opinion

Bangert: Regrets for Lafayette's Donald Trump voters one year later? ‘Hell, no’

LAFAYETTE, Ind. – After a rocky first year in the White House for Donald Trump – a government shutdown to mark his anniversary, no less – how do his voters rate his presidency, so far? And would they vote for him, again?

Even as resistance groups mobilize for the weekend, one year after Trump’s inauguration, remember that in Indiana, Trump won the 2016 election by 19 percentage points over Hillary Clinton. In Tippecanoe County, where the race was closer, that figure still was 5.5 percentage points in favor of Trump over Clinton.

I circled back with four Greater Lafayette Trump voters last week to ask: Any regrets?

► I met John Hamilton ahead of the May 2016 Indiana primary, when he posted a sign in his yard in Lafayette asking the person who was stealing the plywood letters he’d cut out to spell, “TRUMP,” to come to the door and be brave enough to ask first and have a conversation about the campaign. His yard remained a tribute to Trump during Indiana’s May primary and during the November general election. Even then, he said the mix of thumbs up versus middle fingers from drivers going by on 18th Street ran about 50-50.

Your biggest hope for Trump’s first year: To make this country great again. I feel he does so much daily to do so, even with all the roadblocks from the left. He doesn’t let them stop him. Slow him down maybe, but they will not stop him.

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Assess his first year in office – the good, the bad and overall: Look at the stock market. This economy is at an all-time high. Of course, the left say it’s not from his actions. But I believe the proof is right in front of them. Look at the biggest tax cut in U.S. history. The military is being strengthened daily after years of being torn apart. He actually knows how to show respect when saluting, which our last president never took the time to learn or even care. While I don’t always agree with his tweets, he is a blunt person, and people need to stop fearing the truths.

Has President Trump lived up to your expectations, exceeded them or fallen short? He has done more to hold his promises, and we would see more without all the opposition. What a shame that so many think it’s OK to disrespect our president of this great nation so much. As for shortfalls, again if the left would realize how corrupt the government has been, we would have our wall along the border. I’m all for having immigrants enter America, but within the laws. I can’t bend the laws, so why should they?

A year later, do you have any reservations about your vote for Trump? I would lead his campaign to put him in again. I don’t agree with everything, but whoever does with any elected official? However, let’s respect his position.

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► Connie Basham, a former Tippecanoe County Council member and president of Tippecanoe County Right to Life, considers Vice President Mike Pence a personal friend and went to Trump’s inauguration.

Your biggest hope for Trump’s first year: It’s difficult to pinpoint one greatest hope. But I suppose my greatest concern was the uncontrolled spread of radical Islamic terrorism. I was hopeful the new president would order major counter-terrorism strikes worldwide, in order to protect our homeland. He thankfully took that action.

Assess his first year in office – the good, the bad and overall: From my observations, President Trump has been an absolute success during his first year. As soon as he was elected in November 2016, media pundits warned us the stock market would crash and our economy would be worse than we’d ever witnessed, because Donald Trump’s policies were outrageous. However, those warnings were what proved to be outrageous. Record after record has been set on Wall Street; Americans are going to see increased paychecks; more businesses are returning to our soil; and more Americans are finding jobs. The results appear pretty good to me.

Has President Trump lived up to your expectations, exceeded them or fallen short? He has indeed lived up to my expectations. He was elected because of his ability to speak the language of mainstream Americans — the people who labor every day to provide for their families; the small business owners who have struggled to survive under greater and greater federal regulations; our law enforcement agencies, which were labeled as the enemy of the people; our military personnel, who continued to see their budgets cut and their equipment deteriorating; pre-born babies whose rights as humans were mocked and whose bodies were torn apart within their own mothers’ wombs; and especially all Americans with religious conscience, who lost their right to live within that conscience. My only real disappointment this past year — although not a failure on the part of the president, but on the part of Congress — has been the failure to overturn Obamacare, which created an unbelievable strain on hospitals and medical personnel, as well as working Americans who could not afford to have health insurance because of the extreme increase in premiums and deductibles. I’ve seen far too many hard-working citizens going without health care since Obamacare passed, while those who refused to work or who are here illegally have been provided with free coverage, at the expense of those same hard-working Americans. What a travesty.

A year later, do you have any reservations about your vote for Trump? I have absolutely no reservation about my decision to vote for Donald Trump. In fact, I rejoiced on election night and was delighted to stand with a throng of supporters on Jan. 20, as he and Mike Pence took the oaths of office.

