Let’s check in with the most important people in the world, shall we?
by digby
You know who they are …
“Nothing has changed,” said Rob Hughes, a registered Democrat and retired businessman from Bulger, Pa., who I met on my cross-country trip, told me last week. “Well, that’s probably not entirely true. I think I like him more now that he is the president.”
As I went back to the people on US 30 to ask them how they feel about the man they voted for, Hughes’ sentiment rang true.
Trump’s supporters are unfazed that a new health-care law is not in place (yet), thrilled with the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, weary of the constant accusations of his ties to Russia, supportive of his strike against Syria for using chemical weapons against its people and dismayed that House Republicans and Democrats are unwilling to compromise. To them, the president remains disruptive, unconventional, defiant and willing to change his mind — appealing attributes to his supporters, but not so to the press.
When I first met Hughes, 71, he was sitting with Mary Ellen Estel and James King in the back of DJ’s Quick Stop, a deli, dry goods, and gun and tackle shop that beckons Lincoln Highway travelers with a sign — “Got Far Wood” — poking good-natured fun at the local pronunciation of “fire.”
Hughes and Estel were staunch Trump supporters last fall; King was not. The three have met every morning for 25 years, setting up a card table and some folding chairs, while drinking Folgers coffee from white Styrofoam cups and discussing community concerns, fishing and politics.
When I called him recently, Hughes picked up his phone from the gun range. “I could not be more optimistic about the future than I am right now,” he told me. “Honestly, I am still on cloud nine that he won and is our president.”
Why is that? Hughes cites Trump’s unconventional approach to politics, his dismissal of political games and his willingness to compromise to get things done: “I am thrilled he has an open dialogue with China, not just on foreign affairs but on trade issues as well, and I am very pleased about how he responded to the atrocities in Syria.”
Estel, 77, who had just finished mowing 10 acres of farmland when we spoke last week, is also “very pleased” with President Trump so far: “I am very concerned about the fragile state of the world right now, but that was not of his doing. That has been decades in the making.”
King didn’t like Trump back in November and still doesn’t, but that doesn’t stop the three friends from meeting every morning to solve the world’s problems.
“It’s the best free therapy in the world,” said Estel.
Both voted for Barack Obama in the two previous presidential elections, and both were unsatisfied with his performance. The final blow was the effect of ObamaCare on their family.
She is a home-care nurse. He’s a mechanic. The parents of two boys, they were waiting in front of the 540 Martial Arts studio on West Main Street in Van Wert, Ohio, last fall when I first interviewed them — and they were packing the boys into the car after class, again, when I called them last week.
“It turns out Megan decided to vote for Trump a couple of days before the election,” said her husband.
About their decisions, neither could be happier.
“He is doing exactly what we wanted and expected him to do,” said A.J. “Yes, there have been setbacks, but anyone intelligent would understand that was to be expected. He is not a politician, and I had no expectation of him to be anything but non-conventional.”
It would appear that it doesn’t really matter what he does, they will love him anyway. But everyone says that if we were all nicer to them they wouldn’t think this way. That’s what I keep hearing anyway.
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