Why Coal Country Elected Trump 

VICE’s Isobel Yeung goes to the heart of coal country to see what it will take to save Appalachia. WATCH NEXT: Meet The Indiana Joneses of Hawaiian Plant Rescue Missions - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-59Noq49Swxk.html

Not a trump supporter. But the people like this and others from the midwest have been ignored for years and as jobs leave and people lose ways to support their family, they will vote for whoever gives them the time of day

Wow, those kids doing the 3d printing are remarkable and bright-I really hope that they are able to modernize the communities and lift them and their families out of poverty.

I was born in Logan, WV grew up in a coal mining family and lived in Belfry, KY for a couple of years before returning back to WV. I was taught at a young age that it was either mining or college. No in between. And that if I chose college, I'd have to leave my home to find work. Seeing all the towns and communities I grew up around, dying, boarded up, half empty because their only economy is being closed has given me a goal and purpose that I will work tirelessly to fill. I went to college and obtained a cybersecurity degree and currently, I am working with state officials and programs to help establish a tech industry in Southern WV. Tired of seeing my people desperate for change and everyone in DC pretending like we don't exist until elections come up. We know coal isn't the future, but when it's all you have you'll do what you can to keep it. A coal miner makes anywhere from $40k-$80k a year and even more when you get into specialist roles like roof bolting or fireboss. There's nothing else in these communities to replace that kind of salary and when you have a bunch of people making that kind of money, feeding it into the local economy, when those jobs are gone, the stores and businesses in town start to close. This has got to change and I, along with many other Appalachians are leading that change.

Coming from a Liberal and acknowledging that Vice tends to be more left leaning, I'm really happy they ran this episode. The idea that all Trump supporters are uneducated, insulated and racist is quite a classist outlook, and silences the voice of millions of Americans who really do (and understandably so) feel forgotten. Props to Isobel for another great segment!

"Rusty Justice". Please take a moment to admire that name.

Coal is a dying industry. It’s sad though that these people have to be in the middle of it-even if we may disagree politically

Man, I really feel for those people. They all just seem like honest, hardworking folks.

That town should look at inventing some sort of year round tourism like hiking, mountain biking and something to do with the natural beauty of the mountains and surrounding land.

Who else is having trouble breathing, just watching this video!?

"The only constant in life is change". It kind of baffles me that even in this day and age where we have so much information at our disposal people don't realize this truth, things always change. Just because the job was available and was very profitable for your grandfather and father doesn't mean it will be there waiting for you and will provide you your whole life, you have to observe your environment and realize the changes that come, and of course act accordingly to them.

I think there’s been a significant improvement in vice documentaries in the last year

Because it’s their livelihood. You try switching careers when you’re 40.

Let me guess before watching the video. These people had hopes that their jobs would come back and they would thrive but either nothing happened or things got worse....

6:34 can we just admire that doom t shirt

8:08 "That's the dream?" "That's the goal." This kid is going places.

You have to live where the jobs are these days. Living in rural America limits the amount job opportunities that are available.

Those are some very sharp high-schoolers. Even they know they're relying on a dying industry. We should try to find ways to establish industry related to power and infrastructure in towns like this too, instead of holding onto a dying industry. Seems like they're more dynamic and open to changing with the times than the media and public want to frame them out as.

Desperate people do desperate things.

This is Wales in the 80's with the added problem that kids have to pay for higher education and everyone pays if they get sick. Difficult times.

im going to probably be the first non coal miner out of all my family.

The truest statement about coal that has ever been stated: “ Appalachia’s aren’t in love with coal, they are in love with the American dream”! This was the most touching thing I have ever heard finally someone understands.

Dying industry. These people need job training programs so that they can learn new skills

“That’s the dream?” “That the goal.” 8:01 Fantastic answer, the future is bright.

Legalize weed and make the state government grow it. Jobs, tourists, less opioids, additional tax income, less poverty!

Their local govt should have taken advantage of the decades of influx of people and business and invested other industries there instead of just coal.

This is just like Detroit and the car industry

Greatest economy is about to face the greatest depression

Breaking news: the horse-and-buggy industry is dying

A good alternative for these coal miners is to find jobs in silicon mining.

"It's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it" ~ George Carlin

6:55 "... left holding on to hope that coal jobs will *return*" Oh my gosh, how is it possible that these hard working people haven't understood 15 years ago that coal is dead.

Isobel, Your docu-segments are brilliant: informative, entertaining and visceral - bravo!

“Daddy work like a mule mining pike county coal” tyler Childers

As a liberal, I am rooting for these (mostly conservative) coal miners and their communities. It will take time to transition from coal, but a bigger focus on education will diversify their economies and bring new industries.

I love how impartial this was delivered. Well done!

9:23 "we intend to make a business out of this.". Hell yeah, these kids are not messing around.

