"Arizona Residents Voice Concerns Over Trump's Initial 100 Days: Presidential Performance Scrutinized"
Rewritten Article:
Stepping into the Special Eats Café, it's clear this is a work in progress: freshly installed gas pipes, walls eagerly awaiting a lick of paint, and kitchen racks lined with gleaming pots and pans, ready for the rigors of operation.
This ambitious project, a passion project for Tamara Varga, aims to help those with special needs, including her two sons. It's an expansive venture encompassing two food trucks, a sweet treat emporium, and soon a restaurant, staffed by individuals grappling with autism, Down syndrome, and other challenges. Currently, the café employs a team of 50, a number Varga hopes will grow as her business flourishes, providing not just culinary experiences but kitchen training as well.
"It's a lot of work," Varga confesses as she leads a kitchen tour, "but it's my passion. It's my calling. This is what I'm supposed to be doing, and it fulfills my life, and it blesses me."
Varga is a fervent Christian and a lifelong Republican, a Trump supporter who took part in CNN's "All Over the Map" project during the 2024 presidential campaign. We caught up with her, along with others in our Arizona group, to gather their opinions on the first 100 days of President Donald Trump's new term. The takeaways were largely negative for the White House:
- Every voter we spoke with, even Trump supporter Vargas, expressed disappointment that prices were not dropping as rapidly as expectations.
- Trade is crucial in this border state, but the uncertainty caused by Trump's erratic tariff threats is taking a toll on businesses, big and small.
- Illegal border crossings have decreased, a significant promise kept by Trump. However, businesses along the border report a significant decline in legal crossings, leading to a 40% drop in sales over the past 100 days.
- Fears are mounting over Trump's unconventional approach to change-making.
Sitting comfortably at 100 days, Varga remains a Trump supporter. However, her questions about the happenings in Washington could be cause for concern for the White House and the GOP Congress.
"I'm feeling good about a lot of the promises that he made on the campaign, but I also have some concerns," Varga admits in an interview at the Tucson restaurant site. "I'm worried about Medicaid and Medicare and Social Security. He did say he wouldn't cut them, and I really hope he sticks to that."
Varga is closely monitoring the budget debate, aware that Republicans cannot balance their books without finding substantial savings in the social safety net programs.
"I'm not for cutting," she states emphatically. "We need to take care of people with disabilities, our elderly, and those who depend on it. They can't survive as it is right now. We cannot cut."
Asked if she is confident Trump will keep his promise not to cut Social Security and Medicare, Varga responds cautiously: "I worry about it, but I'm hopeful."
Varga acknowledges a slight reduction in her cost of living, but adds, "there's still a lot of work that needs to be done." The tariff uncertainty is now part of the problem, she says.
"It's causing some disruption," Varga admits. "We make gift baskets, and I have noticed that the items we put in our gift baskets have gone up."
For now, Varga is willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt when he says any pain is necessary to fix broken trade relationships. "If he doesn't come through, though, he's going to have a lot of people turning on him."
Some significant shifts from our conversations with Varga before the 2024 elections include:
- She no longer believes Trump's claim the 2020 election was rigged.
- She is open to supporting Democrats for local office because of her growing dissatisfaction with some Arizona Republicans.
- She disagrees with friends who call Trump a dictator or question his moral character. However, some criticisms resonate with her. "Sometimes I agree," Varga confesses. "And things better change or he's going to lose me, even."
Melissa Cordero, an Air Force veteran and liberal Democrat - a progressive organizer still struggling to comprehend the election result, offers a different perspective.
"We just have to get tougher," Cordero argues.
The magnitude of change in the past 100 days leaves Cordero feeling disoriented.
"I'm constantly questioning, 'Can he do that?'" she says.
Cordero's life has been influenced by the new administration in various ways. Recently, she visited a group of deported veterans in Juárez, Mexico, alongside her progressive veterans group, Common Defense. She notes that her modest conservation grant from the National Science Foundation was terminated since it was part of a DEI program. Her parents, both veterans, are anxious about keeping their federal jobs. In addition, she was a part of a Tucson protest over Trump's cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"There's no one answering the phones," she says. "Mental health, they're just cutting it off, making cuts in that area. That's what we veterans really need."
Cordero is a mixture of fatigue and energy as Trump provokes and she strives to improve her organizing work.
"I'm angry because the communities I care about are under attack," Cordero admits. "The LGBTQ community, the trans community. What's really getting me worked up is immigration and what's happening to deported veterans."
Tucson, located in Democrat-leaning Pima County, did sway slightly towards Trump in the 2024 election. Rio Rico, approximately an hour south in Santa Cruz County, which borders Mexico, has witnessed the tariff chaos ravage the local economy.
