We lost Steve

Steve sits in a plush lobby chair, arm on each rest, backward baseball cap, looking at nothing in particular. “Chilling” he says when asked, and he doesn’t mean the news mix being broadcast from the split screen feed just to his left four days after the election of Donald Trump. He’s just chilling.

It’s Saturday and he could be working, but the bosses have to make some decisions. A foreman for a construction company that does contracting work for CSX and other railroads, his employer treats him very well and compensates him at a rate to keep him there. He even tells them what truck he wants when he needs a new one and they buy it for him.

This particular job is a months-long bridge repair and he’s supervising a six person crew, and so living, for the time being, at the Marietta Hilton and Resort, next to the Gone With the Wind Museum and across the street from the Confederate Cemetery under the supervision of the battle flag flapping in the warm Autumn breeze.

But working on the railroad all the live long day (sorry) isn’t possible this time of year where freight schedules take precedence, leaving him only two hour blocks on time consuming instillations of massive supports, and he proudly shows me pictures of his work. But he’s wasting productive hours to the economic realities of the freight schedule. He advocates to the client that they should suspend and come back in February, when they can, in fact, work all day.

He’s frustrated that the higher up’s at the railroad who ultimately make the decision are arrogant and talk down to his crew, and have never worked in the literal trench as he has successfully since he was 24 years old. So he chills, the schedule out of his hands.

He’s a member of the Laborer’s union, one of several bargaining units at his company, and can retire in four years, and maybe “double dip” a job in addition to his pension, still a young man, his daughter a Deputy Sheriff married to someone Steve likes very much. Not like the high school boyfriend. His girlfriend of 18 years tends bar, but you can’t really make a living doing it today, not in Toledo, not like when they first met, when more people went out and she could pull down a thousand dollars in tips on a shift.

One of the benefits of staying in one place for an extended period of time, though evanescent, is the shared experience of hotel room living away from home and all that comes with the experience, breakfast buffet, Robert at the bar knowing your usual when he sees you walk in, which village restaurants to go to, tips on trying to turn left out of the hotel parking lot at 8AM (hint: don’t).

So I chill a bit with Steve. He knows who I voted for, and I know his, and he wants to know why “they hate Trump so.” They “won’t let it go.” He gets his news from Fox but watches CNN and MSNBC and it’s just constant. “He isn’t even in yet.” He is not fooled by who Donald Trump is. He knows exactly who he is. But he also knows the powerful forces who oppose Trump. The political equivalent of his railroad overseers who know better and talk down to him.

I say that media is a business and that Donald Trump is good for business, whether it’s Fox or MSNBC. He thinks on this but it’s clear he believes its more than this, that there is something bigger than the profit motive. Trump doesn’t need the money, speaking of profit motive, he’s a billionaire.

Steve votes the economy. Trump is better than Harris, full stop. When Republicans urge voters to look past personalities and vote “policy” that speaks directly to Steve. He makes an excellent salary but leaves “$100,000,” given to the government. “Where does that money go.” He got an additional $10,000 in bonus last year but made $1,000 less than he did the year before, and he doesn’t know why. He watches costs pretty closely and the past few years cost $20,000 more than during the Trump administration.

I venture a theory I have that because Trump builds buildings and buildings are tangible, people understand that, but that people don’t feel the same way about, say, Mitt Romney, that he’s a successful businessman because he is a wealth creator rather than a job creator. Does he think that?

He hasn’t thought that, he was never interested in politics until recently and didn’t start voting until 2016. And that’s when it hits me. Speaking as a Democrat, we lost Steve. In fact we never tried. He grew up in a blue collar city, which “used to be a great place,” he is a union member, has full health care benefits, makes more than a living wage at a company I’m guessing will benefit greatly from the Biden Administration infrastructure investment. He doesn’t strike me as a culture warrior, at least he doesn’t bring up a single social issue.

He cares about his money, and I’m guessing his freedoms. He’s pretty no nonsense and he sees a lot of nonsense. He thinks there is too much greed in politics. Things Democrats propose cost money, and where is that coming from, even for seemingly good things. From him?

We never talked to Steve from Toledo, Ohio. We never even tried. He wonders why people who differ can’t have a civil conversation. Like we were doing, in plush chairs, looking out past the giant chess set on the lawn to the manicured golf course, like two people who try to see where the other is coming from.

We’re not going back. Steve doesn’t think so. His vote was a vote for the future.