Ah yes. Because nothing says “Mercia” and “capitalism” like seeing dozens of men contracting and slowly die from black lung

as a great republican man once said, "if life sucks where you live, just sell your house and move" - ben sapiro

Listen, it sucks to lose a job, but its not the end of the world. These people who work in fossil fuel industry for generations need to get their head together. Fossil fuel was never a permanent solution for anyone and they will have to move on sooner or later.

RUSTY JUSTICE - best name ever!

So much winning, folks

6:41 dudes a DOOM fan awesome, wish the slayer could deal with the mining CEOs that leave workers behind with nothing.

Former mining region in Europe that I come from took the same route from mining and heavy industry towards IT. It works, and I hope it will work for these folks as well. For anyone from a mining town that wants hope - you ought to have a lot of it. It will take some hard work, but it will bear fruit for you. We now have a supercomputer in town, and slowly start to challenge the country capital for IT workforce.

Those kids are very intelligent and analytical. They're actually thinking about how to change things, fix them and make them better.

That boy Yang was right. It's a shame he won't be leading us through this decade as President. #yanggang

I got black lung from this video But in all seriousness Coal is not coming back to that region and will continue to get phased out.

vice is on fire with the new content. Keep it coming

We should never have let politics get into coal look what’s happened to it.

It's amazing how many people in the comments are just saying "just adapt!" I'll bet any amount of money you want that they wouldn't be saying the same if this was a video about black kids trapped in the ghetto. These rural white kids are in the same exact position of hopelessness except they have even less of an opportunity to get out (no 'white rural kid' scholarships). They need to adapt to the times, and these kids are obviously trying, but don't act like they just have to 'do it' like they're parents have even enough spare cash to send a kid to college. The only privilege in this world is for the rich. Poor people will always be at the bottom of the ladder of opportunity, no matter what skin color they have.

The reason I was an Andrew Yang fan had nothing to do with getting a thousand dollars. It had to do with growing up in Appalachia and knowing how much his policies would have helped good hard working people in areas being hit the hardest with the changing economy.

This is a great piece. I hope STEM finds a way to help regions like this as coal continues to phase out. These regions need help and if they're ignored for much longer, there will be a much more serious issue that can have larger ramifications

At least the kids are smart and they understand the need and value of changing...smart kids😀

That First Lady sounds like stinky off of “Hey Arnold”

Coal isn't coming back, these people are being lied to and used. I feel kinda bad, but at the same time, they need to stop holding on to the past.

Wow. Those kids are great. The fact that their invention was a business idea that helps others really warmed my heart.

Should have voted Andrew Yang he was going to help us with automation

All the employees at Vice News are gonna get coal for Christmas next year.

Do you remember ever going on a field trip to a ghost town back when you were in grade school? Back in the day when the industry left that town, so did the people.

I come from a very long line of coal miners in West Virginia. My family has been mining coal for at least 200 years, and the downfall of the coal industry hit my family very hard. I also come from a long line of Irish and Italian immigrants, which happen to be a large demographic of coal miners in the Appalachian region. I have family members who are still currently in the coal mines, or what is left of them, but they constantly have to worry about when they are going to be laid off. My family didn’t have to worry much about money until the fall of coal mining, and now they all live under or near the poverty line. My grandfathers, great grandfathers, 2nd great grandfathers, and so on were all miners. I wholeheartedly agree that we need to advance technologically and start moving towards clean energy, but it is going to hurt this region even more than it is now once coal mining becomes completely eradicated. We are truly at a standstill. We have no money to put towards drastic technological/industrial changes because all of the money we had left when coal mining left. West Virginia, up until recently, was a democratic voting state and it’s all because we were able to keep our coal. Now, our state constantly gets ridiculed for voting strictly republican, but republicans are the only people who have showed interest or promised to keep the coal industry running! You can’t blame any of them. We are nothing without coal. Unless some miraculous funding to introduce new tech and industry into the region appears, Appalachians are going to try and keep coal for as long as possible so that our families don’t suffer further than they already are. It is so sad.

When the industrial revolution came. 70% of farmers in Europe lost their jobs. Sad but future is allwas hard

11:14 Trump cutting programs to help Appalachia. Yup.

While I'm all for teaching coal miners to code the problem is the tech sector has a huge problem with age discrimination. The median employee age at Apple and Amazon is 31, 30 at Google and 28 at Facebook. Out of the top 20 tech employers HP comes in at the highest at 39.¹ A few of these men and women might turn out to be excellent code jockeys but in the end it's doubtful with their untraditional past and higher age will ever get a chance at meaningful employment as a programmer. I don't know what the answer is but repeating the mantra "teach everyone to code" as the solution to all of our employment problems isn't it. It should be noted that finding a coding gig is getting harder with more and more colleges pushing more CS degrees than we need and offshore shops. While you might pay a programmer here in the States $40 to $60 per hour I can find a programmer in Viet Nam, Malaysia or the Philippines for about $10 per hour. A cross platform app that would cost $200k to develop in the States will cost you ~$50k in many places in Asia. Will it be just as good? No but for most companies cost trumps quality. 1. businessinsider.com/median-tech-employee-age-chart-2017-8

That's life many times I thought of Quitting but my heart wouldn't buy it

The miners were con, by the con-man

Those high school boys and their plan to create a business together. Well articulated. I wish them the best.