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► Eddy Landes, a Lafayette resident, said he was surprised in November 2016 that Trump actually won the election. He came to vote for Trump after other GOP candidates fell by the wayside during the primary that year. But more than anything, he said his vote followed the fact that Trump wasn’t Hillary Clinton.

Your biggest hope for Trump’s first year: My biggest hope was something different than the career politicians we've known all of my adult life would really make a difference. Someone who would actually follow through on campaign promises. … My biggest fear was he'd continue being thin-skinned, immature and perpetually make Twitter comments that would be counterproductive.

Assess his first year in office – the good, the bad and overall: The good: My 401(k) is skyrocketing, our economy is running at a very high level, unemployment is continuing to drop and companies are returning. The bad: He's still a petulant child, he still rubs people the wrong way, and we're still divided.

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Has President Trump lived up to your expectations, exceeded them or fallen short? My 401(k) and the economy are better than I thought we'd see, as well as the unemployment rate. I expected companies to return. I really thought he'd not be so ridiculous on Twitter. His comments about NFL players and uninviting players to the White House was a low point for me.

A year later, do you have any reservations about your vote for Trump? I have absolutely no reservations about voting for Trump over Hillary. There is no way I could have cast my vote for that corruption machine. I only wish that (Libertarian candidate) Gary Johnson had been taken more seriously, as he'd have been the best thing for our nation. In the end, Trump was the only choice for me. I'd vote the same if the election were held today. No regrets.

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► Mike Morris is a member of Citizens in Action, a Lafayette tea party organization.

Your biggest hope for Trump’s first year: A year ago, I wrote: “When my fellow citizens who did not support him see what he proposes and gets implemented actually works, they will perhaps acknowledge that the previous path of statism, open borders, weakening defense, doubling the national debt, high taxes, crony capitalism, low labor participation, and a flaccid, feckless foreign policy was wrong. I’m not holding my breath.” It is a good thing I did not hold my breath. Still, many are seeing bigger paychecks and bonuses due to the tax reform he shepherded through Congress. Among others, Apple is repatriating $350 billion – while paying 15 percent tax on it – and projecting 20,000 new American jobs. Ford is moving some production back from Mexico to Michigan. The stock market is up to 26,000 from 18,000 on Election Day; unemployment is the lowest in decades; unemployment among black Americans is the lowest in history; food stamp consumption is down; illegal border crossings have plummeted. Morale in the military is up – they know they have a commander in chief who has their backs. On the international stage, our friends can trust us again, and our enemies know our resolve.

Assess his first year in office – the good, the bad and overall: Donald Trump has accomplished much in his first year: Justice Neil Gorsuch, rolling back Barack Obama executive orders on a plethora of issues – “clean power” and the “Paris accords,” for example – while eliminating needless regulations that increase the cost of doing business. And, of course, there is the tax reform bill, which is only beginning to have effect. And he has had a spine-stiffening effect on the Republicans in Congress. They would not be calling our current little crisis the “Schumer Shutdown” were it not for Donald Trump.

The bad? Congress not repealing the Affordable Care Act. Not getting the border wall built. Letting a district judge stop his executive orders.

Overall, I’m extremely pleased with his performance. He made promises and has set about trying to keep them. That makes him very unusual.

Has President Trump lived up to your expectations, exceeded them or fallen short? Exceeded. He had a mess tossed in his lap – for which he asked. His inauguration speech was a thing of beauty. He is the only figure in public life who could have withstood the constant, corrosive barrage of negative coverage.

He’s a street fighter from Queens; he’s not smooth, and he’s not slick, and he’s not an ideologue. But he knows his constituency: All Americans, regardless of what is constantly thrown at him.

Where he’s fallen short? Cleaning out the swamp in the executive branch. He should have fired or re-assigned to Adak, Alaska, every Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton appointee. We’ve seen they have not served him well and continue to undermine him. He’s also made some puzzling staff choices of his own. And why Jeff Sessions is still attorney general is beyond me.

A year later, do you have any reservations about your vote for Trump? Hell, no! But there is still much to do: Repeal thee Affordable Care Act; truly secure our borders and figure out who is here; reign in spending; address entitlements and start paying down our $20.6 trillion debt.

We just now are getting an idea to what extent the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Obama administration together and separately employed totalitarian, banana republic tactics against political opponents – Bernie Sanders, tea Party, Donald Trump, any opposition press. Stay tuned.

Reach J&C columnist Dave Bangert at 765-420-5258 or at dbangert@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.