'Pay attention to reality': Red state MAGA voter begs Trump to dial back key policy
Not all of President Donald Trump's supporters are sticking by him.
As the president's tariffs undermine the economy and put the public's life savings at risk, a number of ultra-wealthy business tycoons who backed him have turned on him. But some of the rank-and-file voters appear at risk of doing so as well, according to a new series of USA Today profiles of Trump voters across the country.
Many of them appear wholly unrepentant about their decision, and others say the current turmoil is regrettable but worth it for their other objectives. For others, like Pierre Dube, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, it's getting to be a little too much.
"What have I seen in Trump’s first 100 days?" said Dube in the profile. "I’ve seen the chaos created in firing government employees; the on-again, off-again approach to tariffs; the appointing of Cabinet members who are clearly, based on behavior, not qualified to be in the role; deporting individuals without due process; and using illegal importation of drugs and drug components from Mexico and Canada as a premise for onerous tariffs."
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Dube went on to say he supports the administration's efforts on border security, but "what Trump has accomplished the most is sowing chaos" and that he expects the tariffs will cause the United States to "go into a recession."
His main hope, he concluded, is that Trump will "actually pay attention to reality."
Trump, for his part, has remained unswayed by the economic danger signs, saying that Americans should react to inflation and shortages by simply buying fewer dolls for their kids — a message that longtime Republican pollster and Trump skeptic Sarah Longwell warns could be poisonous with some voters who backed him previously.