It’s been a year since the US put Donald Trump back in the White House, and I spent this anniversary week in Florida and Pennsylvania – two worlds in one country where I found two such contrasting snapshots of Trump’s America.<\/p>\n
There are many ways to reflect on the successes and failures of the past year. Different topics are important to different people. But the thing that all Americans care about is money. The cost of living was a deciding factor in Donald Trump’s victory. He promised to make the country more affordable again.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, exactly one year after Americans voted, the president was present in Miami. He chose this city and a special audience for his anniversary speech. I was in the audience at the America Business Forum when he told wealthy entrepreneurs and investors how great life is now. \u201cA year ago we were a dead country, now we are considered the hottest country in the world,\u201d he told them to cheers.<\/p>\n
The atmosphere was glittering and prosperous. These days, those are his voters; his quantity. But there was only one hint in his speech that seemed to acknowledge the reality that should trouble him. \u201cWe have the largest economy right now,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t see that.\u201d That’s the crux of the matter: A lot of people who aren’t that wealthy here don’t feel the "greatest economy" he’s talking about.<\/p>\n
A thousand miles north of Miami lies a different America \u2013 a different world. Steelton, Pennsylvania sits in one of Donald Trump’s core areas. But it is not feeling the hit of its largest economy. Not at all. The steel mill is closing and the men listened as their union representative explained what happens next. The conversation was interrupted by all the words no one wanted to hear: layoff, severance pay, layoff.<\/p>\n
The steel mill’s closure is a life-changing moment for the men. \u201cMy family has worked here for over 100 years. And I had planned for my son to join me one day, but I don’t know if that’s a possibility now,\u201d former employee David Myers said. The owners claim the closure is due to weak demand, but the share price has risen sharply since then. This is the irony between the two Americas.<\/p>\n
Down in the closed factory, it is empty, eerie, and depressing. It is certainly not the image or vision that Donald Trump envisioned for his America. The conversations further up the street in front of the city’s state-subsidized houses made the challenges here so clear. \u201cHow much help does the community need?\u201d I asked a man who runs the local food bank. "As much as they can get. I mean, help is a four-letter word, but it has a big meaning. So help!" said ward organizer Elder Melvin Watts.<\/p>\n
I met a woman named Sandra nearby. \u201cIt was harder and I\u2019m a hard-working woman,\u201d she told me. "I don’t get food stamps, I don’t get anything from it. You have to take care of the bills, eat a little bit or turn off the lights." Then, at Mr. Melvin’s food bank, a moment occurred that highlighted the need here. A woman named Geraldine Santiago arrived distressed, emotional, and then overwhelmed by the boxes of food available to her.<\/p>\n
A year after his victory, Donald Trump continues to present himself as an \u201cAmerica First\u201d president and now with a transformed economy. But parts of America seem far, far away. Geraldine is one of 40 million Americans who currently do not receive the full SNAP nutritional assistance program normally provided by the federal government. SNAP benefits have been cut off as the government remains closed due to the political stalemate. I watched Geraldine’s roller coaster emotions unfold – from despair to gratitude in this moment of calm. She left with a trunk full of groceries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Year of Trump’s America It’s been a year since the US put Donald Trump back in the White House, and I spent this anniversary week in Florida and Pennsylvania – two worlds in one country where I found two such contrasting snapshots of Trump’s America. Reflections on the Past Year There are many ways<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[18065,12140,18067,321,5429,15266,18069,18068,4133,6605,1445,18066,18064,9717,315],"class_list":{"0":"post-26881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-a-different-world","9":"tag-cost-of-living","10":"tag-dave-myers-presenter","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-food-bank","14":"tag-in-this-moment","15":"tag-melvins","16":"tag-miami","17":"tag-pennsylvania","18":"tag-roller-coaster","19":"tag-steel-mill","20":"tag-steelton-pennsylvania","21":"tag-supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program","22":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26883,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26881\/revisions\/26883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}