Milliken, Colorado
Cnn
–
Take a look with David Hayes around his color of Colorado and you learn right away, he’s a fiery and funny guy.
“I tried to cultivate for a while,” he told a visitor. “I prefer to be crushed by a bison.”
There is only one bison left on the SPOMER RANCH, against 60 or 70 a few years ago. “I retire,” said Hayes. “About 70 years old and my body is no longer working too well.”
The problem is the name of the last bison. And Hayes was quick to add that the problem is what he sees in Washington a month to the president Donald TrumpThe second act.
“I really don’t like him as a person,” said Hayes. “I think he’s arrogant. A kind of con.
Yes, Hayes thinks that the federal workforce can be considerably cut. But for him, the current approach seems more impulsive than consistent. “I’m not sure that (Trump) thought throughout the process,” said Hayes. “It’s a bit like:” Let’s start with it and throw everyone. “”
In addition, he does not trust or does not believe Elon Musk and the hairs when he hears the billionaire and his team Try to access sensitive tax and social security files.
“I don’t like it,” said Hayes. “I don’t think they should be in our business.”
Hayes rolled his eyes when he told Trump and Musk alleging that there are many people allegedly between 100 and 150 years old claim social security.
“Can you believe one of those bullshit?” He said while crossing the 100 acre ranch. “You cannot justify it. You can’t believe it. It is therefore a problem of trust. … (Trump) does all that and I don’t think he understands the ramifications of what he does. »»
It is an overwhelming socket of a Trump voter with three blue passes who lives in a rural area where Democrats have had trouble in recent years. But Democrats should hold the celebration. We ask Hayes what he would choose if he could rebuild his vote in 2024 now that he looked at the first tumultuous month of Trump. “I would always do Trump,” he said.
It was a recurring theme because we visited the 8th District of the Colorado Congress as part of our project “Tour on the map”. The district extends from the northern suburbs of Denver to the south of the Wyoming border. It is 40% Hispanic, uniformly divided politically and will be critical while the Republicans of the Chamber defend their tiny majority In the middle of 2026. The president’s political status is almost always the best mid-term barometer, and during this first visit, we focused on Trump voters.
“I love it,” said Esmeralda Ramirez-Ray about the first frenzied month of Trump. “That’s why I voted.”
She all made up my heart with the musks Walking through federal agencies.
“I don’t know why it surprises anyone,” she said, noting the big role of Musk in the last weeks of the campaign. “You haven’t been careful if it’s a surprise.”
Asked where she obtained her news, Ramirez-Ray listed Musk and The Epoch Times’ social media platform, a far-right publication known for her support for Trump and her history of criticism of vaccines and the progression of conspiracy theories. “I’m not looking at Fox,” she said. “I don’t look at CNN. I’m not looking at ABC, NBC, all that. … It’s really difficult for me to get news in whom I can trust or what I can believe. »»
Ramirer Ray was raised as a Democrat and said that she and her parents had faced other Latinos uplands when they warmed up in Trump in 2016. “They could not believe that someone Hispanic origin would support someone who was racist labeled.
Now she sees a first month of promises. She broadcast a disagreement with Trump – wishing him to change his tone with regard to immigration.
“I was raised as a migrant worker working in the fields,” said Ramirez-ray in an interview with his office in Greeley, 65 miles north of Denver. “These are the people who choose their harvests. So, even if I support Trump, I don’t think he’s the end, saving humanity. No one is.
Ramirez-Ray works as an interpreter for the accused of the courts who do not understand English, and many of his clients are undocumented immigrants who work in meat factories, construction, agriculture or other jobs. It is appropriate that some undocumented immigrants are violent, but said that she wanted Trump to understand “The majority of my clients who are here are good honest people who are trying to make a living, and there should be a legal journey for that they stay here. ”
Todd Waufle founded Satire Brewing in 2018. It was in Thornton, a 12-mile community north of Denver, which Waufle describes as a politically “50-50” and where a bipartite complaint is the quick suburban.
“The day after the elections, yes, it was 50-50,” said Waufle. “Half people were crying in their beers, really upset. I mean really emotional. … So the other half are, as, strong and applause and jovial. »»
Count Waufle among the jovial, then and now.
“I like him to be at full speed,” said Waufle about Trump. “Let’s do things. Let’s find out if policies work, if they don’t work. … I am absolutely so that it is in action.
Like Ramirez-Ray, Waufle has no problem with Musk and his work, at least not yet.
“He can also make things happen,” said Waufle. “You have two guys there to play, to work.”
Not that Waufle loves everything in the Trump agenda.
Brasserie’s affairs are solid and he is constantly debated. During a tour, Waufle shows us new fermentation tanks that are not yet used and an open space where it wishes to install machines to keep so that it can increase production and sales. But it’s unanswered for the moment because of Trump aluminum prices.
“If you fly enough, you understand,” he said in the first days of the new term Trump. “Look your seat belt.” Turbulence to come.
But he expressed the confidence that things will finally settle to the point that he feels comfortable with his expansion plan. Waufle’s approach is a trademark of many Trump voters: Accept things that make them cringe to get the things they believe that Trump is better equipped to deliver, starting with a better economy and a border stronger.
“He’s a bit pompous, arrogant,” said Waufle. “It’s not necessarily my style. But it works for him. … Trump will say what he will say and, yes, a game will be exaggerated, some will not be true. But at the end of the day, I think you were able to pass through all of this. Will he get things done? Will he move the country in the right direction? Will the border be taken care of? Are we going to reduce costs?
Austin Jenkins voted for its November bulletin hoping for lower taxes and less regulation would help his family and small businesses, which include a cocktail bar and the Greeley ax house – a place of ax launch.
“I think he’s a bit scandalous and wild sometimes,” said Jenkins, 28, about Trump. “I’m not necessarily a Trump guy. I’m just much more conservative in my opinions.
His wife’s family is a democrat, and the conversation with Jenkins is rich with evidence that his policy changes as he starts a family and his businesses take root in the diversified community of Greeley.
“They taught me a lot and it also softened my heart,” said Jenkins.
He fears that Trump prices Will add costs and stress to small businesses that already deal with high costs and high interest rates.
And Jenkins sees fear in a Latin community which he describes as vital for his businesses and the region.
“We have friends and a family that we care about and, as, they are nervous, they will put their children at school and someone will seize them.”
Jenkins is everything for a stronger border and a more organized immigration process. But he wants Trump to accept the reality of communities such as Greeley who have a significant number of undocumented workers.
“The most workers I have ever met,” said Jenkins. “It’s unfortunate what’s going on. I think there is a better way to go. I don’t know if it’s necessarily just forcing them.
THE Blizzard of executive actions is also disturbing.
“I thought he was supposed to be checks and balances,” said Jenkins.
Trump will not be on the 2026 ballot, of course, and we are only a month in his new quarter. But if concerns like these Jenkins have on immigration, musk and presidential power continue to grow, the republicans of the battlefield such as the representative of the first year GABE GABE EVANS could find a mid-term climate more difficult. Evans has won just over 2,000 votes, and the district is already a democratic target.
For the moment, however, what is happening most among the voters here is the same problem that dominated the 2024 race.
“The great thing here is the cost of living is to go crazy here in Colorado,” said Jenkins. “It seems that everyone drowns a little.”
Hayes, the bison rancher who soon withdrew, joke that “the eggs are worth more than diamonds” now. He also tries to solve another problem of lifestyle that makes him grumpy – not a good thing for an outgoing politician.
“I have a medication that went from $ 4.60 in December to $ 45 in January,” said Hayes. “No one knew why. This is the kind of thing that a bit of a guy.