Moving beyond hillbillies

Kim Dong-ho
The author is the economic news editor of the JoongAng Ilbo.

The wager on former tenant Donald Trump returning to the White House is gaining ground. Polls place the former president slightly ahead of his incumbent rival Joe Biden. Many Americans are still fascinated with Trump’s wayward, rough and maverick ways. What and who really drives Trumpism? Outsiders can find a clue about the mysterious frenzy over Trump in the 2020 film “Hillbilly Elegy.” Hillbilly is a disparaging term for a working-class white person dwelling in rural mountainous areas across the Appalachian region, home to coal and mineral mines and steel mills. The movie, set in the backwoods somewhere between Ohio and Kentucky, plays out from 1997 to the 2010s.

It portrays not a distant past and still reflects the present. The film shows the United States we are not familiar with. The country is still the source of the American dream for many outsiders — a rich and elite civilization without deficiencies. Based on its mighty power, the U.S. still interferes in nearly all affairs in the world.

But the hillbillies in the movie are impoverished and deprived, unlike the urban Americans. The movie’s protagonist returns to his hometown after his mom overdoses on heroin. He excelled in school but could not go to college because his family couldn’t afford to pay for the tuition. He eventually gets into Yale Law School and becomes an Ivy League elite, juggling part-time jobs and getting a scholarship for students from low-income families.

The wealth and culture clash is highlighted in the scene of a fraternity gathering before the protagonist goes to a job interview. When he said he was from Ohio, he receives sneers about coming from the redneck neighborhood. Redneck, with the same derogatory connotation as hillbilly, refers to a working-class white laborer whose neck is reddened by working long hours out in the field. The movie’s title takes on a dour tone on the Rust Belt, as an elegy is a mournful poem for the dead.

Trump saw through the deep-seated disgruntlement and rage of the white working class, as depicted in the movie, an adaptation of the bestselling autobiography of the same title from 2016. The first thing Trump did in the Oval Office was upend all the past U.S. foreign policies to repay them for their diehard support during the campaign. He brought back American manufacturers and factories that abandoned their home from the 1980s to chase cheaper labor and infrastructure. He pursued economic policies to rebuild global supply chains dominated by China and focus on the U.S. under his “Make America Great Again” slogan.

The U.S. owes itself for the dramatic U-turn. It had been the champion of neoliberalism, promoting cross-border free trade and competition. It willingly opened its market to its allies like Korea and Japan and in 2001 drew its foes like China into the free trade system. But America’s grandiose plan overlooked China’s ambition. After lying low for decades, China in 2013 publicly declared its goal to overtake the U.S. to become world’s No. 1 economic and military power by 2049, the centennial year of the founding of China.

After China showed its claws, America turned decisively hostile towards the country. Despite the 2020 election victory by Democratic candidate Joe Biden, Washington sustained its containment policy towards China. The only difference with Trump was that Biden joined forces with allies and upheld the U.S. legacy on the international front.

Due to the nationalistic agenda over the last eight years, the United States has dramatically changed. The factories along the Rust Belt opened again, and the rural southern region has become home to semiconductor and battery plants. Hillbillies are cheering and wanting more. They rave over the idea of a return of Trump.

Chey Jae-won, left, senior vice chairman of SK Group and CEO of SK On, a leading battery maker in Korea, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, sign on a steel beam at the groundbreaking ceremony for the BlueOval SK Battery Park in Glendale, Kentucky, on Dec. 5, 2022. BlueOval SK is a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and SK On to produce advanced batteries for future Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles. [SK ON]

Public polls on broader Americans show some disapproval of the America-first policy. Americans say they are embarrassed by how narrow and small their country has become. But polls on the November presidential election outlook put Trump ahead of Biden. The voters may not like Trump, but they approve of the policy to create jobs and build factories in their home turf.

The new United States poses as a risk to Korea. Korea shared the fruits of the U.S.-led free trade order. But America’s increasingly protectionist policy makes it difficult for exporting countries like Korea to survive. The trend won’t likely stop even if Biden is re-elected, given the entrenched hegemony war with China. The only way for Korea to survive the war is to secure cutting-edge technology and help companies keep up the edge. The answer can be found in removing layers of regulations on enterprises.