We Asked Trump Voters, “When Did America Stop Being Great?” Their Answers Were Amazing.

“We have been overlooked, with all these special-interest groups getting their way.”

Smiling voters unfolded chairs or stretched on the grassy slope overlooking the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland Monday. They were there to participate in the first big pro-Trump rally of the GOP convention and to listen to speakers such as far-right luminary Roger Stone and conspiracy shock jock Alex Jones.

Trump’s famous slogan is obviously “Make America Great Again,” but I wanted to know from his most die-hard fans: Exactly when did America stop being great? The video above paints a picture of voters who feel like the very idea of “America” as they know it is slipping away—voters who worry that their values and freedoms are under attack from politicians and the press. “The mainstream media wants to tell us that somehow we’re racist or we’re discriminatory or we’re misogynist,” said Rhona Welsch, a 55-year-old food and beverage worker at a Hawaii resort. “It’s just not true.”

 

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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