Trump ordered the Government shutdown. He has no empathy
for the people, families and businesses it is destroying.
Suze Orman has told us we need 8-12 months of emergency
funds. This is probably the best financial advice anyone could
give us.
18
Those of us who could see Trump for what he was from Day 1 will have sympathy for the farmers that supported him in the last election and now realize the effect his mercurial, narcissistic and destructive behavior is having on their lives, if they will now stand up and speak out against this threat to our democracy. Otherwise, as they say, "you get the government you deserve."
19
I cannot imagine what people, as wholesome as most farmers are made out to be, saw in Trump. Perhaps it was naïveté but there is a price to be paid for putting such a manifestly unqualified “terrible human being” in the White House and we are all paying it - those who saw it coming along with those who were blind to it.
20
Sad as some of these situations might be, I fail to understand how anybody could not foresee the economic and political chaos which would come from putting a clearly incompetent and unfit loose canon like Donald Trump in the White House. From which it follows -- and as all of this was perfectly predictable to anybody who was paying attention -- are not all these distressed Trump supporters getting exactly what they voted for?
25
Trump has one goal and one goal only and that is to inflate his ego in any way possible. It's so saddening that he would use hardworking farmers, federal employees and anyone else whom may be around to attain This goal. When will his supporters begin to realize this? Fortunately, it seems, they are beginning to. Hard lessons for many as this fiasco plays out. SHAME ON Donald Trump!
17
Despite all the federal (not private!) assistance farmers get to have a livelihood they still vote Republican - there is no help to cure stupid. And the farmer wiling to lose his farm to support the darn wall? He is certifiably nuts. Voters tend to vote for those who can do the most good for most people, failing that they vote for those who will benefit them directly - rich and really rich people do that - in the case of Trump he does not help farmers nor most working people. So why did they vote for him? I have no idea but I also have no sympathy for the Trump supporting farmer if he loses his farm - you reap what you sow.
30
No sympathy here
They get what they voted for
27
"While many rural conservatives may loathe the idea of Big Government, farmers and the federal government are welded together by dozens of programs and billions of dollars in spending."
And that right there, friends, is the trouble with Republicans. hypocrites, all.
55
Farmers hate big government for everyone else but they can’t really survive without it.
43
The racism, the misogyny, the mocking of the disabled, the taunting of Gold Star families - these things were all OK with them during the election. But when their prize pig's policies begins to eat away at their pocketbook, they whine. I feel sorry for them, I truly do, but when you vote for a clearly unethical and ignorant man, what can you expect? I hope we can clean it up before more businesses are lost and that they are screaming every day to their representatives to find a backbone and do what is right rather than "going along to get along" in hopes of getting re-elected. They brought this not only on themselves, but everyone else in the country.
30
It is tempting to shout the old words: "Workers of all countries, unite!"
10
Toddler In The White House (haiku duet) "Trump whines about his - wall while farmers whine about - their missed welfare checks"; "Trump doesn't care if - your paycheck gets missed or your - credit gets shredded"
14
So far, Trump was a criminal with few victims.
We are now entering the era of mass pain.
16
Pam Moore’s dairy farm in Nichols, N.Y., is on the brink of financial ruin. “It has just been one thing after another, after another, after another,” Ms. Moore said.
This isn't funny, but the truth is that it's been the same thing after the same thing: Trump. Once again, he's damaging people that he has nothing in common with, including a basic sense of values. Tax cuts for the mega-wealthy: not you; and now even more less you.
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said.
Again not funny, but you're betting the farm on the wrong guy. No matter what Trump blathers, do you know any single person (let alone a whole political party) who doesn't care about border security. Of course we all do.
But the knuckle-headed idea of spending all our money on a stone wall like the Chinese did centuries ago (it was overrun), will not make us secure.
We don't even have a system for keeping track of who's left the country. With no exit control policy, we don't know who's actually within our borders. Does that seem like border security to you?
25
Farmers,
Most of us know our nation needs you and your products.
I am sorry you are among those suffering under the biggest bully president in our history.
I hope you will recognize, now, that he is like most abusers: lies, distorts and always blames everyone else. In other words, he lacks decency.
We all deserve better.
26
"While many rural conservatives may loathe the idea of Big Government, farmers and the federal government are welded together by dozens of programs and billions of dollars in spending."
So they loathe Big Government but are now finding out, if they didn't know already, that they need its ongoing support just to survive. Those rural conservatives still loyal to the man who is doing his best to ruin them will likely keep supporting him until they are well and truly ruined, and even then they may not get the connection.
If I had to guess, I'd say the 'Big Government' they loathe is the one that subsidizes health care to poor people and regulates air and water pollution, things like that. Government, in other words, that helps people other than them. Farm subsidies and farm aid programs--that's not Big Government. But if it is, they are now getting their wish.
19
First off I will say this "I am a "REAL FARMER" unlike others who have commented on this article. YES, there are a lot of farmers that supported Trump. I am not one of them. Having said that, we would just a soon be paid fairly for our products and not have the government on our payroll. Do the assistance payments from the government amount to a lot on our bottom line?No. We milk 60 cows and for every dollar the price of milk drops its $ 1100 to $1200 monthly off our milk check. When the tariffs kicked in the milk price dropped $2.00 per 100 pounds of milk. That's $2200-$2400 monthly loss of income. Then the creameries/processors got nervous because of the tariffs and took off an additional $1.00 to $2.00 off per hunderd pounds of milk so that's an additional $1100 to $1200 monthly. So, now we are talking about $4000 to $5000 monthly swing in income on 60 cows. When this happened the price that cows were selling for plummeted because of all the cattle sales do to the size of the loss of income or in other words farmers exiting the industry. Our herd lost half of it's value in a matter of months. We couldn't even sell the cows to pay the bank even thou we were lossing money everyday we milked. Oh, wait, tariff aid to the rescue! We received $1240.00 total for our losses on dairy for the year and haven't even received the whole check yet. We need better representation or all the farms "will be" large corporate farms.
20
We need to do away with all the government largess directed towards farms: subsidies, discounted loans, all of it. Why should this one portion of one industry get special treatment over everyone else? Let the farms get financing from the banks or hedge funds or VCs or wherever like everyone else. Let the market determine winners and losers in business, not the government.
You want to help middle America farm communities become great again? Let's start by removing government barriers to innovation and get farms on a level playing field with the rest of the business world.
4
I grew up on large grain and dairy farm in Ohio. What struck me the most about this article was that the interviewees looked at the farm bailout as being "owed" to them. When other people in unfortunate circumstances would like to rely on some governmental assistance it's called welfare.
33
Another reason to eliminate the Electoral College which gives these rural areas and folks too much of a say they truly do not deserve it.
25
It's interesting to learn how subsidised, supported and underwritten by the government the American farming sector (usually) is.
10
Maybe Dealin' Donny Trump should announce at the Farm Bureau convention that he's going to use money from the Ag budget to pay for the wall. Most farmers in the Nebraska-Iowa-Kansas farm country are dyed in the Red Trump Base. They should be more than willing to "take one for the team" for their fearless leader.
21
If the article bears merit in terms of general agricultural dissatisfaction, couldn't the description be taken as one more incidence where Communism or maybe conservatism has failed to win the hearts and minds people at least for any length of time beyond the last couple weeks of a general election?
Trump, whom we might consider the government, raises tariffs that have harmed farmers. To make up for their losses, Trump, whom we still might consider to be the government, pays farmers money.
Is this kind of government participation / interference / activism in the economy a sign of creeping socialism or Trumpian conservatism?
Or in the vernacular of the day, how's Trump's form of capitalism working for ya?
4
If you cut out food stamps 100%, food demand would plummet, food prices would also plummet due to oversupply and farmers would face a nightmare worse than the dust bowl.
8
Someone needs to be making a film about the farmers' suffering from the Trump Shutdown NOW so they can play it before the 2020 election to remind everyone of the long-term damage of this unnatural disaster. With all the distractions between now and then (e.g., Mueller, recession, fabricated Trump emergencies), I'm afraid people might not remember the desperation and ruin that Trump caused these farmers and other rural workers.
11
People were warned before the 2016 election that Trump's policies were going to disproportionately hurt his base, but they wouldn't listen. It's really too bad because life's lessons are harsh.
16
It's going to take years to recover from this national nightmare.
8
An outcome of this tragic experience of gov shut down is to shed some light on the role of gov. Republicans have always demonized gov at every step really poisoning the citizenry against gov. Gov is what maintains the fabric of society linking each individual citizen, communities and states to a common good, and gov employees are not welfare recipients, they work hard and pay taxes like everyone else.
What is happening to the farmers is tragic, their understanding of the gov support is critical and they must guard from being bamboozled by elite politicians on the cheap
5
The art of the Trumpian deal consists in knowing precisely when and for how long it is necessary to, "strike", 800,000 federal workers slightly below the belt.
2
Wow. Pretty shocked to read the attack on farmers here. I am a farmer and many of your comments suggest that you have no understanding of how difficult and expensive it is to grow anything worth eating. Sure, factory farms can produce thousands of tons of tasteless food, but it requires so many pesticides and amendments that producing it kills the soil and poisons the water. (And if you think that organic industrial farming is different you just have to do a short Google search to learn about the disastrous effects on the Mexican farmers and their water supply when NAFTA forced Mexico to allow American corporate farms to buy up the land there. A liberal policy by the way, and another reason why so many Mexican workers are turning to the US for jobs.) All this so that Americans can eat more cheaply than people from any other country on earth.
76
All of these people should thank Ann Coulter and Rush and Faux and Friends for their plight.
43
The belief in the lies is crazy.
"I may lose the farm but I believe we need some border control"
Yeah, because the miles of razor wire topped high fencing, massive walls, patrols, etc. don't exist. These people believed a pack of lies, and continue to believe lies, in the age of Google when the truth is only one singular search away.
31
Wait. Ms. Moore can't pay her neighbor $148 for services rendered and she's getting free food from a charity pantry. But she's sipping coffee at Sallie's Country Kitchen on Main Street? I have zero sympathy.
12
Seriously? She can’t drink a coffee?!
4
@Doug Hill It is bizarre, isn't it? And many of these - mainly white - farmers will continue to support Trump because of racism.
9
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said. Well Mr. Nunnery, it is obvious you don't need migrant laborers to pick your crops, or maybe you have been listening to Trump's fake news.
20
Don't worry Pam, I'm sure your president worries about your family and your dairy farm every time he gives himself a tax cut or lines up a tricky putt.
Your president cares deeply about you and your family.
You believe me don't you Pam?
33
Hopefully 2020 will be the tipping point where ordinary WHITE Americans realize that Trump & the RW GOP do not represent them.
12
Thoughts and prayers for you. You are reaping what you sowed.
21
Read the article, not just the clickbait.
Given this golden opportunity to welcome disillusioned Trump voters to the fold of reason, it seems that the great majority of NYT commenters can't resist heaping "told you so" abuse on farmers. Farmers who may or may not have voted R, at least some of whom are clearly in the process of coming to their senses.
