I live in Kentucky and have always known this. Progressives and socialists need to stop projecting their copium on to rural southern states. It's delusional and not helpful. Yes, a lot of people support M4A and progressive policies when you ask them about it in a certain way, but this totally ignores the reality that most people on the ground end up voting for some bullshit culture war issue that they've been convinced is far more important.

Progs also fail to understand just how bad the reactionary right is. When Joe Manchin said he thought most people getting the child tax credit would spend it on drugs? That's 100% something a West Virginian ruraloid would say. I literally have spent all my life around these people, but Kyle Kulinski from New York is lecturing me about how actually if you just have Bernie give a speech in Charleston about how bad Manchin is, you'll get everyone on our side. Nonsense.

People here are by and large culturally conservative, and that has been weaponized by the right to turn them into culture warriors. You won't like what I'm about to say, in fact even I don't like what I'm about to say because I wish it wasn't the case, but:

Until the left makes room for cultural conservatives, you will never appeal to these people. You can either treat them as beyond redemption, or make room for them. But pretending like there's a secret mass of Bernie-loving DSA members in rural Kentucky is straight up delusional.