Matt Mandel, an executive at SunFed, a significant food distributor with a bustling warehouse close to the Nogales border crossing, expresses his concerns. He underscores the uncertainty caused by the continuous tariff nonsense as the biggest problem.
"The biggest problem we've faced so far is uncertainty," Mandel says. "We've talked about tariffs, and then the tariffs are off. We have tariffs for three days; they were canceled. But the constant threat of 'what if' makes it very difficult for us to plan."
Mandel supports Trump's goal of stimulating domestic manufacturing but cannot comprehend why carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and other products would be subjected to tariffs.
"Food doesn't make sense to tariff at all," Mandel stresses. "All you're going to do is raise those costs for consumers. People have become accustomed to having all their fruits and vegetables available year-round, and that's thanks to imports. Slapping tariffs on imports will either limit availability, raise prices, or both."
Ray Flores observes the tariff tumult in his profit margins: He owns over a dozen restaurants, from upscale venues like Charro Steak to the more casual The Monica, named after his aunt, Tia Monica, who inspired the first of his restaurants, El Charro, over a century ago.
"We're definitely seeing less spending," Flores confesses. "We're seeing numbers dropping 7-8% across the system right now, and we have restaurants at different price points."
The constant talk about tariffs has rattled consumer confidence, Flores explains.
"There's a certain apprehension to go celebrate, right?" Flores elaborates. "There's a bit of fear of spending that extra money."
Flores describes himself as an independent, disappointed by both major parties. While he aligns with some of Trump's objectives, such as cutting government spending and deporting the undocumented who pose a credible threat, he questions the unconventional approach Trump is taking.
"I'm a little bewildered by how they've gone about things," Flores admits in an interview. "It seems a bit haphazard."
On a scale of 1 to 10, Flores assigns the first 100 days a 5.
So, what about the next 100 days?
"I don't want things to get worse, right?" Flores contemplates. "I don't want aggressive, somewhat mean-spirited decision-making to take root in everything we do. But I also don't want to crash. So, for me - in the middle - I hope it gets better. ... If we could end up at a 7, it would be awesome."
- Tamara Varga's venture, Special Eats Café, is a comprehensive endeavor including food trucks, a sweet treat emporium, and a restaurant.
- The café employs individuals with various challenges such as autism and Down syndrome.
- Varga aims to provide not just culinary experiences but kitchen training as well.
- Varga is hopeful about the growth of her team, currently at 50, as her business flourishes.
- Varga shared her opinions on the first 100 days of President Donald Trump's new term in an interview.
- Every voter Varga spoke with, even Trump supporters, expressed disappointment that prices were not dropping as rapidly as expected.
- Trade is crucial in this border state, but the uncertainty caused by Trump's erratic tariff threats is taking a toll on businesses.
- Illegally crossing the border has decreased, a significant promise kept by Trump.
- On the other hand, businesses along the border report a significant decline in legal crossings, leading to a 40% drop in sales over the past 100 days.
- Fears are mounting over Trump's unconventional approach to change-making.
- Sitting comfortably at 100 days, Varga remains a Trump supporter.
- Varga is worried about Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, fearing potential cuts.
- Varga is closely monitoring the budget debate, aware that Republicans cannot balance their books without finding substantial savings in the social safety net programs.
- Varga acknowledges a slight reduction in her cost of living but adds, "there's still a lot of work that needs to be done."
- Varga is willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt when he says any pain is necessary to fix broken trade relationships.
- Varga no longer believes Trump's claim the 2020 election was rigged.
- Varga is open to supporting Democrats for local office because of her growing dissatisfaction with some Arizona Republicans.
- Varga disagrees with friends who call Trump a dictator or question his moral character, but some criticisms resonate with her.
- Melissa Cordero, a liberal Democrat, offers a different perspective.
- Cordero's life has been influenced by the new administration in various ways.
- Cordero recently visited a group of deported veterans in Juárez, Mexico, alongside her progressive veterans group, Common Defense.
- Cordero's modest conservation grant from the National Science Foundation was terminated since it was part of a DEI program.
- Cordero's parents, both veterans, are anxious about keeping their federal jobs.
- Cordero was a part of a Tucson protest over Trump's cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
- Cordero is a mixture of fatigue and energy as Trump provokes and she strives to improve her organizing work.
- Cordero is angry because the communities she cares about are under attack, particularly the LGBTQ community, the trans community, and immigration issues.
- Matt Mandel, an executive at SunFed, a food distributor, expresses his concerns over the uncertainty caused by the continuous tariff nonsense.
- Mandel supports Trump's goal of stimulating domestic manufacturing but cannot comprehend why carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and other products would be subjected to tariffs.