This is no way to win 2020, folks. Y'all sound like a crazy mad lynch party, and are shooting yourselves in the foot precisely as you claim the farmers have done. Calm down and move forward. Trump Baby's balloon is losing air fast enough without displaying such ugly, self-defeating meanness.
18
If you had your way, a vote for Trump would be forgiven immediately and with a hug. They knew what they were doing. We all want to see some contrition and proof of becoming better people from these types. I mean seriously they only change their tunes when it directly affects them!
5
I understand what you're saying, but no logical argument is going to bring the vast majority of white Republican voters over to the liberal side. It is only when Republican policies cause an immense amount of pain and hardship to Republican voters that they may reconsider voting for Republicans. I mean, at the end of day, most of them don't care about other people as long as they get what's coming to them.
So I have no sympathy for these people. They voted for this and they brought it on themselves. Let them fully experience what they voted for so that perhaps they can make a more educated vote in 2020.
11
Them black and white dairy cows are called Holsteins. :^)
10
I think a few quotes from the article sum things up:
"While many rural conservatives may loathe the idea of Big Government, farmers and the federal government are welded together by dozens of programs and billions of dollars in spending."
-How can you be conservative and have this level of dependency on 'Big Government'?
-Government bailouts are popular with this conservative segment of the voters:
"In Manitowoc County, Wis., Michael Slattery, a grain farmer, is waiting on $9,000 — money the federal government owes him under its trade bailout ..."
"In Ovid, N.Y., it has left John Myer seething at Mr. Trump as he waits for at least $15,000 owed to him under the trade bailout."
-Sentiment toward Trump will continue to shift away from him. Hitting people in their pockbooks and/or having them lose their way of life makes a signficant impact on people.
"With little money left for food, she went to a food pantry..."
-But, there is this 'rationale':
"“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said."
9
Remember Mr Myre did not vote for Trump. He is also from New York, and probably knew better.
3
Maybe, just maybe, farm country voters and others that call themselves Trump's base now realize that they have been conned by a professional that calls himself President. Can anybody tell me (with a straight face) that we are better off now than under Obama?
19
The shutdown has started to expose the hypocrisy of certain conservatives who "loathe" big government and argue that people should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, yet receive federal crop payments, federally backed operating loans, data about beef prices or soybean yields, disaster assistance programs, a variety of safety net programs. That nd a plentiful supply of Mexican labor.
21
When I hear what Farm Country voters are losing because of the Trump government shut down, and that their support of Trump is waning because of it; then I hear that they voted for Trump cause they were angry at being neglected. So Trump takes away what he never gave them and they are complaining that he is not being fair. Seems the farmers have only been neglected by Trump the guy they said would support them. Also seems the takers are the same people that are complaining about the takers.
12
good! these are Trump voters by and large. Votes do have consequences as much as you all in the comentariate would like to have it otherwise
12
If they voted for Trump, they are reaping what they sowed.
16
@Catherine952 Pun intended!
6
Some people lose to win.
1
Can Democrats please state clearly and often that most drugs from the south come into our country through legal ports and are not transported in semi-trucks over open land and rugged terrain? And no, there's no caravan of ATVs carrying billions of dollars of heroin or marijuana either.
It's economics folks and these cartels have it all figured out to the penny. Trump, our savvy business president, is no match for their expertise. The drug lords are probably having a good laugh watching him try to stop them out where just the coyotes play.
And by the way, fentanyl is now our drug du jour and Canada and Chinese imports are the major suppliers of it.
Get ready for the northern wall? Nope. Not enough brown people up there and sadly, not near enough focus on this much greater problem.
16
@Sherrie It's not people crossing from illegally from Canada to the US, it's those that are seeking asylum in Canada when they find out the American dream under Trump is a nightmare.
4
@DSS
Shhh. Don't give Trump ideas. He might ask for buses in that case---less voters to worry about in 2020.
1
Let's put this in language these farmers might understand: the chickens are coming home to roost. There is no joy in this for many of us who didn't vote for Trump.
13
Well maybe a little.... :-)
3
It is too bad that this group, as with so many other, did not apply some rudimentary critical thinking to Trump's bluster and lies before they voted. Now they can blame no one but themselves for their predicament.
10
Sad thing is, these farmers will always vote conservative...no matter who represents the party.... it’s in their DNA.
6
so much winning! I hope they're happy with what they voted for.
16
@Mike T. When I see someone acting like an Jack A, I call him a winner. Trump's a winner for sure.
1
So now, with all the loans, subsidies, insurance, and other perks farmers receive, they get mental health services for stress and depression? What about all of the millions of Americans also suffering from stress and depression (like federal workers)? Look, I realize that farmers have a hard time, but that is just too much. Especially because trump and the Republicans would love to deny those services to all Americans, and the farmers support them.
14
Farmers and soldiers, conservatives could not possibly talk about them more or do less for them.
19
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said.
Part of me admires him, but most of me just wonders how it is he's managed to survive this long with that kind of naivete. The people who volunteer to be abused are providing the power for Mr. Trump's egomania, and they could be helped if only they could refrain from slapping the hand away.
12
Sad to read about the struggles these folks are enduring as a result of the actions of the man they helped elect.
17
Small farmers have to stop supporting the global corporations that are putting them out of business.
The Party of Trump keeps using the rhetoric of small farms and small business to pass legislation that helps global factory farms. A billionaire with a few emus on his summer home acres is likely to get more help from the government than an actual family farmer.
The Republicans are the party of billionaires and global corporations. They keep fooling small business people and small farmers into helping them help global corporations at their expense.
Trump is s global billionaire who spent his life in crony capitalism. He does what's good for Trump, not what is good for Americans.
Every farm bill uses small farm propaganda to sell a package of breaks and regulations that help global ag corporations put small farms out of business so they can take their land, and Trump's was no different.
Small businesses and small farms are constant victims of bait and switch.
Stop pretending you are rugged individualists and realize that you are part of a community. That is how to stop sacrificing yourself for global corporations.
15
@McGloin
"He does what's good for Trump, not what is good for Americans."
That's a tempting statement. But in fact Trump's policies favoring tariffs do not help the forces of global capitalism, or Trump personally. I think they are genuinely aimed at helping the working class, even if the approach is misguided, and are more in line with Bernie Sanders' anti-globalization philosophy. Similarly, Trump's golf course and probably his other assets have benefited tremendously from illegal immigrant labor, so curtailing illegal immigration would hurt his own bottom line, and other exploitative businessmen like him.
@Samuel Russell
But for Trump, Mr. Russell, it's a cost benefit decision. Better to hire the illegals and hope he doesn't get caught, rather than not play to his base, divert attention from the Mueller investigation, blame his adversaries, and grab headlines, all of which he is addicted to doing.
5
Sorry, farmers. How many of you DIDN'T vote for the Thrumper? If you have mounds of unsold soybeans lying on the damp ground I am really sorry. But if you DID vote for Thrumpty-Dumpty, then may you pay the proper price. Farmers aren't known for gambling, but you all did just that - and lost. Sorry for pointing out a harsh reality.
18
One sharp lesson I have learned: working class people should remember it takes someone who works as hard as you or harder to tackle yours and the rest of the country's problems.
Name me one Republican who worked harder than President Obama and those on his team to remedy the economic debacle caused by his less hard-working predecessor who was very willing to cede his duties to his power-hungry and greedy vice president.
How hard did our Republican leaders work these past two years while holding the reins of government? Why didn't they ram through the wall funding? Stop the tariff war? Vote for higher wages? Ensure more tax relief for the working class? Provide access to low-cost health care?
How hardworking is Trump? Sounds like he spends his day tweeting, watching Fox, campaigning, photo-oping, and golfing. Why don't you send him a description of how your days are spent?
38
I live in an area where Ag is king (the Shenandoah Valley) and where there are lots of family farms. My heart goes out to all of those experiencing these difficulties at a personal level.
That being said, one cannot, in good conscience, consider those who voted for Donald Trump as being "duped" in any meaningful sense. He's behaving exactly as he behaved on the campaign trail. There was zero doubt about how unfit he was for office, yet some thought that poking a stick in the eye of our government was the highest calling they had.
I find it particularly galling that those who benefit from government doing what government does best, handling vicissitudes that private enterprise won't and can't, insist on voting against their own best interests because they dislike "big government." You can't have it both ways, and adults know that so-called big government is about and should be about what's best for us, everyone, not what's necessarily best for me, personally.
So, if you're a farmer who voted for Trump, the old biblical admonition, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap!," applies. As awful as your circumstances are, you truly have your own choices to blame with regard to having a government with a petulant narcissist and demagogue who has no idea what he's doing in charge.
37
I tried to read the article, but was disturbed by the sound of the world's tiniest violin. Aren't these the same people who vote in favor of politicians who oppose helping people in cities, claiming government IS the problem?
32
These are also the same people who receive generations of permanent agribusiness industry welfare in the form of subsidies on the basis that they are somehow special.
15
@Derek Flint: Yes, because so long as they're comfy, all's right with the world.
The idea that good governance involves choices that might make things a bit less comfy for me, so that it can be a lot less a complete wreck for others, just doesn't compute. And the idea that being able to do this requires taxes, well . . .
Government is, and always has been, our best tool for solving problems that the market can't or won't, or that the market actually creates. We can vote to effect change in government policy, and should when that's necessary. Voting for the pure lunacy that is "starve the beast" that's been promulgated by the political right in this country for over 40 years now is digging one's own grave, as is voting for a man who's a demagogue and narcissist for President.
12
Trump and the Republicans aren't worried. All their supporters in the Red States who are hurt by Trump's shutdown blame the Democrats for everything including the weather.
22
@Jeff
Yes, and bless their little hearts.
6
I have not even read the article as of yet, but I can say as a 51 year old man living in rural Michigan and surrounded by farmers and others which overwhelmingly voted trump into office and has supported him for the past two years, that they deserve everything coming to them. I have absolutely no sympathy for them. But it saddens me that at the same time nearly a million federal employees are burning through everything they have saved over the years, are now going to be facing losing their homes, their cars and their children’s college funds. It saddens me that come next month 43 million or more people will end up going hungry because the funding for EBT food benefits will run out. It saddens me that another 5 million or so Americans who receive Section 8 and other rental assistance may be kicked to the street. And why? Because our “President” demands a “WALL” and will hurt millions of people in the process. Too many people seem to have forgotten that ever action that the president takes is supposed to be in the interest of the American people. They forget the president is supposed to represent our best interests. They forget his policies and actions are supposed to be for the common people, not solely in favor of the wealthy, the party he represents, or the base of his supporters...but for all Americans. The senate certainly has completely forgot this and should have been held accountable, but they weren’t. Our president only has his interests and legacy at heart, not ours.
33
Why did poor white people believe that a rich billionaire cared about them? That's very naive.
My sympathies for the poor people that voted for Clinton and must undergo this hardship. But perhaps the poor white people that are on food stamps will make a more educated decision next time they vote if Republican policies force them to go without them for a few months. I have no sympathy for those that have brought this upon themselves.
