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These Trump voters represent the bulk of his supporters. CNNMoney interviewed this Trump voter and others before and after his new draconian budget. I think the interviews illustrate two dynamics.
Trump conned his supporters. While many continue to support him, as his policies start to affect their personal economies, it is likely they will eventually turn on him.
CNNMoney interviewed Krista Shockey who was stunned when she found out Trump wants to downsize SSI.
Krista Shockey voted for President Trump in November. Now she’s one of the people who might get hurt under his plan to cut safety net programs for the poor and disabled.Shockey is on Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a program to help low-income Americans who are disabled. The monthly payment is just over $700 a month.
“It’s my only income,” Shockey told CNNMoney in the fall, when we first met her at Diner 23 in Waverly, a small town in southern Ohio that’s seen better days. “I couldn’t live” without it.
She was stunned to hear the president wants to downsize SSI. She hadn’t heard about it until CNNMoney called her.
When releasing Trump’s budget Tuesday, the White House hailed it as a “taxpayer first” plan. Trump’s goal is to get millions of people off welfare and into full-time jobs. For Shockey, that won’t be easy.
“There’s no way I could go back to work,” Shockey said this week. “I’ve got a lot of problems. I’m crippled in my feet, knees, back, hands.”
CNNMoney interviewed about a dozen Trump voters who rely on government help. They were all surprised that Donald Trump was about to take away their aid.
A paragraph in the CNNMoney piece did stun me a bit.
“I am still happy with President Trump,” says Barbara Puckett, who lives in Beattyville and has been on Social Security disability since the late 1990s because of sclerosis. But she says she would worry if the budget becomes law and she loses her benefit.
The thought processes Puckett exhibits are the dynamics progressives must solve. The article “This is what Democrats need to do to win back the White House & Congress” is a small but good start. Many of these people will not only have to feel the pain, but we will have to inform them in a manner they believe that Trump and the Republican ideology is the culprit. We have a lot of work to do. This job is no small feat, but we must do it.
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