'He’s fighting for us': MAGA voters hold fast as Trump pillages their bank accounts

A person wears a hat reading Trump The Peace President before President Donald Trump speaks to the Knesset, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Jerusalem. Evan VucciPool via REUTERS

Reuters reporter Brad Brooks reports that many rural MAGA still embrace President Donald Trump’s policies, no matter how it hurts them.

Colorado resident Amy Van Duyn knows the price of gasoline has doubled to $4.34 per gallon since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year.

"I used to fill my tank for $36," Van Duyn, 42, told Reuters. "Now $36 gets me half a tank."

Her co-worker Tonyah Bruyette told Reuters that when it's time to buy groceries, she's left wondering where all her money went, declaring: "We're putting it in the tank rather than on our table."

Nevertheless, people like Bruyette are sticking with Trump.

"It feels like he hears us," said Bruyette, "that he is fighting for us."

Meanwhile, 65-year-old retired commodities broker Jim Miller said enduring the “momentary pain of high gas prices” was worth preventing Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon.

"I struggle, like everybody else does, but I'm willing to sacrifice a little," said Miller, who cites stories of American resilience during World War II. "That's been totally lost in this country, people's willingness to sacrifice."

The same goes for 66-year-old trader Mike Urbanowicz, who industry is actively suffering under Trump’s war. But even with gas prices blistering his industry, he said Trump was "naive" to think he could quickly solve the issue. And he expected prices to remain high into the fall, even if there was a breakthrough in stalled U.S.-Iran peace talks.

Still, he says he preferrs the status quo to Democrats, whom he saw as moving towards "full-blown socialism."

And in Fort Morgan, Lexys Siebrands told Reuters that the war with Iran as inevitable: "Something was going to happen eventually, whether it was Iran doing something to us or us doing it to them."

"It's just where we are with this war," said her mother, Jyl Siebrands. "People just have to give it time."

When asked if there was anything that might shake her faith in Trump's handling of the war or the economy, Jyl Siebrands said: “No. I'm all on board."

The pattern observed in rural America suggests a complex relationship between economic hardship and political loyalty.

Many Trump supporters in energy-dependent and agricultural communities continue to back his policies despite facing rising costs for fuel and groceries. Some attribute their loyalty to a belief that Trump understands their concerns, while others frame economic struggles as temporary sacrifices necessary for national security or to prevent what they see as unfavorable Democratic policies.

For many rural voters, support for Trump appears rooted in cultural identity and opposition to perceived liberal governance rather than immediate economic benefit.

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