It is hard for me too, especially when they are my own family. I meant only to offer explanation rather than defense. 

The problem is fixing itself in Iowa and elsewhere. The rural population continues to shrink and the urban population is growing. Those who think like my father are dying off and not being replaced. 

Even though gerrymandering and the Electoral collage give disproportionate power to rural areas right now, the population decreases in those areas cannot be stopped. The sheer numbers will eventually overwhelm the inherent rural bias of those systems. 

Trump is the last desperate gasp of the regressive true believers. They will be overwhelmed by the demographics and be sad little enclaves of hate, fear, and ignorance.