In a lot of ways, it was Clinton's own (actually misquoted) words that sank her, but if you listen to what coal town folks actually say in interviews, it is more about the clear demonstration of a nearly forty year old green jobs movement that does not consider their towns as economically or geographically functional for the kinds of projects that might save their communities.  Saying that you'll bring green jobs to town is not reassuring when, thus far, those jobs are 10 people here and 30 people there and require years of retraining and certification.  When someone plunks a battery gigafactory in Appalachia instead of the desert of a state that has never had a significant coal mine or builds a windmill plant near Hayden or Paonia instead of near a college town that didn't really need the jobs, then maybe the message will ring true with coal miners.  Until that time, it seems they'll take the promise, thin as it might be, that their communities will survive just a bit longer.