A West Virginia school bus driver who backs President Donald Trump complained that he was unable to learn some children's names -- and he slurred their parents as drug users.
Paul Cochran and his fellow school bus driver and friend Paul Black were profiled by the Washington Post, where they explained their divergent political views.
Both men voted for Barack Obama in 2008, but their politics have split.
The 54-year-old Cochran grew up in a Democratic family but has mostly voted Republican, and he has backed Trump from the start of his campaign.
“I didn’t say Uncle Donny was perfect,” Cochran told his friend during a good-natured political debate. “He’s a businessman. But I know for a fact that when I lay my head down tonight, I’ll feel safer.”
Cochran and the 60-year-old Black have watched opioids and gun violence ravage their community in Charleston, and both men slip cash, snacks and personal hygiene products to kids who ride their buses.
“Dollar General is your best friend,” Cochran said.
But he admits the changing demographics of Charleston can be confusing, and he struggled to recall the names of two young girls who got into a fight on his bus after the white student called her black classmate a "pill head" and then a "gorilla head."
“You can’t learn these kids’ names,” Cochran said. “Bay-yan-zhay, Ta-mar-zhay, Du-mar-zhay. It’s like their parents were smoking crack and looked on the back of a pack of food and named them. You know what I mean? You can’t learn them.”
It's not just children with black-sounding names, however. Cochran recognized a former colleague from his 19 years as a bus driver while watching Trump's rally this week in West Virginia.
“See her beside that black guy?” Cochran asked Black. “I just can’t remember her name.”
