Reconnecting with people in the U.S. to see how political divisions are affecting them

Amna Nawaz:

Over the past three years, Judy Woodruff has spoken with people across the country whose stories have helped us to understand this moment in America.

Tonight, she checks back in with some of them. It's all part of her series, America at a Crossroads.

Judy Woodruff:

For nearly three years, I have been traveling the country hearing from people from all walks of life about how our political divisions are affecting their communities, friendships, and families.

And as we approach the end of this year, I wanted to reconnect with a handful of them to ask them what's changed, what still divides us, and what gives them hope.

From Michigan.

Holli Vallade, Michigan Resident:

It's so much worse.

Judy Woodruff:

To Illinois.

Rev. Victor Long, First United Methodist Church:

It's become one party defeating the other.

Judy Woodruff:

Texas and beyond.

Alexis Uscanga, Student:

Whenever I speak my values, I fear that something bad may happen.

Judy Woodruff:

Nearly everyone we caught up with told us this moment feels like a breaking point.

Vanessa Hall-Harper, Tulsa City Council:

The current presidential administration seems hell-bent on dividing, not only socially, but even economically.

Holli Vallade:

People that don't like Trump will say he's very divisive, but those are the same people that say that Biden was great. So I guess we will have to agree to disagree on that one as well.

Judy Woodruff:

This tension sits on top of pressures more and more people are already feeling, the increasing cost of living, housing shortages, and the erosion of shared spaces where people used to meet across political lines.

Rev. Victor Long:

People are a lot more anxious about the world than they were before the election.

Judy Woodruff:

It hits home for Reverend Victor Long, who leads the First United Methodist Church in Mount Vernon, Illinois.

Rev. Victor Long:

The lord's table is the place where Democrats can kneel alongside Republicans.

Judy Woodruff:

We first spoke to him in June of last year about the changing role of religion in our country. But in recent months, he's more concerned about his community getting their basic needs met.

Rev. Victor Long:

We have a food pantry. And a couple weeks ago, I stepped over there just before they thought the SNAP benefits would end, and it was packed like I'd never seen it before. The woman who leads that ministry was visiting with somebody in line, and it was a federal worker.

And she said: "I never dreamed that I'd be in this situation."

Judy Woodruff:

Beyond the government shutdown, cuts to federal safety net programs like food assistance and housing support are also top of mind for Tulsa City Councillor Vanessa Hall-Harper.

Vanessa Hall-Harper:

The solution to homelessness is homes.

Judy Woodruff:

She gave me a tour of her North Tulsa district back in 2023, when we reported on the city's reckoning with its troubled history of race relations.

Vanessa Hall-Harper:

Most people who are experiencing homelessness work every day. And I think that's a testament to living in America that tells us about our economy, right, and our system of capitalism. It's a matter of prioritizing.

And right now, at our federal level of government, helping the general population is just not a priority.

Sylvia Gonzalez Andersh, Retired:

I'm in communities where there's a lot of fear and there's a lot of anxiety. I kind of had to get and step back from listening to the news, because it's so disconcerting and scary.

Judy Woodruff:

This is your parents.

Sylvia Gonzalez Andersh is a U.S. Air Force veteran in Arizona. We met in the months leading up to the 2024 election for a story about the many differences within the Latino community, including over how people vote.

What is it about the Trump administration's policies that you think has caused the most reaction or greater division?

Sylvia Gonzalez Andersh:

I think the cruelty and the just broad-based attack on all people of color. I feel like I have to carry my passport everywhere I go, because I have no idea when or where I could be interrogated or asked for my papers. And that's just horrifying to me as an older woman has — has lived in this country her whole life.

Judy Woodruff:

Even in conservative parts of Texas, some are bracing for the unknown.

Steve Rader, Rancher:

They don't know what effect they're going to have on us, each one of us. And so they're cautiously optimistic about the good that can come from some of these rulings, tariffs and things like that.

Judy Woodruff:

We met Steve Rader at his ranch in the Panhandle of Texas shortly after the beloved local newspaper, The Canadian Record, folded, one of more than 3,500 newspapers to close in the past two decades.

