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I remember Election Night 2016 well. I was at the Holiday Inn’s Johnstown bar in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Rust Belt.
There is a remarkable passion in American politics and it was palpable that night when I joined the locals to see the results come in.
I had spent time with them over the previous days at their workplace and in their homes and we had all gathered at the hotel, a focal point in this small town, to see if it would be Hillary Clinton’s night or if the hipster Donald trump it could defy the polls and achieve a historic victory.
It was a night of hope and anxiety for both sides.
Not much has changed in Johnstown, Pennsylvania since the last election
When a Republican red wave swept through Pennsylvania and those other key states, I saw the jubilation and despair.
Since then, I’ve wondered how all the next four years have looked. Had their hopes and fears materialized?
Driving back to town, it doesn’t seem like much has changed.
Steel has been the lifeblood here for generations. The million-square-foot Gautier Mill dominates downtown. It’s still open, but others around it have been closed for years.
Along the squared streets are a remarkable number of bricked-up businesses. Retail had been leaving Johnstown for years.
It was the kind of place that Donald Trump hit hard four years ago.
“We’re making Pennsylvania work again …” he told voters at a large 2016 rally in the city.
“When I’m president, we’re going to start doing things again in America …”
My first reunion, at the local steel workers union, is with Jeff Rininger.
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Four years ago we met at the local metal powder plant. I remember arriving thinking “surely everyone will vote for Trump”, given the promises he was making.
But no. Jeff, a lifetime blue collar worker, told me back then that he saw “rhetoric.”
“He’s just telling them what they want to hear …” he had told me.
Four years later? Well, some jobs have been created and retail has even picked up a bit in the city. However, Jeff’s views have hardened.
“Everything I thought was decent … and ‘you’re not going there,’ this president has gone there and created a lot of division at a pace that I never thought I’d see in my life,” he says.
“But what about trade?” I ask. Didn’t you prioritize “Made in America”?
“He did some things in trade. He tried to negotiate pretty hard with China, but what he did was impose tariffs on our products,” says Jeff.
“He came here four years ago and filled the war memorial in the center of town. A place with forty-five hundred seats. And they were lined up outside. And I, of course, didn’t go in. I drove past.
“Trump is saying, ‘I’m going to open all these mills. I’m going to open the mines. I’m going to get these jobs back.’ Well, today, none of those mills opened. None of the existing ones opened.”
Entrepreneur Eric Kabler: ‘The President did a good job’
Across town, Eric Kabler is a local financial advisor. I met him crossing the finish line of Johnstown Fun Run four years ago.
What he had told me about Clinton and Trump back then still resonates.
“I feel like they’re both dumb, however you already know Hillary, the analogy is that she’s an old dog that you can’t teach new tricks to. While Donald is a new dog that hopefully we can teach new tricks,” he said. . had said.
Recognizing me at the time that it was a risk, he chose Trump as president.
So is Trump still a “fool”? Has the “new dog” been taught new tricks?
We meet in his office. “From my perspective, I think Donald did a very good job. Unfortunately, he had to deal with impeachment. He had to deal with the crown crisis. And both things ruined the momentum we’ve had. And I don’t mean alone to the economy or the stock market, I feel like a lot of people felt more comfortable with his leadership.
“One of the things President Trump did in the beginning was lower corporate tax rates, which made corporations more profitable, and therefore made their stock prices more attractive.”
But what about his rhetoric? What about your division?
Trump won Pennsylvania by a margin of just 0.72% in 2016
“I said four years ago, he’s a fool and I’m not going to change his mind four years later … However, it’s not just that … it’s his platform of things he’s into, whether he’s pro-life, he’s everything about business, about the economy, getting people back to work. And that’s more from what I’m seeing than voting for him … “
Eric has no regrets. Will you vote for President Trump with more enthusiasm this time around?
“Absolutely … I vote for the platform and what they represent. And at the time, I wasn’t sure about President Trump’s arrival and where he would be standing with some things.”
He continued, “You know … he’s been rude. You know, you see him in debates and … he’s been disrespectful to a lot of people. He has a history of filing bankruptcy and all that kind of stuff … and so we wouldn’t vote for him to, you know, be on the school board in our local area!
“But because he has the capacity and the power to be able to make changes in the areas where we want changes to be made in the country, that’s why we are voting for him.”
In 2016, Donald Trump won this state by only 44,292 votes out of the more than six million cast, a margin of just 0.72%.
Election coverage of Sky News in the USA
