Buyers' Remorse-- In North Carolina

Trump calls her his "Foxxy Lady" because she helps him with his whole toxic agenda

That thing with the Trump family and the elephants is just so horrifying, I can't express with words the depths of my sadness. Reversing the ban on hunters importing trophies of elephants killed in Zambia and Zimbabwe has got to be one of his ugliest diversions yet.Yesterday I noted that anyone who still supports him will rot in hell with him for eternity. (But what do I know? God is wiser than I am-- though I doubt He created elephants so that spoiled assholes like Eric and Fredo could murder them and hang their body parts on walls.) So I was happy to see a post by James Hohmann in the Washington Post about Trumpian buyers' remorse based on a North Carolina focus group that was done even before the elephant murder executive order.

"Republican women," he wrote, "who voted for President Trump in North Carolina said during a focus group Wednesday night that they are embarrassed by and exasperated with him." It's an interesting look inside the heads of Trump voters and it explains why his favorability ratings are still dropping.

Annie Anthony, 56, voted for Trump last year because she opposes abortion and did not like how Hillary Clinton handled Benghazi. Now she fears that Trump is marching us toward war with North Korea. She describes the first 10 months of his presidency as “chaotic, stressful and an uphill battle.”

“While I thought his ideas appealed to me, since he’s been in there he’s embarrassed me by his behavior,” said Anthony, a divorced college graduate who runs a local nonprofit volunteer center and drives for Uber to make ends meet. “He behaves so unpresidential. The words he uses. The tweeting. I mean, he dresses nice. And Melania is looking good. When he was away (in Asia), he was great at being a president. He’s the showman. But here at home, I can’t imagine how they let him build a country club-- let alone be in one. Because adults don’t behave that way. I’ve been surprised that a billionaire would behave the way he has…

“I don’t have a problem with him tweeting,” she continued. “I follow him because I want to see what he’s saying myself and not have someone interpret it for me. But I think that his language is unprofessional. He uses words like ‘sad’ and ‘bad.’ That’s first grade language. We’re an intelligent population who elected you. Represent us!”

Anthony, a registered Republican, remains hopeful that Congress will soon pass tax cuts, but she’s nervous that they’ll take away the deduction for charitable donations. She’s also worried that, if her health insurance rates continue to go up, she won’t be able to afford to go see the doctor any more. (She makes less than $50,000 a year.)

Looking ahead to the midterms, she offered an ominous warning for the GOP: “I think the swamp is still full. I might be voting to drain that swamp some more.”

...When Hart asked for one word or phrase to describe Trump, the group initially erupted in laughter. Only two of 12 said something positive (“bold” and “fights back”). The others called him incompetent, a baffling fool, childlike, a loose cannon, an immature narcissist and ignorant.

Emily Bell, a 32-year-old occupational therapist who voted for Trump, described him as rude and stressful. “I feel like he told people that he had all these big ideas and big plans, and it just seems to kind of roll to something else. It’s like nothing is ever accomplished,” said Bell, who is married and has a postgraduate degree. “I’m going to stay optimistic, but I lean more toward being independent. Really it will come down (in 2020) to who I can trust more.”

Melissa Hight, a 62-year-old married retiree who has a postgraduate degree and voted for Trump, used the word “antagonistic” to describe him. “I had high hopes, but he just goes about things in a way that gets everybody’s back up against the wall,” she lamented. “He doesn’t facilitate working together. He comes out with these grandiose ideas, and there’s no follow through. It’s a lot of talk. … He hasn’t acted presidential at all. The tweets bother me. They may be enlightening to some people. I’m not a tweeter. But to me, firing off these tweets is just childish. … He should be above that… I will call a spade a spade because I’m a conservative more than a Republican.”

Only one of the 12 participants emerged as an unapologetic defender of the president. Cynthia Layton, a 64-year-old nurse, said she loves Trump’s tweets. “I like him because he talks like my neighbor talks to me,” she explained. “I don’t need an elitist person talking down to me. The media does not give an honest opinion. That’s why I turned off cable 10 years ago. I read my sites. I listen to his tweets. … That’s how I hear from him. The media doesn’t tell you what’s going on, so you have to find out what’s going on on your own. … To me, I think his tweets are simply what he honestly feels because he uses white and black language and doesn’t give you all these flowery descriptions about everything. I appreciate that he’s direct and tells it like it is.”

Is this going to flip any congressional seats in 2018? North Carolina is one of the most meticulously gerrymandered states in the union, with congressional districts drawn precisely to prevent anything like that. However, after the startling Isley-Freeman win in an Oklahoma state senate district that Trump won by nearly 40 points... all bets are off.

If quality of candidates count, the most flippable seat in North Carolina is the 5th district in the northwest of the state-- from Forsyth County (Winston-Salem) through Mount Airy and Boone to the Tennessee border. The odious Virginia Foxx is the incumbent and Jenny Marshall in the challenger. She's as good as Foxx is bad. This morning she told us that "Over the past months we have been meeting more and more Republicans who are willing to talk to us about our campaign. They are not happy with Representative Virginia Foxx and have been very vocal about their dissatisfaction. They recounted meetings in which she berated people who dared to ask her questions, lectured a mother of a medically fragile child on the cost of health care, and refused to attend a town hall hosted for her as she sat in her office just a few blocks away to name just a few. They are tired of her dodging them and only appearing where she can control the narrative. Unlike Donald Trump, Virginia Foxx is not a mindless tweeting fool, but her dismissive behavior has made their own waves across the district. Her unwavering support of Trump's policies and executive orders coupled with her own lack of care has made her unpopular even among those who vote Republican."

If that Oklahoma state Senate seat can turn blue, so can NC-05. And Jenny is working with every intention of doing just that. If you'd like to give her a shot, in terms of a contribution... see that thermometer up above on the right? Give it a little click.