Uncharted Trump-itory: Making Contact With the Lost Village of Trump Supporters

Nearly one year ago, Donald J. Trump was elected as the 45th president of the United States. And yet, after a year that history professors of the future will surely shudder at the mere thought of writing into their curricula, I and I alone had a nagging question: If nearly half of all voters in the 2016 election chose Trump, could that mean, 12 months later, there were actually people out there supporting him? However unlikely it seemed, I set out on my quest via a Juno ride to JFK to seek and find such a place, deep in the reddest of Red States.

As our seaplane touched down on a mud-colored river that veined its way gulf-ward under the jungle canopy of the American South, I was nervous to say the least. This was Trump Country. Like the all-but-lost cultures nestled along the Amazon, this was a place untouched by the outside world, devoid of the technological and societal advances commonplace to modern civilizations like New York City or even NYC.

Here, a deep-set, patriarchal system of authority combined with a long-held superstitions about all-powerful gods, infallible eagles, and thieving Democrats had created a culture that would inherently distrust a “truth demon” (as we journalists were referred to) like myself.