Prior to President Trump’s first address to Congress, Rhode Island Public Radio (RIPR) hosted a lively public forum on Tuesday evening at Johnston’s Municipal Court entitled “When A Blue Town Turns Red: Johnston and the Trump Presidency.”
The hour-long forum attended by about two dozen people discussed why the majority of Johnston voters welcomed Trump’s simple message of making America great again and what that decision reveals about Rhode Island.
“Every year, we do a series called One Square Mile, where we focus on one particular community in Rhode Island, and this time around we focused on Johnston. We did a series of stories about the town and just fell in love with it. It’s kind of our love letter to Johnston,” said Kristin Gourlay, interim news director at RIPR.
“Then we usually hold an event about the community that we’ve focused on, and one of the most interesting things we found about Johnston was how there was the biggest swing in this community from blue to red, and we wanted to dig into that and learn a little bit more about why. We thought we would have this panel discussion and sort of dig into it a little bit.”
The forum featured Ian Donnis, political reporter for RIPR, who posed questions to Richard Delfino Jr., chair of the Johnston Democratic Town Committee, and Robert Matteo, chair of the Johnston Republican Town Committee.
“Johnston has been a Democratic stronghold in Rhode Island for years, but in 2016 Johnston voters gave Republican voters a decisive 14-point victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. That was the sharpest swing in partisan support since 2012 for any Rhode Island community,” said Donnis. “Rhode Island Public Radio reported on President Trump’s big win in Johnston as part of our recent series, One Square Mile: Johnston, and tonight at Johnston’s municipal court we discuss some of the same questions, like why did a Democratic leaning town like Johnston prefer Trump over Clinton, and what does it mean for Rhode Island.”
Questions ranged from candidate Trump’s message towards working class people, how President Trump is performing so far, the role of states rights in the administration, how the media and fake news factored into Johnston voters’ decisions, and whether or not the possibility of an impeachment of Trump was possible, amongst other topics.
“I think he is a wild card, we’ve seen that throughout the election,” said Matteo. “I think we’re going to see how this plays out in how well he gets along with Senate Republicans and House Republicans. We’re going to see that relationship take place, it does, on some fronts, seem more antagonistic but we’re seeing some headway being made with different sides of the Republican party.”
“I think it’s very early to assess what type of president he’s going to be. I think he has the opportunity to send a message, loud and clear, that we should all be on the same page working for a better America, a better local community and a better state community, and I think he has the ability to do that,” added Delfino.
The hour-long, three segment program was followed by a question and answer session, in which audience members asked pointed questions about the relationship between Johnston and national politics, environmental concerns, and healthcare. While the segment will be heard on RIPR stations 88.1 FM in Providence, 91.5 FM in Coventry, and 102.7 FM in Narragansett Pier, as well as online, dates for airing have yet to be released. For more information on the segment, visit www.ripr.org/post/public-forum-when-blue-town-turns-red-johnston-and-trump-presidency.
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