Jennifer Esposito was once so passionate about President Donald Trump that she knocked on doors and registered voters seven days a week as a “Trump Force Captain” campaign organizer.
The Kingman resident paid out of her own pocket to make MAGA hats for dogs and even spent $20 on a tiny replica hat for an action figure that reminds her of her husband.
Now, all of Esposito’s MAGA hats are tucked away — full size in the closet, miniature in a drawer — and she’s skipping the president’s rally Oct. 14 in Bullhead City.
“I have lost all faith in President Trump, honestly,” Esposito said. "I wish I could get those years of my life back, because what difference did it really make? He never even fulfilled his very first campaign promise, which was to lock
up Hillary Clinton.”
Trump is headed to Arizona’s reddest county to rev up Republican voters before the November midterm election.
The Republican president has plenty of support in the northwestern corner of the state, but even some of the MAGA faithful like Esposito say the magic is gone now that Trump has broken his campaign promises.
“Every time I go to the gas station, I text everybody. I go, ‘Tell me again how you guys are lowering gas prices?’” said Buster Johnson, a former Republican county supervisor who lost in a 2024 primary.
Trump’s approval rating has cratered with his unpopular war in Iran, which rattled voters who believed his anti-war campaign pledge. It also sent gas prices skyrocketing. The average price of a gallon of gas is $4.85 in Mohave County, according to AAA, up nearly $1.56 compared with a year ago.
Trump’s controversial tariff policy has also raised costs, while some, like Johnson, say their suspicions about the president’s alleged ties to the disgraced financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein still linger.
“Now that they retired me, I got nothing to do but read stuff and watch stuff, and God darn,” Johnson said.
It’s all been a drag for statewide Republican candidates like Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Arizona, who is challenging Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in a marquee race.
Plus, it's weighing on the Republican congressional candidates who Trump needs to keep the GOP’s grip on the U.S. House of Representatives.
Jay Feely is skipping the president’s speech, and Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Arizona, has not said whether he will attend. Trump’s campaign stop on the Nevada border is about as far as possible from the Scottsdale and Tucson-area House seats Feely and Ciscomani are desperate to win.
Trump's strategy: Target Republican-heavy areas to drive up turnout
Political watchers say that by appearing in Arizona, Trump is likely to hurt his party more than he can help.
He could, however, be trying to drive up turnout for statewide candidates by coming to one of the reddest cities in Arizona’s reddest county. Trump won more than 77% of the vote in Mohave County in 2024.
“He's going to the most red district there is,” said Brian Murray, the former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party. “The only thing that makes sense to me is they're trying to dramatically increase the turnout in Mohave County to record levels in hopes that that could help push over some of these races that are in the margin.”
Trump has targeted Republican-heavy areas in his fall campaign swing by taking trips to conservative states like Nebraska, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
That trend will continue this week. After his remarks at the Laughlin Bullhead International Airport, the president will jet off to campaign in a Montana county where he won more than 65% of the vote in 2024.
“President Trump is capable of turning out the vote like no other leader in modern political history,” Republican National Committee spokesman Nick Poche said in an email. “This rally will showcase not only the wins Republicans have secured for Arizonans over the past two years, but the agenda for the final two years for President Trump’s historic second term.”
'I don't really think that this rally is all that newsworthy'
Trump will appear at the same Bullhead City venue where Esposito took a selfie with Air Force One when the president last touched down there for a 2020 presidential campaign rally.
Esposito is a Republican activist who has served on a number of local committees, although she has clashed with other Republican leaders in recent months.
She also runs the Mohave Free Press, a monthly conservative newspaper. Her outlet will not be covering the president’s speech.
“I'm sure that it probably seems a little bit ironic that I have the only right-leaning newspaper in the most conservative county in all of Arizona and yet I don't really think that this rally is all that newsworthy,” Esposito said. “But I don't.”
“There's just a lot of things that actually affect the locals more than the president coming to just give a propaganda speech,” she added.
For all the president’s faults, though, there are limits to the MAGA rebellion in Mohave County.
Esposito is going to vote for the Trump-endorsed Biggs, partly because she likes him and partly because she thinks No Labels candidate Teri Hourihan doesn’t have a shot at winning.
And if Johnson were faced with the same choice as in 2024, he’d cast another vote for Trump. “If it was between him and Kamala, I'd go with this idiot,” Johnson said.
Stephanie Murray covers national politics and the Trump administration for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. She co-hosts “The Gaggle,” The Republic’s weekly politics podcast. Reach her at stephanie.murray@usatodayco.com, on X and TikTok @stephanie_murr and on Instagram @stephaniemurray.news.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Lost all faith': Why this ex-Trump supporter is skipping his rally
