I think most people in places that used to mine coal think reviving the coal industry is a viable and useful thing to do apart from the question of jobs. They're probably wrong about that, but the point is the same: they don't want handouts, they want to work. As long as the Democrats' answer to them is just a condescending, "Don't worry, you uneducated hicks, we'll send more welfare your way," they're going to vote Republican.

And coal is not as far-fetched as people want to think. Solar cells and windmills are good for fossil fuels, because you have to burn more fossil fuels to make a solar cell or a windmill than you'll ever get out of it in electrical power. Solar cells and windmills are "alternate fuels" like Trump's inauguration crowds are "alternate facts."