5
If people are still enthralled by the Cult, why should they have any reason to still get upset about their livelihoods? This is really a story from Alice in Wonderland.
10
Whatever our political views or economic self-interests, Americans are watching in distress while Donald Trump behaves more and more like an unhinged and incompetent Third-World dictator.
It's not only an embarrassment to the country; it's a threat to American democracy.
15
Sorry! I just don't have any sympathy for the Republican farmers who are now on their way to financial ruin. They made an irrational choice when they voted for Trump. Now they must confront the very rational and very predictable consequences of their rashness.
20
@SJE: The sad thing being that the "predictable" part was so blatantly, obviously, and inescapably predictable.
Critical thinking skills have just been drummed out of a significant portion of the electorate and false beliefs drive another large chunk. It's profoundly sad, and spells the end of the American Experiment if it cannot be reversed.
9
I have to conclude, while watching Trump with trade, wall, deficit, lies, and so on, that he is deliberately attempting to destroy the country. Whether for Putin or for his own delusional rationale, I don't think we can deny it any longer. He has rejected a Republican proposal for getting government up and running. We really have to be honest about his motives and/or illness. McConnell is complicit.
22
Do you suppose they will have learned anything from this or remember the process; how it happened and who was to blame? PT Barnum lives!
6
An old joke among Iowans who are not farmers:
Q: Why do farmers have two mailboxes?
A: One for the regular mail, one for government checks.
24
There is very good security at the Southern border. Trump needs a crisis to make himself look good and deflect all of the investigations into him. Trump lies to everyone and the farmers swallow them like truth. Don't you farmers have any concept of reality?
8
They deserve the pain, plain and simple. The typical American farmer loves to hire illegal immigrants, they love government hand outs and throughly enjoy access to international markets thanks to pro trade policies of the previous administrations. Many voted for trump out of a pure nationalism and ignorance. They have stood by Trump despite all this and they should pay for the price of their vote and their blatant disregard for the rest of us. Many refuse to accept climate change even exists and vote for those who do not have their best interest at heart. And let’s face it they will ravenously vote for trump again and again, after all the GOP will keep giving our hard earned tax $$$s to these people to play farm as long as they keep getting the votes. Zero sympathy.
20
They got the wool pulled over their eyes by the reverse Robin Hood. He lies and steals from the poor and gives to the rich.
13
Interesting article.
For all their abilities to size up people, I find it amazing that any of these farmers who are Trump supporters could not see Mr. Trump for the con artist he truly is.
Unfortunately, they now suffer from the actions of Mr. Trump, the ignorant, selfish con man they voted for.
For all their vaunted cries of independence, hard work and no welfare for anyone, these farmers who are Trump supporters are facing the hard truth that they are one of many groups dependent on welfare from the Federal Government.
13
It all has to do with one thing. Farmers bought into his and the republican party racist agenda. It has backfired on them. I hope they wake up and realize who the true Americans are.
15
What do you do with an animal that's sick, unproductive, or malicious?
The farmers that voted for Trump know the answer, and yet Trump is still in the yard being nothing but a nuisance...apparently we're still waiting for xenophobic emotions to subside and for practicality to return to the driver's seat.
11
These farmers need to storm Capitol Hill with placards..
"Keep your government hands off my farm subsidy".
17
Most of these comments are so snarky and sickening. How quick we are to revel in others' misfortune if it so happens they voted a way we don't like. Small farmers have been suffering for a long time. Is it so hard to believe that they wouldn't be wild about an establishment candidate like Hillary Clinton? If you were going through bankruptcy, how would you feel if people mocked you for your political beliefs, saying that you deserved it? These people have children who could be permanently damaged, animals that might go without food, elderly loved ones that they must take care of. Do they all deserve destitution too? I thought Democrats were the party of compassion, the party of the little guy, but more and more it seems that they only care about you once they've gotten your vote. So typical, and so disappointing.
2
@Samuel Russell
There's a difference between reveling in the misfortunes of others and pointing out the fact that they dug the hole themselves. Similarly, it's possible to feel compassion for their struggles and simultaneously gawk at their decisions in life.
I don't think anybody on these comments boards wishes to see others suffer, but humans innately seek justice and this appears to be a twisted form of justice served.
Yes, we all need to be less divisive (and derisive) if we're going to get anywhere, but when people stubbornly refuse to see the world for what it is, it's hard not to hit them over the head with a text book.
21
@Samuel Russell
I think the negative comments reflect the frustration people have felt for decades against those who have benefitted from government largess but have continuously vilified that same government.
When farmers get aid it's called subsidies. When others get aid it's welfare. When illegal immigrants cross over it's called a crime but when these same farmers hire those illegal immigrants it's not a crime?
Truth is, these voters liked the xenophobic and anti-government agenda that would stick it to the "other" that Trump ran on. The only problem for them is that they never thought they would be the "other" themselves.
Sooner or later, the harsh laws and rules one puts in place that affect someone else come back to bite you.
In a way, can't blame these people. They've voted against their interests for so long without suffering any repercussions that they thought they could do so again.
As for snarky comments, surely you've heard the daily opprobrium heaped on coastal elites, liberals, minorities by these people; it takes a lot of chutzpah to complain of mistreatment from those you've trashed for decades.
Where was the compassion during the hurricane in P.R.; during the massacre in the Florida nightclub shooting; during the California fire devastation? Ministers (men of God?) have gone so far as to say that the sinners deserved it.
So pardon me, if we are not there when you're hurting. We are too busy licking our own wounds.
24
@Samuel Russell
"establishment candidate like Hillary Clinton." Are you kidding? What could be more establishment than a wealthy Republican whose policies are to crush the middle class?
"if people mocked you for your political beliefs." No, people are pointing out that their VOTES created their situations. And you're telling us that they are not responsible for how they voted? That somehow they are victims now?
You want to talk about compassion? Where was the compassion of these voters towards other Americans who were going to be victimized by Trump and other Republican leaders? They didn't see it coming, or just didn't care because they didn't think it would happen to THEM?
As you say, "So typical, and so disappointing."
6
Yes, you have been conned. Everyone who bought into Trump's lies has been conned. Everything he has done as president, and in his life, is to line his and his rich cronies' pockets. We have all been conned.
11
Utter the words "President Donald Trump" without feeling embarrassed and ashamed. I dare you.
13
Farmers work so hard. This Republican disaster is an American Disgrace.
3
those who voted for Trump and his band of complicit Republicans can eat crow.
11
Cry me a river. Some years ago a prosperous big Iowa farmer told me, "If we could just get the government off our backs, we'd be fine." I don't think the farmer had in mind giving up the six-figure subsidies he was getting from the government as part of the deal. Today this guy no doubt is a Trump acolyte. Farmers, Farm Bureau have been marching to the same noxious tune since the days of Reagan. In the end the taxpayers and the government will end up bailing the farmers out, at least the big ones. What an irony! The tragedy is that the small farmer will be left to die on the roadside.
19
The farmers are paid not to grow crops. They think growing wheat & soybeans are the way to get rich by selling to countries that hate us. Now tariffs & trump shutdown are threatening their farms. They could go back to real farming not subsidy farming. But they will support trump because they are afraid of losing their white way of life.
3
I have no sympathy for people who, in deciding where their precious vote should go, chose a racist charlatan. And to think that the farmers were once the backbone of American democracy.
16
cry me a river
not sorry a bit
I am SORRY for the Federal employees held hostage by the republicans
10
@JRV
Unlike our farmers, who take on more risk than the wolves of Wall Street for much less returns, the federal workers (by and large) enjoy fabulous benefits, including great health insurance, fabulous pensions and decent or better pay. Most might be expected to have savings accounts, and most if not all will get back pay.
Notably absent in all the hand-wringing about the federal workers furloughed is much discussion about the services that are lost to taxpayers during this debacle. This is the first article I've seen that even attempts to explore that. It's overdue!
1
@Quite Contrary
what a fabulous comment. so fabulous. really hugely fabulous.
1
@Quite Contrary
If you think federal workers get fabulous pensions then you don't know what you're talking about. Look up how much retirement a GS9 in Oklahoma City with 20 years would get.
6
Zero sympathy here for the people who cheer Trump on while he killed thousands in Puerto Rico and threw them paper towels. Zero sympathy for the people who cheer Trump while he locks up kids at the border and killed at least 2. Zero sympathy for the people who cheer Trump while he gives billions of $ to rich people and big business; money that us workers will have to pay back. Zero sympathy; period. Ray sipe
23
That's what happens when you stand by a con man - you get conned.
14
You get what you vote for and hence what you deserve. That those who in large part voted this administration into office are suffering the most as a consequence of its reckless, slogan driven and feckless mayhem is sad but predictable. Next time do a more thoughtful analysis of the facts and actual reality before pulling the lever.
9
tough, you wanted him you got him.
live with it and stop whining.
we have too live with your bad decisions, you should as well.
18
Farm subsidies vs. food stamps.
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article322811/Which-costs-more-Food-stamps-or-farm-subsidies.html
4
I feel for these farmers and what they’re going through during Trump’s shutdown. Shutdown hasn’t directly affected me and my family, but I’m angry to see how Trump is playing with the life and livelihood of so many people to get his way. An unnecessary Wall is more important to him than those who elected him. Having said that, for the life of me, why so many, like farmers, who are being betrayed by Trump, are still supporting him.
10
It seems that farmers, and very likely the majority of America, are more dependent on progressive systems and just have been fooled into believing they were dependent on "conservative" systems. I hope this is a wake up call for them and they realize the con job the GOP has pulled on them.
8
I grew up in the farming town of Findlay, Illinois, population 750. I left there in the '70s to escape the narrow small-town mindset and stifling right-wing political atmosphere, and now live in California.
Seems little has changed in the Midwest. Instead of the John Birch Society propaganda popular there in the '60s and '70s, they are now addicted to and deluded by pro-white right-wing propaganda that they mainline via Fox News, which is relentlessly pro-Trump.
They won't change. They are going to do down and take the rest of us with them unless blue state voters show up in record numbers in 2020.
19
I keep seeing these "gonna lose the family farm" stories. How many family farms are left and how much of our food do the produce? Not much anymore. What we're talking about here are actually large agribusinesses that are going to sustain big loses. So who's interests are we discussing here really?
6
Wow! Who knew such an innocuous story on the plight of farmers would trigger such a huge outpouring of schadenfreude? The underlying theme of these posts is best captured by the truism that farmers should know well - that you reap what you sow.
It isn't that their fellow citizens wish them any ill. Rather it is the consternation, disbelief and dismay that even this far into such a divisive, nasty, failed and patently corrupt presidency, many of Trump's rural base still can't acknowledge they are the architects of their own growing misfortune.
To say they were duped doesn't begin to explain it, nor excuse it. There is ample evidence sadly that this was a self-inflicted wound - that a sizeable share of America's electorate chose deliberately, consciously to throw a wrench into the works. So intense was their resentment that others - people less deserving in their view - might presume on the tolerance, generosity and prosperity of America that they were willing to embrace the dark side.
