I don't care about optics. It is results that matter. As far as Trump spending time with wealthy elite, so what? I didn't vote for him because he might hang out with me. People feel comfortable socializing with people who are of their kind.
In my situation, I grew up in a dichotomy. If people ask where I am from, I don't even know what to say. My parents were from a holler in West Virginia. My dad pulled himself up by his bootstraps and provided a wonderful life for his family in Central, Ohio. I was pulled back and forth between Ohio, visiting family in West Virginia and, eventually, Smith Mountain, Virginia. I spent most of my summers in glorious Penhook, Virginia in our modest vacation spot. Very middle class and beyond wonderful. A truck driver and stay at home mom couldn't do that today. There was a class despondency between the kids in the million dollar homes and kids in the cabin in the campground but we didn't care. Still, I knew it was there. I had a dirt bike, speed boat and everything a kid could dream of. It put me above what my friends in Ohio had but less than what my friends with the amazing vacations homes. I shrugged it off. It was normal to me. But, I knew the difference and when not to be at my wealthy friend's home...like when Elizabeth Taylor and her then politian husband were coming to one of their parties...and I didn't want to be there. This family loved me. I just didn't feel comfortable in high society parties, even at a young age.
Over time and thanks to a fantastic public school system and, later, a private high school, I meet a lot of middle/middle class friends (Like my family) but also just assumed that I would go one to higher education. From my years in IT to becoming a prodom, it took me to upper/upper middle class. There was a shift in people but I naturally adapted.
I knew my comfort range. One of my close friends, who I met on a guided hiking trip is a mega millionaire. We are unlikely friends but take crazy vacations together and leave society behind. I would never want to be at her snooty parties...as in ever. I would never want to hang out with people who can't decide what color Porsche to buy, so they get three or judge people on the quality of their pedicure. I am comfortable with country folk, small town and third world country folk. The people in Guancaste, Costa Rica have the same way of life as my country family upper middle class friends.
That is a lot to say that we are drawn toward the type of people we were born into, not by location but way of life. After my husband, who was a notch above upper middle class passed, it took a few years for me to be open to a relationship. My boyfriend is the opposite of Jack. My boyfriend is a flat out hillybilly. He is a great man who can do anything. If you were stranded on a desert island, this is the man you would want with you. My mother was floored. As successful as he has been in life, he's a NASCAR hillbill. I mean hillybilly, bordering on redneck. I answered back, "Momma, who do you think you raised me up with?" That comment, on it's own, was funny because of the southern slang. She got my point. We know our comfort zones. We hang out with people we can relate to and are comfortable with.
This is quite long but I hope you are still reading and understanding that a lot of Trump voters would rather go to a New England clam bake, Tennessee barn dance or anywhere else than a fancy dinner with 50k gowns.