Does it feel the same way now, almost 2.5 years later, without the newspaper?

Steve Rader:

Yes, it definitely does. We are not near as well informed as I'd like to be as a community. We just don't know what each other's doing. And it hurts us as a community to not know more. And, politically, our editor was so good about keeping us informed about what was going on in the politics. And so we're missing that on that too.

Judy Woodruff:

That sense of community fraying was echoed by Holli Vallade of Michigan, who we first met in March while reporting on the lasting division left in the wake of the COVID pandemic.

Holli Vallade:

The biggest change, other than just the continuation of the Trump presidency, since March has been what happened in September to Charlie Kirk. There was such a vitriol about it. There was such a celebration and almost just lightheartedness and just a lack of humanity towards it.

To have such a large group of people in our community be celebrating that, and then also demonizing any of us who had a normal, healthy, I think, human reaction to seeing such a horrible thing happen, it was shocking and heartbreaking.

Judy Woodruff:

That rang true for college senior Alexis Uscanga, who we met this June at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He's the campus coordinator there for Turning Point USA, the conservative student organization co-founded by Kirk.

Alexis Uscanga:

It impacted me in a very severe way because I believe in his values, I believe in what he said. So sometimes I do have — I do fear for my life in the same way.

Judy Woodruff:

But the past few months have also given Uscanga hope that his generation will come together to focus more on basics, rather than ideology.

Alexis Uscanga:

Our generation is very just focused on housing affordability. A lot of us are worried that we're not going to get the same opportunities that our parents did and that our grandparents did. I don't see why there should be a lot of division into trying to make the American dream a possibility for us. I hope that our generation can at least bridge the gap and to finding common ground.

Judy Woodruff:

For Reverend Long, he sees hope in his congregation and others like his.

Rev. Victor Long:

There is just a lot of venomous stuff out there. And that doesn't do us any good. And not until we can get to know our neighbor can we really begin to love our neighbor.

Judy Woodruff:

And how do you think we do that?

Rev. Victor Long:

We don't spend time face-to-face with other people. And the church used to be one of those places where you should come together with differences of opinions, different world views and put those aside and be united to a greater purpose and know each other, care about each other.

And it's going to take us getting out of our silos, getting out of our houses, away from our screens, and I think meeting other people face-to-face and learning to care for them as human beings.

Judy Woodruff:

In Michigan, Vallade points to a lesson she says she learned from Charlie Kirk. Engage more with people you disagree with.

Holli Vallade:

Let's look at both sides of these issues and let's think about some of these other points and then make your decision. Don't just assume that that's how you feel as well.

And one of the best quotes of Charlie when it comes to that kind of issue is when he said it gets very dangerous when people stop talking. That's when civil war happens. That's when divorce happens. When people stop talking, that's when they get violent.

Judy Woodruff:

In the midst of challenges, Steve Rader in Texas points to the way people show up for one another in his own community.

Steve Rader:

I see so many people stepping forward and helping other people and having a servant's heart to help our community. And we saw that in that fire that we had. It's just amazing to see that and really a blessing to see that, people taking care of each other.

Judy Woodruff:

Sylvia Gonzalez Andersh in Tucson says her hope persists, even as she grapples with how far the country still has to go.

Sylvia Gonzalez Andersh:

If we get through this, we can finally have liberty and justice for all in a country that is going to live up to our American dream, which we were all sold as immigrants. As a child, I bought all into the American dream. And I achieved it in some ways, but it's really hard for me to see that so many others were left behind.

Judy Woodruff:

In Tulsa, hope comes from participation, from using your voice to shape what comes next.

Vanessa Hall-Harper:

The reality is, we live in a representative democracy. And those who are in power are making policies that impacts everyone's lives. And so we have to take that stand and be the voice and elect people who are going to be leading in our best interests, as opposed to the few.

Judy Woodruff:

Three years on, the divisions remain, but, in some quarters, so does the desire to find a way forward together.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Judy Woodruff in Washington.