Posting here cause I don't think it's thread worthy:
Just wanted to kinda pitch my experience and discussions I've had that seem to be reinforced by a lot of what people are saying in here. I live in Texas pretty damn close to the Dallas/Ft.Worth metroplex (Plano) and go to college at UTD for reference. I voted Hillary but that's not what this is about.
I didn't ask but my dad either voted or just supported Trump (I think he just hates the 'system' enough to not care about voting). He lived through the rise and fall of communist Russia and left to raise a family in the US pretty much right around the fall (~1993). And thus he's pretty jaded about "helping others". My parents have kinda racist attitudes, not overtly so, but it's something my sister and I bicker at them about. And I'm just kinda posting this cause it's not a perspective I really associate or interact with a lot. Family is super apolitical and a-religious(?). The former is not brought up a lot and the latter is never brought up. But we talked a good bit yesterday and I found it intriguing how disinterested he is with actual progressive movements. In part it's apathy and not wanting to create conflict (thinks it's not right to rebel against police practices and that in general they have the power and you have to respect it). Another part is simply very rand-ian "fuck yours, got mine" sorta mentality where they think for themselves and supporting themselves more than the general good of the community.
But what really got me was when I was talking about voting for Hillary/democrats because they actually represent progressive movements and better of people in general and my parents just brushed it off. "They're pretending for votes" basically. I guess that's just a really weird, jaded, but understandable perspective they have. It's very deeply negative feelings towards 'the establishment' and a lot of it comes from living through Soviet Russia. They don't care for anything that represents to them our status quo and think it's all corrupt.
I'm not a person to go scorched earth on them but we sort of agree to disagree on that. Dad says it's a "I'll never change your mind, you'll never change mine" sort of thing and I tend to agree.
Dunno, just felt like I wanted to type that out. I think that a huge portion (the main portion) to Trump's success is simply voters were looking towards themselves and the economics that would affect them more forwardly than potentially nebulous progressive rights.