Central Oregonians weigh in on Trump, year after election

Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s election to office. NewsChannel 21 traveled around Central Oregon, asking people, regardless of how they voted, if they approve of the president’s job so far.

One of the questions we asked: “If the president was here right now, and you could ask him one thing, what would would it be?”

“I’d probably ask him why he hasn’t fired more people in the holdover from the previous administration,” Trump voter Terry Hanson said.

“(I’d ask) how he views the middle class, that he can actually relate to the middle class, when he’s so wealthy,” said Redmond resident Terry Rinke, also a Trump voter.

“Does he have eyes?” Redmond resident Maggie Burnett asked. “Does he have a heart?”

She answered her own question: “He doesn’t.”

Burnett went on to say she does not agree with his approach to health care, especially with the way it affects veterans.

Another question we asked: “If you were in the president’s shoes, what would be your No. 1 priority right now?”

Aside from North Korea, most of the responses were about domestic issues.

“Taking care of things in America, taking care of the people of America,” Prineville resident John Doyle said. “Making them safe with the borders. We need to take care of our borders, and we need to take care of our immigration problem.”

“Definitely jobs in America, first off,” Rinke said. “I’d try to bring more of the work home, more of the factories home, which he’s been doing.”

“If I was President Trump, I don’t know what I would do,” Burnett said. “I would resign. Because he’s not qualified for the position.”

The last question we asked: “If you were president and could do one thing differently in the time he’s been in office, what would it be?”

“I’d probably tweet a little less,” Hanson said. “I think some of his tweets are a good way to bypass the media and get to the people, but sometimes I think he needs to go have another cup of coffee and not tweet.”

“I think I would’ve gotten an attorney general that had some bigger teeth than the one we’ve got,” Doyle said.

“I think the words he chooses, how he talks, he could throttle that back and get more people on his side,” Rinke said. “He’s pretty crass, but you know what he thinks. But he could still soften his words.”

So how would you grade President Trump’s performance so far? That’s the topic of our new KTVZ.COM Poll, which you can find halfway down the right side of our home page.