“I love the poorly educated.”
Remember that? Candidate Donald Trump, then President Donald Trump, uttered that remark repeatedly during his three presidential campaigns – and he did it in his signature brazen, belligerent style. It got a lot of laughs and cheers at one rally after another, becoming the closest thing to a mantra or tag line that he had. And he meant every impactful word of it.
We’ve come to learn why.
Why Trump Loves the “Poorly Educated”
For the purposes of establishing a baseline and some context, let’s settle on what we mean by poorly and well educated. I hold that a well educated person is one who, ultimately, can and does think critically and independently. No matter their field of study or career endeavor, well educated people verify what they see, challenge what they hear, nurture what they think and care what they say. This is the product of a rigorous education that begins in the elementary school years, building on itself to the point of being an ongoing, lifelong commitment to self-development. Well educated people need not be scholars or scientists, historians or poets, executives or diplomats. They need to think critically and think on their own. And they get what we’re saying here. To those who are poorly educated, this paragraph has been utterly meaningless.
Among other behaviors, critical and independent thinkers are active citizens in their democracies. They vote responsibly, attend local council meetings and town halls, support public education, read credible newspapers and journals (albeit online these days) and value the “other” person.
The “poorly educated” that Mr. Trump so publicly romanced, do not. Mobilize them and you win elections. They care not that the economy under the previous administration was the strongest since the decade post-World War II. Nor do they care that the job market was the strongest it’s ever been in history. Or that trade was healthy, construction was booming, the middle class was flourishing and science was innovating, Donald Trump, on the other hand, said the economy was in the toilet, jobs were going away, the 2020 election was stolen, January 6 was OK, and transgender people had no claim to the same rights as others. Then he made his objects of affection, – the “poorly educated,” angry and supercharged and got them to vote that way. Give him credit; he got it done. And he didn’t even hide it. He loves the “poorly educated” and this is the result:. They anointed him. Give him credit.
How It’s Working Out
But wait. Many of those same “poorly educated” are now angry, but at a different target. They’re upset with Trump, they’re upset with Musk, they’re upset with Musk’s four-year old son having the run of the Oval Office as if it were his own daycare center, and they’re upset—angry, in fact—that their elected congresspersons won’t even stand in front of them for a town hall. And how do these “poorly educated” people know this? Because they’re now going to those meetings, not to mention other civic activities.
Polls Tell the Story
According to Real Clear Politics, in a survey of 13 polls taken through March 11, President Trump has a negative rating in nine of them, with a range of -2 to -12. At the same time, in four polls, Mr. Trump has a favorable rating of +1 to +7. Total aggregate spread is -3.1. Results are nearly the same for Vice President Vance.
Accounting for the Rapid Shift
How did such a large, sweeping shift occur so fast? Even the most effective and efficient political machine can’t do that. The answer is that, by the millions, those “poorly educated” people got themselves educated. Then they attended town halls by the hundreds, stood at protests in all 50 state capitals and countless other sites by the thousands, and they called and wrote to their elected officials by the millions. They organized, they mobilized and they flexed their new-found muscles. They very quickly became the type of people that Donald Trump, by his own accord, doesn’t like.
They became critical, independent thinkers. They left the ranks of the “poorly educated.” And for this upward force of civic awareness, civic involvement and civic activism—of which Henry David Thoreau would be immensely proud (Ref: Civil Disobedience)—we have one person to credit: President Donald Trump, who, as it turns out, has taught more people more about civics than anyone else. Who would have thought?
Irony is often a thing of beauty.
Career Coach Eli Amdur provides top-notch one-on-one coaching in job search, résumés, interviewing, career planning and executive development. Reach him at eli.amdur@amdurcoaching.com or 201-357-5844.
