The first 30 days of the Donald Trump presidency have been tumultuous to say the least. America’s 45th president has a historically low approval rating, and from his inauguration day forward, protestors have assembled to voice their opposition to his policies, most notably the executive order on immigration. But he’s still appealing to his base, the mostly Republican voters who elected him. New Ipswich, where Trump signs still dot the landscape, where some Mascenic basketball stars wear Trump socks to match their red, white and blue uniforms, and where 71 percent of voters cast their ballots for Donald Trump, is no exception.
“I voted for Trump and I’m still happy with what he’s doing,” said Ethan Howard of New Ipswich. “He’s doing everything that he said.”
A mechanical designer who heads over the border to Massachusetts to work, Ethan has traditionally voted for the Republican presidential nominee, save a vote back in 1992 for Ross Perot, who he described as a “Trump-type” outsider. He said he wasn’t nearly as involved in politics back then, though, but the Trump campaign spoke to him.
“What I really saw at the beginning was that he loves his country and he believes in what he’s doing,” Ethan said. “He wants to put Americans first. Before you help your neighbor, you have to help yourself, you know? You have to have to get your ducks in a row before you can help the person next to you, and that’s what he’s doing. I think what Trump is doing now is going to overflow to other countries and they’re all going to be blessed by what he’s doing.”
Howard’s wife, Julie, isn’t so sure. She voted for Trump, too, as the “lesser-of-two-evils.” Their family saw costs, health care and otherwise, rise under Obama, she said, and Hillary Clinton was likely to make it worse, in her opinion.
Julie is a housewife who does several part-time jobs including housecleaning now that their kids have transitioned from homeschooling to the Mascenic public schools. Their son, Micah, plays for the basketball team and he’s one of a few who wears their political views on game day. But Julie, while she’ll still support Trump, has a few issues with his demeanor and politics.
“I think he’s arrogant and although I think that he’ll do a better job than Hillary, I don’t think that he is a good representative of our country,” Julie said.
Particularly at issue for her is the executive order on immigration.
“America is a melting pot, and I don’t have a problem with multiple different cultures being allowed into America,” she said. “I think to ban one sect is not right. I do think, no matter where you come from, whether it be a Muslim country or not, everybody should be screened, everybody should be checked out, I don’t care where you come from! I think to ban one sect, is not a good representative of our country. My relatives come from Holland, and although I think they’re a pretty peaceful country … how many of us are truly Americans? We all come from someplace other than America.”
At the end of the day, the two co-exist.
“I do my word games on my phone, while he reads his political books,” Julie said.
“If I vote for a guy, and I’m 100 percent behind him, I want to find out everything about him,” Ethan said. “I want to make sure I got the right guy. And what I see right now, I got the right guy.”