In short, they cut off their nose to spite their face. The result is not pretty and the scars will last a long time.
The NY Times editors and media everywhere need to take stock. It isn't the story itself but rather the reaction to it. It is that palpable grief they should be exploring, examining, and documenting - literally at the grass roots level - in a way that informs and augurs better for a more rational, less divisive outcome in 2020.
15
I heard one rural resident lament that Trump is not "hurting the people we elected him to hurt; he is hurting us." I guess I just feel really, really terrible about that.
20
Donald Trump shows no empathy for farmers so appealing to him to open the government is futile. As far as he is concerned this can last months or years, or he can violate the Constitution in trying to force an end to this. Perhaps the farmers mentioned in this article should contact their Republican Senators to pressure Mitch McConnell to open the government. In Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson needs a call. In Georgia, Senators Perdue and Isakson should be called. And in Mississippi, though David Nunnery doesn’t care if he loses his farm while supporting Trump, maybe other farmers there would like to contact Senators Wicker an Hyde-Smith.
8
Maybe, Iowa farmers should contact Senator Chuck Grassley, who owns some farmland and pretends to be a farmer at re election time. He's not getting his agribusiness industry welfare payments either so he might be sympathetic.
8
"I may lose the farm, but believe we need border security."
That is an almost cult-like statement. This farmer believes whatever Trump says to such an extent that he is willing to lose his farm over Trump's lie.
This man believes Trump that it's not possible to keep the government running and have border security, because that's what Fearless Leader has told him. Scary
20
@Citizen60
this isn't a surprise. Just recently there was an article about a town of trumped voters in Indiana whose children are developing cancers at an abnormal rate due to the deregulation of environmental laws under trump. they still support condon and don't want to admit that his policies are harming their kids. That is truly delusional.
2
Are farmers suffering more or less than those not being paid because of the shutdown? Are we tired of winning yet?
6
We need to support small and medium sized farms, especially those experimenting with sustainable practices. We should not be subsidizing industrial farming and paying wealthy landowners, and their extended family, to not grow food.
4
Agree with others on the need for compassion at this moment, but taking a step back for a longer view... Pride is highly valued. Most folks probably aren't even aware of the hypocrisy. "Elites" on the left need to figure out how to expand the tent and increase the "brand" of government. And folks trying to "blow up" government do need to realize that it is part of the glue that binds very different realities in this country.
5
I am a farm girl - born and raised on a farm 10 miles from the nearest town - population 913. I have no sympathy for most of these folks. They were gullible enough to believe the lie and yet continue to support him - in spite of clear evidence that a wall won't make any difference and at great risk to losing everything they have worked for all of their life.
Like others, I cannot fathom why. Farm folks, regardless of their education level, are very smart. If they weren't, they wouldn't have made it this far. And yet, . . . they foolishly continue to support the con man. Very, very sad.
23
The farmers discussed in this article, just like the rest of us, had a full year to observe and assess the character and qualifications of candidate Donald Trump. They believed what were, to the rest of us, obvious lies and empty promises. Mr. Nunnery will probably lose his farm, but he'll definitely never get his wall. Why would Donald Trump want to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States when these are the very people he hires to work in his hotels, golf courses, and wineries?
17
So am I supposed to feel sympathy for farmers who voted for Trump, who so clearly was unfit for office from the get-go and who had absolutely no clue about the challenges farmers face? I will have a lot more respect for them if they wise up and oppose Trump. Tough love.
12
What I don't like about this article is that it's built entirely of anecdotal evidence, and the opinions of individuals with maybe an axe to grind. This is no basis for the reader to draw conclusions as to the breadth of damage suffered by rural America as the result of the shutdown. For each individual cited here, are there hundreds left unharmed? There is simply no way to tell.
Therefore, this sort of article plays right into all of our confirmation biases- we dislike President Trump, and here's more "evidence" as to why. You'd better believe that his supporters are lapping up evidence that plays to their biases in similar, if perhaps less sophisticated, ways. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is not a good basis for dialog and reconciliation. (Cue AOC.)
2
As evidenced in this article, a huge amount of government funding pours into rural areas. When the GOP talks about “welfare,” it condemns only the inner cities.
15
@EmmettC Huge farm subsidies flow into the cities and into the pockets of farmers who don't farm like Senator Grassley and others also. 20% of subsidies go to non-farmers in cities and their families who own the farms
5
@EmmettC
If you don't understand the difference between farm subsidies and welfare, there is no place to begin an intelligent conversation with any reasonable human being, let alone the GOP. These are two entirely different issues/programs/purposes. Farm subsidies support an economic system that once assured you and I could eat something produced in this country, not shipped from afar. American farms benefit all of America. You wish to condemn that?
We have lost our minds, and apparently our interest in reading labels.
Check out where your produce and processed foods are coming from. Then tell me how locavore we really are. Farmer's markets are only open 6 months in most of the US. And most of us don't get most of our food there. Without farms, and an economic system that sustains them, we won't eat. Or, we certainly won't eat well. Duh.
2
I'm sure I'm echoing many others who wrote and those who have only read this, but it cannot happen fast enough or painfully enough for my taste.
These rural voters deserve every privation and sorry outcome which befalls them.
If they had a shred of patriotism in the first place, they never would have voted in Trump.
Let them reap what they have sown.
6
Seems so many folks never really understood what our federal government provides. All these agencies work for us until a narcissistic demagogue wins the White House. How can anyone in the state of New York not have realized who this con man was? I’m from upstate, and was fortunate when growing up that my dad always brought home The NY Times or NY Daily News. I didn’t read as much as I do now, but do remember the tabloids about this con artist. Just a few Google searches would show his bankruptcies and his attitude towards anyone that didn’t hold power. To think anyone thought he cared about a farm owner, farm workers, or any federal worker is delusional. I’ve called my reps down here in PA, some twice in a day. I’ve never felt so helpless and frustrated. I’ll keep resisting, what else can we do? I’ll be there!
10
@Gripah
New York voted overwhelmingly against Trump - they know what he is.
2
I'm really sorry for the travails these farmers are experiencing. Politically there is nothing I can do. Of all the elected officials that represent me in all levels of governments, only the county supervisor and perhaps 2/5 city council members are not declared Democrats. My demographics are also very far from the GOP base. To the GOP I am a irrelevant.
3
So what this really points out is that the biggest welfare recipients in out country are subsidy supported farmers. This is why we rail about other countries and their trade barriers.
They voted for MAGA. For the NY conman. Now he has halted their welfare payments because he wants to make his propaganda promises he sold to them real.
There is a certain balanced irony here. Elections have consequences. And they are here.
13
Id like to think these folks that are hurting now because of voting for a conman learn their lesson and not make the same mistake again, but Im not so sure. These people will continue to vote against themselves time and time again. Its hard to feel sorry for people that are determined to take down the entire country with them.
11
Reading of the attitudes of the farmers, and the prison workers in Florida, and the people in the cancer plume in Indiana, all of whom voted republican and refuse to believe they were wrong, I am beginning to think that voting selfishly in my own self interest is the only rational course. The only difference between me and the voters quoted would be that they thought they were voting in their own self interest and got conned. But why should I keep supporting them? They don’t support me.
7
@Okbyme
What's for dinner at your house?
Unless you have a very big 4 seasons garden and a cow, a few chickens and a hog or two maybe you should "keep supporting" those darn pesky uneducated farmers...regardless of any silly mistakes they made in the voting booth. Current circumstances may change their minds, hopefully before the food chain they contribute to, already under attack, is further polluted, or entirely given over to Monsanto & Co.
@Quite Contrary
And they made that food to get paid. Just like all of us. It isn't some charitable notion that has them growing food and raising animals.
3
This is not the 1800's. That chicken and potatoes you eat do not come from an American "farm", they come from overseas. If we were to eat only what American farms produce these day, we would be up to our eyeballs in corn, a pretty useless crop for anything else other than keeping us fat thanks to corn syrup on everything.
1
I live near the woman farmer in Nichols snd the man in Ovid, NY. We are represented by Tom Reed who refuses to break with the president and stand with us, his constituents. The TSA workers in Elmira and Ithaca also are not being paid. These are our neighbors and friends. Some local restaurants like a local cider house are offering free meals to unpaid workers. Shame on Reed (who is getting paid) for abandoning us for the Trump Shutdown.
362
@Ann S
Shame? Do you think he understands the meaning of the word?
Maybe try fear, and pain. THAT he will understand.
In 2014, Reed introduced the Fighting Hunger Incentive Act of 2014 (H.R. 4719; 113th Congress), a bill that would amend the Internal Revenue Code to permanently extend and expand certain expired provisions that provided an enhanced tax deduction for businesses that donated their food inventory to charitable organizations.
Recently, Reed became the first House Republican in the new Congress to support a House rules change package authored by Democrats.
So he is not beyond redemption.
But shame? ROTFL The only thing he understands is the 2020 election.
Time for NY23 to get organized.
29
@Ann S - He's our rep too.
I think Mr. Reed has forgotten that 'keeping Americans safe' entails far more than an antiquated, obsolete, unnecessary wall and a President's fragile male ego.
Or, more likely, he just doesn't care.
45
@Ann S
Are you familiar with the tale of the frog and the scorpion? You knew what he was when you elected him. His actions are shameful - but that is what he stood for all along.
31
The irony isn’t lost on me that these independent dislikers of the feds are more than willing to ask for loans, relief and insurance.
8
Republicans have been pretending they care about common people for decades when it should be clear they don't. Now, it's painfully obvious.
It wasn't so clear before because Democrats always caved in rather than let the common people be hurt, so much so that Republicans took it for granted that Democrats always would cave in to Republican extortion and blackmail designed to transfer more wealth and power to those that need it least: The wealthiest and most powerful.
Now, the Blue Wave came with the message that Democrats are done with that, the boil needs to be lanced, the infection needs to be drained, and Republican blackmail and extortion finally needs to end.
The shutdown can end 3 ways: Trump and McConnell can agree to allow a funding bill to be passed. McConnell can allow a funding bill to pass that can override a veto. Or Democrats can, once again cave in, meaning the NEXT time Trump and McConnell hold them hostage, it will be far, far worse. Maybe it will be to suspend Constitutional protections? Or break down the separation of powers? Maybe it will be to name Trump "President-for-Life" in true Banana-Republican spirit!
Create a crisis, then destroy the Democratic Republic in order to "save it"? Thank goodness Chuck and Nancy are standing up and saying "No Way!"
9
These farmers owe the very subsidies on which they depend to the Democratic New Deal, FDR, and Henry A. Wallace, FDR's Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President. Henry Wallace was also one of the founders of Pioneer, the first hybrid seed corn (maize) company and an editor of Wallace's Farmer. [Pioneer is now part of Dupont.] FDR, of course, was a gentleman farmer from the Hudson River valley.
2
"Many farmers, including David Nunnery, 59, of Pike County, Miss., have stayed unflinchingly loyal to Mr. Trump and his demands for $5.7 billion for a border wall, even as the shutdown threatens their livelihood."
