For arguably the first time in his political career, President Donald Trump is asking his voters to take a big leap of faith regarding his administration’s tariff policy.
I decided to travel to small-town Maryland and Ohio to try to find out just how much slack Trump voters are willing to cut him amid the uncertainty of this trade policy. What I found is that Trump has a lot more runway to play with before his support may or may not start to crumble.
Cumberland, Md., is a charming and sleepy hamlet near the Pennsylvania border which, like so many in the area, grew up around the railroad, and it shows. Trestles and 19th-century buildings abound, freight trains cut their fearless way right through the small downtown.
There I met Fred and his son Chris, who were eating dinner next to me at a local establishment. Fred’s bright red ‘Trump Was Right About Everything’ hat seemed like a bit of a clue that he had voted for the president, so we got to talking.
‘None,’ Fred told me when I asked if he was starting to have any doubts. The retired Navy veteran was especially pleased by the selection of Pete Hegseth as secretary of the Department of Defense. ‘He’s a serviceman,’ Fred told me. ‘He can handle it.’
I hear that from about nine out of 10 vets I talk to.
Fred’s son Chris, also a Navy vet, was a bit more circumspect. On the subject of tariffs and more broadly inflation, he said, ‘Trump ran on making things cheaper, not more expensive, but I’m still willing to trust him.’
‘Nothing happens overnight and without work,’ came some fatherly advice from Fred.
Now Chris has a point. Trump absolutely ran on imposing tariffs, but it was never clear if that was a negotiating tactic or an overall economic policy. We still don’t really know. Deals could still be cut, but Trump did not run on short-term economic pain, something all of his supporters I talked to admitted, but also accepted.
Later that night, I met four guys in their 30s, who work in the local energy industry, and once again, three of them were entirely on board.
‘I don’t think he has done enough,’ one quipped sarcastically about the avalanche of actions taken by Trump.
Another said Trump’s ac tions have strengthened his support.
‘A couple years ago, I was not politically aligned with either party, but now that Trump has become the president, and Elon is trying to eliminate, with the DOGE, the fraud and the illogical spending that is happening, I am totally for that.’ He added, ‘I am more happy now that I voted for Trump than I was when I voted for Trump.’
About two hours northwest of Cumberland lies tiny Columbiana, Ohio. Unlike the cozy Cumberland nestled in the mountains, Columbiana is a small place more of strip malls than town squares, but not without its own charming haunts to discover.
One of those is Factory 46, a restaurant and bar tucked behind one of the ubiquitous malls, where Joe, in his 20’s who has lived here his whole life, slings the drinks and grub.
There I met another father and son, again in the same industry, this time coal mining, and this time it was the dad who let me ask him a few questions on video. For both of them, removing the tax on overtime was a huge issue.
‘It’s killing the working man,’ the dad told me, and when I asked if he thought Trump could really do it, he absolutely did. He also told me, ‘I’d love to see him bring the coal industry back. Obama took it from us. I can understand gas, we need gas, it’s awesome, but we need both.’
The theme of no regrets remained steady for these two, as it did for Joe’s mom, who came in to visit a little while after.
One thing that became clear, especially in Ohio, is that when Democrats and the media scream about how tariffs will tank the stock market and make foreign goods more expensive, many think our so-called prosperity came at the cost of domestic manufacturing and at the expense of towns like theirs.
The voters in these small towns very much see themselves as the losers in the game of globalism, and they are not too upset about its rules being changed.
Trump’s poll numbers have dipped a bit. He’s about two points underwater, though still higher than he was this time in his first term. And based on my conversations with his supporters this week, I do not expect a sharp decline anytime soon.
No, his people are willing to give Trump time, but make no mistake, in the long run, they are expecting results.