I had to choose between buying food and paying rent.
Joanne is a New Yorker who’s seeing the concrete harms of Donald Trump’s policy agenda up close. She just turned 65, and is facing down the possibility of Social Security cuts after spending decades paying into the system. She’s also watched as benefits she relies on everyday are pared back thanks to the Trump administration and MAGA Republicans in Congress.
Trump’s inflationary policies are also making Joanne’s life harder. These days, when she goes to the grocery store, she can barely stretch her budget enough to cover the essentials. This has created a scenario where she had to choose recently between paying rent an affording groceries—something she never thought she’d have to deal with.
She also has a close family member who was detained by ICE and forced to endure the the dark, dangerous reality of life inside an immigrant detention facility. This person was deprived of food and water, crammed into a space with 50 other people, exposed to extreme heat and cold, and ultimately deported.
Joanne has always worked hard, paid into the system, and played by the rules. But under Trump, the rulebook is out the window, and ordinary people like her and her family are getting screwed over. New Yorkers like her deserve better.