They can't because everything about the contemporary Democratic Party seeths with disdain and contempt for rural people. You can't have a liberal media/ruling class that openly ridicules "small town" values and takes aim at rural conservatives (like Bill Maher and Chelsea Handler have been doing for decades) and not expect it to affect Democrats' electoral chances in the Heartland. The change that happened during the Obama years was two-fold: the "Jon Stewart" generation of Democratic staffers and activists (college kids of the 1990s/2000s, basically) came into professional politics, and Democratic leadership caved to their worst instincts in painting their Tea Party opposition as "rubeish" yokels.
I didn't prior to 2016, but yeah, supporting a racist, authoritarian sexual predator who essentially committed treason is a thoroughly despicable act. So yeah, I now believe Trump's supporters are trash. I can't help it if a bunch of rural whites and evangelical Christians choose to identify themselves with said group. I mean, it's basically impossible to believe these folks are deeply concerned about "patriotism" and "moral values," yet still adamantly committed to reelecting Donald Trump. Obviously, they don't believe a word of what they've been saying for decades — they're just contemptible liars.
The Trump presidency has been immensely damaging to the notion that we should take Republican criticisms of Democratic administrations seriously. Unfortunately, I don't see any possibility of putting the toothpaste back in the tube.
