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What does Trump's strongest Tennessee county think of the travel ban?

Tom Bailey
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

WAYNESBORO, Tenn. — One of the common posts that shot across social media after President Donald Trump targeted seven predominantly Muslim nations for a temporary ban on visa entry goes like this:

"The people angry at Trump's order ride subways & buses with Muslims every day. The people cheering it have never met one.''

Well, welcome to Wayne County, which led Tennessee in giving 86 percent of its votes to Trump, where just 1 percent of its 17,000 residents are foreign-born, and where a spot check Tuesday turned up no one who has met a person of the Muslim faith, at least not inside Wayne County.

It made sense to take the temperature of this staunch Trump county this week. In his first 10 days in office the new president issued 20 orders, stirring up folks around the country. The tide of activity came with a price. Gallup pollsters reported that Trump had received a 51 percent disapproval rating after eight days in office, the shortest amount of time in modern political history it took a president to reach that distinction.

So had Wayne County given up on its favorite candidate? Hardly. But there were some hints of wait-a-minute-there-Mr. President in the comments.

The stars-and-stripes fly over the town square Waynesboro, Tennessee. A staunchly Republican region, Wayne County residents voted more for Donald Trump than any other county in Tennessee, but when residents were asked about his recent travel ban responses were widely varied.

Here in this rolling land some 150 miles east of Memphis, four of the 10 residents approached by The Commercial Appeal expressed opposition or some reservations to the president's executive order.

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"Most of the people from outside the United States comes from the European countries here,'' said retiree Jasper A. Brewer, pointing to a world map at the Wayne County Welcome Center on which travelers have marked their home countries with push-pins.

The pins are dense across Europe. But only a solitary red pin on Iraq touched any of the mostly Muslim countries targeted by Trump.

"I don't think that the executive order had the input that it needed from the various departments,''  said Brewer, a center volunteer.

But the Welcome Center volunteer who spelled Brewer at lunchtime expressed stronger support for Trump's action even while wanting to be fair to those who wish the U.S. no harm.

"I know there's a lot of people that need to come here who now will not be able,'' said lifelong Wayne County resident Daffo Holt, who campaigned for Trump and had just returned from a church mission trip to Honduras. "If there's just some way of sorting it all out. I know we need tighter rules, more security at the airports.''

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Wayne County's largest employers are the public school district, the South Central Correctional Center and the hospital. The former and the latter are based in the biggest town in the county, Waynesboro, where the Rotary Club started its meeting at the Hot Rod Cafe on town square. The civic club will celebrate its 50th anniversary in March, and charter member Paul Rich attended Tuesday as usual. "Never missed a meeting, perfect attendance,'' he said.

"He's putting his mouth where his money is. Not very many people stand up like he does,'' Rich said. "He stands up for what he believes in; we'll try that and see what happens.''

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Fellow Rotarian Dave Stults agrees. "I support it all the way,'' he said of Trump's action. "It's not a Muslim ban. This is just a temporary thing. He's just doing the best he can to keep our country safe.

Trump supporter Paul Rich talks about his views on fighting terrorists during an interview before an afternoon Rotary meeting in Waynesboro, Tennessee. A staunchly Republican region, Wayne County residents voted more for Donald Trump than any other county in Tennessee, but when residents were asked about his recent travel ban responses were widely varied.

"I'm for a sovereign nation. Illegal immigration? It's stuff like that. We're a sovereign country. I'm for secure borders. I have nothing against Muslims,'' Stults said. "But you've got to have the right kind of vetting process to (know) who they say they are.''

A quarter-mile off the square at McDonald's, Lessie Clark enjoyed her dessert — a vanilla ice-cream cone — after she and her husband Arnold Ray ate lunch. He called Trump's executive order "a good idea.''

"Look what they do in their country,'' Ray said, referring to the Middle East. "They shoot at each other. They make bombs. They blow themselves up. We don't want that here. I got no use for crazy people. It just don't work.''

Clark believes Trump's travel ban is a "a great thing as long as it's temporary. I want to know know everything before they make something like that permanent. ... Because those countries are in such turmoil. And those people, I know a lot of them are good people,'' she said.

Diners enjoy lunch at the Hot Rod Cafe in Waynesboro. A staunchly Republican region, Wayne County residents voted more for Donald Trump than any other county in Tennessee, but when asked about his recent travel ban responses were widely varied.

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Patty Terry, who owns Big John's Market, said Americans should not be surprised by Trump's executive order.

"He's just doing what he said he was going to do," Terry said. "People voted for that."

Housekeeper Nikki Williams changes the linens at the Ren-Cass Efficiencies Motel in Waynesboro, Tennessee. A staunchly Republican region, Wayne County residents voted more for Donald Trump than any other county in Tennessee, but when residents were asked about his recent travel ban responses were widely varied.