From the moment a Norfolk Southern ‘bomb train’ derailed in East Palestine, OH, on February 3, 2023, traumatized and chemically exposed residents became another political football to be kicked around by Republicans, Democrats, and the media. Nearly two years since the avoidable catastrophe that changed their lives forever, residents in and around East Palestine and their families have been left to live in a toxic “sacrifice zone.”Like in 2020, the majority of voters in this part of Ohio and Pennsylvania will likely vote for Donald Trump in 2024, though plenty have given up on the whole system. In this on-the-ground documentary report, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez and Steve Mellon from the Pittsburgh Union Progress go to East Palestine to speak with residents face to face, deep in the heart of so-called “Trump Country,” and what they find is a stark reminder that working-class communities have way more in common than corporate media and corporate politicians want us to believe.

Filmed and directed by: Mike Balonek
Pre-Production: Maximillian Alvarez, Mike Balonek, Steve Mellon
Post-Production: Maximillian Alvarez, Mike Balonek, Jocelyn Dombroski, David Hebden, Kayla Rivara

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Trainwreck in ‘Trump Country’: Partisan politics hasn’t helped East Palestine, OH