Welcome to Hearne, Texas

Hearne isn't a big place on a Texas map, and it's nobody's wedding destination. If one looks up "things to do in Hearne," I think there are three options, the finest being to visit an old train museum.

It's one of those places you hardly notice when you're passing through. You may notice a few old and empty buildings, one blond brick structure blending in to the next, and maybe a few of these are furniture stores or a post office, maybe a small diner or thrift shop. There's usually a rusted water tower nearby, and a Dairy Queen, a small corrupt police station, and in the case of Hearne, a Pizza Hut. 

That's why we stopped on our way to Denton, Texas, for pizza, and as soon as we entered the restaurant I was thrown back to 1984. The place looked just like the Pizza Hut where I waited tables in Clear Lake City back in the mid-eighties. 

The carpet in this place was vintage, kitschy wall art now faded, plants made of plastic, and the Hearne residents still wore mullets and Daisy Duke cutoffs. The few people who came in and out to pick up orders were typically blue collar workers, their hands stained with oil, some still wearing tool belts, others in denim overalls. Several teens girls who came in were pregnant, and a couple of travelers on foot carried what appeared to be all their possessions in a worn backpack; as soon as they'd eaten, they hit State Highway 6 on foot. I wondered where they were headed.

After people watching for a while I noticed a sign across the street, a giant red sign with white lettering:  THIS IS TRUMP COUNTRY.

Texas is a red state. The sign was no surprise. But what about states with the highest poverty and teen pregnancy rates and lowest levels of education -- why are they usually red? Red and religious. Religious and Trump-y? 

A pregnant teen walked in just as I was puzzling over the sign in what felt like a dead-end town. She had a toddler in tow as she grabbed a large pizza with one pale hand while trying to grab the toddler with the other, then they made their way back to the dented Neon parked out front. The car seat had seen better days. The car didn't immediately start up. The young mother's bangs were glued to her forehead with sweat.

Trump's not coming to save these people. He may help the rich stay rich, but the poor and uneducated will remain so. I don't know what they expect him to do. What do they identify with, exactly?

Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Kentucky, Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia are some of the *poorest* states in the U.S. 

All but New Mexico are RED. 

According to the World Population Review, based on nationwide ranking of IQ scores in combination with SAT and ACT text scores, some of the *dumbest* states in the U.S. are Hawaii, Nevada, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, West Virginia, Louisiana, North Carolina and Arizona.

All but Hawaii are RED states. Arizona is currently a tossup.

Who are the *smartest* states? Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Kansas, Vermont, Iowa, New Jersey, Colorado.

All but Kansas and Iowa are BLUE states.

My point? You know my point. On what do poorest and least educated red states base their votes? How well informed can they be? A woman on Facebook recently wrote in full caps, "TRUMP LOVES AMERICA! THAT'S WHY WE HAVE TO VOTE FOR HIM! KAMALA DOESN'T LOVE AMERICA!"

Really? She doesn't? He DOES?

At Trump rallies you'll usually see flags and t-shirts with things like, "Jesus is my Savior, and Trump is my President." Or something like, "Say NO to the Hoe. Vote Trump 2024." Red rally attendees are very into merch and painting their faces, wearing patriotic attire and such. When I went to vote on the first day of early voting, a guy in line wore a cap that read, "Unapologetic Patriot," and on his t-shirt, "Freedom Over Fear." He brought his dog with him. The woman in front of me wore a red, white and blue maxi dress and carried a purse decorated with sequins in the pattern of an American flag.

It's crass. I'm sorry. I'm from Fort Worth, Texas. I know crass. I worked hard to ditch my twangy accent and get away from southern stereotypes. Nobody takes us seriously.

I was anxious to get out of Hearne. There's a sweetness to small towns, a cozy essence, but there's a dark side, too. I sense a stubbornness, mistrust, an inability to unlearn things, to relearn other things, a habit of rigid thinking and a pattern of being stuck and calling it "comfort." Bad diets, bad habits, never leaving what's small and known and "safe."

I guess it isn't fair to judge a whole town after spending less than two hours in it. But I grew up in a place like Hearne, and I know that if you're not growing, you're dying. Hearne is a cautionary tale. And I agree with their giant red sign. It's definitely Trump country.