I got some nice exposure to hard core trumpers recently. Drove into Pennsylvania for a weekend getaway and stopped at a restaurant before getting on the road back to NY. Next to us was a multi-cultural family, you could hear the wife and husband speak to their children in their own languages, French and German. The French-speaking dad was clearly of African descent.
Another family sat behind them, and the guy soon started to engage in conversation: “Excuse me sir, can I ask why you aren’t speaking to your kids in English?” I thought the gentlemen was quite polite in his response. He explained to him in fluent English, which he looked surprised to hear, that neither he or his wife were born here and that they only speak to their kids in their mother toungues to teach them languages and keep a bridge to their heritage.
The interrogator, sporting a huge “America is great” tattoo across his forearm and a red USA flag branded t-shirted, proceeded to tell the guy that he was from Arkansas and he was out there on a contract to lay oil pipe and had recently gone to a Walmart and couldn’t understand a word the cashier was telling him, because she either didn’t know English or refused to use it. Clearly, he wasn’t insterested in the guy’s story and just wanted to let him know he was upset about multilinguals in America. Perhaps he just wanted to make the guy feel uncomfortable or was just plain ignorant.
Not being able to recognize the languages, he asked the guy if he was speaking an African language. Shocker. Again he was polite and said no it’s French, from France where he was born. He went on to ask if it doesn’t bother him that other people may not know what he’s saying or if he was used to French people speaking other languages in his country. He explained he doesn’t always know what his wife is saying to their kids in German and it doesn’t bother him, and that yes in big French cities it is very common to hear other languages, with many border towns using multiple languages.
Not being able to frustrate the man, the redneck then makes a very nasty remark “well where I’m from we speak English and other people use English out of courtesy”. The guy told him he was American too and knew plenty of American natives that spoke other languages fluently, so it depends on where you live. The fat fvck Arkansas guy makes a last remark “well, I’ll kee my country side and you keep your city then”. He turned around and that was that.
What I gathered from that exchange is that the Arkansas dude had a big complex and felt threatened, seeming very annoyed at starting to see how diverse the country is outside his little small town bubble. My point is Trump played perfectly to their emotions and inability to compete in a changing world, assuring them that America has become this evil place because of immigration, Obama, China, etc.