Dispatches from Trump Country
With new administration poised to take over, his supporters in Pa. will be watching closely
Once a week, the basement of Ford Memorial United Methodist Church in Ford City turns into a boisterous dining room for the community’s struggling and hopeful.
Between group prayers and a warm meal, the same difficult theme permeates the collective chatter across the room.
It takes its shape in stories — tales of the day-to-day challenges of living in a small town in Armstrong County that’s in limbo. Stories of jobs once had, of friends battling drug addiction, of holding on to hope during tough times.
In one corner of the room, Loretta Hosack shows her bruised skin, black and blue from a fall on a broken sidewalk that no one fixed. Terry McDaniel talks of chasing his dreams and staying optimistic but trails off into a rant about how hard it is to pay bills. Mary Alice Ware Bryant predicts that Ford City won’t even be a town in 50 years.
But regardless of their political leanings or whom they voted for in November, they’re hopeful that one real estate businessman can rescue their communities.
Because, after all, it was that same conversation — of the economic stagnancy, drugs and feelings of hopelessness — that drew people to Donald Trump in the first place, and after his administration takes office Friday, these are the people who will be watching closely.
It’s a different world
The owner of a small doughnut shop in Beaver County has a joke he likes to tell, but it’s not that funny.
“I did the math, I worked it out,” Richard DeAngelis says, a smile forming on his face as he drops off paychecks to employees of DeAngelis Donuts in Rochester. “It looks like I’ll be able to retire five years after I’m dead.”
That’s because Beaver County is plagued with many of the same economic characteristics as the other counties surrounding Pittsburgh; its unemployment rate is higher than the average Pennsylvania county, its median household income rate is smaller and it’s having trouble attracting young families who will spend money.
As in most of Rust Belt America, it wasn’t always this way. The 1960s and most of the 1970s elicit memories of prosperity, industry and employment. But when deindustrialization brought mill closings and widespread layoffs, it sent the economy into decline and the population to the cities and suburbs, the effects of which are still being felt today.
Tom Johnson, a 66-year-old former state transportation department worker, says it was easy to get a well-paying job anywhere in Beaver during the ’70s. But now, the area is “hurting” and is desperate for jobs.
“For years, I thought this county would never come back. The sad part is, if you go into Cranberry or Robinson, it’s a different world. It’s bustling. There’s a lot of growth. They’re building everywhere,” Mr. Johnson said. “You come into Beaver County and you don’t see that. … You come into Beaver County and it’s like you’re depressed.”
The same economic anxiety seeps through the cracks of the church basement gathering in Ford City, which was once a manufacturing stronghold before the industry folded.
“When you don’t have enough money to pay all your bills, what do you do? When you can’t keep your rent paid, your lights bill, your gas bill paid because the cost of living is so extremely high — it outweighs your income — what do you do? Your hands are tied,” said Mr. McDaniel, 48.
Some think economic help could be on the way soon in Washington, believing wholeheartedly in Mr. Trump’s promise to bring back jobs to working-class towns.
Mr. Trump’s image of being a pragmatic businessman who tells it like it is has resonated with those who feel as though Washington has left them behind in the past few decades. His pledge to not be beholden to Beltway elites — even in his own party — has made many Americans believe he cares about them. And his focus on jobs has given renewed hope to the unem-ployed and the underpaid.
At Country Cafe and Video in Pleasant Unity, the split between hope and doubt is striking. Rich Foschia, a 69-year-old Mount Pleasant home inspector, says he worries Mr. Trump will get the country involved in a foreign entanglement.
Rick Walters, a self-proclaimed “Trump guy” who has lived in Pleasant Unity all 58 years of his life, is full of hope, and says he believed in Mr. Trump’s message.
“Let’s hope he keeps his word on things ... whatever it takes to bring the country back more or less. Keep the people busy. Working,” Mr. Walters said.
The patrons at Mr. DeAngelis’ doughnut shop are putting their hopes into something more specific: that Mr. Trump could replicate what he did in Indiana in November with the Carrier furnace plant on a wider scale. In a symbolic victory for his pledge to keep jobs in the U.S., Mr. Trump gave the plant millions in tax breaks to keep it from sending 800 jobs to Mexico.
“Let’s hope our new President Trump, with his incentives, let’s hope he brings those jobs back,” Mr. Johnson said.
Some look to a new president for hope. Others just look for a new attitude.
“I try to look at the good side of things,” Mr. Walters said. “It will brighten you up a little more when you do that.”