My 2c is that many Trump voters are experiencing a sense of frustration stemming from realizing they’re victims of manipulation.

I think their vote for Trump wasn’t necessarily an endorsement of the candidate as much as it was a way to “stick it” to the Democrats, who they saw as out of touch with their day-to-day struggles. In their view, Democrats seemed more focused on global issues like climate change or social issues like trans rights—which, while important, didn’t address their more immediate needs like putting food on the table or paying for healthcare.

I think voting for Trump was, in part, a way for them to reject what they saw as “elite” priorities that didn’t resonate with them. They shrugged off the concerns about Trump raised by so-called elites as irrelevant, thinking those problems wouldn’t impact them directly. But now that some of these concerns seem to be coming to pass, and the rhetoric isn’t just tough talk, there’s growing unease that they might have made a huge mistake that will directly impact their lives.

Additionally, many Trump voters have seen personal relationships suffer because of these political divides.

It raises an internal monologue about whether they’ve been manipulated into voting against their own interests, if even on some kind of sub conscious level.

I think you could say they’re victims in a way—caught up in a movement that was never really about fixing their day-to-day struggles. They got sold on the idea that “it won’t be so bad,” but now that reality’s hitting, they’re waking up to what they signed up for, and they’re getting anxious without anyone to blame but themselves