Hillary Clinton also had(and has) her base. Most Democrats voted for her, some independents voted for her. A majority of Americans voted for her. There was nothing wrong with her as a candidate.
When she went into those coal-producing regions and announced future jobs and future plans for a region supported by a dying industry, she was already hated. Because liberals weren't using enough coal and wanted fancy pants renewables. Liberals wanted to take away the luxurious lives the coal miners were living and replace it with one less black lung and poverty ridden.
Trump promised a Clean Coal future and coal-powered automobiles in every garage!
Clinton won the election anyway. But Trump was declared president. Because some votes count more than others.
Your take on that election might be different from mine but I know what the majority of the voters said. It was a fluke induced by the unintended consequences of former legislators who rigged the system to make it fairer for one group than another.
Trump didn't win. Clinton did. Trump was anointed to office via an outdated tradition that seems ludicrous at best in a modern democracy. More like smoke signals from the vatican than a real election.
