I absolutely agree, it's far from the best piece of writing and does wander quite a bit. And I agree that it doesn't answer the question of why people would vote for trump. I guess that really wasn't what I was attempting to address that when I posted it. I was more trying to address that the "poor whites vote against their best interests" is rooted in a liberal ideology in America that left those people behind and tries to dismiss them by simply thinking, rightly or wrongly, that they are too stupid to understand their own problems.

It's that notion I disagree with, and to slightly address your last paragraph I don't feel the Republicans or Democrats in America really fully represent the best interests for many Americans. And why I don't think these people are voting against there best interests.

For myself I feel very similar. I don't think either party represents my beliefs. I as a gay man in America who also believes that it's important to protect the environment, provide equal rights to all citizens and supports net neutrality there's a lot of things the democrats support that I agree with.

However I also don't believe health care is a universal right, that social security and Medicare both need reformed and are more of a burden than a benefit to our society and that people have a right to own guns, there's things that I agree with with republicans too.

The problem is when I try to discuss this I'm often told that because I'm gay that voting for republicans is against my own interest and that I'm "self hating". Sometimes some issues are just more important at certain times and why I think it's ignorant for people to say someone is voting against their own best interest if they don't know their full story.