ago.

If you can get over your ignorance about Muslims garnered from wildly inaccurate wingnut internet sites the answer should come easily.

Oh, and kudos on your honesty listing illegal immigration as a mere sidenote, as most people who tell on about illegal immigration are opposed to legal immigration for the same "reasons".

[Fuzzy Bear Loves Christian Missionaries]

Stop.

It's true though.

Literally every interaction I've had with Trump supporters is the same. It's anecdotal, sure, but I've dealt with many, my family is made up of many, and they all seem to be a carbon copy of one another.

They hate immigrants, full stop. They try to play coy by saying they love legal immigrants, but that facade falls apart when they try to interact with someone who can't speak English. I've seen it happen over and over.

People who immigrate to the United States should speak English. Why is this considered offensive?

Because you are forcefully tearing a culture away from people, which is no different than genocide. America is an enormous country, and we have plenty of room for people to self segregate into a group based on shared values including language. This is - or should be - the beauty of America. We need to prevent contamination of the pieces that make the whole and that includes many languages.

I (as a child of immigrants myself) do think it is valuable for immigrants to learn the language of the country, though. Not because it appeases bigoted nativists but because it does genuinely make their lives easier, especially if they don’t live in a place with a large and active expat community from their homeland.

Immigration should not be a burden on taxpayers in the say that, say, the safety net is.  It's one thing to have social welfare benefits for American citizens; it's quite another to have these benefits for non-citizens, and especially for folks who are not legally in America.  And while many of the memes on Facebook and such that talk about "Illegal Aliens getting welfare" are false, they DO impact our safety net when they go to a public hospital ER or a public psychiatric unit.  Their children DO go to school here, and that adds to the education budget.  

The issue with English is simple.  Americans should not be forced to learn Spanish simply because a large percentage of its new immigrants are Spanish-speakers that don't wish to learn English.  This is a different issue than in Ellis Island years because the Ellis Island immigrants came from diverse places across the sea, while current Hispanic immigrants from Mexico come from next door.  The idea of forsaking their homeland and becoming American doesn't apply in the way it does for someone from Europe or Asia.  

Many folks are resentful of having a greater need to learn a foreign language.  They are resentful about having to provide bi-lingual services at their businesses, and they resent (in some areas) how NOT being bi-lingual puts them at a disadvantage for some jobs.  This wasn't the case prior to 1965, when immigration was based on quotas designed to ensure that the ethnic makeup of America didn't radically change.

These changes have been great for industry; they now have a base of low-wage non-unionized workers for their businesses (in the case of much of the Hispanic immigrants).  They have been good for the immigrants, who do enjoy a higher standard of living in America than they did in their country of origin.  But has it been good for American citizens that we have had large influxes of immigrants from other places who are, culturally, quite different, and whose legitimate needs have placed a burden on American taxpayers?

The American citizens who ask these sorts of questions never really get a straight answer.  They get lectures about how in diversity there is strength, without really showing how that principle applies to their situation (let alone demonstrating how it is actually true).  And, yes, they get the xenophobic reactions to evaluate, but they also get to be called xenophobes just for asking the question of "How is this good for the folks who have been citizens of this country for their whole lives?"  When they see "diversity" in other parts of the world, they see it not as part of the richness of those nations, but as a problem that needs to be overcome or managed.  Greeks and Turks on Cyprus.  Flemish and Walloons in Belgium.  The problems of unassimilated Muslims in much of old Europe.  Hindus and Muslims in India.  The world has not become the Melting Pot America tries to be.

If folks want to know the cause of much of the "anger" surrounding this issue, it is simple; folks are angry because they have to bear the costs of these non-citizens to some degree, they don't get an honest answer as to why this is either right or good for them from their government, they get lectures on diversity that range from political correctness to indoctrination, and they experience their intelligence being insulted on a number of levels.  And the ILLEGAL immigrants make that worse.  When their kids mess up, they go to jail.  When their tag light is out, they get a costly ticket from Officer Friendly, often after being pulled over with a request to search their car.  When folks crash the border, however, they seem to get to stay endlessly, without consequence.  The illegal addition to their home will come down faster than an illegal alien will be deported, even if the illegal addition to one's home is safe and functional.  

