Since the election of Trump to POTUS I have questioned my ability to see reality.  I struggle to understand the Trump Narrative.

I completely agreed with Obama when he said, “Americans do not elect Donald Trump.”  And, wow, were we wrong!

I just came across a story about Raymond Ciotti.  http://www.redstate.com/scotthounsell/2017/03/13/the-democrat-disconnect-and-the-reign-of-the-right/

An historically Dem voter that not only voted for Trump, but thinks he is doing a good job.  (The only reason Raymond doesn’t think Trump is doing a great job is the “Media.”)

The narrative in this post from Scott Hounsell, is that Dems are “wildly disconnected from the American voter.”

Even though, a majority of total USA voters actually agree with Dems, it is a great point to note that Dems are, correctly, wildly disconnected from Trump Voters.”

My explanation is that Trump Voters are brainwashed by the Rich and The Evangelicals to believe that giving money to the rich and powerful will either make them rich and powerful, or save them for entirety, or in the best case both.

A One Man Case Study as told by Scott Hounsell of Redstate

Meet Raymond Ciotti.  Raymond is a 60 year old retired steel worker, who now drives a medical-transport van.  He lives in the heart of Pennsylvania Steel Country, a fixture in the once bustling City of Johnstown.  He is representative of apple-pie America as much as anyone out there.  He’s married, has 3 kids, (and now 5 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild as he proudly shared), religious, and as a lifelong registered Democrat, has voted for Democrats since Reagan. I happen to know Raymond relatively well from having lived in Johnstown for a short period in 2005.  In the years since, I have been by to visit several times.  During those visits, Raymond and I have had some pretty heated discussions about George W. Bush, Barack Obama and everyone in between. Raymond and I could not have been more philosophically opposed.

Now imagine my surprise as I sat on the sidelines of this last election cycle (OG NeverTrump) and saw Raymond don his proverbial red cap and begin his MAGA chants.  I could not have been more confused.

I decided to discuss with Raymond what was the deciding factors for him in the 2016 election.

“I was ready to vote for Hillary when it all got started,” Ciotti began. “It wasn’t until Donald Trump started really shaking things up that I started paying attention. He didn’t sound like the rest of them.  I knew he was going to shake things up.”

Raymond stated he followed the news during the election, watched the debates, and heard both candidates.  Ciotti questioned, “If Hillary didn’t know what the rules were as Secretary of State, how could we know she would follow the rules as President?”  He voiced some concern with Benghazi and the email server, but the majority of his issue seemed more pro-Trump, than anti-Hillary.

I asked him if there was anyone of the other GOP candidates that he could have seen himself voting for instead of Hillary.  “No, I didn’t like any of the other candidates.  Had Paul Ryan ran, it might be a little different.  He seems like he’s reasonable and knows what he is talking about.  Of the declared candidates, No one.”

Republicans need to understand that their message didn’t exactly win either.  Trump connected with people in a way I may never full understand.  “No one in Washington is working for us,” continued Ciotti.  “It seems the middle class gets ignored in favor of Wall Street and the uber-wealthy and the impoverished and lower class.  I was tired of being told to get in line while it seemed no one was looking out for me.”  When asked what the number one issue was for him in this election?  “Obamacare.  It is a disaster.  It has increased costs for so many.  It needs to go.”

As for how he thinks President Trump is doing so far? “I’d give him a B or B-.  I think he is doing all the things he said he was going to do, and I am okay with that.  It would probably be an even higher grade, but all the negativity from the mainstream media seems to give me some of that feeling of negativity.”

Raymond lives in a Democrat district in Pennsylvania.  I asked him if his views on politics have changed or if its the people who are in office?  “It’s the politicians,” Ciotti told me.

I presented Raymond with three hypothetical election choices, of elections between a democrat who opposes Trump for the sake of opposing Trump and a democrat who finds things he can work with Trump on, versus a Republican who agreed to vote with Trump on everything and a Republican who would challenge Trump on certain things.  Raymond (again, a lifelong democrat) said that he would vote against anyone who opposed Trump simply to opposed Trump.  “If that person (the candidate), isn’t willing to work with the President, I won’t vote for them.”  When asked if ideology mattered, if said it mattered for the candidate.  “Personality plays into it.  If the guy is likeable, and seems level-headed, I might vote for him.”

The place where Democrats need to be terrified is in the question of Democrat who opposes Trump vs. any of the hypothetical Republican candidates.  “I’d vote for the Republican if the Democrat said he would just be against Trump,” said Ciotti.

In other words, there were no circumstance where Raymond said he wouldn’t consider the Republican candidate and a huge issue of why he wouldn’t consider a Democrat candidate for the same office.