SUN NEVER SETS ON PRESIDENT IN GOLF TOWN FOR THE RETIRED
Donald Trump is not up for re-election but you’d never know it, Arthur MacMillan writes from Sun City, Arizona
America, as far as Robert Terry is concerned, is on the rise. The retired blue collar worker originally from California has voted Republican all his life.
Almost seven years ago Mr Terry, 82, decided to move to Arizona and spend his last years here. He chose Sun City, with a population 40,000 people. It is just an hour’s drive from Phoenix and has a desert climate that keeps ageing bones warm all year round.
The average age of Sun City’s residents is 75 and when the last census was taken, 98.44 per cent of its people were white. These demographics were pivotal in helping Donald Trump to be elected two years ago.
These citizens will again be of immense relevance in today’s midterm elections, which are regarded as a referendum on Mr Trump’s presidency.
While the race for the state is tight, with polls showing just a few points between Republican and Democrat candidates seeking a Senate seat, in Sun City the signs of Mr Trump’s popularity are not hard to spot.
Sitting outside the Royal Cafe after his Sunday breakfast, Mr Terry has a resounding response when asked if he approves of Mr Trump’s performance. “Hell yes,” he says. “He’s doing great, doing all the common sense things that we’d gotten rid of.”
The “USA, made in 1776” cap Mr Terry wears is white rather than the red “Make America Great Again” variety beloved by the president’s supporters, but the political talking points sound much the same.
Particularly topical in this southern US state is immigration from Mexico. Until prompted, many residents make no distinction on whether it is only illegal immigration that is bad for America.
But Mr Terry can offer at least a partial perspective that goes deeper than Mr Trump’s explanation about why in the past week he has sent thousands of American troops south to deter a caravan of migrants from approaching the US border.
“It was different in the days of Bracero when Mexican people came up here and worked in our fields,” he says. “They then went home. They were happy, we were happy.
“But when I look back, that is when the problems started. They can’t come in here now and take what our people need. It’s not fair on our kids.”
The Bracero programme was agreements between the two countries, started in 1942, in which Mexico provided farm labour to take the place of Americans who were overseas during the Second World War.
It lasted much longer than the end of that war and caused many disputes. In 1961, a law was required to ensure that American workers would have the same benefits as Mexicans had acquired over the years.
Early voting has allowed Mr Terry to already cast his ballot for the Republican candidate, Martha McSally, for the Senate. But despite his approval of Mr Trump, he admits that he did not vote for the president two years ago.
“I just couldn’t bring myself to do it after what he said about women,” he says. “But I think he’s mellowing. He’s getting used to the job. I’d vote for him now.”
One can only imagine those words being music to Mr Trump’s ears.
Mr Terry’s breakfast companion Bob Cook, 73, was of much the same opinion. The weather in Sun City was a big attraction for Mr Cook, originally from Nebraska where winter temperatures are unforgiving.
He also enjoys golf. Sun City’s first few homes were opened in 1960, along with one golf course. There are now eight.
Such is the popularity of the game here that local supermarkets have cart parking, a local law allows the vehicles on any road with a speed limit of 55kph and a golf cart is the main transport for many retirees.
“I voted for Trump. He wasn’t my first choice but I think he’s doing all right,” says Mr Cook, sitting outside the restaurant with many other customers drawn by the $4.99 buffet.
“He’s done a lot of what he said he would. I just wish he wouldn’t go over the top with those tweets.”
He says he is a registered Republican who cast his ballot early for Ms McSally.
Away from the many restaurants and shops in Sun City’s strip malls are thousands of single-storey homes. Taxes are low because there are no schools given the lack of children in the area.
Many front lawns are dotted with the placards of candidates seeking local or national office. The advertising is mainly Republican, interspersed with US flags that hang from many citizens’ homes year round.
But on a street called Tropicana Circle there are a host of Democratic Party endorsements.
Going a step further, the sign in the living room window of Terry Agosta and his wife Kathy confirms their non-conformity: “Commit to truth. Stand for fairness. Fight for justice. Stop Trump.”
As registered Democrats, they received the poster before the 2016 presidential election but have chosen to hang on to it.
“You won’t find another one like it around here,” says Mr Agosta, 65, retired after a career in construction in New Hampshire.
“Fortunately, we have really good neighbours.”
Despair at America’s political divisions and Mr Trump’s often bellicose tone occasionally overcomes him.
“I was so depressed I quit Twitter,” Mr Agosta says, adding that he has tried to persuade his wife of the merits of moving to Chapala Lake, a retirement community in Mexico. So far, she has resisted.
While Mr Trump’s supporters in Sun City talk of the country improving, the Agostas tell of poverty and people resorting to food banks and begging.
“I see elderly people with signs at the side of the street that say, ‘help me pay my bills’,” Mr Agosta says. “I flew the American flag upside down after Trump was elected. That’s how badly I feel about it.
“I don’t know how I’ll take it if Tuesday goes badly. Please, make America normal again.”
They voted for the Democratic Party’s Arizona candidate for Senate, Kyrsten Sinema, at the earliest opportunity when their voting papers arrived on October 16. In the state as a whole, the race will be tight.
“We are a compassionate country or at least we were,” says Mrs Agosta, a retired nurse. “People need to know there are decent Americans. Trump is falling short.”
He’s done a lot of what he said he would. I just wish he wouldn’t go over the top with those tweets BOB COOK Pensioner from Nebraska