Stories
How have the current administration’s policies impacted your life?
We’re collecting real stories from real people to show the human cost of political decisions. Data and research are critical—but personal narratives rooted in real-life experience help paint a fuller picture of the America being shaped under Donald Trump.
Your voice adds depth, urgency, and truth to the conversation. Only a ZIP code is required to verify authenticity and connect your story to local policies.
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"I work for a small business that has been in existence for over 50 years. We have experienced the ups and downs all businesses go through over time. Since the start of the year, we are experiencing a significant downturn in customer traffic - worse than the great recession 15 years ago. Due to tariffs, prices have skyrocketed on many of the products we sell. Uncertainty, some might say chaos, is keeping customers away. These new sets of challenges were clearly the result of Trump's decisions. If this situation continues for his full term us and thousands of other small businesses will likely be in dire straits."
— Tom, Minneapolis, MN
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"I have lived in high cost of living areas my whole life- yet meeting all the demands of survival never seemed impossible. Since these tariffs, I have had to completely re-imagine my future plans- including putting further education on hold while I get a low-paying job in order to survive."
— Resident, Honolulu, HI
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"I work in the restaurant industry. We expect January through March to be slow, every year is. But what we didn’t expect was for business to stay painfully sluggish in the months that followed. The customers who did come in talked about fears of a shaky economic future. Behind the scenes, we’re feeling it too. Food costs—one of our biggest expenses—have been unstable and unpredictable ever since the tariffs began. We’ve had to cut staff hours, trim down our menu, and stretch every dollar further than ever before. I would try another restaurant but the truth is, nearly every restaurant is under the same pressure. And this isn’t just a hospitality issue—it’s a labor issue. Restaurants employ a massive portion of our unskilled workforce. If this industry collapses under economic strain, the ripple effects will hit communities everywhere. Layoffs won't just empty dining rooms—they’ll hollow out local economies."
— Resident, Minneapolis, MN