Yeah, it was a bit predictable that she would indeed be a witch. Also got kinda tiring hearing how people from the main character to his wife and others didn't have clear motives or desires etc. Come now, most people want to do stuff and do it, or not. But in this story, you can shoot someone in the face and then be all, gosh, don't know why I did that. Oh well!
Those issues aside, I thought it was mostly well written. As for the politics, gosh where to begin or end? Around the time of the election, there was perhaps more empathy for people feeling left out of prosperity or forgotten. But since then, it's as if the very people you may have felt sympathy for really just want to go on a "Fuck your feelings." style era of ignorance and lawlessness directed at anyone who isn't them, with the point being demagoguery more than solving problems. People less aggrieved will eventually lose patience with that in their own right. We are probably most of the way there already, judging from the midterm election results.
But blaming our problems or divisions on middle America may be kidding ourselves. There are plenty of redhatters in North Eastern states. I recall the dismay from some in Pennsylvania when their state went red in the the 2016 election, while some states south of them did not, to say nothing of pockets in up state New York etc. America's divisions run a lot deeper than country versus city.