Originally published at: ‘Abandoned by the President:’ Trump’s Economic Policies Keep Hurting His Rural Base - TPM – Talking Points Memo
On Monday afternoon, Craig Moss was testing out a new silage chopper. The machine can dice up an entire green corn plant into half-inch chunks before the milky pieces are packed tight into what Moss calls “big concrete bunkers” where they’ll ferment and become cow feed. “It’s got a really distinct smell to it,” Moss…
4 Likes
Good story, but I wish the reporter had pressed Mr. Moss on what he meant by “social values.” I’m tired of these people getting a pass on the fact they voted their hates and their resentments. And I also think it’s important for people who have a thermostatic vision of politics – that voters will ‘vote their pocketbook’ – to realize that as much as this salt of the earth farmer may rue losing the spare $250,000 he has in his pocket (!!), he’ll still pull the bar for the guy who promises to indulge his hates. Because politics isn’t logical. It doesn’t track material interest in any straightforward way. That’s why I cringe every time people assume affordability is the Democratic golden ticket. It’s one way in which they show their condescension to Trump voters. They think these people are misguided. But they’re not. Their calculus of what they want from politics is just different. And to train their ids away from hate voting, we need more messages than “we’ll lower your healthcare premium maybe!”
28 Likes
Yup
22 Likes
It’s not just trump they vote for when reflecting their hates it’s the whole republican party.
14 Likes
Yeah, the social values of a thrice married man with a long history of cheating on every wife with complete impunity. And a family that just stands in front of the feed trough known as Daddy living on all the filth he brings them every day for every corrupt business they can wallow in.
17 Likes
Rural Republicans running for Congress and other posts will lie they support helping farmers. Most of them will in turn vote for them ‘cause they hate Democrats. Once reelected, these MAGA henchmen will proceed to keep screwing their farmer constituents, safe in the knowledge they are too stupid to understand what is happening is because of their own stupidity.
The only hope is enough of these self destructive dummies don’t vote.
13 Likes
I wish the reporter had asked " What specific Democratic policies have hurt you? ".
22 Likes
Going bankrupt, but keeping men out of women’s sports is a sacrifice the farmer is willing to make, apparently.
21 Likes
F**k Moss and people like him.
Seriously, I love TPM, but I’m so sick of these Cletus safaris, regardless of the publication, because the MAGAts, be they farmers or whatever, will just keep voting Republican.
These people would rather go bankrupt and see their children starve than vote Democratic. Moss and everyone else in this effing article will vote GOP come November, because that’s what a cult does.
They had plenty of evidence that Trump was unfit the first time around to be POTUS, but he lied to their faces, and played to their bigotry, and these freaks were like “Yup, sign me up again.”
As someone else pointed out in one of the comments, the fact Moss says Trump, a serial adulter, convicted rapist, and most likely pedo, speaks to his morals reveals more about conservatives than they realize.
Because, again: it’s a cult.
I don’t say this lightly, partly because I know it’s harsh and partly because these folks are the reason my grocery stores are stocked, but I. Just. Can’t. With these people anymore.
They are the ones destroying the US.
16 Likes
That’s the 30% who still support rump. Show a video of him throwing live babies into a wood chipper and they’ll still vote for him.
13 Likes
Alan Keyes had 27% support. There are plenty of lunatics in the world, but 30% ain’t gonna win an election. (Yes, I know he’s not running again.)
7 Likes
Moss is aware that people will say he’s getting what he voted for.
And yet, he will do it again in a heartbeat.
15 Likes
I would not be so sanguine about that…
7 Likes
30% can win if the system is rigged and there are no monitors or reporting on it
7 Likes
The farmer rubes are cluing in that they are being sacrificed to trick the city rubes.
3 Likes
Trump really is a Svengali. Despite real economic hardship he’s imposed on them they still will still stand by him. The propoganda and psy ops of the conservative disinformation machine is strong, pumping a steady stream of agitprop into their car radios and living rooms 24/7 to shape their views of the destruction democrats are leveling on the country (despite not controlling any of the branches of gov), not to mention the power of Twister and Truth Social telling them they are under attack. We long ago established that these people will vote against their self interest if it helps brown/queer/liberal people. If that’s not enough, their Sunday church sermon tells them Trump is a divine messiah and will deliver them from evil (Democrats). Yes, these people get what they deserve for voting for Trump, but the consequences will be felt by all of us at the check out line.
11 Likes
Racism is a helluva drug.
20 Likes
Sadly, they will keep voting Republican, and it won’t matter how far to the right the likes of Schumer, Jeffries, and the DLC will push the Dems and its candidates. These people are a lost cause because hate towards others is stronger than their love of self or the Constitution. Meanwhile, the Republican voters that the Dems could get with traditional New Deal economic policies, the urban and suburban workers, have understandably rejected a Dem party bent on rejecting them.
3 Likes
At my local market the on-sale price for 85% lean ground beef has gone up a full 10 percent in the last month; the on-sale price is still the about $1 per pound cheaper than surrounding markets, including Walmart (for 80% lean).
I seriously doubt that importing (likely un-inspected) beef from unnamed countries (read: Argentina) is going to do much to alleviate consumers’ economic pain while inflicting even more damage on American farmers and ranchers unless Pedolph decides to throw another $20 billion into the agricultural bailout dumpster fire, most of which will be siphoned off by the usual suspects aka corporate entities.
To make matters worse, his specialty, Canadian beef is now effectively off the America market due to tariffs. “Thanks for making American consumers part of what the Wall Street Journal has correctly dubbed ‘the dumbest trade war in history,’ eh.”
It’s little wonder that the suicide rate among farmers/ranchers is 3.5 times that of the general population. Expect that rate to go up in direct proportion to their mounting losses.
7 Likes
That reminds me …
Q Herman Cain still around?
A Nein, nein, nein.
3 Likes