Perhaps someone here will be able to explain why immigration in the manner that we have now is good for me and for my family (as well as for my country) without mentioning how good it is for the immigrants.  

You forget that illegal immigrants are taxpayers themselves. They pay sales taxes. They pay property taxes. They have payroll and income taxes deducted from their paychecks using fake SSNs. (And unlike Americans of their income level, they will likely not get all or more of that money back because they likely do not file returns for fear of being found out.)

Explain how immigration is hurting you and your family. What is there that you want to do that you can't do because of immigrants? You want to go work in a slaughterhouse in rural Iowa for $8 an hour? Go up there and have a blast! You probably won't last as long at it as your immigrant coworkers, in no small part because you know you have better things to do and have been given tremendous opportunities in life to do them.

Sales taxes aren't actually paid by consumers; they're paid by business owners who pass the cost onto us and itemize it because we can itemize it.  And in most states, the basic essentials (food, medicine) is not taxed.

I'll explain to you how ILLEGAL immigration hurts me and my family.

Illegal immigration affects the quality of healthcare in my community.  Illegal immigrants utilize local hospitals, and their services are paid for by funds that are reserved for indigent citizens and those lawfully here.  It means that the indigent person at the ER gets crappier treatment toward the end of the fiscal year.  When an illegal immigrant gives birth to a child in this country, that child has birthright citizenship (leading to taxpayer-funded legal costs down the road) and the birth is often paid for by Medicaid and other state-sponsored health plans (such as Medi-Cal in CA).  More expenses passed onto CITIZENS and LAWFUL ALIENS who are taxpayers.

Illegal immigration affects my auto insurance rates.  Illegal immigrants drive cars with no license, uninsured, and get into accidents.  There is no insurance mechanism (other than one's own insurance) to pay for the damage and the injuries inflicted.

Illegal immigration affects the crime rate in my community.  Illegal aliens are, to no small degree, fugitives.  They cannot readily work, and because of this, are more likely to resort to criminal activity to support themselves.  When they steal from Walmart, they boost my prices.  (Yes, I'm well aware American citizens steal from Walmart.) 

Illegal aliens impact our schools.  Children of illegal aliens that are here illegally themselves often know little or no English, and require special ESL courses to keep pace.  This costs money, and it's money that would be spent in other ways without illegal immigration. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150226084427.htm

The children of illegal aliens are more likely to present behavioral problems in the public school than other children.  (Is this really hard to believe?)  This requires schools to spend money on behavioral and psychological remediation both for the sake of the kids and the safety and well-being of the schoolchildren as a whole.  And THIS isn't cheap; if schools don't expand these services, then services that are already strained that were meant for the children of folks lawfully here are stretched even further.

Please don't insult my intelligence. 

[YE]

Stop.

It's true though.

Literally every interaction I've had with Trump supporters is the same. It's anecdotal, sure, but I've dealt with many, my family is made up of many, and they all seem to be a carbon copy of one another.

They hate immigrants, full stop. They try to play coy by saying they love legal immigrants, but that facade falls apart when they try to interact with someone who can't speak English. I've seen it happen over and over.

There's a difference between your average Joe Trump Republican and someone who voted for Obama and/or Democrats in the past and didn't vote or voted for Trump in 2016.

[Fuzzy Bear Loves Christian Missionaries]

Stop.

It's true though.

Literally every interaction I've had with Trump supporters is the same. It's anecdotal, sure, but I've dealt with many, my family is made up of many, and they all seem to be a carbon copy of one another.

They hate immigrants, full stop. They try to play coy by saying they love legal immigrants, but that facade falls apart when they try to interact with someone who can't speak English. I've seen it happen over and over.

There's a difference between your average Joe Trump Republican and someone who voted for Obama and/or Democrats in the past and didn't vote or voted for Trump in 2016.

This.

When you think about it, it's kind of obvious.