That is an occasional roundup of people that voted for Donald Trump and are shocked to search out out nobody is immune from the harm and ache he causes. Many are actually grappling with the results of their selection because it impacts them and their family members—and probably regretting their vote.
At present, we shine spotlights on essentially the most reverse spectrums of American society—one of many poorest international locations 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 publish additional clarified that the funding shortfall got here, partly, from an finish to COVID-19-era meals help. Republicans have taken goal at such packages for the final couple of years, and they’re nearly as good as useless now that their social gathering holds complete 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 completed every little thing doable to worsen their scenario.
The county’s annual per-capita earnings is $29,000, in accordance with the U.S. Census Bureau. Almost 18% of its residents stay in poverty, much like the state at giant. The nationwide poverty fee was 11% in 2023, the newest yr 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 packages have dried up, with zero probability of them being revived—and it may quickly worsen for them. Almost 18% of Mississippi residents are enrolled in Medicaid, a program at present on the GOP’s chopping block. Additionally within the crosshairs are sponsored college lunches for needy children and meals stamps.
Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s assault on help packages 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 figuring out {that a} handful of transgender ladies gained’t be capable to compete in faculty 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’ checklist of the world’s richest individuals, with a internet price of $44.3 billion as of Friday. Griffin, a significant donor to the Republican Occasion, advised The New York Occasions in December that he voted for Trump and wasn’t anxious 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 the USA 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 difficulty.
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 primarily based 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.
All of the sudden, 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 fantastic and doing the fitting factor destroying our authorities. He’s a horrible individual, and the most effective we will hope for is that Trump’s actions decimate his enterprise.
Another?
That is from a now-deleted publish on a subreddit for federal employees:
A Betrayal of Sacrifice: A Veteran’s Plea for Dignity
These previous 4 weeks have been devastating.
Final week, I sat in my automotive, ready for my little lady to get out of college, and I cried. I served this nation in Iraq, Afghanistan, and East Africa. Once I got here dwelling, 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 training, 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 cherished my job. It was marketed as distant work, which made it doable for me to do my job nicely.
Getting out and in of my automotive with a wheelchair is exhausting, and parking is all the time a problem.
Working from dwelling gave me some aid 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 need to have. I used to be advised I needed to return to the workplace. I used to be advised my affordable lodging would now not be approved. I really feel betrayed-by this nation, by this authorities. I gave every little thing, and now I really feel like I’ve nothing left to provide.
This, I pray.
In a subsequent publish, the consumer famous that he was fired, a sufferer of Elon Musk’s purge. Heartbreaking, for certain. I take no pleasure in somebody shedding their job or the difficulties they endure 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 may tackle oneself and one’s household.
However in different posts, this man additionally wrote:
I like orange man now he defines a real American along with his flaws and all as nobody is ideal but it surely’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 give attention to others as an alternative of specializing in others after which your nation
In one other thread, when a consumer 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 yet one more publish, 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 you already know what else? Being a disabled veteran made him a beneficiary of variety, fairness, and consists of packages, or DEI.
This vet let his hatred of others blind him to how Trump wouldn’t harm simply them. And now his vote value him and his household dearly.
Perhaps this man is reachable, perhaps not. As soon as challenged on his Trump help and posting historical past, he deleted each the publish and his account.
However we don’t have to achieve all of them. If we will swing 10% of Trump voters our manner, that’s almost 8 million voters. Heck, a 5% swing would make it laborious for Republicans to maintain the White Home in 2028.
It’s a protracted technique to go, and there’s loads of time for individuals to grow to be disillusioned and disenchanted.
