Rural California countys fury over invasion of radical liberal city folk who leave feces in the forest
Residents in a rural California city say they have been driven apart by an influx of radical city liberal folk into their neighborhoods.
Residents in a rural California city say they have been driven apart by an influx of radical city liberal folk into their neighborhoods.
Inyo County, a community of 19,000 people on the border between the Eastern Sierra and Nevada state line, was historically a Republican stronghold in the Blue-leaning state of California.
But while it hadnt backed a Democrat for president since 1964, a flood of city residents fleeing for the suburbs in the pandemic has radically changed its politics - allowing Joe Biden to win in 2020 by just 14 votes.
Now, with just three weeks until the election, locals told the LA Times that the rise of Democrats in their community has driven them to breaking point.
Even one of the new liberal residents, Fran Hunt, 65, told the outlet: We may be more blue - or more purple - but we are more divided.
The rural community of Inyo County, California has seen a huge influx of liberal residents in recent years that has driven the regions traditionally conservative values apart
Fran Hunt, 65, a liberal woman who moved to Inyo County in recent years, said her community may be more blue - or more purple - but we are more divided
Hunt spoke to the outlet opposite a fervent Trump supporter, Lynette McIntosh, who has lived in Inyo County for over five decades, while Hunt moved in 2014.
Their differences made for a striking comparison on how divided Americans are in the final stretch before the presidential election, with Inyo County serving as something of a bellwether for the electorate given its 2020 results.
Explaining why she would not vote for Trump in the former GOP stronghold, Hunt said she believes the former president is threatening a dictatorship.
He’s threatening to prosecute his opponents. Mass deportations. He’s threatening chaos in a country that is full of guns. Where does my worry list stop? she said.
McIntosh, on the other hand, slammed newer, liberal residents like McIntosh for destroying the traditional town she has lived in for decades.
We’re a real conservative community, but there’s this whole barrage of left wingers that have come in — I mean, radicals - radicals! she said.
As noted by the LA Times, the wave of new liberal residents even led to so much trash and feces in the forest that locals were forced to put up signs urging proper camping etiquette.
Lynette McIntosh, a fervent Trump supporter who has lived in Inyo County for five decades, said her community saw a whole barrage of left wingers that have come in — I mean, radicals - radicals!
Donald Trump won Inyo County by 13 points in 2016, but went on to lose it by just 14 votes in 2020 due to the areas voter demographic shifts
She said she believes Trump was called by God to lead the country, and argued that Inyo County could serve as a warning to other conservative regions across the nation.
She blamed progressive groups for pushing people into small communities and dividing them, infiltrating its city councils and school boards while convincing locals to vote against Trump.
For an example of how the pandemics demographic changes could impact the upcoming election, Inyo County makes it clear.
Trump won the county by 13 percentage points in 2016, but a wave of liberals into the community led to Bidens razor-thin win four years later.
And when Trump won in 2016, he cruised to victory thanks to a 10 percent advantage in registered voters who were Republican. By 2020, Republicans held just a four percent registration advantage.
David Blacker, chairman of the Inyo County Republican Central Committee, told the LA Times that local Trump supporters were stunned by their election results in 2020.
He said conservatives got lulled into a false sense of security given their historical voting record, but argued that unpopular Biden-Harris policies - which have been cited for a recent dip in Harris poll numbers - will hand the advantage back to Trump.
All the people I’m talking to now, they’re saying they’re they’d rather have mean tweets and a vibrant economy than continue the way we’re going, he said.
David Blacker (right), chairman of the Inyo County Republican Central Committee, said he is confident the county will turn back to Republicans, because he often now sees people who would rather have mean tweets and a vibrant economy than continue the way we’re going
Similarly, Emily Lanphear, vice chair of the local Republican Central Committee, said she was surprised by how many young voters interacted with her when she ran a Republican booth at last months county fair.
They think (Trump) is such a badass, she added.
However, Lanphear highlighted how the demographic shifts have still torn her community apart, and said many Trump supporters are afraid to display MAGA flags to avoid arguments with their neighbors.
She said when the liberal influx hit her town, all of a sudden we see women’s rights protests, anti-Trump protests, pro-immigrant open-border protests.
Locals are like, ‘What is going on?’ That creates division.
Kim Nalder, director of the Project for an Informed Electorate at Sacramento State, told the LA Times that she has hope the contentious politics that have gripped her town will recover after the election.
Our politics are so divided right now, but I have a little glimmer of hope that exposure to each other as humans will break through that at some point, she told the outlet.
I think the best opportunity for that kind of future healing is in small towns where there’s no way to avoid people from the other side.
