Things are growing tense in this small town of America

Paul Nolp, Agence France-Presse

Visitors are still flocking to the quaint mountain town of Berkeley Springs in West Virginia to savour its hot springs, art galleries and gift stores. Residents, however, say they are navigating new tensions. They still smile and shake hands with neighbours at the bakery while getting their morning coffee, as long as they don't mention two words: Donald Trump. The 850 residents of Berkeley Springs are a mix of rural conservatives who have lived here for generations and people who arrived more recently in the town nestled in the Appalachian Mountains. The differences have existed for decades, but things are now growing tense. "A lot of people who quietly stand up for goodness are getting louder, and then that's making the people who are upset by that also become louder," says Kate Colby, 44, owner of Mineral Springs Trading Company.

A large rainbow flag hangs on one wall of her gift store. Some locals told her to take it down, saying it made them feel unwelcome, she says. "They feel like they've got to be louder, and they're aggressive... It just sort of builds, until it combusts," she said with a bitter laugh. The small town dynamics are a portrait in miniature of events across the country: liberal Americans hear the president's frequent diatribes as attacks, while conservatives feel legitimized by his rhetoric. Society in general has grown less civil in the United States in Trump's second term, as he attacks the balance of powers and his political adversaries.

"Trump does a really good job polarizing everything. He is like, you're on my side, or you can get out," says Nicole Harris, 47. Born in Oregon, Harris recently moved east to landlocked West Virginia, a rural and industrial state where almost 90 per cent of the population voted for Trump in the 2024 election.

To avoid problems, she keeps quiet: no political discussions with neighbours or with guests at her bed and breakfast, the Grand Castalian Inn. "We're a business, so we accept everyone, and we accept everyone's opinions. I keep my own opinions for myself," she says. Beth Curtin has owned an antiques store in one of the beautiful brick homes in the center of town for 36 years. Many of her friends are Trump supporters. She is not. "It is a small community, and so we bump into one another. It's not like, you know, a bigger metropolitan area where you can just hang with people who share your same views.... it's more important that we try to get along and, you know, sometimes you have to bite your tongue," she says. Curtin says she avoids some stores in town because she does not want her money going "towards people who have those views."

In the air-conditioned chill of the Lighthouse Latte cafe, Scott Wetzel, a wiry, bright-eyed 62-year-old, recalls his farm-based childhood and adult life in landscaping and construction. He views Democrats as "communists" who threaten his way of living. "If I speak of freedom, their idea of freedom is telling me how I could live. That's not freedom. They just don't get it so, but you can't fix that. That's something that's twisted up in their heads," the retiree says.

He says people are still welcome to "spew that garbage" but "I'm just not gonna listen to it." In early July, some town residents held a march in Berkeley Springs against Trump's "big, beautiful bill." A truck nearby sold caps with his face on them. "There's gonna have to be some shift. We can't keep escalating like this," says Colby, the gift store owner. "We need to get back to a point where everybody can just sort of like, calmly live their own lives side by side, which I think was happening a lot more before Trump's first term," she says.

Standing on the balcony of his elegant bed-and-breakfast, Mayor Greg Schene offers a more conciliatory view on town life. "This is certainly more of a melting pot," says the Baltimore native, adding that having a spectrum of political beliefs "makes us better." "Finding, you know, some solutions and coming to a middle ground is always better than having one dominant party," Schene said, smiling as he greeted people passing by.