***

A few months ago, I received a letter from Ola, a Polish friend for over forty years, in which she told me that she was officially breaking off her friendship with me forever, because I support Trump. "I don't understand how you can!" she wrote. If she had written, "I don't understand why," then perhaps there would still be a door to dialogue and understanding. But "how can you" disqualified my morality and thus the right to defend my political position. It made no sense to answer, so I removed Ole from my friends list as she wished - forever.

Ola was not the only one among my friends who removed me from good company. After all, openly declaring myself on the side of Trump exposed my racism, xenophobia, transphobia, white supremacy, colonialism, partiality, naivety, a lack of understanding of my own interests, even extreme stupidity. Perhaps my religious fundamentalism, intolerance, and excessive attachment to firearms, as well as a hostile attitude towards political correctness, globalism, science, and alternative energy sources. I think that if I knew myself as well as my friends know me, I would also break my social relations with myself.

Luckily, I know myself a little differently. I also know Trump and his supporters in a different way from sites that media such as CNN and Gazeta Wyborcza prefer not to disclose.

My demographic profile, career, and charity work indicate that I should be on the side of the Democratic Party. I am a woman, I have higher education, a house in a suburbia, a good brand new car, and income which puts me in the "upper middle class." Plus, I'm an immigrant and have a refugee husband who is POC, "Person of Color." I am a retired university professor and I volunteer in organizations that help foster children, refugees, and immigrants, both legal and not so much, who need free English lessons. I support financially environmental organizations such as the Nature Conservancy and the International Crane Foundation. The only magazine regularly subscribed in my home is Science News.

So, it would be much easier for me to fit ideologically into the group to which I demographically belong. It wouldn't cost me anything. A tax hike on the rich who are said to be paying too little at the moment wouldn't apply to me, because I don't belong to that class. Support for the Democrats would not bring disgrace to my social and friendly status. On the contrary: I would avoid being insulted and I could treat those ideologically handicapped with self-righteousness and indulgence.

In a word, I could be a member of the American Cultural Elite. Ola would still be my friend, and I wouldn't get nasty comments and epithets sent at my address from my friends' friends via a private Messenger.

So how and why did I find myself on this inferior list? Perhaps because I do not want to be on the side of hatred that would make me break my friendship with a friend on the other side of the ocean for voting for a candidate who has nothing to do with my life. Or on the side of that red-hot hatred that tells you to put on black masks, grab your bat and beat up a journalist, an Asian gay, for being on the other side politically. Or that bigoted hatred that makes you boycott and exclude people for a different point of view or for having different values. Or that dangerous hatred that I associate with genocide, the Holocaust and Rwanda. The hatred openly professed by those who pride themselves being tolerant and inclusive and believe that love will win. A hatred that I experienced myself, and I do not want to participate.

Both me and my husband, David, were once Democrats. We both voted for Obama. The Obama presidency has brought us eight years of deep disappointment in all fields of governmental activity. Race and class divisions have deepened, confidence in the government has decreased, corruption has increased, and the hope has shrunk, a huge wave of which a few years earlier had raised Obama to the top of political popularity. 

In 2016, I knew I would not vote for Hillary Clinton, but I never thought I would vote for Trump. I did it without enthusiasm but had no other choice. Four years later, last week, I voted for Trump with full conviction, and if it turns out that Trump wants to run again in 2024, I suppose I will vote for him again.

Despite the continuous harassment, mockery, lame attacks of conspiring (proven) to deprive him of the presidency, which began even before he took the office in January 2017, and above all, the contempt with which Trump was and is treated by the left-wing cultural elite. Support of the common people for Trump has not only persisted but has increased. Contempt is the key here factor.

Hillary Clinton's undiplomatic claim that Trump's supporters are “deplorable” may have cost her a lot of votes, and perhaps the presidency. Publicly ridiculing Trump when he said he loved less educated people put Democrats in stern opposition to these hard-working Americans who chose to side with whoever sided with them. Unfortunately, these lessons did not serve Biden, who referred to Trump's followers as "chumps," fools, and "ugly folks," the nasty types. Biden won the election - possibly legally, or maybe through massive fraud - and maybe we'll never know the truth. But the "blue wave" predicted by the polls did not materialize.

Poor and lower-income, less educated, working Americans are proud and do not let themselves be offended. Pride is one of the few values they can afford, especially in hard times. They recognize Trump as "theirs" who fights for their welfare. Trump is not a politician - he is a street fighter who will definitely not turn the other cheek but will give up twice. He has a foul mouth, he is crude, he has a tendency to be astronomically exaggerate, to overlook certain facts, and to ignore details. Like many other Trump supporters, I am irritated by his outbursts, his indiscriminate comments, his lack of diplomacy - so I don't read his tweets; on the other hand, I appreciate the fact that he tells the truth in your face without backdoors and speaks directly to people, and not to cameras, media, politicians. He has unprecedented energy and power to break through like a Soviet tank.