This piece does not tell us who each of these people voted for in the 2016 presidential election. Regardless of their personal political beliefs, however, the shutdown offers several lessons and reminders to all of us:
1. Elections have consequences,
2. Willful ignorance can be dangerous,
3. If it sounds too good to be true, it is probably false,
4. Mexico is not going to pay for a wall on our southern border.
As A. Lincoln said "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."
Some of our citizenry remain fooled all of the time by our current president. Sadly, they are now having to put their money where their votes went.
4
Forgive my ignorance, but aren't farmers dependent on seasonal workers, often with illegal status, to harvest? How does a wall benefit them?
9
It's is truly amazing to read the comments here and see how quickly one group of the the electorate will vilify the "other" if you live in this country and participate in it's economy you are subsidized in some form or other to degrade another human being because of that is right out of Gingrich,Rush,Laura and Fox news playbook. They have done their job well and We are their products.
1
The man that would literally lose the farm over Trump's nonsense wall fantasy is unreal. He is going to bet the farm on Trump and lose everything. Trump supporters have been played and still don't see it, while everyone else has to hear about it. Bad for basically everyone.
7
Farmers!
Didn't you notice that during the campaign, Trump always appeared at an airport hangar so he would not brush his suit on any "salt-o-the-earth" dirt? Or step in any organic matter?
Didn't you hear him ask quizzically "Just what ARE soybeans, anyway?" on his way to Mara-Lago?
Sheeeesh.
9
They will not desert trump no matter how bad it gets. They see him as the saviour of the Midwest farmers. They can eat their cattle & drink the milk they produce but can't sell. Change from soybeans to corn & they can eat that. They are trump supporters until something better comes along.
3
“We’re being played the stooge”
Sadly, our democracy depends on the common sense and wisdom of rural people to detect a city slicker con-man like Trump. They are supposed to see someone who lacks everyday values, who is "all hat and no cattle" and lives off the grit of others. Instead, rural people let us down with the sorry combination of racial fear and the FOX world of fantasy.
7
My heart goes out to the farmers. But, honestly, what did you expect from Trump? His empty words and promises are bearing fruit on many fronts in this country. Trump and his republicans could care less about the farmers and his trade war is proof of that. Hate to say it but in true farmer speak, you reap what you sow.
5
Aside from all the ethical and legal issues, the Trump administration is simply incompetent. But Trump did keep his promise. He said he would run the government like he ran his business. He is, straight into bankruptcy.
11
Elections have consequences. Farmers overwhelmingly voted for Trump and are now reaping what they sowed. Why anyone voted for this con man stymies my imagination.
Stiffing contractors, charging tuition for his phony university, a host of bankruptcys leaving employees and creditors holding the bag, and using his foundation to pay for things like his son's Boy Scout dues, are just a few of the many illegal or immoral acts performed by Trump during his lifetime.
After they lose the farm, maybe they can get a job in Trump's wonderful expanding economy where they can work for no pay while he keeps the government closed for business.
7
If this shutdown has some of the anti-government people who are dependent on the government, finally waking up and realizing the truth, that could be the one and only positive to come from this shutdown.
Yes, you have been played as stooges. For decades, as the Republicans played up anti-government feeling and lied to you. And played by Trump and total and complete lies about what is happening at the border. I live down here, Trump's lies about the supposed invasion - we are here. We can see the reality - and we don't support open borders - that's just another Trump lie. But there's no invasion. Illegal immigration is down and has been going down for 20 years.
6
Some people will persist in voting against their own best interests.
4
“While many rural conservatives may loathe the idea of Big Government...” most are completely dependent upon its generosity and the tax dollars of their fellow citizens to help artificially prop up there failing businesses.
By the way, the subsidizing is fine by me. The denial of their being on welfare, the hypocrisy is what bothers me.
6
I've never understood why family farmers usually vote Republican. Almost all good farm programs have been introduced, initiated, refined and implemented by Democrats. Of course the Republicans in those states make sure those programs always keep the tax dollars flowing but the roots of most of the programs were Democrat.
I know if you're a big corporate farm or agri-business like ADM you're definitely a Republican. They have implemented or supported countless family small farm takeovers and land grabs.
And the whole Organic revolution was initiated by progressives.
I just don't get it. Must be all that tough guy talk Repubs have done for a long time while telling the Rural folks that cities are filled with people who don't like to work and live off welfare. Thats why Repubs needed Fox News to keep them in power by spreading myths like that.
8
Honest to pete, I think of Snoop Dogg's recent warning to folks being bamboozled by Trump policies and wonder how it could possibly have taken this long for anyone to wake up? What have we been screaming for the last 2 + years? Hard to understand how any working person still has faith in this presidency.
3
It's clear to me that planning for a rainy day wasn't in anyone's financial plans. That said what is happening to people on welfare and !food stamps. OTOH so much food is thrown out daily in this country that NO ONE should go hungry! (Dated items from the grocery stores might be given away by chains. I don't care about stock price nor dividends!!) (Dated milk is poured down the drain. Dumpster diving used to be possible in NYC -- maybe not so much anymore-- I once scored dozens of fresh bagels!! Meantime people out on the street begging!!)
3
Farmers are growing our food supply. Whatever their politics, If farmers can't farm, it could be a big problem.
And Trump supporters like Mr. Nunnery should ask themselves if a wall is the best way to get border security. Everyone is for border security. We want it to work. The wall will be a long time in being in place. And it isn't worth tanking our economy to get a wall.
2
The hypocrisy of rural politics is now on full display with farmers being afflicted the same harm they so eagerly bestow upon others. This is their long awaited "small government" in the real world. They voted for Trump, McConnell, et al so they too can live with the consequences of republican politics. Ironically, their policies would remove most of the people doing the actual work on most farms today by deporting them and building a wall to keep them out. Indeed, farmers aren't as clever as they think after all.
4
And what villainy was being heaped upon farmers before Trump? Enough to warrant voting for their self destruction?
2
Farmers got billions in stimulus. I think it means their free money must be held-up till the shutdown is over.
2
If it had been left to Republicans (especially the "new" Republicans formerly known as Dixiecrats) all of these farmers would be sharecroppers instead of independent businesses.
3
Everybody pays for a Trumpian Pyrrhic victory— hopefully Republicans and THEIR President a bit more than others.
1
I knew a family of farmers, parents, children, and grandchildren in upstate New York who praised the candidate Donald Trump. Despite being educated they listened to Fox News 24 seven, it played in the living room, in the kitchen, and in the dairy, I would not be surprised if it was in with the cows too.
They were so brainwashed by toxic fear and hate I had to stop visiting them and end the friendship.
I wonder if they got what they were looking for and if they’re better off now?
7
There is an old proverb that says ‘when God wants to test you he gives you what you ask for’. Seems many good and decent Americans who voted for Mr. Trump, for whatever reason, now see and feel the consequences. While sorry for their painful epiphany l have never understood how anyone buys the myth that ‘We the People’ are not our government. It’s not Them, it’s Us!
Votes matter- it’s simple math- votes have the power to change. Voters have a responsibility to learn what a candidate stands for, not just by their words but by their actions. Current and past.
To jettison qualified GOP candidates in favor of a man that blusters, obfuscates, cheats hard working people and businesses out of money for services and goods; brags that we are not as smart as he is to pay taxes that he does not; and on any given subject has the arrogance to say without humility “ l think l know more than anybody about (insert any topic)” should reinforce the importance of voter self-education. Surely they did not see themselves in him or hope to emulate such a deceitful (pick your descriptor).
Read ALL the major news outlets on both sides, ask your own questions. Democracy is worth the effort. Now, right NOW, call your senator and congressional representative, and the congressional leadership to do their job for you, the Citizen. Congress represents the people, not the party and not the President.
And if don’t they don’t hear you, vote them out! Because 2020, like Winter, is coming . . .
3
I feel a little bit sorry for farmers who did not vote for Trump; not at all for those who did.
Well before the election, we all knew that Trump was a conman and grifter, that he swindled those who chose to get involved with him, and that he lied profusely. He also promised - explicitly - to harm international trade, one of the relatively few promises that he kept.
Farmers especially should know that you reap what you sow.
3
Really find it difficult to believe that someone would rather lose the farm than not have federal funds used for this stunt. It seems like this is someone who might already be financially fine even without the farm, so really not a fair example of someone losing everything and still standing by this narcissist.
2
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said.
We already have some border security. We are already being offered MORE border security. You will lose your farm for a a small downpayment on a wall, which has nothing to do with security.
4
The title of this piece says it all. This is the predictable consequence when you vote for and continue to support an amoral narcissistic president. Character and elite (yes, elite) personal capabilities really do matter, even if that person does not share your religion, ethnicity, or "values." I take no pleasure in others' misfortunes, but Trump's history of hate, snake, oil and complete lack of integrity have been there for decades for all to see. It's not only all the people you despise who will suffer, you will too. Our country is being destroyed by Trump, and to a larger extent, the GOP cult who holds the country hostage by shutting down the government. It's tragic that it must come to this before the 40% who have supported this monster will finally wake up. Unfortunately, it's also necessary.
4
I always predicted that the only time Trump supporters will sway from their unwavering slavish devotion to the constantly lying POTUS is when they suffer economically. I expected it to be a recession (which might still happen) - but did not expect it to be a 3 week long border wall driven government shutdown. Sad!
3
From all this misery we may get a little appreciation of sound government and how it impacts our life.
It’s like oxygen, you only notice when you don’t have any.
4
I feel much more sympathy towards the furloughed federal workers than for the farmers. The farmers have brought this disaster on themselves by obstinately voting for Trump and for the Republicans. As the others here have said, you reap what you sowed.
5
This is all such a useless sacrifice for all sides. The terms of the fight as defined by Trump and the right wing media are ridiculous, and we are all terrible, irresponsible fools to have played along. Let the politics serve the people and their actual needs, and not the other way around. As far as I can tell, there already exists sensible and effective physical barriers along the Southern border. More money should be pored to into processing applications or streamlining the immigration/refugee/asylum applications--this is the most effective and humane (!) approach. But that small bore aside, allocate the money for extending existing barriers. If is placates some fears drummed up by irresponsible politicians then that's good enough reason to make a deal at this point. Who wins and who loses politically--who cares. I understand that politics is the lens through which this has to get done, but what a kaleidoscope--we have made ourselves into a knot, and the choice of tools we have left ourselves with is one that pulls and one that cuts the knot into pieces.
2
Its hard to feel sorry for this group who the majority of voted for a man that ran 4 casinos into the ground and has multiple bankruptcies never held public office and bragged on tape well before the election that he feels that he can just grab women's private areas. They feel to me like a greedy group of people that didn't care what they voted for as long as it benefited them, and now when the obvious has happened, its whoa to be me. Well its been whoa to be anything but white in this nation since they helped get him elected.
5
Let's face it, now that "Big Government" has shut down, they don't like it. The reality is that there are all sorts of government programs for all sorts of groups, farmers being one. Maybe people need to stop and realize that they aren't the only people in this country. And, I do feel bad for them. Some may lose their businesses, and/or farms, and that is really tragic. But we will all need to hurt before this buffoon is gone.
