"'The Nation Needed This. A Good Shakeup.": A Call for Change
In Texas's predominantly Latino Starr County, there appears to be minimal evidence of buyer's remorse among Donald Trump’s political supporters.
TroibNews 
RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas — Homero Gonzalez winced at the mention of Elon Musk and inquired if I had seen the photos of the billionaire wielding a chainsaw at a conservative conference last week.
Musk’s significant layoffs and budget reductions led to some Republican lawmakers facing boos at town halls in their districts. Gonzalez expressed concern that the flamboyance of President Donald Trump’s chief ally might attract negative attention. However, on the topic of cuts, he was supportive. “It’s hard,” Gonzalez acknowledged, but “we need it.”
We were at the Starr County Fair in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, where I had come to engage with some of Trump’s latest supporters — voters who flipped this county red for the first time in over a century last November, contributing to Trump’s win of the popular vote for the first time. Their enthusiastic acceptance of the dismantling of the federal bureaucracy starkly contrasted with what some suggest is a growing backlash against Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.
Among the dozens of individuals I spoke with at the fairgrounds and in Rio Grande City — mostly Republicans and right-leaning independents, as well as some who had voted for Joe Biden in 2020 before switching to Trump — I noted a few expressed indifference to the cuts. However, the majority viewed Musk’s actions as a crucial realignment of a system they felt was failing them.
“There’s a lot of people who take advantage, they abuse the system,” Gonzalez stated.
Despite the drizzling rain and chilly temperatures at the fair, Gonzalez, who works in the oil industry, sat beside his son in a tent where their friend Roman Del Bosque groomed a miniature Hereford. He remarked that, in this county—one of the most impoverished in the U.S.—getting fired was a familiar experience. “It sucks,” he admitted. Nevertheless, Del Bosque, a freight driver, also felt it was necessary.
As the cow urinated, Del Bosque proclaimed that DOGE is eliminating “the B.S.”
In Washington, unease was growing among Republicans regarding opposition to Musk’s overhaul of federal agencies. The cuts emerged as a contentious topic during town halls held by Republican House members last week in states such as California, Georgia, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Wisconsin. Some congressional Republicans, anxious about the pace and impact of the cuts, have privately voiced concerns to the White House, especially in light of several unfavorable polls.
However, the sentiment I encountered among Trump’s supporters here was starkly different. There was no sense of regret or defensiveness; instead, they approached the situation with obligation, reverence, or joy.
“I don’t qualify for Medicaid, so fine with me,” Nelda Cruz, a local utility clerk, stated when I inquired about Republican spending proposals that could necessitate billions in cuts to Medicaid. “Now they’re going to feel how I feel.”
She added, “The nation needed this. A good shakeup. And all the people it is riling up, it’s because it’s hurting them.”
A local insurance company owner displayed a sign advertising “Obamacare: Enroll Here” and asked if it was true that “reptile people” had been found taking Social Security benefits; he stated that, regardless, America “needed a shaking up.”
Even if it could have negative repercussions for them. Texas has around 130,000 civilian federal employees, closely trailing Virginia's more than 144,000. Over a quarter of Starr County’s population lives in poverty. Yet, as I navigated the town and fairgrounds—filled with cowboy boots and camo jackets, parents sheltering from the rain, and children eating gushers and potato swirls—people shared views suggesting that Musk’s campaign was both practical and justified.
Their enthusiasm revealed a counterbalance within the GOP to concerns about DOGE and the House budget plan. Trump supporters here had not necessarily anticipated such an aggressive government dismantlement, but they were now embracing it—a mix of fiscal conservatism and ruthless pragmatism—almost as a new principle of MAGA orthodoxy.
And what if federal programs suffered due to this? Gonzalez’s son, Matthew, who recently transitioned from a hunting guide job to a position with a fiber optics company in San Antonio, expressed confidence that Musk was “doing what’s good for the American people.”
His father, Homero, simply shrugged. He believed many of the employees targeted by Musk were hired during Biden’s presidency. According to him, Musk is “helping out in ways that are good for us.”
