A Virginia shop that became a MAGA merchandise destination has watched its sales collapse as MAGA customers sour on the president.
CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” aired the report on Tuesday, flagging “troubling signs for President Trump on the campaign trail.” In the report, correspondent Elle Reeve returned to Whitey Taylor’s Trump Town USA in Boones Mill, Virginia.
Taylor told Reeve that at its peak, the store pulled in “a lot of $12,000, say, maybe a $15,000 a day” on occasion. Now, he said, it’s “1,500, 2,000 bucks, sometimes hit 3,000.”
“It’s a really big falloff,” Reeve said.
“Well, it is, it is,” Taylor replied.
Taylor rejected the idea that sales are down because Trump supporters are angry with the president, insisting business will rebound once Trump leaves office.
“They’ll come here by the droves and say, ‘What have you got, man? I know you’re still there,’” he said. “So we’ll be here waiting on them.”
His customers painted a different picture.
“I’ve seen a lot of Trump supporters just say heck with him, put his sticker upside down and not flying his flag, or put a red zero on it,” Trump Town USA customer Stevie Lovell said. “Very few people still support Trump.”
Lovell told Reeve he still backs Trump and plans to vote a straight Republican ticket in the midterms, but he had plenty of criticism. Asked about ICE raids and arrests, Lovell warned, “If you give people absolute power, they abuse it.”
He also said a report showing Trump has made more money in office than any other president bothered him.
“Profit isn’t a dirty word, but it kind of does bother me a little bit that he’s in office, and he’s gaining a lot,” Lovell said.
Trump Town USA shopper Jamie Varela, who has two teenagers, said the family’s grocery bill runs between $800 and $1,000 a month.
“When you’re going to the store and you’re paying five bucks for a pineapple, then you got to choose fruit or gas,” Varela said. Asked whether Trump bears any responsibility for high prices, Varela answered, “Yes. Because of the war.”
Reeve noted that a September CNN poll found two-thirds of Americans say Trump has made the economy worse, with his approval rating at its lowest ever.
Taylor, for his part, says Trump has made him millions and has no plans to shut down.
“People ask me all the time, say, ‘Oh, so when are you going to close?’ You know, I said 2040,” he said. “Because it’s all the Trump kids’ time to run through the office first.”
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