{"id":8458,"date":"2025-12-20T04:21:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T04:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/20\/trump-insists-during-nc-visit-hes-brought-down-costs-but-residents-say-theyre-feeling-squeezed-ap-news\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T04:21:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T04:21:53","slug":"trump-insists-during-nc-visit-hes-brought-down-costs-but-residents-say-theyre-feeling-squeezed-ap-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/20\/trump-insists-during-nc-visit-hes-brought-down-costs-but-residents-say-theyre-feeling-squeezed-ap-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump insists during NC visit he’s brought down costs, but residents say they’re feeling squeezed – AP News"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (AP) \u2014 She had worked 22 days straight in her job as a technician at an engine plant to save up, and now Daijah Bryant could finally do what she was putting off: Christmas shopping. <\/p>\n

Bryant pushed her cart out of a Walmart in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and loaded her sedan\u2019s backseat with bags of gifts. While they would soon bring joy to her friends and family, it was difficult for the 26-year-old to feel good about the purchases.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving to pay bills, if you happen to pay rent and try to do Christmas all at the same time, it is very, very hard,\u201d she said with exasperation. <\/p>\n

Ahead of President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a><\/span> Friday evening visit to Rocky Mount, some residents said they were feeling an economic squeeze<\/a><\/span> that seems hard to escape. The uneasy feeling spans political affiliation in the town, which is split between two largely rural and somewhat impoverished counties, although some were more hopeful than others that there are signs of reprieve on the horizon.<\/p>\n

It was Trump\u2019s second event this month aimed at championing his economic policies<\/a><\/span> ahead of a consequential midterm election<\/a><\/span> next year, both held in presidential battleground states. Similar to Trump\u2019s earlier stop in Pennsylvania,<\/a><\/span> Rocky Mount sits in a U.S. House district that has been historically competitive. But earlier this year, the Republican-controlled legislature redrew the boundaries for the eastern North Carolina district<\/a><\/span> to favor their party as part of Trump\u2019s push to have GOP-led states gerrymander their congressional districts to help his party retain its House majority for the last half of his term.<\/p>\n

Rocky Mount may be in a politically advantageous location, but the hardships its residents report mirror the tightening financial strains many Americans say they are feeling, with high prices for groceries, housing and utilities among their top concerns. Polls show persistently high prices have put Americans in a grumpy mood about the state of the economy, which a large majority say is performing poorly<\/a><\/span>. <\/p>\n

Trump has insisted the economy is trending upward<\/a><\/span> and the country will see some relief in the new year and beyond. In some cases, he has dismissed affordability concerns and encouraged Americans to decrease their consumption<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

In his Friday night speech, he leaned into a persistent refrain: Democratic President Joe Biden alone was to blame for any economic distress Americans may be feeling, but things are getting better under his watch. <\/p>\n

He boasted that steps he\u2019s taken\u2014including generating billions of dollars of revenue through tariffs, pressing pharmaceutical giants to slash the prices of some medicines, and a so-called $1776 \u201cwarrior dividend\u201d for U.S. troops<\/a><\/span> that is being paid through a provision in a tax cut extensions and expansions bill he signed into law in July\u2014will have real impact on American\u2019s pocketbooks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI inherited the mess. I got the prices down and they are going down still further,\u201d Trump said. He added, \u201cOver the past 11 months, we have brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in the history of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Without the businesses, it\u2019s dead\u2019<\/h2>\n

Crimson smokestacks tower over parts of downtown Rocky Mount, reminding the town\u2019s roughly 54,000 residents of its roots as a once-booming tobacco market. Through the heart of downtown, graffiti-covered trains still lug along on the railroad tracks that made Rocky Mount a bustling locomotive hotspot in the last century.<\/p>\n

Those days seem long gone for some residents who have watched the town change over the decades. Rocky Mount has adapted by tapping into other industries such as manufacturing and biopharmaceuticals, but it\u2019s also had to endure its fair share of challenges. Most recently, financial troubles in the city\u2019s government have meant higher utility prices for residents.<\/p>\n

The city has been investing to try to revitalize its downtown, but progress has been slow. Long stretches of empty storefronts that once contained restaurants, furniture shops and drug stores line the streets. Most stores were closed Thursday morning, and not much foot traffic roamed the area.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s left Lucy Slep, who co-owns The Miner\u2019s Emporium jewelry store with her husband, waiting for Trump\u2019s promised \u201cGolden Age of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

The jewelry store has been in downtown Rocky Mount for nearly four decades, just about as long as the 64-year-old said she has lived in the area. But the deterioration of downtown Rocky Mount has spanned at least a decade, and Slep said she\u2019s still hoping it will come back to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery downtown in every little town is beautiful,\u201d she said. \u201cBut without the businesses, it\u2019s dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slep\u2019s store hasn\u2019t escaped the challenges other Rocky Mount small businesses have endured. Instead of buying, more people have recently been selling their jewelry to the shop, Slep said. <\/p>\n

Customers have been scarce. About a week out from Christmas, the store \u2014 with handmade molded walls and ceilings resembling cave walls \u2014 sat empty aside from the rows of glass cases containing jewelry. It\u2019s been hard, Slep said, but she and her husband are trying to make it through.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year is just not a jewelry Christmas, for whatever reason,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Better times on the horizon \u2014 depending on whom you ask<\/h2>\n

Slep is already looking ahead to next year for better times. She is confident that Trump\u2019s economic policies \u2014 including upcoming tax cuts<\/a><\/span> \u2014 will make a marked difference in people\u2019s cost of living. In her eyes, the financial strains people are feeling are residual effects from the Biden administration that eventually will fade.<\/p>\n

Optimism about what\u2019s to come under Trump\u2019s economy might also depend on whether residents feel their economic conditions have changed drastically in the past year. Shiva Mrain, an engineer in Rocky Mount, said his family\u2019s situation has not \u201cbecome worse nor better.\u201d He\u2019s been encouraged by seeing lower gas prices.<\/p>\n

Bryant, the engine technician, feels a bit more disillusioned.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t vote in the last election because she didn\u2019t think either party could enact changes that would improve her life. Nearly a year into the Trump administration, Bryant is still waiting to see whether the president will deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t really say … that change is coming,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anything is going to change.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (AP) \u2014 She had worked 22 days straight in her job as a technician at an engine plant to save up, and now Daijah Bryant could finally do what she was putting off: Christmas shopping. Bryant pushed her cart out of a Walmart in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and loaded her sedan\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}