Strangers on a train: US voters riding north to New York brace for a second Trump presidency

On a 27-hour prepare from Florida a month after Donald Trump was voted again into the White Home, passengers mentioned their hopes and fears for the longer term.

The Silver Meteor is among the longest rail routes within the US, overlaying 2200km on the nation’s east coast. But regardless of its identify, an Amtrak guard instructed Euronews that the prepare not often runs quicker than 100km/h and usually arrives a minimum of an hour late.

Stretching from Miami on the backside of Florida to New York Metropolis within the nation’s north, its route crosses a number of key swing states, together with Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

In the back of the prepare, furthest from the noisy locomotive, are non-public cabins and “roomettes” that value over $2,000 (€1,900); on the entrance, you’ve your “coach class” seats at a couple of tenth of that. The 2 sections are divided by a bar, which, over the course of Euronews’ 27-hour journey, was overseen by a 60-year-old lady providing a slicing remark with each drink.

Approaching the bar from the again of the prepare got here Linda and Paul, a pair from Melbourne, Florida, travelling to Washington, DC, for his or her tenth wedding ceremony anniversary. Chatting with Euronews over vodka and lemonade, Linda was interested in European views on the election — her husband much less so.

“Oh f***,” he laughs, “are we going to speak about politics?”

After a chiding from Linda — a agency supporter of defeated Democratic candidate Kamala Harris — Paul implied he had voted for Trump, however reluctantly, saying that “the final election was about ladies’s rights, this one was about cash.”

Talking as her husband went to get one other drink, Linda stated she wasn’t satisfied by Paul’s clarification. She stated that reproductive rights remained her high concern (these nonetheless matter to round an eighth of all feminine voters).

“Whether or not I unintentionally conceive a child or get raped, regardless of the case could also be, I wish to have a option to not have that little one that I do not need,” Linda stated. “I wish to be revered. I work simply as exhausting as my husband, and I nonetheless receives a commission much less.”

Regardless of nearly all of ladies backing Harris, greater than 1,000,000 switched to Trump this election, which left Linda perplexed.

“It’s unbelievable. (Trump) has no backing for girls’s rights. He diminishes them on a regular basis,” she identified.

Paul returned from the bar, scowling over a remark from the bar supervisor. Because the solar set and the prepare trundled into northern Florida, the dialog turned to democracy.

The previous president, now again for his second try on the wheel, infamously instructed voters in the course of the election that “in 4 years … we’ll have it mounted so good; you’re not going to must vote.” Former advisers have in contrast him to a “fascist,” warning that he desires to erode democracy for his personal ends.

But Paul was unperturbed by this and insisted his tentative assist for Trump didn’t imply he was detached to the significance of democracy — removed from it.

“This isn’t a dictatorship,” he stated. “That is not how our nation was based.”

Because the prepare crossed into Georgia, the pair headed off for dinner of their cabin.

“I do know she’s proper,” Paul concluded. “Love you,” replied Linda.

‘Freakin Muppets’

Sat shut by was Mark, a US Air Drive Vietnam Struggle veteran and building employee on his approach residence to Pennsylvania, ingesting a can of beer with “Assist the Troops” emblazoned on the facet.

“I am gonna make one assertion plenty of these individuals aren’t gonna prefer it,” he exclaimed, trying round. “F*** Trump.”

Lois, a 78-year-old former trainer and banker, seemed up from a phrase recreation on her cellphone.

Mark did not flinch. “I imply it. Mr Trump is not for the poor individuals, he’s for the wealthy. Finish of story.”

“In my space, just about, you recognize, the poor individuals have been for Harris, the wealthy have been for Trump,” he stated.

Pennsylvania’s 19 Electoral Faculty votes have been on the centre of the 2024 election end result. No candidate has gained the presidency with out the state since George W Bush in 2004; this time spherical, Trump gained the state by 120,000 votes.

Mark was grateful that the election itself was peaceable however questioned whether or not that peace would final.

“He gained. I’ve no drawback with that, however I say, inside 18 months, there’ll be battle. Watch and see. In Korea, Ukraine, the Center East.”

The incoming president has promised to finish the battle in Ukraine in “someday” and obtain “peace within the Center East”, providing no particulars in both case.

Lois raised her eyebrows above her cat-eye glasses. “They remind me of little boys preventing with one another,” she stated, rolling her eyes. “Then you definately throw in crackers Kamala. She has the goofiest giggle I ever heard.”

Lois declined to which approach she voted however stated her dad and mom had labored for “the elephant” in her youth, a reference to the Republican emblem.

