That is an occasional roundup of people that voted for Donald Trump and are shocked to seek out out nobody is immune from the injury and ache he causes. Many are actually grappling with the implications of their selection because it impacts them and their family members—and probably regretting their vote.
In the present day, we shine spotlights on probably the most reverse spectrums of American society—one of many poorest nations within the nation—Prentiss County, Mississippi—and billionaire Ken Griffin. After which we’ll finish with a disabled veteran.
Let’s begin with Prentiss County. On their Fb web page, the county’s sheriff’s division introduced, “Our Food giveaway is suspended until further notice. We have been notified by MidSouth Foodbank that funding has been suspended and we won’t receive any deliveries until otherwise notified.”
The letter connected to the Fb put up additional clarified that the funding shortfall got here, partly, from an finish to COVID-19-era meals help. Republicans have taken intention at such applications for the final couple of years, and they’re pretty much as good as lifeless now that their get together holds whole management in Washington.
It’s clearly distressing for a neighborhood and its poor to lose one thing as invaluable as meals help. But the county’s voters have carried out all the pieces doable to worsen their state of affairs.
The county’s annual per-capita earnings is $29,000, based on the U.S. Census Bureau. Almost 18% of its residents stay in poverty, much like the state at massive. The nationwide poverty charge was 11% in 2023, the newest 12 months of full information.
Prentiss is 81% non-Hispanic white and 15% Black. Provided that that is Mississippi, among the many most racially politically polarized states within the nation, it shouldn’t be stunning that President Donald Trump gained the county with 82.7% of the vote to Democrat Kamala Harris’ 16.6%—nearly an identical to the racial make-up.
Now, thanks partly to the county’s votes, federal food-assistance applications have dried up, with zero likelihood of them being revived—and it may quickly worsen for them. Almost 18% of Mississippi residents are enrolled in Medicaid, a program presently on the GOP’s chopping block. Additionally within the crosshairs are sponsored faculty lunches for needy children and meals stamps.
Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s assault on help applications is in full swing, and it’ll hurt America’s poor greater than anybody—and Prentiss is a poor county within the poorest state within the union.
However I’m certain they’ll console themselves understanding {that a} handful of transgender girls gained’t be capable of compete in school sports activities. They actually caught it to these coastal elites!
Talking of coastal elites, not all of them are Democrats.
Take Miami-based Ken Griffin, for instance. The hedge-fund CEO of Citadel LLC is No. 33 in Forbes’ listing of the world’s richest individuals, with a web value of $44.3 billion as of Friday. Griffin, a serious donor to the Republican Celebration, instructed The New York Occasions in December that he voted for Trump and wasn’t nervous about tariffs:
Mr. Griffin downplayed one of many largest considerations about Trumponomics—that tariffs may dent progress and speed up inflation. He mentioned it remained unclear whether or not Mr. Trump’s threats to slap tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China would materialize, including that the speak of tariffs imposed by america was “small ball compared to the role that the world is looking to us for.” He mentioned he didn’t see tariffs as a very powerful enterprise challenge.
Quick ahead only a month and a half later:
“Ken Griffin, founder of investment firm Citadel, warned Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s tariff policies pose a serious risk to America’s economic growth,” reported the Each day Mail, a tabloid based mostly in the UK. “He said they may force other countries to find new trade alliances, as he criticized Trump’s ‘bombastic rhetoric.’”
“The uncertainty and chaos created by the tariff dynamics between us and our allies is an impediment to growth,” he mentioned at a convention.
Out of the blue, it appears Griffin sees tariffs as completely “the most important business issue.”
However don’t really feel sorry for him, he nonetheless thinks Musk is great and doing the suitable factor destroying our authorities. He’s a horrible particular person, and one of the best we will hope for is that Trump’s actions decimate his enterprise.
Yet another?
That is from a now-deleted put up on a subreddit for federal staff:
A Betrayal of Sacrifice: A Veteran’s Plea for Dignity
These previous 4 weeks have been devastating.
Final week, I sat in my automobile, ready for my little woman to get out of faculty, and I cried. I served this nation in Iraq, Afghanistan, and East Africa. After I got here house, I struggled to make ends meet. Nobody was hiring a gunner. Finally, I made a decision to make use of my GI Invoice-not only for an schooling, however as a result of I wanted the additional money. Throughout that point, I earned my diploma and landed a federal job. I used to be the primary in my household to earn a level and the primary to work for the federal authorities.
I liked my job. It was marketed as distant work, which made it doable for me to do my job effectively.
Getting out and in of my automobile with a wheelchair is exhausting, and parking is all the time a problem.
Working from house gave me some reduction in a life that has been something however straightforward.
Then I noticed the Return to Workplace Government Order, and I knew it was going to worsen. I used to be proper. The previous few weeks have been nothing wanting terrifying. I concern for my household. I concern for myself. I might be mendacity if I mentioned I hadn’t had darkish thoughts-thoughts I do not wish to have. I used to be instructed I needed to return to the workplace. I used to be instructed my cheap lodging would not be approved. I really feel betrayed-by this nation, by this authorities. I gave all the pieces, and now I really feel like I’ve nothing left to present.
This, I pray.
In a subsequent put up, the person famous that he was fired, a sufferer of Elon Musk’s purge. Heartbreaking, for certain. I take no pleasure in somebody dropping their job or the difficulties they undergo from a service-related incapacity. I used to be a soldier; my son is a soldier. I really feel kindred spirits with all service members and veterans. I do know the toll it could possibly tackle oneself and one’s household.
However in different posts, this man additionally wrote:
I like orange man now he defines a real American together with his flaws and all as nobody is ideal nevertheless it’s not about being excellent it is about ones love of the nation and doing all of your finest to assist your nation first then deal with others as a substitute of specializing in others after which your nation
In one other thread, when a person requested for gay-bar suggestions across the College of Maryland campus, he responded with a “ewwwwwww.” When known as out on it by different customers, he answered with “it’s an opinion don’t like it move to China.”
In one more put up, he wrote, “How did everyone celebrate the historic Gulf of America Day? It’s rough out there but at least we got Gulf of America Day. How did you all celebrate this day, a day bugger [sic] than the Super bowl?”
He hates the foreigners and the gays and he voted for Trump to harm these individuals. However Trump additionally hates wounded veterans, the disabled, and anybody working within the authorities. And what else? Being a disabled veteran made him a beneficiary of range, fairness, and consists of applications, or DEI.
This vet let his hatred of others blind him to how Trump wouldn’t damage simply them. And now his vote price him and his household dearly.
Perhaps this man is reachable, perhaps not. As soon as challenged on his Trump assist and posting historical past, he deleted each the put up and his account.
However we don’t have to achieve all of them. If we will swing 10% of Trump voters our means, that’s almost 8 million voters. Heck, a 5% swing would make it arduous for Republicans to maintain the White Home in 2028.
It’s a protracted option to go, and there’s loads of time for individuals to develop into disillusioned and disenchanted.
