White rural Americans are a “racist, xenophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-gay” authoritarian fifth column that poses an existential threat to our republic. Unless they are actually a downtrodden people who rightly resent the condescension of liberal elites and wish for little more than “to preserve a sense of agency over their future and a continuity of their community’s values and social structures.” These are the twin poles of blue America’s current debate over why rural white folks vote the way they do. This argument is as old as the urban-rural divide itself. But the latest round was triggered by White Rural Rage:...