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The emasculation of the American Farmer


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Been wondering how much longer American farmers would hold out with Trump. Seems I'm not alone in that speculation.

 

 

Quote

 

Donald Trump has emasculated the American farmer

Our Great Patriotic Farmers cannot handle much more of Trump’s love.

One of the odder aspects of Donald Trump’s presidency is the way in which he has alienated the very voting blocs he claims to love the most.

 

Trump has proclaimed that he is the biggest booster of the military and that the uniformed services support him. Yet he has done nothing to better understand his role as the commander in chief of the armed forces. Military officers have expressed increasing discomfort with Trump’s use of the uniformed services as a partisan prop. His meetings with veterans groups have led to bizarre exchanges. Trump has restricted his encounters with the families of those killed in action because he found the experience to be too intense. Col. David Lapan, a retired Marine who served as the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security during the first year of the Trump administration, once told the New York Times, “There was the belief that over time, he would better understand, but I don’t know that that’s the case. I don’t think that he understands the proper use and role of the military and what we can, and can’t, do.” Even evangelical groups, the backbone of Trump’s base, have recently expressed qualms about the president’s rhetoric.

 

Without question, however, the Trump bloc that has suffered the most from the Trump administration has been farmers. Sure, Trump has tweeted about the country’s “Great Patriotic Farmers” multiple times. Tweets don’t put food on the dinner table, however. On that front, this administration has been a blight on America’s breadbasket. Indeed, one has to step back and appreciate the devastation wreaked by administration policies. The Trump White House has taken one of America’s leading export sectors and turned it into a group dependent upon government welfare for its very survival.

 

Trump’s damage to farmers has two prongs. The first has been his administration’s evisceration of the Department of Agriculture.

 

The other prong of accidental attack is the Trump administration’s trade war with China. CNBC’s Emma Newburger reports that as the administration’s trade war spins out of control, so do the costs borne by the agricultural sector:

U.S. farmers lost one of their biggest customers after China officially cancelled all purchases of U.S. agricultural products, a retaliatory move following President Donald Trump’s pledge to slap 10% tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese imports....

 

“It’s really, really getting bad out here,” said Bob Kuylen, who’s farmed for 35 years in North Dakota.

 

“Trump is ruining our markets. No one is buying our product no more, and we have no markets no more.”

 

Agriculture exports to China dropped by more than half last year. In 2017, China imported $19.5 billion in agricultural goods, making it the second-largest buyer overall for American farmers. In 2018, that dropped to $9.2 billion as the trade war escalated, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

 

This year, China’s agricultural imports from the U.S are down roughly 20%, and U.S. grain, dairy and livestock farmers have seen their revenue evaporate as a result. Over the last 6 years, farm income has dropped 45% from $123.4 billion in 2013 to $63 billion last year, according to the USDA....

 

Some farmers say the billions in bailouts and rounds of subsidies they’ve received thus far have failed to cover enough of their profit losses. Many say they’d rather make a profit in the marketplace than through a government program.

 

It is safe to say that farmers are unhappy, as some Minnesota farmers made clear to Purdue:

 

 

It should be noted that many of these trade war stories about America’s hurting farmers are paired with stories about these farmers sticking with Trump — for now. Indeed, the Trump campaign likes to brag about this.

 

Still, it is impressive how this allegedly conservative government has inverted the relationship between the state and the private sector. In an ideal world, the government provides public goods that enable private producers to be even more productive than they were before. The Trump administration has permanently weakened the traditional public good of scientific information and eviscerated the most important export market for these producers. To make up for this, the administration is essentially providing welfare checks to affected farmers.

 

This kind of parasitic relationship between the state and the private sector used to be the thing traditional Republicans railed against. Under Trump, however, the GOP are enablers of the Great Emasculation.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, knapplc said:

It should be noted that many of these trade war stories about America’s hurting farmers are paired with stories about these farmers sticking with Trump — for now. Indeed, the Trump campaign likes to brag about this.

No different than his brag that he could shoot someone in Times Square and his supporters would stick wt him.  I think the farmers will eventually bail and we'll see some traditionally red states go blue this time around.    Trump has screwed up everything he has touched.

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3 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

No different than his brag that he could shoot someone in Times Square and his supporters would stick wt him.  I think the farmers will eventually bail and we'll see some traditionally red states go blue this time around.    Trump has screwed up everything he has touched.

 

I really hope the trade issues get figured out.  They are really hurting farmers and there will be some lose their farms because of it.


However, I'm starting to get more and more skeptical that many would turn on him.  I'm just going by people I know in central Nebraska.  Maybe there's some states that are more purple than Red that have enough on the fence to make a difference.

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2 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

 

I really hope the trade issues get figured out.  They are really hurting farmers and there will be some lose their farms because of it.


However, I'm starting to get more and more skeptical that many would turn on him.  I'm just going by people I know in central Nebraska.  Maybe there's some states that are more purple than Red that have enough on the fence to make a difference.

I'm thinking Iowa and Wisc flip on Trump.  Minn will go for Dems as normal. 

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49 minutes ago, TheSker said:

Who do they vote for?

take yopur pick.   

 someone who can negotiate a treaty or trade deal rather than just break every treaty and trade deal we had? 

someone who isn't a kleptocrat?

  someone who will hire  qualified people for their jobs rather than appoint acting yes men to jobs? 

someone who doesn't kiss up to murderous dictators? 

 someone who isn't destroying the farm economy?

someone who doesn't rely on nepotism to fill his cabinet?

knap already said someone who isn't a racist.

someone who doesn't use covfefe, hamberder, windmill cancer, etc, etc.

  • Plus1 3
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3 minutes ago, commando said:

take yopur pick.   

 someone who can negotiate a treaty or trade deal rather than just break every treaty and trade deal we had? 

someone who isn't a kleptocrat?

  someone who will hire  qualified people for their jobs rather than appoint acting yes men to jobs? 

someone who doesn't kiss up to murderous dictators? 

 someone who isn't destroying the farm economy?

someone who doesn't rely on nepotism to fill his cabinet?

knap already said someone who isn't a racist.

someone who doesn't use covfefe, hamberder, windmill cancer, etc, etc.

Thanks for your valuable input.

 

It doesn't answer who farmers might vote for.

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