At his famous rallies, Trump invariably uses the pronoun "we" - in contrast to Obama, whose favorite word in his speeches was "I". Trump fights back, calling local politicians and activists to the podium and publicly expressing appreciation for them, as well as average people who have made a difference in some way.

Trump's opponent is "The Swamp", Swamp: corrupt government agencies (including the FBI and CIA), the media, the Internet "Big Tech" (Google, Yahoo, Facebook), the entertainment industry, and colleges. The leading ideas of the latter have become Marxism, the theory of gender identity, and the critical theory of race, according to which each member of society is assigned to one of two groups: the victims or their persecutors. Trump has promised to drain the Swamp and restore dignity to average, hardworking, elite Americans.

Trump is the first president in the history of our collective memory to live up to, at least in large part, all the promises he made to his supporters. "Promises Made, Promises Kept": Reduced corporate tax rates allowed bringing industrial plants from abroad, primarily from China, back to the States. New international trade agreements have also contributed to the driving force of the economy. All these measures improved the labor market and caused the unemployment rate to drop to a historically low level of 3.7% in 2019 (i.e. just before the pandemic). Black and Latin unemployment has fallen to its lowest rates in the country's history. Work in mines in Pennsylvania and West Virginia returned, fracking production of oil and gas started; closed oil pipelines opened up, and suddenly we became energy independent from the Middle East, for the first time since 1957. In the Middle East, Trump dealt quickly and effectively with the Islamic Caliphate, moved the US Embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, and has already mediated three peace agreements between Israel and Islamic countries. Trump, who is pragmatic and does not support making people happy against their will, but paid by our money, he is withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan. Because it's not our war.

Our war is the one on our southern border through which thousands of illegal immigrants have crossed with impunity, not only from Latin America, but from all over the world, sometimes over a hundred thousand people in a month. Not only job seekers, but also gang members, smugglers of fentanyl and young girls for prostitution, individuals with criminal background. The wall, or rather the border fence, the agreement with Mexico, and changes to the procedures for granting political asylum have reduced the possibility of criminals crossing our border with impunity. (Regarding children separated from their parents: the photos of children in cages circulating on the Internet date back to Obama's time, when the children were sent alone, on trains, under the supervision of paid "coyotes", and let loose at our border crossings. During the Trump presidency, these children are still in the care of the American authorities because their biological parents refused to take them back, hoping to reunite with them in the United States on their next attempt to cross the border).

It is impossible to list all of Trump's achievements here, because the list is long. The gains for the country and his supporters are not advertised in the media because they contradict the narrative of the left-wing elite who does not care about achieving Trump's promised American Dream, because they have already achieved it.

Recently, I was called by a Polish friend who, together with her husband, fled to US from socialist Polish poverty, from a rented room with mold on the walls, with no chance for a better future. They have worked physically for many years, cleaning dirty motels and carrying bricks to construction sites, and at night learning English and by achieving new qualifications at various courses.

Krystian, their grown-up son, whose studies cost $ 30,000 a year by his parents’ hard-earned “capitalist” savings and loans. He returned from college to live for a while at home, stated that he would vote for Biden, because only socialism would guarantee all Americans true equality. “You “ Baby Boomers ” have no understanding what is it about” he summed-up reactions of the shocked parents who have spent half their lives under socialism.

As I write these words, I look out of the window from time to time, where Alejandro, Krystian's peer and son of immigrants, is laying the boards of our new terrace. It snowed during the night and it is very cold, but the construction work does not stop because of the weather, if there are customers. Alejandro, wrapped in a quilted jacket and a cap pulled over his ears, is constantly breathing on his cold hands, but he continues his work. Alejandro did not go to college because he has to earn a living and help his family. He did not vote in 2016, but last week, joining the growing number of Hispanic Trump enthusiasts, he voted for him. Alejandro believes Trump's policies will help him achieve the American Dream. Krystian, on the other hand, does not have to achieve anything anymore, because he is used to living in abundance, and therefore he can allow himself to reflect on socialism. I nodded in agreement with my friend, because my children, when they found out that I voted for Trump, also barked at me first, and then they stopped talking to me.

"If Trump loses, we're totally screwed," says James, co-owner of the small company that builds our terrace and that Alejandro works for. If James' company goes down, Alejandro will lose his job. "All the little entrepreneurs and their employees in Reno are for Trump," says James. Robert, our electrician, independently confirms James' words. "We've never had as good as under Trump," he adds. "We are afraid that if the Democrats win, our streak will end."

