Donald Trump’s victory in 2016 was due in part to his support in rural areas and small towns, where he won more than 60% of the overall vote and an even larger share of white voters. This course reviews Trump’s rural support and focuses on such questions as — How and why did this happen?  What role did urban-rural cultural gaps and economic grievances and insecurity play?  How is “rural” defined?  What is the history of rural-urban divides?  Has the Democratic party lost this population permanently?  Have Republicans become the rural and Democrats the urban party?  Do the 2018 off-year election results show any shifts?  What other organizations and trends in rural areas offer alternatives that receive little attention?  And what could be done differently?  Please note:  this will be an analytical course covering views of both left and right.  Our goal is understanding, not partisanship.Joe Belden is a rural-issues writer and activist based in Washington, DC, focusing for over forty years as a bipartisan and nonpartisan advocate for rural low-income people and issues of rural poverty, affordable housing, sustainable agriculture, and others.  From 1989 until 2015 he was Deputy Executive Director of the Housing Assistance Council, a national nonprofit that supports affordable rural housing.  He also has worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and for several nonprofit organizations and think tanks.  He is the author of Housing in Rural America: Building Affordable and Inclusive Communities (Sage 1998), Dirt Rich, Dirt Poor: America’s Food and Farm Crisis (Routledge 1986), and a number of other publications.  Belden is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the Baylor University Law School and is a member of the Texas and DC bars.