2
Farmers hate big government unless and until they don’t get their subsidies and handouts the rest of us pay mightily for. Don’t get me wrong. I love farmers. I’m just tired of their holier than thou attitudes about we coastal elites and about the people who do their work for them at slave wages from below the border. Crisis indeed.
9
Biggest fear: those who suppprted Trump will continue to believe him all the way up through 2020 and give us another 4 years of this incompetent, ill-tempered, incapable, lying man. He is dangerous and the situation is dangerous; we as a nation are in peril.
The greatest lesson in all of this?
Perhaps our beloved democracy does not have the proper checks and balances to guard against con/snake oil salespeople and the partisans that support and bolster them (i.e. Members of the Senate and House). This round it is the Republicans, but in the future, it could be Democrats, Independents, the Green Party or others.
We must act:
-Change the Electoral College to be proportional so that there are no “winner take all states”; votes are tallied to the same representation as the actual vote.
-Anyone running for any PUBLIC office, must provide tax returns. Yup, even Dog Catcher must show there are no conflicts of interest.
-We must develop additional non-partisan safeguards for removal from office (perhaps almost impossible to be non-partisan).
-Ensure that we all have access to reports and information, i.e. The Mueller Report (my tax dollars funded this investigation; I should be able to read it!)
Look, there is much to wring our hands about; nothing helpful will come of that! Our democracy, our country, our government...let us be the change we must see. Call your congress member & McConnell and tell them to open the government NOW and debate the immigration policies separately.
3
The destruction of American agriculture serves the GOP very well. Kill prosperity and growth in a state with a large farm industry; the remaining citizens - relatively poor rural white people - will send Republicans to the Senate.
The House will go Democrat, but the Senate remains in play.
1
"While many rural conservatives may loathe the idea of Big Government, farmers and the federal government are welded together by dozens of programs and billions of dollars in spending."
The same government you trash is the same government that kept you afloat. You were never going to learn your lesson until you felt the pain. Good job, Trump. Thanks for waking people up!
2
Wow, more right wing Trump supporters that despise government entitlements for poor minorities, the handicapped, and the elderly that worked their whole lives but need help to pay for healthcare via medicaid, but it's alright for them to get compensated for their master Trump's trade war that hurts all American's, especially the new poor middle class and then some. They loathe Big Government, except Big Government that supplies them with dozens of programs and billions of dollars in aid. What hypocrites! There's scores of them where I live. They hated any taxpayer compensation after Katrina to minorities that lost everything and probably received 1/5 of taxpayers 100 billion plus payouts to compensate for losing everything. I've seen this same theme over and over. They forget Mexico was supposed to pay for the wall via check or wire and not a renegotiated NAFTA agreement that isn't even signed into law yet. Besides, the new trade agreement when signed into law helps big business and means more jobs. It does not by any stretch of the imagination equal the chant: 'And Mexico will pay for the wall'. So, when these rural Trump supporters treat others with respect that also need government entitlements I say, let them eat cake! That's what they think of minorities and poor folks needing the same government assistance or the ACA.
2
The NYT needs to do a deep dive on all the forms of welfare that are well hidden that go to rural voters. Did anyone in an urban area generating all the wealth that gets redistributed to rural areas know about all these programs? Did you know who the real welfare queens were. If Trump turns the spotlight on this stuff, that would be a good thing. Then we can chalk up yet one more hypocrisy among the GOP base. The list is long. It will get longer before Trump is done.
2
So anti-government "conservatives" are in fact dependent on government no less so than welfare recipients they love to hate. They are also so blinded by xenophobia and fear that they voted against their own interests, suspended critical thinking and are not even interested to inform themselves, choosing to believe in fairy tales told by populists. I don't know what can help in this situation... Hardship may help some, others may move even farther from reality... Perhaps massive education effort for the next generation?
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security.”
Any man who says this doesn't really believe he's going to lose his farm. He believes Trump just wouldn't let that happen. Sad.
4
You would have thought farmers would be the last people to fall for a coiffed phony with small, soft hands who never did an honest day's work in his life, can't deal with dirt or germs and has an aversion to getting rained on. Maybe the realization that he is willing to watch them suffer for the sake of his vanity project will get them to come around.
3
@Richard
Are you talking about Hillary Clinton? Because she would be even more out of place on a farm than Trump. I wonder why they didn't vote for her?
it just astounds me that farmers are so dependent on the govt and cost us billions yet as they accept these payments, run the govt down, want to keep their workers out of the country, and not give food stamps to the poor!! I will never see them in the same light again!!
2
Let us not forget that walls can be broken through, tunneled under and jumped over. The whole wall idea is last century thinking.
2
I'm starting to think this Trump presidency is one long, painful 4-year civics lesson for the "anti big government" conservatives.
3
So some of these farmers think "they're being played the stooge", while they are opposed to big government, yet they also want their payoffs due to them because of trump's tariff fiasco that has lowered the value of their crops. And the dairy farmers unwisely overbuilt their milk cow herds to the extent that their milk prices dropped due to the milk market being flooded, and they want government payouts as well.
Why would they continue to support the maniac in the White House when it's becoming more and more obvious that he is the calamity that is being visited upon them?
2
Ms. Pelosi - look no further than our farmers for a solid plank in your plan to restore America after the debacle of Trump. No farms, no food!
Mr. Nunnery is willing to lose his farm for border security. I wonder if he believes any lack of existing border security would cause the loss of his farm?
If not I wonder what his point is.
Where did Jared Kushner learn so much about international peace talks and government policy? I thought he was a hack NY real estate developer.
The level of ignorance and lackies running one of the largest economies on earth astounds me.
4
I would have thought farmers, of all people, understood reaping and sowing.
2
It's unfortunate, but for some people there is a need for pain and suffering before they start to get real, and come to terms with what it truly means to vote Republican.
They got lured in by the empty promises, the hollow sloganeering, the name-calling and the false hope that they wouldn't be the latest version of Trump Chumps that they have become.
1
Trump is the Professor Howard Hill of American politics.
"We got trouble, really big trouble. With a capital T..."
And that stands for Trump.
He's a con man and, while he has you focused on the Mexican border, you just might not have noticed how he's selling you out everywhere else.
Any more of this and you won't have farms to worry about. Nor will you have clean water, air or uncontaminated food. You just might get by on a low wage job courtesy of trickle down economics.
You might just find yourself out of house and home, but you can come on over to the big city and join us city slickers who are trying to deal with rising rent and stale wages before we have to live in the street.
We are all in the same boat and Trump has just punched holes in it.
This Trump guy is just full of "noblese oblige."
2
It was also odd that none of the quoted victims of
the current fever of hysteria exhibited any inclination
to complain to their senators, say, Johnson in WI or
Portman in OH. Instead of talking to a Times reporter,
shouldn't they be yelling at their senators?
1
I hope every Republican in the Senate reads this piece. Get real folks. This wall thing is doing more harm than unlikely good. Pelosi is correct; when you took the oath of office who and what did you promise to protect?
Too bad, they should have done their home work before voting for the fraud Trump. Trump was and will always be a self-serving selfish, privileged horror show.
Students who do they homework get "A's" those who don't become "C" students. Next time farmer Brown, study.
What did you farmers think he would do for you?
- 6 bankruptcies
3
This is a tale of woe. (Are we great yet?)
Tmump thinks only about himself? True,. But he doesn’t even do that well. Here he’s undercutting his farm base while trying to satisfy his xenophobic base. (What’s a not so stable genius of a dictator to do?)
Trump isn’t even smart enough to know he’s giving ammunition to Mueller with every blatant tweeter act to eliminate witnesses for Mueller.
Well let’s hope the farm belt learns from thei financial losses who, what is hurting them. (Hint: it’s not the low paid migrant workers.
“‘I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said.’”
This is what the worship of a cult leader looks like.
2
Wait until these farmers do their 2018 taxes, especially in NY. This is when they'll realize that their self-defeating Republican votes were an absolutely stupid thing to cast. My kids work on an organic farm (100s of acres in land) that minimally produces milk products, but their once-deductible taxes on the land and losses are now capped, so I await the torches and pitchforks (please Chris Collins rural NY27 for the staking).
1
Gently? Maybe a brick bat to get through to Trump
1
Voting for “America Alone” and chaos with Trump or for stability with Clinton.
The choice was so obvious in 2016, what they were thinking?
You are my friends and neighbors, but you cannot say you were blindsided. You bought what you have been selling in your own rhetoric for years. Now you know what Steve King, whom you have supported over and over, would be like as president. Sorry if I'm not at the forgiveness point yet. But the rest of us, and especially 800,000 good people who just want to put food on their kids' tables, have to suffer because of your selfishness. And because you are only now feeling it in your wallets, you want everyone else to feel sorry for you? Chutzpah.
3
My grandfather was a conservative farmer from the Midwest, and his father and grandfather before him. I am light years and thousands of miles removed from that life of endless toil. I know just enough to make reading articles like this one a kick in the gut.
112
I hope all these hurting farmers remember this in Nov 2020, especially when voting for senators. Pay attention, voters in Kansas, it is McConnell, Trump's little poodle, who is refusing to do his job and push bills forward to open the government. He is supposed to work for the American people, not for Trump. I feel for the farmers, government workers and all those affected by the shutdown, but that is what you get when millions of people somehow convinced themselves a con man was more trustworthy than Clinton.
5
I believe that all furlough federal employees should process a personal class action suit against Trump for unfair labor practices and demand that he pays off their outstanding debts that have remained unpaid due to the shutdown. Trump should begin selling his assets and placing the money in a trust account for these employees.
On another note: how did we go from the George Washington legend ("I cannot tell a lie, father, you know I cannot tell a lie!) to Donald Trump "I cannot tell the truth, you know I cannot tell the truth"
4
My grandfather ran a dairy farm in Tioga County, which is where the town of Nichols is in. My father worked on a farm not far from Nichols before he went into the military to get his GED. I know that town fairly well. Spent many a Thanksgiving there. Still have many relatives in and around Nichols. While I don't know Ms. Moore personally, I bet there isn't but a few degrees of separation between us. That being said, that area (and the overwhelming majority of my relatives who still live there) unabashedly voted for Trump. They saw something in him, and were willing to overlook his racism, misogyny and ignorance all for the snake oil he was peddling. So much for the Christian values I was taught at those Thanksgivings. While it is painful to witness the self-inflicted suffering of these people, I don't know of anything else that will change their mindset. This tragedy might not even be enough.
367
@Milo Samizdat
It isn't that they were willing to overlook his "racism, misogyny and ignorance."
It is precisely those qualities, displayed unabashedly, that they liked in him.
78
@Milo Samizdat - “I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said. There you have it. The unfounded hatred of "the other" drives these poor, deluded souls. He deserves to lose his farm..
