This morning, NPR’s Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep broadcasted from WABE’s studios in Atlanta. Georgia has emerged as a “rapidly changing” state, and NPR came here because they consider Georgia to be one of the “Divided States of America.” One of the families they featured today includes the Arno family of Lawrenceville. (Here are links to their interviews with Georgians from Macon, Atlanta, and Milledgeville.)
Jimmy Arno is an auto mechanic, and a Christian – although his family does not attend an organized church. He is proud of the sacrifices his family makes to enable his wife Dami to be a stay-at-home mom – and the Arnos believe that we are a “country in trouble.”
“I want grandchildren, but the way this country is right now, I don’t want to do that to these children. Think about what it’s gonna be like in eighteen years. If a child is born right now, on its eighteenth birthday, what is this country going to look like if it continues the way it is? And that’s what scares me.”
When Inskeep asked what is going that wrong “here, in the richest country in the history of the planet,” Arno responded that you are liable to be shot or attacked, whether you are in a movie theater, at a mall, or in Atlanta. Inskeep noted that despite data and statistical evidence that US crime rates are near historic lows, the Arnos feel strongly that they are at risk of violence. Dami Arno noted that were several “BLM” protests at area high schools, including the school their children attend.
In fairness, their concerns about an attack are not grounded in fantasy. In June, WAGA reported that Dami Arno and her daughter were the victims of an unprovoked, apparently random attack by a woman wearing a burqa.
It should not surprise you that the Arnos are Trump supporters. Arno is eager for Trump to “stop the flow” of illegal immigrants (again, despite evidence to the contrary that immigrants take jobs from native-born workers). He is also concerned enough about the country’s direction that he told Inskeep that – while the Arnos have no intention to start a war – he intends to join a local militia group out of concerns that if Clinton wins, and if there is martial law or a civil war following a subsequent government overthrow by “patriots,” he can help uphold the Constitution as the nation is rebuilt. His family, he says, will be ready.
NPR will feature this same group of Georgia voters tomorrow, when we will hear their reaction to the debate.