The Democratic Party chose the so-called "Identity politics", that divides people into groups according to demographic indicators, primarily racial. Trump's policy began to unite people of average economic status - those whose income is not guaranteed, whose material comfort is not stable and depend on fluctuations of the economy. The rich can afford to support the Democrats because they don't have to fear a malaise of the economy; the rich can also afford the luxury of complete isolation from the pandemic because they have the choice to work from home. All they need is delivered to their door by human robots such as Alejandro. Those living on unemployment also have nothing to fear, especially if Democrats come to power.

Two weeks before the election, my husband David and I offered to become volunteers, going door-to-door reminding residents to vote. The application on the phone showed us the party affiliation of the inhabitants of houses in different districts: Republican houses were marked in red, and Democratic houses - in blue. The richer the districts, the bluer the maps looked. “Gated communities” turned out to be almost without exception blue; as Republican volunteers, we were not even admitted behind the gate. The generational division is also clear: in many conservative homes we visited, parents complained that their children changed their political affiliation during the university studies or right after they graduated. "Universities have completely wiped out their brains. Now we regret paying the tuition fees," several times I heard the same sentiment expressed by Krystian's mother.

Our walking around the estates did not give us an insight into the differences in views of representatives of different races, because the suburban areas are inhabited mainly by white people, among which there are only a few Asians. But nationally, support for Trump among racial minorities and other groups, traditionally supporting Democrats, has increased significantly: 26% of minorities voted last week for Trump. Among the Blacks, Trump received votes of 18% of males (only 5% voted for the Republican candidate in 2008) and 8% of females (from 4% in 2016). Among Latinos like Alejandro, 35% voted for Trump. Trump was even more successful among Native Americans: 59 percent of Hawaiians and 52 percent of continental American Indians voted for him. They probably did not receive the news that Trump is racist. Among non-racial minority groups, Trump found the support of 28% of the LGBT community. (The above data are calculations based on the so-called "exit polls", i.e. post-election polls). Blacks and Latinos vote for the Trump camp because they want to be treated like Americans, not as oppressed minorities or victims of racism. They are teased every four years by the Democratic Party as a reliable electoral source. "What do you have to lose?" Trump called to them during the 2016 election campaign. "People of Color" (People of Color, the most politically correct term at the moment) began to look around and see that it really was nothing.

Neither the dilemmas of the People of Color who feel politically exploited by the Democrats nor James' interests or the risk of Alejandro losing his job, would have to motivate me to vote for Trump. I could as well be on the same side as Krystian, who has a double degree in managerial studies and political science, and counts on a good job in some corporation, where, working in an office with full air conditioning, he will earn several times more than the chilled Alejandro. After all, I deserve membership in a liberal elite where no one will despise me.

My children, a bit older than Krystian, also chose the political and social comfort of the elite. If I had opted for Biden, the children would probably let me have contact with my grandchildren, because I would not be an ideological threat to them.

It's tough.

It is my concern for the children which is my greatest motivator for Trump support. Not for my own children, but for other people's. Not for those from elite families, like my grandchildren, who attend private schools or those exclusive public schools in guarded communities, but those children from families fighting for survival, studying in schools that are intellectual deserts. Since I have always worked with poor children, such schools are well known to me.

One of the points on Trump's agenda is "school choice," which is the right to choose a school. Few people from outside the United States know that in our country a child is tied to a district school like a feudal peasant to the land. Schools in wealthy neighborhoods inhabited by the elite are much better equipped and have excellent teachers, and their students achieve much higher results than schools in ethnic ghettos, where often not a single student reaches even the lowest math test threshold required by the school program (this is the case, for example, in the Baltimore School District).

For this reason, homes in areas with good schools are very expensive and the rent is high. Families from poor neighborhoods cannot afford to move and have no right to send their children to these better schools. Children are therefore not only doomed to academic death but are also often exposed to drugs and crime.

The Trump administration has long fought for the right of students to choose a school: to ensure that the state's educational money follows the child. All highly developed countries with children and young people who achieve high results, allow the choice of schools; in some countries, school election is constitutionally guaranteed. Only full access to the same educational opportunities for all children and young people can guarantee social equality and create the opportunity to compensate for glaring economic imbalances in the next generation.

The Democratic Party and its supporting teachers' unions are fiercely opposing all political and administrative efforts to guarantee school choice. The multi-million dollar financial contributions from the teachers’ unions to the Political Action Committees on the side of the Democrats are to ensure that the proposal to choose a school will never be approved by Congress.

One has to wonder why the American liberal elite associated with the Democratic Party does not want poor children to have access to good schools. Why are they so afraid that their own children might end up in the classroom with the inferior ones from slums? Two responses are on my mind: control and contempt.

Because the Swamp pulls you in.

Which is why I voted for Trump.
* Translation from Polish original Teresa Pollin.