Here’s a suggestion for assignment editors at the large national media outlets who have provided us with an endless stream of stories about Trump voters in rural diners over the past half-decade: Try instead reporting on what it’s become like for non-Trump voters in these rural red areas where the politics of menace and thuggery have taken over—sort of an inverted version of the cliché; the rural Biden voter who can barely show his face at the local café. The reality. All around the Trump-loving rural sectors of the nation, daily life has become filled with foreboding, intimidation, threats, and ugliness, all emanating from authoritarian right-wingers directing their aggression at anyone who fails to follow their dictates—and the intensity has been increasing. In the past month, Proud Boys and militia “Patriots” have turned up to harass LGBTQ-friendly teens at libraries, mask-promoting school board members, and mall shops that require masks. White supremacists now openly march in rural capitals, threatening bystanders. Read more