73
@Milo Samizdat
I hope their minds are changed but whether they are or not, we need to help these people; they are our brothers and sisters. I'm tired of the Schadenfreude that I once thought would make me feel better about the people that supported Trump. I don't 'feel' better reading about people suffering despite their horrific support of Trump and his hatred. Democrats need to do all we can to help these people, no matter their support for Trump.
26
I welcome any article that attempts to enlighten us as to what on earth motivates Trump followers.
However. I worry that there is too much focus on the rural/white/struggling narrative. I've read (and observed) that there is actually a very large category of Trump voters who should know better. They are relatively affluent and educated - and they're Trump supporters. In my experience they tend to be people who work in health care, or tech, are very well compensated, and simply haven't ever paid attention to politics, or to history or civics. They maybe have a vague idea that "my family is Republican" and that "liberals" (whatever that means to them) are dangerous. I would really love to see more attention paid to this less-covered group.
4
What I gleaned from this article is the undeniable tie of farm subsidies the Federal government pays to many farmers who don't want "big government". This shutdown shows the result of NO government - no money, no one answering calls, no one updating economic data.
Is this what farmers want of no "big government"? Is this what the rest of us want?
4
As the president said about federal workers, "They will adjust."
I'm being facetious here.
Over a billions dollars did not appear in federal worker's bank accounts today - the economy of everyone will have to "adjust."
End the Trump shutdown.
3
Besides the point that many of these farmers still support TRUMP, I can not believe the condition the family-owned US farming is in. Farmers in their 50s and 60s who don't have enough funds saved up to buy seeds and food for their animals ? For every step they need to borrow money ? What kind of life is that anyway ?
1
The hardship and chaos inflicted by Trump's insistence on shuttering the Federal Government is reprehensible because it serves no purpose. It is moments like these that we realize that Trump has a knack for not noticing or perhaps not caring what hardships he inflicts on others. We detect a pattern in the world of Donald Trump. Regardless of who you are Trump is only interested in how you can be exploited to Trump's advantage. Perhaps the rural communities will realize that their image of Trump is built on the falsehoods he pedaled, and that the loyalty he demanded will never be recognized and the favor returned. It is well past the time for all of America to realize that long ago Donald Trump chose not to learn, preferring to bully and beat in order to get what he wanted. And that is exactly how he is governing.
2
Sorry. If they thought they could get what he is selling without any pain, they were/are mistaken. Thoughts and prayers.
4
It is hard to empathize with rural farmers. These people who bemoaned big government are dependent on big government for their very existence. Price supports, crop loans, ag inspection, loans, weather info, rural broadband and electricity support, rural hospital subsidies, rural immigrant doctors, low paying immigrant labor. The list goes on.. All from taxes paid by Blue states. If you are in retail and your job disappears you move on, if your in the Auto industry making cars you move on. Why should dairy farmers be any different. If you want government to support you through market gyrations vote blue otherwise like the rest of us you should reap the lost benefits of a red vote.
4
Hmm. This is what is called "small government," folks. No services, no data, no loans, no help from anyone else. According to Texas Republicans who support the concept of "small government," you're supposed to rely upon your church for charity. Wonder if that man who has to pay his property taxes will be able to get $15,000 by the end of January from his local church's collection plates? Wonder how his fellow parishioners will react when he asks for what is probably half of the church's annual operating budget ... maybe it's time for farmers who need loans to join a mega-church?
8
Perhaps Trump should consider a work requirement for these farmers taking large handouts from the government as has been proposed by his colleagues for the SNAP program.
4
This is a President who pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership on his first day in office, without understanding anything about it except one thing: that it came from Barack Obama, among others. Republicans and farmers wanted it because it expanded their international markets. That should have been the wake-up call for agricultural America. I guess nobody was paying attention that day. So don’t be surprised at any of this. Trump is a New York real estate developer with no background in government or policy and it shows. The man still demonstrates no understanding of trade deficits or international trade concepts or much of anything else a President should know by now. Believe in this amazingly uninformed man if you must, but don’t complain if he hurts you financially. He was upfront about what he would do.
5
I grew up in Wisconsin in a small city, farms and agribusiness all around. If you're a farmer or rancher, start talking with your neighbors. If you haven't done so already.
We have sturdy, layered security on the Southern border. There is no crisis down there. This is not a national emergency. Indeed, Trump is the national emergency.
5
Farmers going to food pantries? This is much more alarming than the government shutdown, the trade wars, and the subsidies (those of you criticizing farmers for receiving them might want to rethink your position before making your next grocery run--after all, you're being subsidized, too). Not only are they forced to rely on government subsidies, in perennial debt, and in need of government programs to help with stress and depression, but they don't even have enough to eat! Rather than chastising them for their voting records, we should all be focused on what WE can do to straighten out the mess that has been made of agriculture in this country.
3
I was struck by the repeated claim that each farmer is waiting on money they are owed as part of a bailout. The bailout is my tax money being gifted to these people. They need the bailout because they voted Trump into office and he ruined our trade policy. I say let them reap what they’ve seen. Maybe next time they’ll listen to facts before they wreck our economy.
6
The USDA has been swimming in milk for 30 years. There is no point in producing more of a product than people want.
1
My heart goes out to anyone, regardless of his/her politics, who is struggling with economic problems. That said, Trump supporters in the farming sector voted for him even though he was very forthright, during his campaign, that he wanted to keep immigrants out (no one to work the fields), repeal the ACA (affordable health insurance), and would impose tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico (major farming trading partners). Farmers now struggle to fill their fields with workers, sell their perishable products to China, and face higher health care costs and repealed coverage for pre-existing medical conditions if Trump has his way. I am so sick of hearing about the troubles that Trump's "base" are experiencing. They voted for him! And many continue, in huge numbers, to support him in the face of their own, and the country's, looming economic disaster! Farmers, more than anyone, should know that you reap what you sow.
4
Call your Republican Congressmen and President Trump. Tell them that they got your vote in 2016/2018 but they won't get it in 2020 unless the government is reopened immediately and unconditionally. In case you haven't heard from the vast majority of people who are knowledgeable on the matter, a wall is the least efficient means of improving border security. And what good is a wall anyway if you're going to lose everything that you have to protect?
2
They say that farmers are eternal optimists, or they would be in some other line of work. For some reason, many farmers don't believe in big government, even though they have depended on it since the great depression. They fancy themselves to be independent, but after only 20 days they are already feeling the loss of government services. The image they have of themselves as the independent mountain man, needing no assistance from anybody are plainly false, but this macho image that Fox News prepares for them of themselves seems to work for them.
Maybe if this shutdown, which I pray doesn't go on for another hour, will help them remember that they continue to be farmers for the most part, because of government help that began under the FDR administration. Today's Democratic Party will continue to support these programs that began under a Democratic president, even as Republicans seem to shun the need to support the farmers who get them elected.
2
"If we do not learn to sacrifice small differences of opinion, we can never act together. Every man cannot have his way in all things. If his own opinion prevails at some times, he should acquiesce on seeing that of others preponderate at others. Without this mutual disposition we are disjointed individuals, but not a society."
I see no difference between these farmers providing a service and receiving assistance from the government and the working poor receiving food stamps. I am sure the farmers would disagree.
1
None of this is surprising. We know Trump is really good at driving businesses into bankruptcy, not paying his bills including taxes and placing the blame on others. Same MO different office.
2
I have been watching the farming community since the 1980s, and it still puzzles me that so many in rural communities believe the rightwing ideology machine, when all their experience should scream at them that corporate America and their stooges in Congress do not have their best interests at heart. "What's the Matter With Kansas?" as Thomas Frank would ask.
The conundrum is captured in Arlie Hochschild's book, Strangers in Their Own Land. People are betrayed by government, and instead of seeing that the current government has been a tool of the exploiters, they simply blame "government" as if it were an unchanging existential phenomenon and then equate it with "out of touch elitist eggheads." They hear their anger and frustration expressed by FauxNews, even though the ideology that Faux repeats ad nauseam maintains the power of corporate America. It is truly a 1984 experience.
They do not understand that it is politicians like Trump and Steve King who are betraying them, and "purple" senators like Jon Tester who would have their backs.
3
"While many rural conservatives may loathe the idea of Big Government"
Correction: They loathe the idea of big government helping OTHER people. They're perfectly fine with the world's largest military spending and billions in subsidies for themselves.
5
While many rural conservatives may loathe the idea of Big Government, farmers and the federal government are welded together by dozens of programs and billions of dollars in spending. There is no question that the rural vote strongly supported Trump. I hope they will remember what happened to them in the past few years in 2020.
1
This doesn't just raise questions about the continued loyalty to a man who doesn't care for anyone but himself and is unfit in every way to lead the country; it underscores the vulnerability of the agricultural system in this country, and the fact that farmers live on the edge of bankruptsy on a daily basis.
1
Being farmers these folks should not have any difficulty understanding the concept you reap what you sow. I don't feel any sorrow for these people what so ever. They voted Trump and Republican full of self righteousness. They made Steve King (R - Iowa) a lead of their party. Experience is a hard but effective teacher. Experiencing a bankruptcy should teach these folks some real world lessons.
4
I grew up on a farm. Farmers who voted for trump got played by a slick city-slicker snake oil salesman who convinced them that he had all the answers. He’s been exposed for what he really is, I hope they can see it. I hope.
2
Well, you don't know what you've got til its gone, to quote Melanie. Its ironic that the electoral college was created essentially to protect the agricultural business from industry in the cities. The farmers felt their power and, by use of the electoral college, elected Mr. Trump who, foreseeable, is now ruining them by taking away their federal lifelines. Hard to feel bad for them.
3
As much as I would like to sympathize with the farmers and other Trump supporters who voted for Trump and are now suffering because of his actions and policies, if they ultimately voted for him, whatever their reasons, they only have themselves to blame.
If they were willfully ignorant or chose not to look into his proposed policies while he was running for President such as rolling back NAFTA, reducing government spending, cracking down on immigrant labor etc. all things that were going to negatively impact their livelihoods, and went along with him anyway, that was their choice.
It's like the situation with Kansas City Southern rail company - relies on NAFTA for its business model to service freight trains to Mexico and voted for the GOP in 2016 despite Trump promising, at rally after rally, that he was going to take the US out of NAFTA:
https://slate.com/business/2017/01/kansas-city-southern-railroad-company-relies-on-nafta-supported-gop-oops.html
The irony was lost on them all along.
3
Lifelong Democrat though I am, I am shocked by some of the comments here. These people, who who are our brothers and sisters, are suffering. That they voted for someone believing what he told them may show poor judgment, but it's not a reason to vilify them, much less to hope that their farms do in fact go under. How in the world does that help any of us?
Let Trump do the attacking, which is all he seems to know how to do anyway; the rest of us should be concerned with pushing for solutions. Including solutions for people who made the misjudgment of voting for Trump.
2
Elections have consequences. Next time, when a candidate tells you who he or she is, believe them.
