TRUMP TOWN
I first visited Elliott County, Kentucky, in January 2017, not long after the election of Donald J Trump, to poke my stick in the ashes of one of America’s longest political legacies. I met a barber there.
George Yates Jr lived in the nearby town of Morehead. A devout Christian, he is married to Melissa, who works at a local hospital, and is raising his nephew Braydon, 11, and niece Savannah, 10.
His barbershop was a converted trailer on the eastern outskirts of Sandy Hook, Elliott County’s only town.
When we first met, Yates charged US$10 a haircut and trimmed beards and moustaches for free. He hated swearing and believed the only perfect man was Jesus Christ.
He had a thoughtful manner and a happy-to-listen vibe, essential traits for any successful barber.
Two months before we crossed paths, Elliott County voted in a Republican for president for the first time since its foundation. The county had faithfully voted Democrat from its formation in 1868 – that’s about the time when Te Kooti and Tītokowaru were waging war on the British in Premier Edward Stafford’s New Zealand.
It has since been recognised as the last rural, overwhelmingly white county in the South to switch from Democratic blue to Republican red. The formerly powerful southern conservative wing of the Democrats was finally dead and buried.
“There are plenty of people on the Trump Train in Elliott County,” Yates, the Covid-19 pandemic forced me to pick up the phone for my catch-up with Yates.
