Trae Crowder on NAFTA’s Toll on Rural America and Trump’s Southern Appeal

In a heartfelt conversation, comedian Trae Crowder, the self-styled "liberal redneck," unpacked the economic and social unraveling of his rural Tennessee hometown, Celina, and how it fueled Southern support for Donald Trump. Raised in a small town where his father ran a video store and his mother battled opioid addiction, Crowder witnessed the collapse of local businesses after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) shuttered the Oshkosh B'Gosh factory, the economic backbone of Celina.

"The factory closed, and so did my dad’s store, my grandma’s restaurant, my uncle’s deli—everything," Crowder shared, painting a vivid picture of a community gutted by job losses. As businesses vanished, prescription drugs like OxyContin flooded the area, deepening the crisis. "The jobs left, and the pills showed up at the same time," he noted, linking the opioid epidemic to the town’s economic despair.

This double blow, Crowder explained, turned his father and many others against the Democratic Party, which they blamed for NAFTA’s fallout. By 2016, Trump’s promises to revive forgotten towns resonated deeply in Celina, even if Crowder himself remained skeptical. "Trump was the only one even pretending to care about people in my hometown," he said, acknowledging the appeal despite doubting real change would follow.

Today, Crowder questions why Southern loyalty to Trump persists, given the ongoing struggles in rural areas. He sees the Democratic Party’s shift away from working-class roots as a historic misstep, compounded by perceptions of elitism. "They think Democrats look down on them, and now it’s QAnon-level distrust," he quipped. Winning back Southern voters, he believes, would require years of rebuilding trust through genuine focus on everyday struggles.

Crowder’s raw perspective, shaped by his rural upbringing, shines in his new comedy special, "Trash Daddy," now streaming on YouTube.