Let me see if I’ve got you here…

If the current punditry is right, and it almost never is, Trump voters inflicted Rapey McWeirdfuck on us all because of the economy, or at least, that’s what they told exit pollsters when asked. Let’s try to follow the logic of that. Prices are a bit higher than they were a few years ago. Annoying? Sure. I get that. But these voters decided that, instead of electing someone qualified who’ll consult competent advisors and put in policies that will keep the rate of inflation slow and steady while wages rise to catch up (a thing that’s already happening actually, but never mind), they’d elect a criminal psychopath whose main campaign promises were to slap massive tariffs on consumer goods and violently deport twelve-to-twenty million people, many of whom play key roles in supplying the goods we consume, reducing productivity and resulting in…class? Inflation!

After the elections of 2004 and 2016, I’m capable of holding a very low opinion of my fellow Americans. Could many of us really be that stupid? Sure. And before you accuse MFA-holding elitist me of dumping on them, it’s not just the non-college educated among us either. I’ve known plenty of credentialed people who, because they took Econ 101 freshmen year, fancy themselves economics experts. (NOTE: There’s a lot they didn’t tell you. That’s why Econ departments offer more than one class.) But, though I don’t mind thinking my countrymen are just plain dumb, I also wonder if they’re being honest. Telling a pollster who’s asked you why you voted for a twice-impeached rapist and convicted criminal whose well documented failures running the country last time killed hundreds of thousands of Americans that you did it out of concern for the economy could, if you don’t think about it, sound like a plausible reason. After all, regardless of the state of the overall economy, who doesn’t have economic concerns? (Well, rich people don’t, though that didn’t stop David Brooks from having a Twitter meltdown when he found out how much they mark up scotch at airport bars.) It’s a safe, socially acceptable answer that also reeks of rationalization. For what? Oh, the usual suspects in America: misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia. Take your pick. To me, those answers are a lot more believable than, “I decided to end democracy and deport my neighbors because the price of eggs went up two bucks.”