Hang in there, man.

Seriously. Hang in there.

I have been watching this rightward march of this country since Reagan's days.

I grew up as a young adult in the 1970s.

None of this has been fun, but that's when it started.

1980.

40 years.

40 years of watching this country march to the right to the point where we went from protesting awful wars (Vietnam) to oohing and ahhing military jets flying over sports stadiums.

What we are seeing now is a rural capitulation to authoritarianism and nationalist sentiment because that part of the population has lost its heart and soul to the hopelessness of poverty and despair brought on by years of bipartisan corporatism and greed.

They are experiencing the same thing that folks in parts of the inner city have been experiencing for years.

Lack of employment and career opportunities.

It really is that simple.

The answer lies in fixing that problem.

Inner city victims of this economic malaise respond by turning inwards and attacking each other, and rural victims respond by raising their red fists and blaming "libtards" for their problems.

But the root cause of pain in both sectors of forgotten society is the same.

We can loathe our fellow Americans for their response, or understand that they are suffering a mental sickness, often caused by the opiate addiction and alcoholism that also are products of this hopelessness.

We were lucky that this authoritarian was such an incompetent one.

The next one won't be.

We need to get to the root of the problem here. It actually isn't all that complicated.

You don't have to fight racism and all the other ugly traits of Trumpism.

You have to fight poverty and hopelessness.