'It's Almost Like a Secret Society': The Perils of Being Democrat in a Trump Town (Dubois)

[no_hypocrisy]

When Trump was elected the first time, I think everybody was excited for that change,” says Kulbacki, a longtime Republican and gun-rights supporter who says she’s been souring on Trump of late, mostly over the destabilizing actions he took during his second term and after losing two years ago. “He is just so out there now. He is way out there.”

“But it’s hard around here, too,” Kulbacki added. “Just because we don’t discuss it.”

When I first approached them, many of the Democrats in and around DuBois asked not to speak publicly because they anticipated backlash from neighbors. Some expressed genuine fear. But most ultimately let their guards down, noting that Trump’s persistent election conspiracies and the virus compelled them to feel more comfortable sharing what it’s been like to be a pale blue dot in an ocean of red.

Their stories often mirror one another: a feeling that they’re viewed as social outcasts; an acknowledgement—and in certain instances alarm—that they no longer understand the motivations of people who live around them; hyperpartisanship infecting everyday routines, spreading from home to home, and deepening the mistrust in town.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/03/04/pennsylvania-rural-democrats-trump-neighbors-00008915?fbclid=IwAR3se3fKg8dvYtNlsG1Zz95OnGvDj6zmKxODWTlOdvWh6hyQqZB_fRep_yg