7:26 so truthfully chilling...

This is great and relevant journalism! Great job Vice!

Great reporting. Puts things much more into perpective.

My mother's family is from Hazard Kentucky. Still have family living there today

At least the kids get it. I bet they wish their parents would “wake up”

Why? Because he lied to them. Actually, he’s a great politician.

Hello West Virginia coal miner Let me thank you for your time You work a 40 hour week for a livin' Just to send it on down the line. Alabama

The saddest part and it’s kinda of funny is these guys still in denial they got scammed by a Billionaire scam artist from New York. 🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😂🤣

When i see older folks struggling, talking about the hope of coal returning and the necessity of it, im saddened. Idk what id do if i were there, but the writing is on the wall. A lot of folks went North from Pike County back in the day. I know someone whose Mom's Family came into Ohio 60 years ago. Dwight Yoakam has a song about it called "Readin',Writin', and Route 23". JD Vance's book "Hillbilly Elegy" speaks about it. I know many others whose Grandparents came from WV coal country also. As the manufacturing sector has died, a lot of Blue collar jobs are going away. These folks came up from KY and WV to work in supply chain industries for Auto industry. The fallout from Detroit rippled into other rust belts cities across the midwest. Coal towns are no different.

This will be detrimental to Santa’s supply chain!

Swear i've seen this before on vice, is this a reupload?

The exact same thing happened here in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in the mid to late '90s. The CBC even interviewed us about the future and we said technology was the way. That was 21 years ago. Amazing how history repeats itself.

why would you want this job! i appreciate the hard work they do and have done but i wouldnt want this for anybody!

Reading an awesome book called When Miners March by Bill Blizzard about the bloody struggle to unionize the WV coal fields at the turn of the 20th century. One thing that is abundantly clear is since the beginning of WV's long history with coal, the Operator Companies steadily and consistently extracted WV's natural wealth away from its working citizens. Even after the miners unionized and started making better wages, that is only a FRACTION of the wealth that the companies made. Even to present day. The corporate exacs aren't taking any cuts during downsizing be sure of that. Sound familiar? My heart aches for these people. My father in law was a coal miner before he got into steel. They all came from WV.

6:35 Working in a mine and playing Doom at home - good outcomes

This is why we needed Yang in office

Bernie has to potential to do well here.

Several reasons give or take any combination for different people * Lack of education * Racism (for some, not all especially in the form of scapegoating minorities, claiming they are taking jobs) *And reluctance to embracing change( in the form of new industries, new lessons, new tech etc.) These people don’t understand that coal is not as lucrative as it once was, and they don’t want to change. They will continue to suffer if they want to embrace progress. I’m glad they are offering the kids the chance to learn new tech. Higher education is necessary for the future.

I work in a doomed coal mine, I know its dead. The company has even said they're unsure how long they will operate and when they will do layoffs. Then a Trump Supporter said...but trump said he was going to save us! It was heartbreaking to think they believed trump. These miners believed him, and still believe trump is going hail mary save the coal industry.

Reminds me of a South Park episode “HEY DARYL. HEY DARYL. Truck driving and coal mining are not exactly jobs of the future. Now add add torque wrench and blinds to my F^CKING shopping list.” - Randy Marsh No joke, I pray these people find work ASAP. I know what it feels like to need a job and not have one.

Get Andrew Yang.

It's nice seeing them interview the kids. I always see videos like these only focusing on bringing back coal and nothing about how to move on from coal. I hope they're able to create new jobs in appalachia that bring back prosperity to the region.

8:05 kids got the idea. Conversion in making power there or tech. Good.

10:08 "Rusty Justice", what a name. Legendary.

I would argue that the American dream isn’t being taken away its just being updated. Industry shifts are very quick but stubborn patriotism is what keeps people in a bubble of denial in this current climate, the truth is in reality.

"How easy is it to teach a coal miner how to code?"

Coal mining communities in UK: Tories took the jobs Coal mining communities US: Democrats took the jobs

Gil Scott heron was taken for granted

This is journalism at its best, Thank you Vice news! I’m also Relieved to see Isobel back in America 🥵. I constantly worry about her.

That’s why me and my family left eastern Kentucky my dad got laid off and now we reside in northern you don’t understand how it’s changed my family so much...

5:51 what a cool shopping cart! Damn coal you be flexin

We need a third party

Because of jobs... why are we still examining this?

Woah woah. You’re telling me. A politician promised something. But then didn’t do anything at all? You don’t say....