SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 12 (UPI) — Former “Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe revealed his reaction to this week’s presidential election in a thoughtful Facebook post.
He offered his response after a fan asked him to share his thoughts on Republican Donald Trump‘s unexpected win. The post is now trending on social media.
“‘Dirty Jobs’ didn’t resonate because the host was incredibly charming. It wasn’t a hit because it was gross, or irreverent, or funny, or silly, or smart, or terribly clever. ‘Dirty Jobs’ succeeded because it was authentic. It spoke directly and candidly to a big chunk of the country that non-fiction networks had been completely ignoring. In a very simple way, ‘Dirty Jobs’ said, ‘Hey — we can see you,’ to millions of regular people who had started to feel invisible. Ultimately, that’s why ‘Dirty Jobs’ ran for eight seasons. And today, that’s also why Donald Trump is the President of the United States,” Rowe explained.
“I know people are freaked out, Carol. I get it. I’m worried too. But not because of who we elected. We’ve survived 44 Presidents, and we’ll survive this one too. I’m worried because millions of people now seem to believe that Trump supporters are racist, xenophobic, and uneducated misogynists. I’m worried because despising our candidates publicly is very different than despising the people who vote for them,” he continued.
“I don’t think Donald Trump won by tapping into America’s ‘racist underbelly,’ and I don’t think Hillary [Clinton] lost because she’s a woman. I think a majority of people who voted in this election did so in spite of their many misgivings about the character of both candidates. That’s why it’s very dangerous to argue that Clinton supporters condone lying under oath and obstructing justice. Just as it’s equally dangerous to suggest a Trump supporter condones gross generalizations about foreigners and women.”
“Dirty Jobs” was a docu-series that ran on the Discovery Channel 2003-12.
