It’s been just over eight months since Donald Trump returned to the White House, and the aftershocks of his second term are starting to hit — especially in the very communities that helped send him back.
Now, with approval ratings stuck in the low 40s — 38% from Leger, 40% from both YouGov and Pew, 41% from Marist — it’s clear that the MAGA base is feeling some serious buyer’s remorse.
Trump campaigned on sweeping cuts, a government “reckoning,” and restoring “order.” And that’s exactly what voters got — cuts to Medicaid, rollbacks on food assistance, slashes to housing support. Only now, many of the people feeling the pain are the ones who were cheering the loudest just months ago.
In a striking New York Times roundtable, conservative David French and liberal columnists Michelle Goldberg and Jamelle Bouie unpacked what’s happening — and why so many Trump voters seem shocked at what they’re getting.
Bouie didn’t hold back. “If you don’t want this consequence, don’t vote for Republicans,” he said. He pointed out a hard truth: the connection between how people vote and how they’re affected often gets lost in the noise.
“The choices voters make don’t reliably result in feedback that helps them understand or contextualize those choices,” Bouie said. “So, for example, a Republican voter receiving Medicaid may not necessarily see it as the same Medicaid that a Black voter in New York receives. They may perceive those as two different things.”
That misperception is now colliding with reality. In red states, where many working-class Trump voters rely on Medicaid or food subsidies, the administration’s cuts are starting to land. And suddenly, what looked like a “win” for small government is a punch to the gut.
“The Republican Party Is Becoming Much More Working Class…”
David French, a longtime Never Trump conservative, noted the deep irony in the GOP’s strategy: the party is increasingly fueled by working-class support — and yet it’s slashing programs those voters depend on.
“Medicaid cuts now impact more Republicans than they used to,” French said. “Is there a scenario where Republicans are not really reading their own room?”
That question cuts to the core of the backlash. MAGA voters expected Trump to go after the “freeloaders” and “deep state bureaucrats” — not their own benefits. But Trump’s policies, especially around health care and safety net spending, don’t make those distinctions. The axe swings wide.
And it’s not just health care. Tax cuts for the wealthy, paid for in part by shrinking social programs, are only deepening the divide. The people feeling squeezed aren’t on Wall Street. They’re in working-class towns that lit up the electoral map for Trump.
Michelle Goldberg raised the broader alarm: while economic fallout builds, democratic norms are eroding.
“Look, we have a president who is completely lawless,” she said. “We are in a free fall toward authoritarianism.”
Her warning wasn’t just about Trump’s style — it was about substance. The administration’s attacks on independent institutions, the DOJ, the media, and political opponents aren’t just D.C. drama. They’re reshaping what government means — and who it serves.
But in many cases, the MAGA base is only just starting to connect the dots — and feel the consequences.
From Cheers to Complaints
There’s no shortage of irony here: Trump is, in many ways, delivering exactly what he promised. The problem? His voters didn’t think those promises would come for them.
They thought Medicaid cuts would hit “someone else.” They thought food assistance rollbacks were about “the cities.” They thought tax breaks would “trickle down.”
Now, eight months in, they’re finding out that Trump’s policies don’t care who you voted for. And the backlash is growing — not from the left, but from the very people who sent him back to power.
