The people you meet while travelling are not the average people. The average American never travels to another state, let alone to other continents... Same is true for many people in many countries: Asians visiting Europe are top % of population in wealth and brains. It's dissapointing and depressing but fox probably gives you a more true picture of average Americans than Americans you meet while travelling.

The more conservative you are, the less likely you are to travel. The less likely you are to be open to experiencing “them”.

When I went back to my high school reunion, I tried reconnecting with an old buddy of mine. I found it a little odd that his life seemed exactly the same as in high school, but eventually he admitted that he had never been more than about 50 miles from the town we grew up in. Never left the state, much less the country. Never left the surrounding rural cluster of towns. Never flew. Not even a road trip to a coast, amusement park or city. No changes in food from what he grew up with. No people different from him. What the everliving fuck?

If you go to the States as a tourist the chances are that you will be just fine, it's the living there that increasingly sucks.

He has endorsed Trump for three elections running.

They're populists.

They see which way a crowd is running and jump in front, shouting "follow me!"