Coffeehouse for desis
Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.


Deep in Virginia’s craggy coal country, they saw Trump as their only hope

Coffeehouse for desis :: Coffeehouse :: Coffeehouse Main

Go down

Deep in Virginia’s craggy coal country, they saw Trump as their only hope Empty Deep in Virginia’s craggy coal country, they saw Trump as their only hope

Post by confuzzled dude Sat Nov 12, 2016 2:48 pm

Lopez voted for Trump. It was a vote to keep his job. “They say if Trump can do it better [with the coal industry], we might be able to have jobs two or three more years,” he said. “But if not, we might be out by the end of next year.”
Lopez’s employer, Ricky Meade, owns a vast fleet of trucks for hauling or loading coal — yellow and red Peterbilt and Kenworth rigs with 35-foot trailers, about 70 of them sitting idle behind a chain link fence bearing Trump/Pence signs.

“We went from running 85 trucks to running eight trucks, over the past three or four years,” said Meade, 47. He grew up here, but now lives an hour away in Bristol, Tenn., so his daughters can have more opportunities. His customer base is down to a single mine. From 105 employees, he now has about 25.

He’s had to hire a man to do nothing but start up trucks and move them around, so they can stay in working condition.
As Rasnake talked about his decision to vote for Trump, the man getting a haircut finally spoke up at the question of whether Trump can make a difference.

“No, he can’t,” said William Sisk, 78, of Buchanan County. “You won’t see those people working in the coal industry no more. Natural gas is too cheap. Any kind of market for coal anymore is very weak.”

“A lot of people talk about Obama’s war on coal,” Sisk said, standing and getting his cap. “But the coal war was on long before Obama got there. The bottom dropped plum out when he got in there and he got all the blame for it. But I don’t think it’s ever gonna come back.”

As Sisk stepped out into the sunlight, he confessed that he didn’t vote for Trump. “He’s too radical. He promised too much,” he said. “You can promise anything, but you gotta deliver.”

Sisk didn’t vote at all.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/deep-in-virginias-craggy-coal-country-they-saw-trump-as-their-only-hope/2016/11/11/a76ac324-a69f-11e6-8042-f4d111c862d1_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trumpcoalminer-1153am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory#comments

confuzzled dude

Posts : 10205
Join date : 2011-05-08

Back to top Go down

Back to top

- Similar topics

Coffeehouse for desis :: Coffeehouse :: Coffeehouse Main

 
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum