Last night on the season premiere of Real Time, Bill Maher had lots to say about the election and inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. Specifically, he said that it’s clear what kind of people voted for Trump:
“So let’s stop calling Trump voters idiots and fools, and call them what they are, fucking drug addicts.”
As proof of his thesis, Maher noted the incredibly high numbers of people addicted to opioids in states that voted for Trump:
“Did you know that of the 14 states with the highest number of painkiller prescriptions per person, they all went for Trump?”
Maher then concluded:
“Kids, don’t do heroin, it’s a gateway to being a Republican.”
Over the course of the campaign, Trump often referred to the proliferation of opioid addiction and increased use of heroin in middle America, and he vowed to put an end to it. But does Trump really think people who are in desperate need of their Oxycontin fix to get through the day as their jobs are eliminated by heartless corporations are going to be compliant and content if they suddenly can’t get their dope? They’ll be ready to riot and blame it all on Trump.
Even more tragically, many of these downwardly mobile white Americans invested their hope for a better tomorrow in the Trump message of making America great again. How do you supposed they’re going to feel when they come to realize they’ve been had and the new administration is taking away the few benefits they have? They were conned, and it seems highly unlikely they’ll agree to get shafted yet again by this rich bullshit artist.
Trump, and his voters, have no solutions. They will only create more problems.
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org