海角大神

Having done everything from man the first cruise of the supercarrier USS America to stock shelves at Walmart, Raymond 鈥淪kip鈥� Dempsey has now had to get used to another life accomplishment: Republican kingmaker.

As Donald Trump, the man Mr. Dempsey helped lift to the White House, takes his presidential oath of office聽on Friday, the former Navy mechanic from upstate New York is experiencing a rainbow of feelings: excited, optimistic, concerned 鈥� and determined, in his case, to watch the incoming Trump administration like a hawk.

Leaning on his rake, the grizzled Dempsey grins: 鈥淓verybody needs to relax and give him a year or two. If it doesn鈥檛 work out, impeach him.鈥�

Rural precincts like Georgia鈥檚 Walton County, buzzing with evangelical fervor, played a decisive role in giving America its 45th聽president. The remarkable election came with uncertainty and upheaval, already measured from the global to the personal: Dempsey says his 50-something-year-old son hasn鈥檛 talked to him since Election Night.

But here on the backroads of Walton County, Trump-inspired church signs that read 鈥淔rom weeping to joy鈥� and 鈥淕od is doing a new thing in 2017鈥� suggest a humbler, and perhaps more nuanced, portrait of Mr. Trump鈥檚 core support on the day of his inauguration.

Indeed, in this box-store-dotted cattle country on the fringes of metro Atlanta 鈥� a place where Trump won more than 3 out of 4 votes 鈥� the inaugural mood is hardly one of gloating. Instead, it鈥檚 notable for exuding a quiet pride in the feeling that they have moved the country forward 鈥� even though a majority of Americans seem to disapprove of the messenger and his methods.

Voters here for the most part shrug off Trump鈥檚 historically low 34 percent pre-inauguration approval rating, according to a Fox News poll. After all, they say, when you upend the applecart, it upsets a lot of guys with apples. They also know that, as with any incoming administration, failure looms just as large as success, perhaps particularly so with Trump.

鈥淚 know he鈥檚 a hothead because I鈥檓 one, too,鈥� notes Dempsey. 鈥淏ut us hotheads need to learn to walk away and cool off. Twitter is not his friend.鈥�

Yet for many, like furniture restorer Wayne Hurst, Trump鈥檚 election has already accomplished one important thing: shaken America out of a reverie.

The country, he and others here say, was declining alarmingly 鈥� heading toward a future of meager economic growth, diminished standing in the world, and callous indifference toward the working class that built America.

鈥淭he Democrats kept saying, relax, time will take care of everything,鈥� says Mr. Hurst. 鈥淲ell, after eight years, we can鈥檛 afford any more time.鈥�

Less hardline than it seems

To critics,聽that general feeling聽among many conservative voters is at least in part a wistfulness for a bygone America that was built on privilege 鈥� where white, working-class males were the winners at the expense of women and minorities. Trumpism is really a push to 鈥渕ake white America great again,鈥� says Ed Dorn, a University of Texas public policy professor.

Moreover, there is a sense among liberals that聽media-heckling Trump supporters can't abide criticism of聽their man.聽鈥淭his idea that the Trump supporters have seems to be that, if you are not with Trump, you are dead-set against him. There doesn鈥檛 seem to be a middle ground,鈥� MSNBC鈥檚 Cal Perry noted.

But interviews here offer a somewhat different portrait. For all the revivalist hope invested in Trump, the love, it turns out, isn鈥檛 all that deep, nor complete.

On one hand, expectations among Trump voters are high, according to interviews. But because of that, there is a keen awareness that a Trump presidency could falter out of the gate. That has led many Trump supporters, on the eve of the new presidency, to cut their excitement with a healthy measure of caution, even concern.

Take Hope Simpson, who sits behind the desk at Paperbacks Books in downtown Loganville, Ga., another small Walton County town. A Trump voter and mom of four, she says she will watch Trump鈥檚 inauguration with both a Biblical sense of certainty that she made the right choice and a measured excitement.

Trump鈥檚 antics during the campaign were enough to drive the life-long Republican to consider someone else, but every bone in her body resisted Hillary Clinton. She downplays his comments about sexually聽harassing women 鈥� 鈥渟omething he did 30 years ago鈥� 鈥� as water under the bridge. More heartening to her is the prevalence of Evangelicals among Trump鈥檚 cabinet nominations, which, as the Israeli newspaper Haaretz noted聽last week,聽could 鈥済ive evangelical 海角大神s a level of power and influence on American life that they never had before.鈥�

But at least in her case, that is not as hardline a stance as it sounds. On the one hand, she supports a border wall 鈥�100 percent 鈥� he has got to do that.鈥� Yet she also echoes President Obama, who recently said that聽鈥淎merican kids鈥� brought here as babies and now protected by his executive orders should not be deported.聽鈥淩epublicans still need my vote, and they still need to earn it,鈥� she concludes.

Moreover, she cites Trump鈥檚 tendency to throw gasoline on fires 鈥� she cites the John Lewis Twitter spat 鈥� as un-presidential, and even deeply worrisome. It鈥檚 not enough to make her regret her vote. But she says her eyes are more open as inauguration approaches.

鈥淚 think he can help this country if he does what he says he will do,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut if he鈥檚 not careful, I think he can also hurt it.鈥�

An upswelling of hope

Across the street, in a two-story workshop built of red brick, Hurst, the furniture restorer, can hear a visitor below from the clacking of boot heels on weathered boards of Southern pine. 鈥淐ome on up,鈥� he yells.

Hurst has spent nearly four decades restoring furniture 鈥� the amber-colored varnish splatters on the walls prove it.

Sure, Hurst has concerns about Trump, and he gets why at least some Republican voters may be having buyer鈥檚 remorse. But, personally, he says he stays assured by one fact: 鈥淟isten, the guy鈥檚 name is on the line. And to him, his name is everything. He鈥檚 not going to fail.鈥�

Hurst, too, has his name up on the side of a building. But聽on Friday, that building will be closed. Hurst plans to stay at home, watch the inauguration, and enjoy what he has identified as a long-lost feeling.

鈥淚 feel an upwelling 鈥� an upswelling 鈥� of hope,鈥� Hurst says. 鈥淚 can feel it in my bones, in the floors. It鈥檚 a momentous day.鈥