Starr County, a collection of border towns, ranches, and farmland named after a former Treasury secretary of the Republic of Texas, is the most Latino county in the contiguous U.S., at 97 percent. Trump’s improved performance in the November election indicated his growing appeal among Latino voters nationwide. Here, his backing stemmed largely from frustrations with rising prices and Biden’s immigration policies, rather than concerns about the size of the federal bureaucracy.
In fact, the one aspect of Trump’s first month in office that garnered near-universal opposition was the administration's brief detainment of migrants at Guantánamo Bay. However, it wasn’t due to sympathy for the migrants; rather, it was because Texas land commissioner Dawn Buckingham had offered Trump 1,400 acres just outside Rio Grande City, the county seat, for a deportation facility. Republicans and even some Democrats expressed interest in the economic benefits tied to new construction and federal operations in Starr County.
Regarding the economy, a month into Trump's administration, his supporters here were willing to overlook grievances.
At a row of pig pens, John Lopez, a pipeline consultant, mentioned his plans to launch a business building “barndominiums,” a type of home, and remarked that friends in the steel industry had advised him to place building supply orders immediately to avoid potential price hikes due to tariffs.
He noted that grocery prices hadn’t improved since before Trump took office, recounting a recent $5 avocado purchase.
However, Lopez did not attribute that to Trump. “It’s not going to happen on Day One.”
When I noted Trump’s declaration that he would reduce inflation “starting on Day One,” and later his dismissal of accountability, stating “inflation is back,” his friend Jorge Gonzalez II chimed in with a laugh, echoing “Day One.”
“I know he said that,” Gonzalez, an agriculture science teacher, acknowledged. He described that as part of Trump’s “asshole-ness, arrogance.” While he was uncertain about Trump’s potential to rectify the economy, he confidently stated, “I know Biden can’t.”
Additionally, he mentioned, “I am liking the DOGE thing. … They’re tightening stuff up.”
Several locals recognized the uncertain but realistic prospect of financial benefits — not just from the potential construction of a detention facility. Amid stacks of feed, as young children prepared to show goats, Rene Salinas, feeding his daughter’s rabbit, expressed his hopes for lower gas prices and remarked on Musk’s plans for “DOGE dividend” checks.
“I was just reading right now that he’s going to give us some money back,” he said.
However, that was an ancillary advantage. Even if the checks don’t materialize, they perceived DOGE as having a more lasting significance.
“It’s going to hurt,” said Luis Ayala, selling spicy candy in an exhibition hall and who, at 35, voted for Trump for the first time last year. He shared concerns for his 55-year-old mother regarding potential cuts to entitlement programs for seniors.
“It’s going to suck,” he admitted.
Yet, he considered it necessary. “If everything turns out good, my kids or the kids of my kids, have a better U.S.”
No one I talked to had faced layoffs or service reductions yet. A border patrol agent attending the fair with his daughter and her sheep told me, “It’s not affecting me.”
“It would suck, if it was me,” he commented, but added, “There are a lot of people who don’t do shit.”
The political implications of Musk’s aggressive actions are challenging to gauge. Though his approval ratings are low, the majority of Americans disapprove of agency shutdowns and mass layoffs. Perhaps most concerning for Musk is that Trump’s approval ratings have declined, as he tends to shift blame when political issues arise.
It’s conceivable that both DOGE’s actions and the budget cuts being pursued by Republicans could provide Democrats with a rallying point akin to the one Republicans leveraged in 2009, capitalizing on discontent toward then-President Barack Obama’s healthcare legislation leading up to the midterms. The discontent was evident at town halls, similar to the scenes Republicans encountered last week.
However, that was a long time ago, in a political landscape less polarized than today. In November, abortion rights were anticipated to embolden Democrats, yet they fell short of preventing Trump and Republicans from dominating. Initial reactions to the Capitol riot in 2021 were negative for Trump as well, but those opinions faded over time.
Last week’s town halls attracted the discontented and politically active. Left-leaning individuals I spoke with were hopeful that the repercussions of cutbacks could eventually turn voters against Trump. Yet, they were skeptical about whether their message was getting through. Phrases such as “it’s too late,” “everybody fell for it,” and “we just got to wait four years” were common.
