This coming Tuesday, Jan. 20, will mark the end of the first year of what is shaping up as the American Reign of Terror, the administration of President-cum-Dictator Donald J. Trump, which still has another three years to run.
Stunningly, this first year has proved to be an even bigger disaster than anticipated, with the most recent poll placing Trump’s job approval at a meager 36 percent. The travesties that led to this point seem infinite – an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency run amok, threats of a Greenland invasion, launching Justice Department investigations against political enemies, a stupefying mishandling of the economy. The list is endless.
Just how this tragicomedy is playing in Kentucky is open to speculation. There hasn’t been a whole lotta polling – Morning Consult put Trump’s approval in the Commonwealth at 57 percent but that was way back in August. Historically, for reasons beyond comprehension, the Lord of Mar-a-Lago has always proved spectacularly popular in the Bluegrass, winning by huge margins in each of his three presidential campaigns, pulling a whopping 64.6 percent of the vote in November 2024, his most recent time on the ballot.
It’s likely he remains above water in the state even though, given the economy and other factors, the enthusiasm may have ebbed a bit.
Regardless, any analysis of Trump’s impact on Kentucky during this, the first year of his second, non-consecutive term, just ain’t that great. In addition to the issues plaguing the other 49 states, some of the Trump administration fiascos have proved particularly problematic for the Commonwealth.
Take batteries.
The BlueOval SK Battery Park in Glendale was touted as the biggest economic investment in state history, a $5.8 billion venture carrying the promise of 5,000 jobs. It was all part of the Ford Motor Company’s commitment to boost its electric vehicle production capabilities.
The reality has proved significantly less promising. Ford changed course, turning instead to investing in its traditional gas-powered vehicles, leading to a repurposing of the Glendale plant after less than five months in production, resulting in the lay-off of 1,600 workers. It will be another 18 months before the facility reopens. Ford intends to invest $2 billion and employ 2,100 workers, well short of the original plan.
So, what happened? Under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, the tax cut measure signed into law on July 4, 2025, the $7,500 federal credit on the purchase of EVs was eliminated, resulting in the crash of the electric vehicle market. Reuters reported in November that sales in the U.S. dropped more than 41 percent after the law took effect in September.
During the 2024 campaign Trump dismissed the tax credits as part of what he characterized as the “green new scam’’ that gave priority to clean energy initiatives over the utilization of fossil-fuel, an energy source he idolizes. His decision to end the EV tax incentive, initiated by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, undercut the industry and proved cataclysmic for the Glendale battery plant.
And bourbon.
Bourbon is a $9 billion a year industry in Kentucky employing more than 23,000 people with a payroll estimated at $2.2 billion – at least until recently. Trump’s excessive tariffs imposed on much of the world has rendered the bourbon industry a key target for retaliatory trade responses, grievously affecting the global market.
The legendary Jim Beam distillery in Clermont has announced that it will halt production for a full year, perhaps placing as many as 1,500 jobs in limbo, with Trump’s trade war playing a significant role in the situation.
The tariffs aren’t the only reason behind bourbon’s decline – domestic tastes also seem to have waned some. But Trump’s love affair with tariffs is the industry’s biggest headache since the popular spirit destined for Europe and other spots around the globe has become the target of punitive levies, increasing costs and rendering the a fifth harder to sell.
It comes as no surprise. Back in March, Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers Association, issued a statement asserting that “hard-working Americans — corn farmers, truckers, distillery workers, barrel makers, bartenders, servers and the communities and businesses built around Kentucky bourbon will suffer” as a result of the trade war.
“Bourbon jobs are American jobs, and we grow bourbon jobs by opening markets across the globe,’’ he said.
And what about soybeans?
Kentucky’s soybean crop is grown on about 1.9 million acres, generating more than $1 billion, making it the state’s top crop. Once again, the Trump trade war brutalized farmers, in the Commonwealth and elsewhere, when China simply quit buying because of the high tariffs. It managed to address its needs by buying elsewhere, particularly from Brazil and Argentina.
The boycott lasted months and dug deeply into farmers’ pockets. Trump was eventually forced to acquiesce, reaching a trade deal with the Chinese government. But Beijing fell well short of the amount it agreed to purchase – less than 3 million metric tons from October to December, short of the 12 million metric tons goal.
In fact, China imported a record volume of soybeans in 2025 – just not from the United States.
And, of course, there’s the Medicaid and SNAP programs.
Once again Trump’s One Big Beautiful bill has worked its dark magic. The package cut Medicaid by $880 billion over 10 years — $88 billion a year. A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation determined that the cuts will hit Kentucky among the hardest within the 50 states.
Medicaid covers about 1.5 million people in Kentucky, more than 25 percent of the state’s population. Kaiser has estimated that 393.000 could ultimately wind up losing coverage. And these numbers don’t include the potential impact on rural hospitals, dozens of which face closure.
The One Big Beautiful Bill also cut funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka food stamps, by $186 billion. The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy estimates the change could affect 575,000 of the state’s 4.59 million residents.
In other words, an untold number of Kentucky children will go to bed hungry.
That’s a quick summation of Trump’s achievements vis-a-viz Kentucky over the past 12 months. In many areas it seems Kentucky is worse off under his guidance.
One area where Trump’s minions, like the appalling Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, express great hope is with coal, Trump’s favored form of energy generation that he has pushed to the forefront at the expense of renewables, referring to it as “beautiful, clean coal,’’ which is about as ridiculous a description anyone could possibly imagine.
Regardless, there are indications that, nationwide, coal might be experiencing a slight bounce-back. Carbon emissions, generally from coal-fired generation plants, rose in 2025 after two years of decline as a result of Trump administration policies and an increase in the cost of natural gas.
But it’s not clear yet that Kentucky is joining the party. For one thing, after serving as the top coal producer in much of the 1970s, the Commonwealth has slipped to seventh, behind even North Dakota. And figures show during the third quarter of 2025, Kentucky production dropped 5 percent.
Kentucky has invested a whole lot in President-cum-Dictator Donald J. Trump, the man who would be king. It sure doesn’t look like it’s paying off.