Right-wing personalities have taken to their podcasts and radio programs to deride Donald Trump for his egregious and horrendous missteps concerning a multitude of issues, ranging from tariffs and callous immigration policies to free speech constraints and damaged relations with allies.

Such discontent from his most ardent supporters, which includes Ben Shapiro, Tim Dillon, and Joe Rogan, combines with Republican lawmakers enduring fierce outrage at town halls across the nation in recent weeks, where constituents have expressed concern about mass federal layoffs, social security, health benefits, and the potential unraveling of our postal system and other public services. Elon Musk’s tremendous influence and continued soaring prices have contributed to such frustration, unease, and anger.

One particularly egregious example of public discontent is the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a naturalized Hispanic man from Maryland whom Trump administration officials deported after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained him while looking for another person on a deportation order. Garcia’s subsequent arrest and deportation to El Salvador, which the Trump administration belatedly admitted was a mistake, culminated in massive levels of horror and monumental shockwaves that transcended well beyond his own family, his local community, and the nation.

Next door in the state of Virginia, law enforcement officials heavily interrogated another naturalized Hispanic resident, Jensy Machado, and forced him to provide documentation of his legal status. After an intense confrontation, they concluded he was not the suspect in question and released him. Nonetheless, the agents detained two other individuals with Machado for reasons unknown to him. He conceded that the entire episode has left him so disillusioned and rattled that he regrets having cast his ballot for Trump last November.

The conclusion he reached isn’t surprising: “I voted for Trump last election, but, because I thought it was going to be the things, you know, like … just go against criminals, not every Hispanic-looking, like, that they will assume that we are all illegals.”

Sad to say, he may well be correct.

A considerable segment of the populace is having second thoughts about electing Donald Trump as president. Indeed, such buyer’s remorse among Trump voters isn’t confined to right-wing podcasters or misguided Latino voters who were arguably arrogant enough to believe the Republicans would not direct their virulent hostility toward illegal immigrants. After launching and engineering a sinister campaign that fractured Americans into resentful, paranoid factions, those who ascribed to such sentiments are coming to the realization that such perceived contrasts are far more muddled than they were previously led to believe.

Such circumstances remind me of an October 2015 report conducted by Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton and his wife, Anne Case. In their study, published almost a decade ago, they examined disillusionment among many middle-class white people, especially white men, and highlighted skyrocketing suicide rates and other issues caused by alarming rates of substance abuse. For many of us whose academic scholarship focuses on race, gender, and cultural topics, such revelations were somewhat shocking, though not all that surprising.

The truth is these people have largely bought into the arrogant, brash, and largely misguided illusion that if they worked hard enough, were married to a respectable spouse, and harbored condescension, disdain, and contempt toward the right minorities, they could rapidly ascend the social ladder and pursue the American dream. Instead, many came to the dramatic realization the ladder has been pulled out from under them. They had driven down a cul-de-sac with no U-turn available. As a result, alcoholism, drug use, and sordid vices have served as a tragic yet reliable refuge from an environment and reality increasingly filled with despair. A precarious form of self-medication, so to speak. A sad commentary for sure.

Copyright 2025 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.