“I live here with my mom,” West, now divorced, says from her porch, motioning toward the back door of a low-slung house. “This ain’t mine. If it weren’t for her, I’d be done.”
West’s daughter is now grown, with two kids of her own. He has a son who is an assistant manager for a grocery store. He worries about their opportunities even more than his. He says big businesses don’t care about their workers like they used to, and government officials cut deals to enrich those businesses — and themselves.
He believes that all racial and ethnic groups are struggling equally in that system. But he also says, without mentioning specific examples, that immigrants in Delaware drive nicer cars than he does, and get free health care for the government, and that angers him.
“I don’t have free health care. I don’t have anything handed to me,” he says. “I’m not bitter about that, but it does anger me. It ain’t fair, but you suck it up and move on.”
In Trump’s approach to governing, including his tax plan, West sees hope for a better economy and more job creation. In the candidate’s style, he sees someone he can, at last, relate to in government. “He’s a lot like me,” West says. “He gets himself in trouble because he speaks right from his heart.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member