"We have over 330 million people. This president can't be the best we have," said Neil Goodspeed, a Democrat and advertising executive who lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Goodspeed and his wife play a lot of sports and have two teenage children, but he says the family is, thankfully, coping with the high food prices. What bothers him most is the Trump administration's "blatant lies and violations of the law."
Lately it's been about the Caribbean and Venezuela. I know Nicolás Maduro was not a good leader, but removing him like that, without congressional approval, is illegal.
And then we have the Epstein files - what double standards. It takes energy to know that your president is lying.
Can it be repaired?
Sarah Stephens, a music industry agent and resident of nearby Minneapolis, agrees. She believes that with Trump in the White House, the world has abandoned the rules-based order, and that constitutionally protected rights, democratic institutions and alliances are under threat both in the United States and around the world.
"Honestly, I don't know if the damage can be repaired, at least not in my lifetime," says Stephens, who has lived in Germany for several years.
Privately, her quality of life has deteriorated as food and rent are now very expensive. And she worries about an erosion of the healthcare system, especially the government insurance Medicare, which she is enrolled in.
But what makes me even more upset is Donald Trump's attacks on America's most vulnerable. His slashing of food stamps and housing for low-income people and his various attempts to deport immigrants are cruel.
Want to have choices
Neil Goodspeed is also upset about the dismantling of aid. He says that Americans in general have a lot in common, but that the government in the capital seems intent on sowing division and chaos. He struggles to answer what the best thing President Trump has done this year is.
It's hard to find anything good in a person who seems narcissistic and lacks empathy. But I can appreciate that illegal immigration is decreasing and that border security is being strengthened.
So what does Goodspeed hope for in 2026?
That the midterm elections actually take place. That the Democrats take back at least the House of Representatives and can start holding the government accountable.
And Sarah Stephens:
I hope that we are at a turning point, that the protests against ICE (the immigration police) here in Minneapolis lead to change and that we can remove Trump from the White House.
