'Truly disappointed': Residents of deep-red state turning on Trump over 'empty promises'

[BumRushDaShow]

Last edited Thu Nov 27, 2025, 09:22 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Raw Story

November 27, 2025 2:11PM ET


Despite having a centrist Democratic governor in Andy Beshear, Kentucky is a deep-red state that Donald Trump carried in three presidential elections in a row. Nationally, Trump defeated Democratic nominee Kamala Harris by roughly 1.5 percent in 2024; in Kentucky, he won by 31 percent. But in an article published on Thanksgiving 2025, The Nation's Zachary Clifton focuses on struggling Trump voters in Kentucky who are feeling disillusioned with his economic policies. "In an April morning in 1964," Clifton explains, "President Lyndon B. Johnson landed in Martin County, Kentucky, stepping from Marine One to the hollers of a rural county where 60 percent of residents lived in poverty.

"With reporters and photographers from Time and Life in tow, Johnson ended up on the cabin porch of Tom Fletcher, a father of eight who had been unemployed for two years…. By August (1964), Johnson signed the Food Stamp Act, which — along with Medicaid, Medicare, and Head Start — federalized the tools he had promised to deploy during that tour through places like Martin County. This month, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history brought the deepest disruption to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program since Johnson made it permanent."

Clifton adds, "In Martin County, families are preparing for Thanksgiving as roughly 23 percent of residents, or around 1300 households, rely on SNAP to put food on the table." The Nation reporter notes that in 2024, Trump won 91 percent of the vote in Martin County.

"Trump's 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' will also jeopardize SNAP benefits for 114,000 people, or roughly one-fifth of recipients, in Kentucky, where work requirements will now expand to roughly 50,000 people aged 54 to 65, along with caregivers whose children are older than 14, starting in early 2026," Clifton explains. "The bill also expanded work requirements for military veterans and people experiencing homelessness — effectively pushing many out of a program they rely on to not go hungry."

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/alternet-posts/trump-kentucky-snap/

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Link to The Nation article - https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/kentucky-trump-voters-snap-shutdown-approval/

[Aussie105]

1. MAGAts believed the promises.

But now the non-delivery of those promises is hurting them?

Sad some people aren't critical thinkers.

Big promises that fade away have always been a Trump trademark.

[OldBaldy1701E]

2. "... in Kentucky, Trump won by 31 percent."

[Irish_Dem]

3. MAGAs are having a steep learning curve.

I just wish they had not made me a part of that damn learning curve.

[delisen]

4. They fell for the Conman from New York City. nt

[the nelm]

8. Twice!! "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." n/t

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

10. These idiots voted for the con man not twice but thrice.

I no longer have any sympathy or patience for these fuckers.

[popsdenver]

13. Isn't McConnell

from Kentucky??????......his top accomplise for the past 9+ years???????????

[Skittles]

15. it absolutely boggles my mind

the sheer stupidity of anyone who can be fooled by Donald Fucking Trump

JFC

[Aristus]

20. Yeah.

What the hell happened to rural distrust of “them citified fellers”?

Is that how simple it is? How simple they are? Spew racist and misogynistic filth, and Maw ‘n’ Paw Kettle will follow you anywhere?

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Here's the direct link to the Nation article:

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/kentucky-trump-voters-snap-shutdown-approval/

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Thanks - copy/paste screw-up and fixed in the comments (they had the direct link in the article)

I do sub to The Nation (have done so for a long time - even as they became too Pootie friendly but I like Joan Walsh and have followed her around to wherever she appears or publishes and she has been all over! ).

[vapor2]

6. If they believed his promises

then why the hell didn't they believe him when he said, "I don't care about you, I just want your vote?"

[paleotn]

9. Yep. Not like he was hiding anything.

[Blumancru]

11. A Poem for Kentucky

Yonder, look, comes a new day
Of infinite hope
Under its warm sun

Do not despair Kentucky, for we stand with you
Under the same blue sky, as we
Make the
Best of each day
As surely as the world turns and the
Stars come out, the
Stars come out for us all. An
End will come to your
Suffering

[Gimpyknee]

12. Empty promises?

These morons voted for Trump two more times despite his promise to deliver a new health plan (the best!) in his first week in office in 2017.

[PatrickforB]

14. This is the old billionaire/Wall Street SQUEEZE. We're all getting it and have for some time. These jerks

don't care whether anyone in the middle class lives or dies as long as they can boost PROFITS. Gosh, everyone here in this capitalist utopia we live in knows PROFITS are far more important than people.

It isn't Trump - he's dumb as a stick.

It is Russell Vought, Koch, Thiel, Bezos, Musk, Zuck and the rest of the billionaire parasites Trump let into the treasury so they can strip it clean and leave us hanging in the wind. And that nice Nazi wing of the party, headed by Bannon and Miller and their ICE secret police are hard at work trying to consilidate power.

When the Dems get back in power, IF they ever do, there had better be some fucking TRIALS for these dirtbags. If we are EVER, EVER going to really be a republic of, by and for the people, then we have to get rid of these fucks and pull the cords to their fucking propaganda Fox/Talk Radio machine. We need a 21st century FAIRNESS DOCTRINE and we get that by changing the rules of corporate governance away from the doctrine of shareholder primacy to a stakeholder approach that requires the interests of workers, consumers and the environment.

AND, we need a fucking new Supreme Court that is actually IMPARTIAL instead of legislating from the bench in favor of billionaire dirtbags and Wall Street greed lizards.

AND, we need to overturn Citizens United and get rid of the corporate CORRUPTION that has taken over the US government.

[Mister Ed]

16. They elected Trump to hurt those *other* people, not them. n/t

[Linda ladeewolf]

17. Trump will fall.

Still the damage he’s inflicted on this nation will take many years to repair/undo.

[durablend]

18. They'd vote for it again if given the chance

[keep_left]

19. "He's not hurting the right people!".

That's a paraphrase from a quote in a NYT article about (delusional) working-class Trump voters.

The full quote is "I thought he was going to do good things. He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting!"...Trump's policies weren't attacking the brown people enough, and were in fact harming nice white people like her.

https://democraticunderground.com/100220834675#post13