“It’s hard for me to see it,” Juan Garcia, a high school agriculture science teacher, expressed. “Just to chop everything at its root.”
Trump’s critics across the board seem uncertain about the potential ramifications. On my way out of Texas, I passed through Laredo, where the embattled Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar participated in the annual Anheuser-Busch Washington’s Birthday Parade.
Cuellar, a conservative Democrat, won areas that Kamala Harris lost, including Starr County, despite facing conspiracy and bribery charges last year — allegations he denies. Following Trump’s election, he contemplated joining a DOGE-supporting caucus in Congress.
In Starr County, Cuellar noted that Trump’s immigration policies have gained popularity and afforded him a degree of goodwill. Residents largely viewed DOGE as an initiative to “cut waste, cut abuse, all that, too much spending.”
In comparison to the $2 trillion in budget cuts sought by House Republicans, however, DOGE's efforts are merely a starting point. Cuellar anticipated that public sentiment might shift “if you start talking about cutting Medicaid, hospitals, other things.” He cautioned, “If they start cutting into those areas, then I think there might be some buyer’s remorse.”
But for now, there’s no widespread belief that a change is imminent. After all, Trump was transparent about his agenda during his presidential campaign, and he not only won but also broadened his support.
On the Laredo parade route, I encountered Teresa Medford, a bar owner, whose granddaughters watched from a pickup truck's bed.
“All those people have been working all their lives, and he comes in. … It’s sad,” Medford, a Democrat, lamented regarding the federal workers who were let go.
While she found the protests encouraging, she mentioned, “They are trying,” but added, “he blocks everything.”
Cuellar mingled with constituents as a woman shouted, “We love you!” Down the street, Elsa Garcia, a local school district employee, expressed concerns about Musk’s budget cuts, indicating that while she had expected them to be bad, she didn’t anticipate their severity, while Darren Garza, a clinical psychologist from San Antonio, questioned whether even if cuts did impact individuals personally, it would prompt them to turn against the GOP.
He noted that “misinformation” and widespread “confusion about what’s going on” presented challenges. He speculated that many might remain unaware of what’s coming and doubted that even those impacted by slashed services would hold the GOP accountable.
That sentiment pointed to what Garza termed “blind faith.” “People want to jump on that bandwagon and go along for the ride.”
Allen M Lee contributed to this report for TROIB News
Musk’s significant layoffs and budget reductions led to some Republican lawmakers facing boos at town halls in their districts. Gonzalez expressed concern that the flamboyance of President Donald Trump’s chief ally might attract negative attention. However, on the topic of cuts, he was supportive. “It’s hard,” Gonzalez acknowledged, but “we need it.”
We were at the Starr County Fair in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, where I had come to engage with some of Trump’s latest supporters — voters who flipped this county red for the first time in over a century last November, contributing to Trump’s win of the popular vote for the first time. Their enthusiastic acceptance of the dismantling of the federal bureaucracy starkly contrasted with what some suggest is a growing backlash against Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.
Among the dozens of individuals I spoke with at the fairgrounds and in Rio Grande City — mostly Republicans and right-leaning independents, as well as some who had voted for Joe Biden in 2020 before switching to Trump — I noted a few expressed indifference to the cuts. However, the majority viewed Musk’s actions as a crucial realignment of a system they felt was failing them.
“There’s a lot of people who take advantage, they abuse the system,” Gonzalez stated.
Despite the drizzling rain and chilly temperatures at the fair, Gonzalez, who works in the oil industry, sat beside his son in a tent where their friend Roman Del Bosque groomed a miniature Hereford. He remarked that, in this county—one of the most impoverished in the U.S.—getting fired was a familiar experience. “It sucks,” he admitted. Nevertheless, Del Bosque, a freight driver, also felt it was necessary.
As the cow urinated, Del Bosque proclaimed that DOGE is eliminating “the B.S.”
In Washington, unease was growing among Republicans regarding opposition to Musk’s overhaul of federal agencies. The cuts emerged as a contentious topic during town halls held by Republican House members last week in states such as California, Georgia, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Wisconsin. Some congressional Republicans, anxious about the pace and impact of the cuts, have privately voiced concerns to the White House, especially in light of several unfavorable polls.
