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I live in one of the poorest parts of Virginia, and I’m one of the few members of my family and community who do not support the president-elect. The fact that my own rust-tinged trailer is distinguished by a lack of signs in favor of Trump is a personal point of pride.



I begin each day by mentally preparing myself for whatever Donald Trump’s latest assault on working people is. His choice for treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, was especially difficult to swallow. It is a horribly dangerous choice for poor people everywhere, including the rural, white and working class like me and my neighbors. It will hurt many of those whose support for Trump has been among the most stringent and vocal.



Here in the Appalachian mountains that I love, the bucolic scenery is offset by stark markers of rural poverty. Dilapidated barns, abandoned farm- and outhouses, and mobile homes. Areas in nearby small towns and communities reveal more than a few empty, bank-owned homes. This isn’t all that surprising, considering that the area I live is one of the poorest in the state of Virginia. Yet despite their relative ubiquity, I’m gobsmacked by the juxtaposition of the name Trump, synonymous with exorbitant wealth, in front of a rusting mobile home every time I see one.

According to the many Trump supporters I know, Trump won their loyalty because of his so-called outsider status and promise to not only take on, but dismantle, a corrupt, ineffectual political establishment.

Many of these people, myself included, have struggled financially due to job loss and foreclosure. We often have had to rely on things like public assistance to get by. Is our collective financial instability the fault of a crooked political establishment? Many people here sure think so.



One of Trump’s most apparent and effective ways of playing up anti-establishment credentials was calling out and criticising Hillary Clinton’s ties with Wall Street bigwigs like Goldman Sachs. Despite being a billionaire himself, Trump’s lack of political experience helped enable his populist appeal. He claimed to want to save the middle class – in part by changing current tax laws that allow billionaires to pay lower taxes on their enormous paychecks. Trump singled out hedge fund managers in particular as “getting away with murder” because of the current tax laws.



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And yet Mnuchin, the man Trump has tapped to lead the Treasury, is a former Goldman Sachs banker, Hollywood film financier and hedge fund founder and manager who profited so greatly from the global financial crisis of 2008 that he was called “the foreclosure king”. Mnuchin has been widely criticized for profiting from increasing the number of foreclosures, particularly those involving reverse mortgages that are typically held by the elderly. The bank he chaired has also been accused of banking practices that discriminate against people of color.



Like the rest of Trump’s appointees, Mnuchin is an affront to poor people who have been victims of foreclosure, including the white, working-class ones in my community. Many people here lament the fact that the size of their families and networks have dwindled because people have been forced to relocate out of economic necessity. I can’t help but worry and wonder how many more empty homes (mobile or otherwise), will be soon dot the landscape I love so well if his appointment is confirmed.

