Republicans Regret Supporting Trump Amid Funding Cuts and Policy Changes

While diehard MAGA supporters seem to praise every decision President Donald Trump makes, there are more and more Republicans who are regretting their votes.

First, people found out they might not be invited home for the holidays after voting for Trump, then MAGA supporters discovered that Trump's mass deportation plans could separate them from their families or hurt their business' bottom line. Next, they learned that a vote for Trump in November might mean losing food stamps today.

Now it's MAGA farmers and teachers who are regretting casting their ballot for Trump as he strips federal funding and shuts down aid programs.

Farmers are already dealing with the effects of climate change and avian flu outbreaks, but the Trump administration's recent efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) -- spearheaded by Elon Musk -- means that people who owned farms are already losing money.

While Trump and Musk claim they ordered a 90-day freeze on USAID's foreign aid spending to rein in wasteful spending, in actuality they're hurting American farmers and other business owners who sell goods and services to USAID.

American Farmers supply around 41% of the food aid that USAID and the U.S. Department of Agriculture send around the world, which amounted to $2.1 billion in food aid from American farms in 2020, the Washington Post reports.

But with Trump shutting down the program, $340 million in purchases and shipments of U.S. food aid has been paused, leaving farmers unsure of what the future holds.

Other farmers who voted for Trump are angry about the president's tariff plans that could lead to retaliation from China. This could impact soybean and corn farmers' ability to sell their crops -- something that happened during the first Trump administration.

Skylar Holden, a self-proclaimed Trump supporter and a cattle rancher in Missouri, was depending on a $240,000 cost-sharing contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that he signed so he could add fencing and improve his ranch's water system. But Skylar recently took to TikTok to report that he was set to lose tens of thousands of dollars when the Trump administration froze federal funding.

I've already done a bunch of the work, already paid for the material and the labor, so I'm out all that cost. We are possibly going to lose our farm if NRCS doesn't hold up their contract with us," Holden said in one video.

One of the myriad executive orders Trump has signed since taking office targeted the Inflation Reduction Act, a Biden-era law that included money for farmers to aid in conservation efforts and relief for distressed borrowers.

Trump has also been targeting schools, announcing that he has plans to dismantle the Department of Education. Teachers across the country are terrified about his plans and what federal budget cuts and spending freezes could mean for the future of their schools.

Even Trump-supporting educators are starting to feel regret about supporting the politician making their jobs harder. Jennifer Blankenship, a Trump voter and principal of Bell Central School Center in Kentucky, admitted that Trump's plan will hurt her school.

I voted for President Trump to make America first again and to improve our lives," she told a reporter for CNN, but when asked about Trump's policies, she laid bare the ways it would impact kids.

I don't think that's what the voters want," she said. If we have federal cuts, then that's going to mean bigger classroom sizes. I would lose teachers, first and foremost. It's devastating.

Sometimes when you vote for leopards, they end up eating your face!