The term hillbilly is used to describe a group of poor, backward and white Americans living in Appalachia.  The term has been consistently used as a negative counterexample in an effort to better define the benefits of a modern capitalist society.  The stereotype is unique in that the derogatory characteristics attached to it have remained unchanged throughout the twentieth century. The hillbilly stereotype has “served at times of national soul-searching and throughout the twentieth century as a continually negotiated mythic space through which modern Americans have attempted to define themselves and their national identity and to reconcile the past and the present” (Harkins, 2005).  The media focuses intensely on the hillbilly stereotype during times of uncertainty in the US, such as the 1930’s economic collapse, and during the 1960’s civil rights movement and War on Poverty.  The 2016 election of President Donald Trump signified another point in US history of uncertainty, and triggered a surge of media attention on hillbilly culture in an attempt to explain the social unrest in America. “During the 2016 presidential election, the national press branded Appalachia ground zero for America’s ‘forgotten tribe‘ of white working-class voters” (Catte, 2018).   The overarching narrative associated with Appalachians is that they are predestined to be poor, not because of the way power and wealth are distributed in the US, but because of their lack of moral character and backwards lifestyle.  This narrative permeates various types of media, literature and pop culture, further promoting the flawed and discriminatory hillbilly stereotype.