The reality of life in rural flyover country is lost on those who mock us. These are the places where Donald Trump won the presidency, where people know they are ridiculed by East and West Coast elitists who have little understanding of the meaningful issues — the real news — that affect their lives. Trump identified a common enemy when he took on the media elite, and rural America flocked to his side.

A recent Reuters article on the lack of concern across southern Ohio about the Trump-Russia controversy identified three people at a restaurant in Jackson, Ohio — an hour from Hillsboro — who, when asked about the brouhaha, “stared back blankly.” One of them replied, “I have never heard anything about it.”

How could this be? One reason might be that they have more important things to do than sit glued to cable news. But in addition to the scarcity of grocery choices in some areas, broadband Internet has yet to reach many parts of southern Ohio. One government initiative with wide public support in Trump country is an effort to expand broadband access to more rural residents.