The NYT Interviews 14 Voters Hit by Hurricane Helene; Rare Are Those Who Defend the Left

In the wake of disasters like hurricanes and wildfires, along with ever-increasing doubts about the government, The New York Times decided to let 14 Hard-Hit Voters Debate a Big Question in the Era of Trump and Musk:

‘What Is Government For’?

The problem, for the left, is that no more than one or two of the participants — and they are of all races and from all walks of life — seems to be willing to defend the Democratic point of view outright; and that barely.

In the wake of the crises of the decade so far — the pandemic, extreme weather and natural disasters, among others — Americans have increasingly expressed their doubts about institutions, the government especially.

Since Donald Trump’s return to office and the rise of Elon Musk as a major political figure, there’s been intense focus on a simple set of questions: What should the government be for? Who should it help? What explains its failures? In Opinion’s latest focus group, we spoke with 14 people from North Carolina who were either directly affected last year by Hurricane Helene, or who had close friends or family members who were. Because of that event, many of them were directly confronted with these questions of government help and trust in institutions. At a time when the future of many government services could change significantly, we asked them about what Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk are doing and how other leaders, like Joe Biden, handled the crisis.

“The whole system of fixing things is broken. Everything that’s supposed to be in place is not there,” one participant said, describing his worries about not only North Carolina but also places devastated by wildfires in recent years. Some worried about FEMA’s future, even if they were deeply dissatisfied with the recovery efforts last year, others wanted to rethink it entirely, and others expressed frustration with the lack of understanding in this hyperpoliticized environment and the false claims that circulated last fall.

And at a time when people — including participants in this group — expressed real concern and worry about government cuts, layoffs and funding changes, many also expressed a skeptical and dissatisfied view of how government performs today. What does government do well? One participant answered, “Provide complicated explanations for why it does what it does.”

Katherine Miller, Kristen Soltis Anderson and Adrian J. Rivera

 Read all the questions and the various answers…