This Is What Democrats Don't Understand About The Trump Win

Several years ago, my family and I were as close to being homeless as you can get without living in a car.

I had been laid off three times in two years and my wife was working full-time at a job that didn't pay much above minimum wage. We were struggling to keep our heads above water as we also tried to provide everything we could for our son, who had recently been diagnosed with Aspergers. It was frightening how quickly our lives spiraled down from comfortably middle-class to living in a one-room hotel suite and struggling to put gas in the car.

Here's the thing about being desperate. You don't care much about anything else. When you're trying to figure out how to buy dinner that night or pay for a new pair of pants for your son, you don't have time for social niceties or worrying about the future of American society. When you look across the table at a family who deserves better, you are laser-focused on one thing. How do I fix things and give them what they need?

I didn't vote for Donald J. Trump for President, but I understand why some Americans in rural America did. It's easy for pundits on both coasts to crank out snark arguing this election foretells an increase of racism and inequality in the U.S. There is certainly plenty of all of that in the Trump electorate, but there is also a lot of fear. Parts of America are afraid for their future and they didn't see it improving under a Hillary Clinton administration. Voting for Trump is a big risk. But there are a lot of Americans who think a risky vote is better than one that won't improve their lives.

Remember that infamous moment in the 1988 presidential debate when Democrat Michael Dukakis was asked if he would support the death penalty if his wife Kitty had been raped and murdered? Dukakis answered it like the professional politician that he was, arguing that there are "more effective ways of dealing with a violent crime" than the death penalty. Nearly anyone else in that situation would have answered with the more honest, "In that case, I would support the death penalty. Hell, I would try and track them down myself. But that's why our laws are made by legislators representing the people, not by individuals." Nearly all of us - no matter what our political beliefs - will put our families above the rest of society. We will make whatever horrific decisions we need to make if we think it will help improve the lives of our families.

Many of Tuesday's votes were based on racism or hatred or an inability to vote for a woman running for president. But there were a lot of other voters who saw Trump as a force of disruption. Maybe for the better, maybe for the worse. But for the out-of-work coal miner or the Rust Belt manufacturing line worker now pulling down a paycheck from Starbucks, even more disruption is better than the status quo.

If I'm a Trump voter in rural Pennsylvania and turn on MSNBC as Chris Matthews discusses some stereotype of my life gleaned from his phone conversation with a family member, my first inclination is going to be to vote against everything he stands for. That's the same rage that leads young men in poverty to join a gang, even though it's a choice with no long-term upside. It's short-sighted and it's making a decision that ultimately plays against your self-interest.

But in that solitary moment, expressing your anger and fear can feel oh so good.