However, the sentiment I encountered among Trump’s supporters here was starkly different. There was no sense of regret or defensiveness; instead, they approached the situation with obligation, reverence, or joy.
“I don’t qualify for Medicaid, so fine with me,” Nelda Cruz, a local utility clerk, stated when I inquired about Republican spending proposals that could necessitate billions in cuts to Medicaid. “Now they’re going to feel how I feel.”
She added, “The nation needed this. A good shakeup. And all the people it is riling up, it’s because it’s hurting them.”
A local insurance company owner displayed a sign advertising “Obamacare: Enroll Here” and asked if it was true that “reptile people” had been found taking Social Security benefits; he stated that, regardless, America “needed a shaking up.”
Even if it could have negative repercussions for them. Texas has around 130,000 civilian federal employees, closely trailing Virginia's more than 144,000. Over a quarter of Starr County’s population lives in poverty. Yet, as I navigated the town and fairgrounds—filled with cowboy boots and camo jackets, parents sheltering from the rain, and children eating gushers and potato swirls—people shared views suggesting that Musk’s campaign was both practical and justified.
Their enthusiasm revealed a counterbalance within the GOP to concerns about DOGE and the House budget plan. Trump supporters here had not necessarily anticipated such an aggressive government dismantlement, but they were now embracing it—a mix of fiscal conservatism and ruthless pragmatism—almost as a new principle of MAGA orthodoxy.
And what if federal programs suffered due to this? Gonzalez’s son, Matthew, who recently transitioned from a hunting guide job to a position with a fiber optics company in San Antonio, expressed confidence that Musk was “doing what’s good for the American people.”
His father, Homero, simply shrugged. He believed many of the employees targeted by Musk were hired during Biden’s presidency. According to him, Musk is “helping out in ways that are good for us.”
Starr County, a collection of border towns, ranches, and farmland named after a former Treasury secretary of the Republic of Texas, is the most Latino county in the contiguous U.S., at 97 percent. Trump’s improved performance in the November election indicated his growing appeal among Latino voters nationwide. Here, his backing stemmed largely from frustrations with rising prices and Biden’s immigration policies, rather than concerns about the size of the federal bureaucracy.
In fact, the one aspect of Trump’s first month in office that garnered near-universal opposition was the administration's brief detainment of migrants at Guantánamo Bay. However, it wasn’t due to sympathy for the migrants; rather, it was because Texas land commissioner Dawn Buckingham had offered Trump 1,400 acres just outside Rio Grande City, the county seat, for a deportation facility. Republicans and even some Democrats expressed interest in the economic benefits tied to new construction and federal operations in Starr County.
Regarding the economy, a month into Trump's administration, his supporters here were willing to overlook grievances.
At a row of pig pens, John Lopez, a pipeline consultant, mentioned his plans to launch a business building “barndominiums,” a type of home, and remarked that friends in the steel industry had advised him to place building supply orders immediately to avoid potential price hikes due to tariffs.
He noted that grocery prices hadn’t improved since before Trump took office, recounting a recent $5 avocado purchase.
However, Lopez did not attribute that to Trump. “It’s not going to happen on Day One.”
When I noted Trump’s declaration that he would reduce inflation “starting on Day One,” and later his dismissal of accountability, stating “inflation is back,” his friend Jorge Gonzalez II chimed in with a laugh, echoing “Day One.”
“I know he said that,” Gonzalez, an agriculture science teacher, acknowledged. He described that as part of Trump’s “asshole-ness, arrogance.” While he was uncertain about Trump’s potential to rectify the economy, he confidently stated, “I know Biden can’t.”
Additionally, he mentioned, “I am liking the DOGE thing. … They’re tightening stuff up.”
Several locals recognized the uncertain but realistic prospect of financial benefits — not just from the potential construction of a detention facility. Amid stacks of feed, as young children prepared to show goats, Rene Salinas, feeding his daughter’s rabbit, expressed his hopes for lower gas prices and remarked on Musk’s plans for “DOGE dividend” checks.
“I was just reading right now that he’s going to give us some money back,” he said.
However, that was an ancillary advantage. Even if the checks don’t materialize, they perceived DOGE as having a more lasting significance.
