The Ozarks Cling to Trump - Mostly

by Pa Rock
Road Warrior

The last time my little dog Rosie and I went on a road trip was this past February when we drove to Rogers, Arkansas, to visit my sister, a drive of close to two hundred miles each way.   Then the pandemic set in, and not too long after that I broke my arm - so Rosie and I haven't done much more than just drive to town and back since last winter, and even those trips are rare.

But yesterday we finally hit the road again - and again it was to see my sister.  Rosie loves "Aunt Gail," and gets very excited when she knows that's where we are going.  Yesterday, however, instead of driving the nearly 200 miles to Roger's, Arkansas, we arranged to meet Gail halfway, in the town of Harrison, Arkansas, for lunch.

(I have written about Harrison, Arkansas, in this space on previous occasions.  It is sort of the "Klan" center of northern Arkansas and it is not unusual to find a large billboard or two with KKK messaging within the city limits of Harrison.)

We met at the local Arby's, arriving within minutes of each other and just as the place was opening.  The fast-food restaurant was empty when we got there, so we elected to eat inside -  but, alas, poor Rosie had to stay in the car.  (My sister, who is the most pandemically-conscious person that I know, would take raise her mask over her mouth to take a quick bite of her sandwich, and then lower the mask again while she chewed.)    Eventually we finished our lunch and then went out to the cars so that Gail and Rosie could  have their visit.

Gail and I talked about the things we had seen on our drives to Harrison.  I told her that I had passed three dead deer along the roadway, and several Trump yard signs - and a couple of expensive Trump billboards. One stated that it was put up by "Businessmen for Trump," which in that part of the world probably referred to meth cooks.  I also encountered several Confederate flags along the Arkansas highway.  Gail said that she has also passed quite a bit of Trump signage as well as one dead deer.  The beautiful fall foliage was just ending,  but we both had enjoyed some of autumn splendor along the road to Harrison.  .

When Gail's kids were young, she and her family lived several years in the north-central Arkansas community of Mountain Home, the county seat of Baxter County.  I came through Mountain Home on my way to Harrison yesterday, and when I stopped at the local McDoanld's for an iced-tea I noticed a newspaper rack with copies (only two) of the town's newspaper, The Baxter Bulletin.  That edition of the paper, which serves a veey conservative community, had a two-inch headline declaring "Biden Wins" along with the entire front page focused on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  I purchased the last two copies and took them to Gail to share with her kids.

Rosie and I were with Gail for less than two hours before we all headed home.  On the way back to West Plains I listened (briefly) to a fundamentalist minister on the radio who was encouraging his listeners to pray for a change in the election results, and then I came across a conservative commentator who said he had been willing earlier in the week to give Biden the benefit of a doubt on the dubious vote count, but after much reflection he had decided that the voting had been a massive fraud.  Like Trump, however, the commentator offered no evidence to back up his claim.

The conservative commentator also said that Trump people are sick and tired of being called "fascists" and "racists,"

Oh, well.  Some of us are sick and tired of Trump people.

But better days are coming!