1. The anger of white middle to lower middle (working) class Americans all over, but especially in the South, Midwest, Appalaichian regions is understandable. The opioid crisis, deindustrialization, decline in life expectancy, etc. Understandable. But they did this by electing Reagan and GWB. Clinton and Obama helped them tremendously, but were limited by the holes dug by Republican orthodox policies that gave them war and financial crises. They’re trying to do it again with Trump, who is a pretty typical Republican in philosophy, except for trade. But even there, when push comes to shove, he’ll be leaning on Heritage, American Enterprise, the usual conservative think tanks for policy.

The angry white guys brought it on themselves and will do it again if women and minorities don’t save them.

2. When we get into debates about how America can’t be like the Northern European democracies and their generous welfare states because we’re not heterogeneous like those countries, they’re right. But it’s because of racial antipathy that we have a concerted conservative culture in the South and Midwest that votes against anything they perceive as helping black and brown people even if it would help them. So yeah, our diversity caused a Civil War that we’re still fighting out and because of that we can’t have nice things like universal health care, universal child care, sick days, robust unemployment insurance, etc.

The angry white guys strike again to keep themselves, and the rest of us from better policies for the middle class. Ironically, if we were 87% white like Briton, or 93% white like Sweden, we’d have policies more like them, but only because, in that case, white people wouldn’t be so scared of blacks and Browns, and would be less susceptible to the red menace talk of socialism and thus would likely be more amenable to universalist social policy.

There’s some Saturday thinkin’ there, I tell you what!