Local Trump Supporter Says She's Not 'Smug' About Election Results

You might remember last month we spoke with Gloucester resident Dianna Ploss. She had been a lifelong Democrat who'd lived for years in Cambridge. But back in 2013, things started changing for Dianna, and she registered as a Republican. She later quit her job and volunteered full time for Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

In that October conversation, Dianna told us that she thought the nation was on the wrong track and how she felt America needed to come together as a team.

On Wednesday, we invited Dianna back to the studio. We wanted to hear how she was feeling now that Trump is president-elect.

On How She Felt After Trump Won Presidency

"I think it was a couple days after the election because I was so tired working on it, I did kind of, 'Yes!' But my yes was more like for America, like a sigh of relief. I don't feel smug. I don't feel like ugh, we beat the other side. That's never how I thought, no. I feel like America was on a cliff, I feel like we pulled back a little bit... This is not a time to gloat. We are a team."

On People Who Are Scared Of What Trump And Steve Bannon Represent

"What I would encourage people to do is to read about Mr. Bannon. I always take exception to when someone says white nationalist... I don't know what that means... I don't understand what that means.

"I don't want the country to be all white and I know many of the Trump supporters who aren't white don't want the country to be all white. Chinese-Americans for Trump, huge group, enormous group. You have to ask yourself why did the Chinese-Americans for Trump, a million strong or more across the United States, why did they come out for Trump?

"Trump supporters are not a group of white nationalists. We're a very varied group of people. We're not monsters. We believe in America and we believe in America first. What is so wrong with that?

"How do you know who's gonna follow you? You just can't. What's the difference? Hillary Clinton supported Black Lives Matter and a lot of them have done some not so good things."

On The Divisions In America

"[President] Obama needs to be the person to get out there as the president and reassure people it'll be OK ... Every night I think he needs to come out. Believe me, I am not trying to minimize people, but you have to take a step back. It really is going to be OK. It is."

On Her Family's Rising Health Costs

"What I've already paid [this year]? Eighteen-thousand dollars. I canceled my insurance. Had to. I can't afford it. I'm also supporting my father. Why? Because he only gets $1,800 a month for Social Security. His rent alone is 900... One prescription he gets went from $8 a month to $44. Two years ago, my father took an overdose because he couldn't pay to live. He couldn't afford to live... I knew financially I couldn't support him, the house, do my business... so when I see people saying on Facebook what about this person, what about that person, well, what about me?

"I'm not looking for a pat on the back... I want people to know, when do we start taking care of the people that are here?

"I feel like, why doesn't Dianna's life matter anymore? Why does somebody else's life matter more than mine? Or my father's? Honestly I'm trying hard not to cry because it's crippling me. I'm crippled. I really am."

Dianna Ploss, a volunteer for the Trump campaign in Massachusetts.