President
Trump's
ardent
backers
support
him more
than
ever
ANITA
SNOW and
MATT
SEDENSKY
ap.org
SUN
CITY, AZ
-
President
Donald
Trump's
most
ardent
champions
are
sticking
by him,
happy to
absolve
him of
any
wrong in
the
blame
game
over the
deadly
weekend
violence
at a
rally of
white
supremacists.
Some
Republican
members
of
Congress
have
criticized
Trump's
back and
forth
response
since a
car
slammed
into a
crowd of
counter
protesters
in
Charlottesville,
Virginia,
killing
a woman
and
injuring
19 other
people.
Trump's
insistence
that
"both
sides"
bear
responsibility
for the
violence
has
sparked
anger
among
many
Americans.
But many
of the
men and
women
who
helped
elect
Trump
seem
unfazed
by the
outcry
over his
statements
concerning
the
protest
and
counter
protest
over
removing
a
monument
to
Confederate
Gen.
Robert
E. Lee.
The
enthusiasm
of many
of the
president's
core
supporters
has been
noted in
the
past.
Trump
himself
boasted
during
the
campaign
last
year he
"could
stand in
the
middle
of Fifth
Avenue
and
shoot
somebody
and I
wouldn't
lose
voters."
Such
unflagging
support
remains
despite
polls
that
show his
approval
rates
dipping
overall.
--- "I
WOULD
VOTE FOR
HIM
AGAIN IN
A
HEARTBEAT"
In Sun
City,
Arizona,
a
retirement
community
and
Trump
stronghold
north of
Phoenix,
80-year-old
John
Libby
said
nothing
the
president
has done
since
Election
Day has
changed
his
support
for the
man.
"I would
vote for
him
again in
a
heartbeat,"
Libby
said in
the
bright
sunshine
outside
a
grocery
store in
a strip
mall of
low-slung
stucco
buildings.
The Des
Moines,
Iowa,
native
said he
thought
the
president
handled
the
aftermath
of the
Charlottesville
attack
well,
but
allowed
that
Trump's
response
"wasn't
fast
enough
for some
people."
Arriving
at the
supermarket
in his
golf
cart,
Dr.
Charles
Thomson,
a
92-year-old
psychiatrist
formerly
of San
Diego,
said he
voted
for
Trump
and now
"I
support
him more
than
ever."
--- "HE
HAS DONE
NOTHING
TO TURN
ME AWAY
FROM
HIM"
Patricia
Aleeyah
Robinson,
a
retired
truck
driver
from
Toledo,
Ohio,
said her
support
of Trump
has cost
her
friendships
and
strained
family
relationships.
But like
many of
the
president's
most
passionate
supporters,
the
63-year-old
black
woman
said her
opinions
about
Trump
have not
changed
since
his
response
to the
violence
at the
Charlottesville
rally.
"He has
done
nothing
to turn
me away
from
him,"
said
Robinson.
She said
he
doesn't
defer to
racists
and
feels he
is the
only
president
who has
ever
spoken
directly
to
blacks.
--- "HE
SHOULDN'T
LET THE
PRESS
GET
UNDER
HIS
SKIN"
Clemente
Ruiz, a
49-year-old
truck
driver
in
Lubbock,
Texas,
said
he's
been
happy
with the
job
Trump
has
done.
"I'd
vote for
him
again
tomorrow,"
he said.
The son
of a
Mexican
immigrant
who
became
an
American
citizen,
Ruiz
said his
only
criticism
of the
president
is that
he is
too
"thin-skinned."
"He
refuses
to let
anything
go,"
Ruiz
said.
"He
shouldn't
let the
press
get
under
his skin
the way
they
do."
But
overall,
said
Ruiz,
Trump
has
accomplished
much for
the
economy.
"Everything
is
looking
good as
far as
that
goes and
as far
as our
military
goes,"
he
added.
--- "HE
SPEAKS
HIS
MIND"
Wyoming
construction
contractor
Richard
Mathern
said he
voted
for
Trump
because
of his
business
experience
and
wasn't
fazed he
hadn't
spoken
out more
forcefully
against
the
weekend
violence.
The
48-year-old
is among
more
than 68
percent
of
people
in
Wyoming
who
voted
for
Trump in
the
widest
margin
of
victory
in any
state.
"Trump,
he
speaks
his
mind,
there's
no doubt
about
that. It
does
tend to
tick
people
off,"
Mathern
said
during a
break at
a home
nearing
completion
in
Cheyenne.
"There's
a lot of
hatred
down
there
(in
Charlottesville)
... But
tearing
down
historical
statues
is not
the
answer,"
he said.
--- THE
PRESIDENT
IS DOING
"PRETTY
WELL"
Branden
Nong, a
35-year-old
from a
Des
Moines,
Iowa
suburb
who
works in
banking,
voted
for
Trump
because
he
identified
with his
entrepreneurial
background.
More
than six
months
after
watching
Trump's
inaugural
speech,
Nong
said he
thought
the
president
was
doing
"pretty
well,"
even if
he would
like him
to be
more
careful
on
Twitter.
But Nong
feels
Trump is
delivering
on the
economy
with
clear
markers
like job
growth.
"I'm
pretty
happy
with the
results
so far,"
he said.
He said
the
president
was
"measured"
in his
response
to the
violence
in
Charlottesville,
but said
it's
unfair
to blame
him for
deepening
racial
divisions
that
already
existed.
--- "LET
THE
PRESIDENT
DO HIS
JOB"
Joyce
Ash took
a moment
to
ponder
Trump
after
buying a
dress at
a
Charleston,
West
Virginia,
shopping
mall to
wear to
the
funeral
for her
husband
of 33
years,
who died
of
pancreatic
cancer.
The
71-year-old
summoned
nothing
but
support
for
Trump,
who led
her to
ditch
her
lifelong
support
of
Democrats.
She
recalled
sitting
up
election
night to
watch
Trump
win, and
has not
regretted
her
decision.
"Let the
president
do his
job
instead
of
trying
to take
him out
every
time you
turn
around,"
Ash
implored.
She
didn't
follow
the
back-and-forth
over
Trump's
statements
on
Charlottesville
but saw
no
reason
to
question
him: "I
believe
that if
they
would
just
give
this man
a
chance,
the
economy,
everything
will
start
going
better."