I flew into Baltimore, so I will start there. Of course I didn't go into the city, I stayed in the suburbs. But even the suburbs look third world. We (my wife and I) went to the highest-end malls and supermarkets. The people looked third world.
Harrisburg (west of the river) has only deteriorated a little, so it is still a good place. It doesn't look like modern America at all. I encountered no idiocracy, everyone seemed to have a functioning brain. I want to move there.
This was my first time to Columbus, Ohio. The population was similar to Dallas. Somewhat more white and conservative than Baltimore, but no better. And like Texas, the Ohio highway patrol are horrible, blocking traffic for no reason. I have noticed that "conservative" areas tend to have horrible traffic cops that make driving intolerable, and tend to have no taste in food, meaning that finding edible food is a real challenge. So again, I see no real difference overall between the American Left and Right, both are intolerable.