Saturday, November 29, 2025

North Carolina Trump Voter Closes Family Business

North Carolina man who voted for Trump forced to shut family lumber mill, cut 50 jobs due to tariffs. What's next for rural America?

Posted by A_Friend at 02:32 PM | 6 COMMENTS | permalink

More

Last year, the owner of a sawmill in North Carolina voted for Trump. This year, he's closed down his mill and blames the squeeze from Trump's tariffs. On the Big Take podcast, Bloomberg economics reporter Shawn Donnan visits the "Old North State" to understand the ripple effect of tariffs

[image or embed]

-- Bloomberg News (@bloomberg.com) Nov 15, 2025 at 11:00 AM

Comments

snip

Wilson Jones stands in what used to be the heart of his family's lumber empire " the Mackeys Ferry Sawmill in North Carolina.

But instead of the familiar roar of saws cutting through Southern pine, there's only silence.

"I've grown all my life in the lumber business," the 60-something mill owner tells Bloomberg (1), his voice heavy with emotion. "And to hear nature at a sawmill, I think for any lumberman is not natural. I don't wanna be overly dramatic, but in a way it's as unnerving as watching a loved one take their final breath."

#1 | Posted by A_Friend at 2025-11-27 03:30 PM

snip

Jones is the fifth generation in his family to run a lumber business " and the first to close a mill. The culprit? President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, announced April 2, 2025, which promised to bring manufacturing jobs roaring back to America.

"When I say Liberation Day, I cannot put enough snark and sarcasm in my voice because we weren't liberated," Wilson says. "Liberation Day, it did, at the time, it had damn near liberated me from our business."

#2 | Posted by A_Friend at 2025-11-27 03:32 PM

I suppose Major DEI Boaz will come along and tell us that this fifth-generation North Carolinian is wrong and knows nothing about North Carolina the way he knows everything about the Tar Heel State.

Just like JD Vance telling soldiers, who indicated that like turkey, that they're liars - on the day before Thanksgiving.

#3 | Posted by A_Friend at 2025-11-27 03:36 PM

Small businesses have been hurt more than the mega-chain stores by the Trump tariffs for the sole reason that they did not have the resources to fill warehouses with their needed supplies before the tariffs took effect.

Effectively, the manner in which Pres Trump instituted his tariffs seemed to target small businesses, apparently trying to cause them to fail.



#4 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-11-27 08:08 PM

#4 Spot-on observation.

Farmers, small business owners, and independent entrepreneurs, are all examples of old-time, rock-ribbed Republicans who voted for the Trump because, well, reasons ...

And those farmers, small business owners, and independent entrepreneurs all are getting f*cked by the Trump and his circus of fools, incompetents and clowns.

Without foreplay.

The ----- of consequence rarely arrives lubed.

#5 | Posted by A_Friend at 2025-11-27 08:25 PM

Economic weakness is Good for the Environment.

This helps make up for all the damage done in other places.

Sorry about the Lost jobs.

Nature isn't.

#6 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-11-28 09:17 AM

Drudge Retort Headlines

WaPo: Drug Boat Survivors Were Killed (67 comments)

Trump Rages at Another Female Reporter (21 comments)

How Folk Classic Became Our Thanksgiving Song (21 comments)

Rory McIlroy Must Not Be a NASCAR Fan (20 comments)

Trump Feuds with His White House Ballroom Architect (16 comments)

Trump Rages at Stories About His Advanced Age and Physical Decline (16 comments)

Trump's Approval by Working Class Underwater by 28 Points (15 comments)

Trump Uses Death of National Guard Member to Boast of Election Win (14 comments)

Election Interference is Great Again in Georgia (14 comments)

US Hikes National Park Fees for Foreigners (14 comments)