‘What Is Government For’? 14 Hard-Hit Voters Debate a Big Question in the Era of Trump and Musk

In the wake of the crises of the decade so far — the pandemic, extreme weather and natural disasters, among others — Americans have increasingly expressed their doubts about institutions, the government especially.

Since Donald Trump’s return to office and the rise of Elon Musk as a major political figure, there’s been intense focus on a simple set of questions: What should the government be for? Who should it help? What explains its failures? In Opinion’s latest focus group, we spoke with 14 people from North Carolina who were either directly affected last year by Hurricane Helene, or who had close friends or family members who were. Because of that event, many of them were directly confronted with these questions of government help and trust in institutions. At a time when the future of many government services could change significantly, we asked them about what Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk are doing and how other leaders, like Joe Biden, handled the crisis.