'Disappointing': Deep red Trump-voting county begs president to reconsider decision

President Donald Trump's recent announcement directing the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies aims to save taxpayers money — but may inadvertently cost workers in a county that overwhelmingly voted for him.

Trump made the announcement over the weekend, citing the cost to produce each penny, which costs about 3.7 pennies to create. The U.S. Mint reported losing more than $85 million in the last fiscal year that ended in September on the roughly 3 billion pennies it produced.

"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!" Trump wrote Sunday night on his Truth Social platform. "I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies."

While some conservatives cheered the move, Tennessee workers who supply the U.S. Mint with the blank discs stamped into pennies weren't as thrilled, according to The Greenville Sun.

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Jobs could be lost at Artazn LLC, based in Tusculum, Greene County, in eastern Tennessee, which is politically conservative and Republican.

Greene County, where Tusculum is located, voted for Trump in the 2020 election by close to 80 percent. All surrounding counties also voted for him. In November, he defeated Vice President Kamala Harris with roughly 83 percent of the vote.

Jeff Taylor, president and CEO of the Greene County Partnership, urged the president on social media to reconsider.

“Save the penny. For those that do not know, every penny starts in Greene County. Save jobs in Greene County!” wrote Taylor, according to the report.

Taylor has not heard from the company, according to the report.

“It’s disappointing to see President Trump make a statement of directive like that because these are American jobs,” he said.