As Trump attempts to manage the decline of US imperialism on the world stage through trade war escalations, some of his most loyal supporters are paying the price—and are beginning to turn against him.
Trump’s approval is now underwater in 12 states he won in 2024, including all seven swing states. The sharpest drop has been among the youth: 30% of Trump voters under 35 no longer support him, according to Pew Research.
“He hasn’t kept his promises,” said Angel Castaneda, member of the Young Conservatives at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania speaking to the Financial Times. “He started a tariff war and now prices are going up. The government shutdown is stupid. I don’t know what he’s doing. I’m very close to calling myself an independent.”
US farmers are among those having second thoughts. Trump’s trade war with China has collapsed the soybean market, leaving farmers with shrinking revenues, ballooning debt, and no choice but to take out even more loans. Farm bankruptcies jumped by 57% in the first half of this year. 2025 saw an increase in farmer suicides, which are already 3.5 times higher than the general population. “This is a man-made disaster caused by Donald Trump and his administration,” said one Iowa soybean farmer.
Coal miners, who once saw Trump as their defender, are also suffering. Although Trump pledged $625 million in subsidies and 13 million acres of federal land to help coal capitalists, he has slashed environmental regulations and stalled the enforcement of exposure limits on carcinogenic silica dust.
Corporations get handouts while the miners get black lung. This irreversible disease has seen a re-emergence due to new mining practices which produce more silica dust, shortening life expectancy by 12.6 years, on average.
“The coal miners have supplied this country with electricity, and now they’re just cast aside to die,” said Judith Riffe, whose husband died of black lung.
As a result, this once reliable MAGA layer now gathers in front of the Labor Department, protesting the Trump administration.
Military veterans have also undergone a shift. Although 65% of vets backed Trump in the election, 76% of them opposed DOGE firings of VA staff. Veterans make up 30% of civilian federal workers, who are suffering the consequences of the latest government shutdown.
After missing paychecks, veterans and military families now line up at food banks. A viral clip of soldiers standing in line for hours to feed their families prompted comments such as, “America being great again” and, “This is quite literally Donald Trump’s America.”
As MAGA fractures, an opportunity opens for a genuine working-class movement, armed with a socialist program. Only a democratically planned economy can guarantee dignified and stable living conditions for all workers.