President Donald Trump’s price range is gutting Medicaid—and rural America is on the entrance traces of the injury. And massive shocker: Most of Trump’s fervent supporters refuse to simply accept actuality.
A well being clinic in McCook, Nebraska, which has a inhabitants of seven,446, not too long ago made nationwide headlines after saying that it’s shutting its doorways, unable to outlive the large GOP Medicaid cuts.
“Anyone who’s saying that Medicaid cuts is why they’re closing is a liar,” a resident of close by Curtis, which has a inhabitants of 806, informed the Washington Submit.
One other resident brushed it off as individuals simply “trying to blame everything on Trump,” calling it “horse feathers.” Should be a Nebraska factor.
And the city’s mayor, who proudly shows an Obama punching bag labeled “Obama stress reliever” on his desk, insisted, “I don’t think the signing of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ had one thing to do with the closure of this clinic.”
Okay then.
For years, Trump and the Republican Occasion have bought rural white voters a narrative: that the true drawback with authorities isn’t that it fails individuals like them—it’s that it helps the flawed individuals. Advantages aren’t going to “deserving” People like them however to immigrants, huge cities, Black and brown individuals, and coastal elites. It’s a lie, however a potent one. And it nonetheless works.
Proper-wing message boards are full of individuals claiming that the one well being care being lower is for “illegals” or freeloaders. So when the cuts hit them as an alternative—the “hard-working, God-fearing patriots”—they quick circuit. The media have to be mendacity. There needs to be one other clarification. It might probably’t be Trump.
And, sure, most of these voters are gone. We’re not getting them again. Their political id is constructed round the concept that Trump is their champion, even when it’s crystal clear that he’s the one twisting the knife.
However not all of them are unreachable.
A disabled protester holds an indication that reads, “Medicaid = life 4 disabled,” on the U.S. Capitol.
Take Brenda Wheeler, a 61-year-old Republican from Curtis. She voted for Trump in 2016 however then soured on him and sat out of the 2024 election. When the clinic closure hit residence, she informed the Submit, “I’m not in agreement with this bill.”
“When we talked about making America great again, I don’t think this is what we all had in mind,” stated Wheeler, who’s even contemplating switching her voter registration to impartial.
Folks like her are the opening.
Not all of them will defect. The truth is, most received’t. However we don’t want most. If simply 5-10% of Republicans peel off—or if a couple of million nonvoters lastly present up—the maths shifts towards Democrats. Our fragile 49-48 Democratic nationwide edge turns into a strong 55-45 majority. That’s not only a win; it’s a buffer. It’s how we construct a sturdy progressive coalition that may climate any right-wing wave.
We’re not going to deprogram the cult, however we don’t should. What we are able to do is attain the individuals asking why their mother’s Medicaid bought slashed, why their insulin all of a sudden prices extra, or why their city’s solely clinic simply shuttered.
That’s the silver lining of our present dystopian nightmare: there’s nobody else accountable. Republicans management every little thing. They personal it.
Step one is making that actuality stick. The second is flipping not less than one congressional chamber in 2026 to cease Trump’s agenda and launch actual investigations into the corruption unfolding. And the third is providing one thing higher—seen, tangible, instant assist that voters can truly really feel. Or, as I’ve been arguing, lower out the buzzwords and promise to instantly and instantly make voters’ lives higher.
That’s how we win not simply in 2026, however for the lengthy haul.
