Some angry retired miners with black lung are fighting back, demanding that Donald Trump honor promises he made to the people who voted him in.

This is the epitome of the leopard meme. Still, I can't help but feel sad - even for the misguided idiots that brought this harm into the world.

The leopards are eating sooo well

On a somewhat related note, people may know that Pittsburgh is one of the top places in the US for medical research and treatment. It's the home of Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and many others. It has "the second-most hospitals and second-most doctors per capita of any in the nation".

But why would the "Steel City" have such good medical care? It turns out that for a while, steel worker unions were really powerful, and one of the main benefits the unions fought for was good health care for their members. Now the steel industry is long gone, but what remains is a great medical system that was essentially founded by those unions.

Moral of the story? If you're a worker in a dirty, dangerous industry, you can either vote for someone like Trump who will gut your healthcare and strip you of government protections, or you can form a union and get the protection you deserve.

I thought coal was clean and beautiful, though?

You can't always get what you want but if you vote MAGA, you'll get what you deserve.

"And every day you're in this place you're two days nearer death. But you go."

Awww, such a shame.

They're getting what they voted for (no sarcasm)

Someone should tell these guys that we know their guy won the election, they can stop bragging about it.

I guess black-lung county voted to die. May they have the day they voted for.

It’s terrible that Trump is going all in on coal and oil while also cutting back on the regulations that keep these people safe. At least they’re not working on windmill farms that are really hazardous to their health though. /s

Silicosis is a horrible way to go.

Who could have ever seen it coming

Coal causes so much fucking harm to this world.

It, alongside OIL and lead have to be some of the all time greats in terms of materials causing harm.

Get what you voted for

They should complain to dear leader

Wow. I had a great-grandfather that died of black lung. Before I was born. When I was told this as a child, I never would have imagined I'd be reading about it still happening in 2025.

When I think about the race to get to renewables and the race to fully automate things like coal mining from end-to-end, and I see how people like Pedonald and his supporters cling to these lionized versions of coal mining as a vocation, that phrase about "who wants to be the last American killed in Vietnam" comes to mind...

I understand that in many coal mining towns, there really isn't much other work than the mines due to a litany of historical and economic factors. If working in a toxic environment that is going to kill me in order to dig up a bunch of rocks that are killing the world is the only option, do it temporarily and save up enough money to leave?

I get that doing that is easier said than done, but it really seems like miners are completely dependent on electing republicans into office to keep their dying industry hobbling along. Then, the Republicans they elect act like Republicans and all of the miners go full surprised Pikachu that the mines get less safe due to removal of regulations. This cycle has been repeating for years. At some point, you have to stop doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Well no shit. You'd have to be amongst the dumbest motherfuckers on this plane to have not seen this coming. And no doubt those yokels voted for him, too.

Stupid is what stupid does..

The same idiots voted for Trump again after having seen Trump do nothing to help them in his first term, so they're just getting what's coming to them.

He clearly needs more black lung. I think the government should cut the guardrails entirely who cares about those, just extra cost. This people will vote in a heartbeat anyway.

I don’t know how to feel about this.

These people have been left behind, and the one guy who said he was on their side is the biggest grifter and fraud in generations.

They had over 8 years to figure this out, but cognitive dissonance and constant programming via right wing media are strong.

Its the dummycrat cabal again trying to convince you that brown stuff hes droppin on you from a plane aint chocolate ice cream. Stay strong and dig into your wallets and give for the new ballroom to own the libs.

demanding that Donald Trump honor promises he made to the people who voted him in.

Isn’t he?

Getting real fucking tired of these whiny bitches.. they got what they voted for, they are winning for fucks sake!! "Uuuh, I've got a black lung, poor me, wääääähh", SHUT UP!

And I bet to many of them it's still all the Democrats' fault.

Have the day you voted for

Trump is Strangling the working man. He was always going to if he got his way, and he told us pretty much from the start what he was going to do. So very many Americans put their necks in his hands and asked for it

Trump Lung.

Two in the thoughts, one in the prayers.

Well hurry up then.

But at least those billionaires got to save a little money on their taxes and all those women are now trapped with children they didn't want. /s

Have the day you voted for!

I thought we were only mining big beautiful CLEAN coal? What are they whining about?!?!

Let me check my empathizinator... Nope, it's busted. Dumbfucks get none from me today.

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Coal miners throwing their full-throated support behind the politicians that the coal industry executives want them to will always be mind boggling to me given their proud history of unionization. But I guess now they just hate trans people and abortion more than they like good wages and workplace safety

a brutal way of looking at this is that the more of them that dies, the less people who will be voting for the party they voted for.
If the party wants to win the election, they should care about the people they voted for

Make America Democratic Again

Even the world's smallest violin doesn't give a fuck.

Have the day you voted for, idiots.

Drowning hazard: 1 inch of water, submerged

Choking hazard: 1 inch of dictator chode, fellated

I don't think most of you understand how desperate West Virginia is. They're not retarded, the state government has been trying to figure ways out of their coal dependence. tl;dr: They are fucked.

Anyway, not a soul will watch this man's journalism, but he's the finest I know.

https://www.youtube.com/@PeterSantenello

Might change your views on a few things. But that's scary!

Similar to how industrial contaminants like lead and arsenic correlate to higher rates of violence I wonder if there's a bunch of hazards associated with just being a republican. If its just like a side effect of low grade mercury poisoning or something.

Fuck em.