Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation

Richard Russo’s contribution to this anthology is a response to Donald Trump’s 2016 election to the presidency of the United States. Russo suggests that many saw Trump’s election as being about jobs, despite Trump’s anti-immigrant stance. He asks, “What were all those angry white men angry about?” (55).   

He makes a distinction between a job and work. The loss of a job is mostly financial, but the destruction of one’s industry, or work, like when companies move jobs overseas, causes far more pain than financial loss. It may lead to an identity crisis and leave the victims with an overwhelming sense of shame. Russo writes, “Losing your job makes you scared; losing your work makes you angry” (55). Thus, his position is indeed that Trump’s election was about not only job loss but the loss of work identity. Many Trump supporters have jobs but are underemployed and underpaid. These jobs fail to have significant meaning in the job holder’s life. Well-paid people who are not directly impacted by job loss or underemployment may also feel angry because of what they witness happening to others.

The emphasis on a college degree as the avenue to success in the United States leads to the assumption that blue-collar occupations, like plumber or mechanic, are demeaning and carry less social value.