Welcome to Star City, Arkansas.
It is a place where the “American Dream” currently looks like a car bumper so destroyed you can see the plastic water tank underneath.
The bonnet is brown with corrosion.
The passenger door is missing a handle.
Behind this masterpiece of automotive engineering, the shops in the town square are empty.
This is Lincoln County.
It is in the most impoverished fifth of the country.
It is the epitome of rural, broke America.
And guess what?
Donald Trump won 74pc of the vote here in 2024.
Congratulations, Lincoln County.
You won.
But nearly a year into this presidency, the winning feels a lot like losing.
Many residents can barely afford dental or medical care.
Farmers and businesses have been scorched by years of price rises.
And the resentment is brewing.
The Art of the Squeal
Even the die-hards are getting restless.
Meet Terry.
He has a Trump poster tied to his chicken-wire fence.
He voted for the man three times.
But even Terry admits he is feeling disappointed.
During the campaign, Trump promised the moon.
He said: “Prices will come down. You just watch. They’ll come down, and they’ll come down fast.”
Spoiler alert: They did not come down.
Terry, 68, says: “The cost of groceries is too high, every time we go to Walmart it’s over $100 (£74) a week.”
He adds: “And health insurance charges are outrageous.”
It turns out that tariffs and slashing health insurance don’t actually lower your bills.
Who knew?
The University of Michigan reports that the share of Americans who think the government is mishandling the economy has soared from 44pc to 67pc since January.
That is the highest level since records began in 1978.
But don’t worry.
Trump says it is all a “hoax” pushed by Democrats.
In a speech in Pennsylvania, he claimed: “Our prices are coming down tremendously.”
Republican strategist Barrett Marson isn’t buying the gaslighting.
He notes: “But you cannot tell them that they’re doing better financially than what their bank account actually shows.”
The K-Shaped Disaster
The White House loves to brag about the GDP.
Growth hit 4.3pc in the third quarter of last year.
Trump calls America “the hottest country anywhere in the world”.
Sure.
If you are a wealthy AI investor, you are hot.
If you are a normal human, you are freezing.
Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, says the gap between the top and bottom halves of earners has not been this stark in at least 30 years.
Wage growth for the poorest quarter has nearly halved.
Meanwhile, food banks are swamped.
Amy Beros, chief executive of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, says partners are reporting annual increases in demand of between 30pc and 60pc.
She says: “This is the highest we’ve seen in nearly two decades, even higher than the peak of the pandemic.”
It is not just the poor anymore.
Trisha Cunningham of the North Texas Food Bank notes that middle-class families are showing up too.
She says: “They’re in the same house, they have the same car, but their insurance has gone up, their rent has gone up, their grocery costs have gone up.”
Mike Croxson, chief executive of the National Federation for Credit Counselling, points out that callers had unsecured debts worth 65pc of their annual income this year.
That is up from 50pc in 2022.
So much for the greatest economy ever.
Farmers Getting Plowed
Let’s check in on the heartland.
Todd Dutton and his son Josh run a 5,000-acre farm in Lincoln County.
They grow soybeans, corn, and rice.
Thanks to inflation and global chaos, their costs have surged.
But the price they sell at?
It tanked.
Five years ago, soybeans sold for $14 per bushel.
This year they received $9.90.
Todd says: “Inputs are up, the cost of capital is up and commodities are down. It’s just everything. It’s hurting bad.”
According to the US Farm Bureau, farmers lost $379 for every acre of cotton they farmed this year.
Nationally, farm bankruptcies nearly doubled year on year in the first three months of 2025.
Trump threw a $12bn aid package at them in December.
But his trade wars are part of the problem.
Gbenga Ajilore, chief economist at the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities, warns that farming suffered more from Trump’s policies than any other private sector industry.
China’s President Xi Jinping halted all US soybean purchases for half of last year.
Even John Deere has halved its tractor production.
Yet Todd still says: “I voted for Trump. I don’t regret that. We’re God-fearing, conservative people.”
Faith moves mountains.
But it apparently doesn’t move soybean prices.
The Healthcare Avalanche
If you think groceries are bad, wait until you see the doctor.
Ajilore warns: “There’s an avalanche coming, but it hasn’t hit yet.”
Subsidies introduced by Joe Biden expired at the end of last year.
Republicans refused to extend them.
Now, millions are about to lose their financial lifelines.
According to health policy think tank KFF, the typical Affordable Care Act marketplace plan is expected to rise by 114pc to $1,904 this year.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates 3.8 million people will lose health insurance altogether.
Frank Luntz, a veteran Republican pollster, admits: “I think that this is going to be the Achilles heel for Republicans.”
On top of that, Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” cuts Snap food vouchers.
Work requirements will boot 2.4 million people off the program.
It is a beautiful bill indeed if you hate poor people.
The Red Wave is Receding
Voters are starting to notice the emperor has no clothes.
And no plan.
In a recent Tennessee congressional election, the Republican margin of victory more than halved.
Senator Ted Cruz called the result “dangerous.”
Miami just elected its first Democrat mayor in 28 years.
Democrats also swept victories in New Jersey and Virginia.
Desmond Lachman of the American Enterprise Institute says: “Even among his own supporters, support is dwindling, and it’s not surprising because he has failed to deliver.”
Pollster Frank Luntz says of the upcoming midterms: “Everything to me says the Democrats pick up seats.”
The White House is in full damage control mode.
Spokesman Kush Desai claims Trump grades himself “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus” on the economy.
Of course he does.
Trump recently promised $2,000 checks funded by tariff revenues.
But as Sandy Via, a resident of Star City who survives on disability benefits, puts it: “Will we ever see the $2,000? Do you know if we will? I don’t think we will.”
She voted for him in 2016.
Not anymore.
She says: “He didn’t do nothing for me.”
Sandy sums up the national mood perfectly.
“I can’t stand Donald Trump.”
i can’t stand donald trump either.
We as Americans need to come together for mid-terms and vote BLUE up and down the ticket. Do not dilute the vote by voting independent or for another republican. We need to rid this country of all vile magas in congress and make sure these people never ever have any levers of power again. There is so much work to do be done to correct all that has transpired with this administration and with the supreme court. Let us all come together to save our democracy.