Trump supporters accepting flexibility for now
Policy shifts have not been deal breakers, interviewees report
WASHINGTON — What’s wrong with being flexible? All presidents change their minds. He’s only human. President Donald Trump’s voters can be a forgiving lot — up to a point.
“He thinks too fast and then makes decisions too fast,” says Miriam Naranjo in Miami Lakes, Fla.
“He’s changing his mind on almost everything he said,” says Bob Brown, of South Windsor, Conn.
Naranjo is willing to give Trump more time. Brown is not.
The president’s recent shifts in position on big foreign policy issues have got his supporters pondering: Are the reversals worth a mere shrug of the shoulders, or are they a cause for greater concern?
Where critics see a flip-flopper, many Trump voters see the kind of recalibrating that’s to be expected from any new president.
“It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on and making sure he doesn’t stray too far from where he campaigned,” says Christian Ziegler, a marketing professional from Sarasota, Fla., who served as one of Trump’s electors in the state. “I’m not concerned yet.”
In recent weeks, the president has gone from labeling NATO “obsolete” to “no longer obsolete.” He’s ordered a cruise missile bombardment in Syria after saying during the campaign that the U.S. should steer clear of the place. He’s decided the ExportImport Bank, which he once opposed, is a good thing after all. And he’s done a U-turn on his pledge to label China a currency manipulator.
Now, as he shifts positions, Trump says he’s being flexible — and proud of it.
For plenty of Trump voters, that’s fine, particularly when a situation suddenly arises like the chemical weapons attack in Syria that prompted Trump to order airstrikes.
“Once someone releases nerve gas on children, you have to do something,” says Susan Holly, of Cheyenne, Wyo.
“Nobody can stand around and be black and white,” she said. “Everybody makes changes.”
Many supporters say they never really expected him to hew to all his campaign positions anyway.
“I don’t think any president really knows what they’re doing the first few months in office,” says Jeff Baumgardner, 59, an airline captain from Shindle, Penn. “What they say on a campaign is always different than what they do.”
For Ziegler, 33, a Republican state committeeman in Florida, Trump’s shifts are a sign he’s getting “different information” now that he’s president. As long as Trump holds firm on Ziegler’s top priorities — opposing abortion and refusing to grant amnesty to immigrants living in the country illegally — Ziegler says he’s OK with other policy changes.
Naranjo, a Cuban-born Trump voter, thinks the president’s performance has been lackluster but there’s still time for him to turn things around.
To a number of Trump voters, as long as the president delivers on his repeal-and-replace pledge for the health care law, other issues are secondary. William “Drew” Cato, 57, of Anchorage, Alaska, says he voted for Trump even though he credits the health care law enacted under former President Barack Obama with saving his life by helping him get drug addiction and mental health treatment.
If Trump guts the health law and doesn’t provide a replacement, Cato says, “I would just have to scratch my head and go, ‘That’s a promise. That was an all-out lie.’”