Robert Reich

Life in the Shadow of the American Dream
Voices of Americans

(Andrew Tait and his family, Shenandoah County, Virginia)

Friends,

From time to time I come across a personal story about life in Trump’s America that’s so powerful that I want to share it with you. Here’s one, from Andrew Tait. It was originally published in the Daily Yonder on August 1, 2025. (For more rural reporting and small-town stories, visit dailyyonder.com.)

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My Family Lives in the Shadow of the American Dream


By Andrew Tait

I live in Shenandoah County, Virginia. I’m a factory worker, a farmer, and a father of two girls, one still in diapers. I get up before the sun, and most days I don’t sit down until after it’s gone.

My partner Hannah and I raise our girls on a small farm in the Valley. She works full-time too—though nobody calls it that. She’s a caregiver, a homemaker, a livestock handler, and a mother. She doesn’t get a paycheck. She doesn’t get a break. She doesn’t get counted.

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