“It’s going to hurt,” said Luis Ayala, selling spicy candy in an exhibition hall and who, at 35, voted for Trump for the first time last year. He shared concerns for his 55-year-old mother regarding potential cuts to entitlement programs for seniors.
“It’s going to suck,” he admitted.
Yet, he considered it necessary. “If everything turns out good, my kids or the kids of my kids, have a better U.S.”
No one I talked to had faced layoffs or service reductions yet. A border patrol agent attending the fair with his daughter and her sheep told me, “It’s not affecting me.”
“It would suck, if it was me,” he commented, but added, “There are a lot of people who don’t do shit.”
The political implications of Musk’s aggressive actions are challenging to gauge. Though his approval ratings are low, the majority of Americans disapprove of agency shutdowns and mass layoffs. Perhaps most concerning for Musk is that Trump’s approval ratings have declined, as he tends to shift blame when political issues arise.
It’s conceivable that both DOGE’s actions and the budget cuts being pursued by Republicans could provide Democrats with a rallying point akin to the one Republicans leveraged in 2009, capitalizing on discontent toward then-President Barack Obama’s healthcare legislation leading up to the midterms. The discontent was evident at town halls, similar to the scenes Republicans encountered last week.
However, that was a long time ago, in a political landscape less polarized than today. In November, abortion rights were anticipated to embolden Democrats, yet they fell short of preventing Trump and Republicans from dominating. Initial reactions to the Capitol riot in 2021 were negative for Trump as well, but those opinions faded over time.
Last week’s town halls attracted the discontented and politically active. Left-leaning individuals I spoke with were hopeful that the repercussions of cutbacks could eventually turn voters against Trump. Yet, they were skeptical about whether their message was getting through. Phrases such as “it’s too late,” “everybody fell for it,” and “we just got to wait four years” were common.
“It’s hard for me to see it,” Juan Garcia, a high school agriculture science teacher, expressed. “Just to chop everything at its root.”
Trump’s critics across the board seem uncertain about the potential ramifications. On my way out of Texas, I passed through Laredo, where the embattled Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar participated in the annual Anheuser-Busch Washington’s Birthday Parade.
Cuellar, a conservative Democrat, won areas that Kamala Harris lost, including Starr County, despite facing conspiracy and bribery charges last year — allegations he denies. Following Trump’s election, he contemplated joining a DOGE-supporting caucus in Congress.
In Starr County, Cuellar noted that Trump’s immigration policies have gained popularity and afforded him a degree of goodwill. Residents largely viewed DOGE as an initiative to “cut waste, cut abuse, all that, too much spending.”
In comparison to the $2 trillion in budget cuts sought by House Republicans, however, DOGE's efforts are merely a starting point. Cuellar anticipated that public sentiment might shift “if you start talking about cutting Medicaid, hospitals, other things.” He cautioned, “If they start cutting into those areas, then I think there might be some buyer’s remorse.”
But for now, there’s no widespread belief that a change is imminent. After all, Trump was transparent about his agenda during his presidential campaign, and he not only won but also broadened his support.
On the Laredo parade route, I encountered Teresa Medford, a bar owner, whose granddaughters watched from a pickup truck's bed.
“All those people have been working all their lives, and he comes in. … It’s sad,” Medford, a Democrat, lamented regarding the federal workers who were let go.
While she found the protests encouraging, she mentioned, “They are trying,” but added, “he blocks everything.”
Cuellar mingled with constituents as a woman shouted, “We love you!” Down the street, Elsa Garcia, a local school district employee, expressed concerns about Musk’s budget cuts, indicating that while she had expected them to be bad, she didn’t anticipate their severity, while Darren Garza, a clinical psychologist from San Antonio, questioned whether even if cuts did impact individuals personally, it would prompt them to turn against the GOP.
He noted that “misinformation” and widespread “confusion about what’s going on” presented challenges. He speculated that many might remain unaware of what’s coming and doubted that even those impacted by slashed services would hold the GOP accountable.
That sentiment pointed to what Garza termed “blind faith.” “People want to jump on that bandwagon and go along for the ride.”
Allen M Lee contributed to this report for TROIB News
