“In rural Georgia, an unlikely rebel against Trumpism” -WaPo

What a breath of fresh air. It gives me hope. Cody's love of reading saved him. Great story.

I didn't read the whole article yet... But, my son lives in rural Georgia and he looks just like that guy... a bit overweight, beard, etc. Lol. He works at a game store in the nearest town and most of the people who work there and who come there look like that also. And just about all of them voted Democratic. He was born and raised up here in our very Blue Northern Virginia area of course, so I'm not surprised at his politics. But I was surprised when he told me just how many people around him were also voting Democratic. His partner is a rabid Democrat -- "rabid" means she's out there registering voters, and knocking on doors, etc. -- and she's a native Georgian. 

Great article. Yes, I do think that the fact that he became a reader and a thinker saved him from being a follower.

Quote from article:

“The hardest part is the juxtaposition of knowing these are good, kind, loving, caring people here,” Johnson’s wife would say. “It’s like they put their morality in a box.”

I know what his wife is trying to say here but this may be surface level because are you really good, kind and loving if you are following someone like MTG or DT? I love the fact that he calls friends/acquaintances out - that can be hard to do.

Thanks for sharing!

I love this. I love him. I want to find him and give him a hug.

It was so well written, I can just see the people and the places. I’ve been through a lot of places just like that in the past few years - three flags: American, Confederate, Trump. I cannot imagine living there.

This is my favorite line from the entire article. I have often expressed confusion at the people I know who I always thought of as kind hearted, gentle, loving souls who jumped onto the Trump train and won't get off, no matter what nefarious things are revealed about him. It's mind boggling. Like a relative I have who I have always thought of as one of the truly kindest people I've ever known. Who has spent years as a special education teacher in a very low socioeconomic school district. She loves Trump and thinks he was so great for our country. I asked her one time how she can support someone who appointed Betsy DeVos as the leader of the nation's public education, when she herself has spent her career advocating for students in public education. Her answer was that you don't have to like everything about a president to like and support him and think he was a great president. To me, that seems like a huge thing, though. She also was full of glowing praise when Trump appointed Amy Coney Barrett to the SC. ACB who had zero experience as a judge. And of course, she was full of criticism when Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson, who had oodles of experience as a judge, saying what a world we live in when a SC judge is appointed only because she is black. SMDH.


Yep. I live in one of those red states. It is awful some days, and I hate it. St. Louis is like most cities in that the city government is Democratic, but out in the suburbs, where I live, is full blown MAGA territory. And let's talk about the rural areas. People who live in run down, barely livable shacks, with Trump banners in the yard. I want to knock on their doors and ask them exactly how Trump made their lives better. Even going to my parents raises my blood pressure when I pull up and see their giant Trump sign in the yard along with a sign that says White Lives Matter. They both have major health problems, my mom has RA, my dad has heart issues and is an insulin dependent diabetic. They rant and rave when there is talk about anything about rising costs of medicare, medicine, etc, and I can't keep my mouth shut. The last time, I said, "Do you not realize that it is the Republican members of Congress who want these things??" NO, they don't and blame everything on the "damn elite Democrats." Again, SMDH