Ordinary Trump voters are not extremists, but they believe in cheating

Of: Wolfgang Hansson

Published: January 17, 2021 at 2:41 p.m.

MCCONNELSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA. When we met Dwight Washabaugh before the presidential election, he was absolutely convinced that Donald Trump would win. He still is.

– Trump has not admitted defeat. I hope he has some trump card up his coat sleeve to play before Biden swears. It is not too late yet.

McConnellsburg is in the most Trump-friendly constituency in the entire state of Pennsylvania. Here, more than 85 percent of voters voted for the incumbent president. Even a small percentage more than in the 2016 elections.

When we visited the city before the election, which is surrounded by rolling fields and high hills, those with whom we spoke were convinced that Trump was unbeatable. When we return just over two months later, not many people have accepted that the real estate billionaire lost.

Dwight Washabaugh bases his belief in cheating on his job, which involves managing a few rest stops along the I 70 freeway that runs through the United States from east to west.

– I contacted hundreds of people from all over the United States and the natural topic of conversation was the election, he says. Hardly anyone I spoke to was going to vote for Joe Biden. That was a huge favor for Trump. There is no chance that Trump will lose the election.

But the object is that a large number of courts in various states have dismissed the fraud charges. Don’t you trust him?

Dwight laughs. More dismissive than happy.

– It probably just shows that corruption in the country has gone further than we could have imagined.

Difficult to accept electoral loss

In addition to working for the local highway authority, Dwight has opened an antique shop / flea market where he sells everything from porcelain figurines to furniture groups. You just picked up a group of sofas and several beds from a family that was moving and wanted to get rid of their old stuff. Now everything is lined up outside the store. It’s just a few degrees higher in the air.

He snaps a photo with his mobile phone of the weathered cluster of brown-flecked sofas.

– I post it on Facebook and see if anyone sucks.

Then he remembers that Facebook portrayed Trump and says that he is actually boycotting Facebook, but that he should post his products there because that is where most Americans are looking for a bargain.

– I think it will take a long time for many people to accept that Trump really lost. I’m still in shock.

Given that Joe Biden has yet to be sworn in as president, he still hopes that something unexpected will happen that will allow Trump to remain in the White House after all.

– Trump has not admitted defeat. I’m pretty sure he has some trump card up his sleeve that allows him to surprise everyone.

Dwight opens the door to the store. It has been closed for a few days because an assistant who spent half a day inside the store shortly after became ill with covid-19.

“Revolution is sometimes necessary”

Outside of town, we don’t see anyone wearing a mouth guard. The exact opposite of Washington DC. Dwight has one dangling under his chin, but he only wears it when customers request it.

Do you think Trump’s speech to supporters outside the White House helped instigate the assault on Congress?

– Absolutely not, affirms firmly.

– But maybe sometimes a revolution is needed to resolve disagreements. We had a civil war in the United States in the 19th century. Perhaps now we are faced with something similar. I do not know.

He displays an image on his mobile that represents a battle scene from the war. Above and below the image are two phrases. First, “War is when your government tells you who your enemy is.” So “Revolution is when you discover it yourself.”

Dwight Washabaugh and John and Anette Rasp, whom we meet at their pine kitchen table on the other end of town, are not Trump supporters. None of them would have stormed the Capitol if they had been in Washington DC that day. They think the attack was wrong.

This is the third time I’ve met them in the last four years. Of course, they are convinced by Trump voters, but they are not idiots. Fairly ordinary and decent Americans who work hard for bread. Some of the 74 million who voted for Donald Trump.

But even though they are not the most devout or violent, they are convinced that Trump’s electoral victory was stolen from him.

Deep rage

– I still feel a deep rage every time I think about the elections, John almost hissed.

Take a deep breath before continuing.

– When we went to bed on election night, Trump comfortably led all the major states to master the wave. When we woke up, the results were suddenly in Biden’s favor, John says as he runs his hand through his short hair.

– Something is wrong.

His wife Anette agrees and tells how different he was at the polling station compared to what he usually is.

– We always enter our ballot ourselves into the electronic voting machine and you can see on the screen that the vote has been cast. But this time the governor had decided that all the voting machines would be replaced with new ones. But in Fulton County, they could only afford to buy a single machine. So we had to put our ballots in a suitcase with a hatch. It was very strange. Then, all the votes would be transported and entered into the single machine at the municipality’s headquarters. But there was nothing we could control.

They tell of a series of strange incidents that they have heard from friends and acquaintances. They also claim that 200,000 more people voted in Pennsylvania than were registered.

Not calm

The fact that the courts rejected all allegations of fraud does not reassure them.

– There is no possibility that Trump has lost, says John.

Even when it comes to the assault on the congress building, they are very skeptical about the description of the story presented by the media. They prefer to listen to friends who were involved in the intrusion and who showed them their own video clips that they took with their mobile phones.

– Several of us who spoke to say that the police themselves removed the roadblocks and signaled them to go up the stairs of Congress. They perceived it as an invitation.

John and Anette Rasp, of course, have seen the violent footage of protesters trying to break into the Capitol and hunt down the police. But they have a hard time believing they are Trump supporters.

– When I look at the photos, I see that many of them are very young. I look at how they behave and dress that they are not Trump supporters. Rather leftist from Antifa. Guaranteed, there were a fool or two who voted for Trump, but the picture is not as clear as the media wants to paint it.

The couple has almost stopped watching the usual television news. They prefer Newsmax and possibly Fox News.

– And social networks, says Anette.

“Someone wants to start a civil war”

So what do you think of the future of Donald Trump?

John Rasp suspects that Trump’s plan was to work again in four years, but now he doubts it is really worth all the shit he gets.

– The risk is that the Republican party will split and then it will be many years before we can see a Republican again in the White House.

Dwight Washabaugh believes Trump might as well get back on his feet.

– You will receive very strong support. That is done.

The situation is now so polarized among Americans that both John and Anette have been told at work not to talk politics. Anette has drawn her own conclusion.

– Some are trying to start a civil war in the United States. I don’t know which one, but both parties are equally guilty. It is time for people to recover and start collaborating. Otherwise, it ends badly.

Published: January 17, 2021 at 2:41 p.m.

READ ON