“Anyway, cash talks, bull**** walks,” she concluded, leaving it unclear which candidate she was referencing.

“Nicely, Trump’s nonetheless strolling,” Mark retorted.

A really, very conservative marketing campaign

A few hours later, the prepare pulled into Savannah on the border between Georgia and South Carolina. Becoming a member of the prepare have been Ocean and Kobe, a younger couple working for NGOs in DC, coming back from visiting household down south.

“I believe there’s part of me that all the time feels a level of worry within the South. I really feel very on guard,” Kobe stated, attributing his nervousness partly to gun tradition but in addition his “liberal bubble”.

The couple described themselves as being to the left of the Democrats and weren’t followers of Harris’ marketing campaign — significantly as a result of she declined to distance herself from the Biden administration’s coverage towards Israel and its marketing campaign in Gaza.

“Trump’s victory goes to imply that lots of people are going to undergo greater than they in any other case would have. That hurts,” stated Kobe. “However I believe Harris’ victory would have additionally meant that lots of people are going to undergo unjustly.”

“Individuals are going to die who shouldn’t die.”

As some passengers began to float off to sleep, Julie and Kevin boarded the prepare with their daughter, adopted by their pal Mike. They have been heading up from the border of South and North Carolina to New York Metropolis, the place their daughter can be participating in a dance parade in Instances Sq..

“I used to be thrilled by the outcomes,” Julie instructed Euronews. A self-proclaimed “dance mother,” she was amongst a majority of voters whose high priorities included the economic system and immigration.

“It’s about getting the costs down, and stopping this example with the immigrants coming in,” she defined. “They’re getting advantages, they only are available and get $4,500 a month. I actually consider when you don’t have a US passport or US citizenship, you shouldn’t be capable of simply are available and get free cash, free providers, free schooling.”

As she was speaking, a Fox Information notification popped up on her cellphone.

Internet migration rose to 1.6 million newcomers in 2023, its highest degree in years, and fixed protection of the problem nudged many citizens in the direction of Trump. For his or her half, Democrats identified to no avail that the president-elect had brazenly blocked a bipartisan immigration invoice for political achieve. (The overwhelming majority of immigrants don’t routinely qualify for public advantages, if in any respect.)

Mike, a hockey crew mascot wearing a Santa hat, agreed with Julie but in addition pointed a finger at US residents he noticed as benefiting from the welfare system.

“I don’t wish to single out single moms, however there are individuals who have one other child simply to get extra money,” he stated. A mom travelling alone with three younger youngsters seemed over.

Whereas all three have been completely happy Trump gained, none had full religion in him or the political system generally. “They each have agendas you see, even that assassination try on the incoming president, I believe each events had one thing to do with that,” stated Mike.

Julie sighed. “Nicely issues have gotten to vary. I actually hope they do.”

‘I cried for days’

Within the early hours of the morning, two brothers sat within the bar carriage, surreptitiously ingesting cognac on the sly from a youngsters’s SeaWorld bottle coated in dolphins. They have been coming to the tip of a chess recreation.

“He is kicking my ass proper now,” laughed Carl, a 70-year-old former engineer, as his youthful brother Paris took a knight. Each queens have been gone, and each kings have been weak.

Turning to politics, Carl’s smile dissipated. “Man, I cried for days after that election,” he instructed Euronews, shaking his head. “The factor that harm most is [Trump’s] disrespect for the American flag and the American veterans.”

The Vietnam veteran famous that the incoming president’s alleged feedback calling fallen troopers “suckers and losers” have been significantly “heartbreaking”.

Carl says he used to vote Republican within the Eighties, and known as John McCain “an American hero”. But, he could not recognise the get together anymore. He additionally believed the assassination makes an attempt on Trump “have been staged … like WWE”.

Paris sadly packed away his chess set. The son of a ballot employee, he stated he all the time tried to influence everybody “voting is sacred” — however he hasn’t been profitable together with his brother.

“No, I do not vote,” the previous marine instructed Euronews, his voice barely slurred. “I consider they will put in whoever the hell they need, no matter your vote. In the event that they put a goddamn convicted felon within the goddamn workplace, your vote by no means actually counts.”

At that time, the bar supervisor walked up. “Is that your personal alcohol in that bottle, sir?”

Paris shook his head: “It’s juice”.

She didn’t consider him. “You’re going to want to go away the bar now, I am shutting down anyway.”

Packing up the unfinished recreation and swaying with the prepare, Paris tutted. “What does that say for America?”

“Truthfully. What does that say for America?”

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