Betting on Trump: Coal (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

Saying that the coal industry is coming back is the equivalent to trying to convince yourself that Palm Pilots, Pagers, Dial-up Modems, Fax Machines & ZIP Disks are still very much in demand.

Many thanks to Frontline for producing these sensitive, thoughtful segments. The tragedy in all three stories is that desperation will make people believe even the flimsiest promises--because that's all they have.

The dude says he just wants his kids to grow up healthy but at the same time he wants us to mine coal for energy? Does he realize how many people die a year from pollution?

GOOD job FRONTLINE! thank you for showing the other side

I'm often impressed by how much effort some people seem to have spent concocting and refining their romanticized stories about themselves, their victimhood, etc. And they vote based on those fictional stories rather than on reality. That young kid cares more about his story than about his kids.

Coal is dead. Get another job. Retrain yourselves. Don't get left behind.

Get the young kid to spend an afternoon with the old guy with black lung.

Great reporting. Tough story to watch. I really feel for these people, especially the gentleman suffering from black lung disease. It just disgusts me how Mr. Trump played off the desperation of these people for a better life without offering them any real solutions to their situation. And to top it off, efforts to repeal the ACA will take away benefits to those suffering from black lung disease. Truly sad.

I wanted to a be a CEO when I was young, I became a Systems Analyst, he wants to become a coal miner, I feel sorry for him

repeal obamacare, bring back the job that's going to kill me. real smart guy that one.

REAL AMERICANS

trump tapped into the emotions of the coal miners.

I guess it's good that the buggy-whip people didn't have a lot of money because we would still be riding around with horses and buggy whips

It’s 2021...How many coal jobs returned? They need to do a follow up with these people

let us wait n see

I totally sympathize with coal miners. I get that it's more than a skill set, or even a steady job. It's also about pride and heritage. We've GOT to find ways to advantage the valuable skills of coal miners to other applications. They are getting royally screwed, and manipulated from all sides, and IT'S NOT RIGHT. Right now, The only ones giving those families hope, are the ones who are taking advantage of their desperation. Granted, I don't know squat about coal mining skills, or how they relate to other industries, But I can't believe there's no overlap.

So very sad!

We clearly need to stop using coal for environmental/health reasons. Coal miners shouldn't be left out in the cold though, they provided a critical component of our progress, but it's time to move on.

More people working in the renewable energy than people in the fossil fuel industry combined.

Things change. Bullcart wagons can not survive with automobile, coal can't survive with natural gas. People have to change.