2
Several centuries ago our forefathers hotly debated the concept of a strong central government as embraced in our constitution. Finally that document was ratified and we have benefited from it ever since. A strong, functioning central government is essential to our prosperity, security and general well being. Many on the right abhor a strong central government but them put their hands into the till. This shutdown needs to end and our illustrious(?) POTUS needs to quit his petulant stance and get back on the job for the benefit of farmers and all the rest of us.
1
Let's hope these farmers are calling and writing their president, senators and representatives on a frequent basis. If the republican voting base complains they may listen.
2
How many devoted Trump supporters realize that the impact of Trump shutdown affects far more people than 800,000 families of furloughed employees?
Democrats have historically been poor at conveying right message to people. Right now is the right time for them to publicize pain and suffering of people (due to shutdown) on nationwide basis with particular focus on red districts.
People like Tom Steyer will be better of funding grassroots communication campaign with republican voters than futile "Impeach Trump" campaign in blue states.
2
“We’re being played the stooge.”
It's not like they weren't warned.
As a member of a farming family myself whose income depends on the farm, I empathize. But we voted for sanity. It wasn't a difficult choice - not much nuance there to confuse a voter.
3
You're really scraping the barrel to create examples of those in farm country who are "suffering" from this government shutdown. The only reason I am reminded there is a shutdown is to read it in the NYT. Otherwise I have very little interaction with the parts of the government subject to it to notice.
As for the dairy farmer who is $350,000 in debt and depending on an emergency federal farm loan, one might say they haven't managed their business very well thus far and maybe don't deserve another loan anyway. There is a glut of dairy products, and cheese, on the market.
One could easily make the argument that this shutdown is exposing how people have been depending on government subsidies too much to survive in business. It's like free money.
Where is Devin Nunes in this battle? He represents a large rural and dairy constituency that relies not just on subsidies but also on immigrant labor. Why isn't he supporting the Democrats on this issue and giving some straight talk to Trump?
I hope farmers and ranchers now realize that a corrupt, clueless New York developer cannot help them. He doesn't do his homework to even understand your way of life and what you need to keep your farms running. He's not interested in cause and effect ripples, only in the effects that have an immediate gratification for him.
I fear that the Central Valley, one the country relies on heavily for food, is making a lethal mistake in backing Trump and will oust him and Nunes in the next election.
1
You get what you vote for. And rural folks often can't seem to connect the dots. Voting against best interests is often a product of misguided religious beliefs or unfounded bias against others. I know, because I grew up among conservatives in farm country. Either way, dairy is a dying industry that is cruel to animals and terrible for the environment and human health (it's food for calves, not people, after all). Time to let dairy die and help dairy farmers convert to profitable and sustainable plant crops that don't pollute and contribute to climate change. Of course, we'll need an open government to do that. I don't know what to tell these farmers. I'm sorry it's so rough, but it's not as if no one warned you.
2
Complaining about labor shortages caused by Trump's immigration crackdowns is pretty rich. I thought the point of cracking down on illegal immigration is to protect jobs for Americans. So how about farmers hire some of their American neighbors who all seem to be so down on their luck?
2
I observed a visiting poor farmer, a relative from Hungary - breaking down in tears at the apparent abundance displayed in the produce section of an American grocery store. - 50 years ago. We middle class consumers of post WWII world took the accessible abundance for granted.
Now, there's plenty of evidence that American farmers, especially dairy farmers, are and have been in dire straits for a while - see a recent NYTimes article detailing an alarming number of suicides among dairy farmers.
I wonder how much the milk market has suffered from the "designer milk" syndrome - there used to be two choices, plain or chocolate. Now there are 15-20 different varieties of milk offered in stores on the E. coast, not including soy, almond alternatives. All this fragmentation of the market must add cost to processing/marketing and drive down farmers' profits. But we are obsessed with our own health, spoiled by "choices", not so much concerned about that of the producers of our food. Now the food chain is so international and irrational that we are all suffering higher prices, much lower quality, and the destruction of a native economy that was once abundant at both the supplier and consumer ends.
I miss those days when drinking milk felt somewhat patriotic - now it just makes me feel sad and guilty. I feel for the dairy farmers, whatever their politics. And the cows, most living in an industrialized, mechanized world. Where are we all headed? This is "health"?
2
Seriously, who cares. Farmers of all people should know, you reap what you sow.
9
In respectful honor of the late Larry Eisenberg:
The Red States are just finding out
What Russia's plan was all about:
The Distractor-in-Chief
Beggars not just belief,
But his Wall-eyed supporters' doubt clout
5
One can always look at the bright side of things, even if the negative outweighs the positive.
The first thing is that Trump's election paved the way for a new generation of politically minded activists to run for office on every level of government and win, in 2018. Most of these newbies are WOMEN, who are the only ones who know how to fix things.
The second thing is that any of these farmers, if they switch parties and leave the Republicans, they won't be coming back. Not sure how many there'll be, but there'll be some. Nominating a Democrat, not necessarily with populist bonafides per se but one that actually listens to farm country, could be helpful here. Hillary didn't.
Art Cullen, who wrote Storm Lake about a town in Iowa and the issues it faces, was on Nader's show talking about this.
2
You will reap what you sow.
5
The farmers who voted for Trump loved it when he talked about sticking it to people he and they deemed unworthy. They loved his cruelty. They loved bashing all the guv'ment handouts.
Well guess what, Farmers for Trump? He thinks you're unworthy, too. He always did. He thinks you're a loser who doesn't deserve your government money, either. The rest of us knew he wasn't going to look out for you. You refused to listen. You were too gleeful at the prospect of the poor and the non-white getting shafted.
I worry about the farmers who saw Trump was a bad man and voted against him. The ones who supported him can eat their MAGA hats. You've done lasting damage to this country, and people are dying because of your vote. Welcome to Trump's America. It's a horrible place, isn't it?
10
The headline is very misleading. It doesn't seem as if anyone is reaching their breaking point on Trump. Their breaking point is financial, not blaming Trump.
This is the country's real problem. No matter how ignorant Trump's whimsies are, his base sticks by him. We have articles about the self interest of people suffering, but none of these people seems to think a change at the top will help.
Sad!
5
Travelling through rural MN and WI, I am always amazed at the at the few radio stations that broadcast. They basically fall into two categories-Fox or Sinclair right wing talk shows that constantly cast the Democrats as devils incarnate or religious broadcasts that cast the Democrats as devils incarnate.
Democrats are talked about as lazy welfare recipients, baby killers and those who want the USA to be overrun by illegal immigrants. Farmers are intelligent. Rural people are intelligent. But 24-7 propaganda works. No wonder the base will not permit compromise. Who wants to compromise with the devil?
41
This is soooo true. In rural Michigan too, BTW.
8
good points.
6
This is a modern-Republican's dream come true -- get rid of the federal government. Where's the private sector that is supposed to make our country so much better?
Trump is crook and needs funding for the wall so that he can launder money for his businesses and the Russians. It is the perfect project to move dirty move.
The President is supposed to help the country, not destroy it.
3
Obviously nobody enjoys seeing the suffering of our fellow beings. However, it is difficult to understand how grown men and women could fall for such an obvious conman. Are they uneducated? Did they buy into the idea that white people were going to be replaced ? Do they not understand that FOX news is a propaganda network? For a developed nation, the US has a pretty pathetic education system.
6
Oh people do enjoy seeing others suffer.
2
You broke it, you pay for it.
2
Sorry. Vote him out of office next time!
5
Time for farmers to march on Washington and confront their "favorite" President with all his lies.
6
Well as mama said, "you can't help stupid." In the real world, stupidity is often painful. We'll soon get another national IQ test. Republican Senators could vote today to pass any number of the measures on the table (that they have already voted yes on!) to open the government. They could then over ride any threatened veto. Should the traitor choose to veto, the over ride vote could be delivered with a private phone call that the next such vote will be one of impeachment.
3
I feel horrible for those affected by the shutdown who didn't vote for the con-man. To those who did you deserve everything that happens to you. Our entire country has been affected negatively in so many more ways than the few hundred thousand paychecks missed because you all fell for a ruse and it will take a generation to fix it if it's even fixable. Thank you flyover country.
5
Ah, The Sainted American farmer:
The same uneducated pinheads who gave us The Dust Bowl, bloated steroid riddled, insecticide poisoned, nutritionally barren "food", and PUBLIC grazing lands completely denuded of its protective vegetation.
And they whined like children the entire time.
I am so sick of the entitled farmer.
Let 'em actually reap what they sow for once.
6
Interesting piece, but the vast majority of these trump supporters will never read this article or anything else put out by the “liberal media”. Instead, they will turn on Rush, Laura or Fake Fox News and hear that their cult leader is doing everything possible to keep the killers, child molesters, gang members and drug dealers out of the country in order to keep them safe. When they turn on Fox News they’ll see trump standing at the border, wearing his white MAGA campaign cap, but they won’t see the children at the nearby internment camp, some torn from their mother’s arms, because the whole episode was a campaign stunt done at taxpayers expense.
4
this is all great news for America's rural illegal opioid selling industry.
3
To America’s predominantly white farm owners: racism often comes with a price tag.
4
Well, you voted for this individual, he is last person that should be in the position.....and now what?
He did use $12 Billion of tax money, all borrowed, to buy your vote already, now he owes you another vote payment.......
Madness
2
A wide swath of people brainwashed by the Republican Party and FOX News to vote against their own interest. Ignorance has a high price, always!
4
The best thing Democrats could do is swallow their pride and bite their tongues regarding 2016, act like Trump doesn't exist, and go into these communities and do the hard work to make things better - give them what they need and listen.
I know it needs to be done. I'm also glad I'm not the one that has to do it after Trump supporters took such reckless roll of the dice on such an inexperienced charlatan. It would be hard to muster the empathy required.
2
@JLC: Empathy has little to nothing to do with it (though it would help).
Even if sane politicians who believed that government is a tool for trying to solve "the big problems" did what you propose, the last 40 or so years of anti-government inculcation from the political right has made a huge swath of the electorate not just ignorant, but willfully ignorant.
I fear for the future of the nation simply because of this. Willful ignorance is incurable, and that's been recognized for a lot longer than I've been alive.
It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.
~ Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745), Irish essayist, novelist, & satirist
1
According to the Federal Reserve, 40% of American working families could not come up with $500 in savings to respond to an unanticipated expense like car or house repairs, medical or dental expenses, or a serious speeding ticket.
Yet somehow, many of these same people vote for right-wing Republicans who advocate such things as lower taxes on the wealthy; elimination of the federal estate tax, which doesn’t even touch an estate worth less than $12 million; and curtailment of Social Security, Medicare and a panoply of other government services and regulations that confer the greatest benefit on the vast majority of American families earning less than $100,000 per year.
We keep hearing that ‘economic anxiety’ explains their voting preferences. To that I say ‘balderdash.’ There is no other rational explanation than this: the Republican Party has spent the past 30 years or so spreading fear, distrust of government and hatred of anyone who looks or thinks differently from the prototypical middle-aged, marginally educated, white, rural, “Christian.” It has singled out scapegoats and demonized them. Watch any Trump “rally” and you cannot help but see a barely contained lynch mob, ready to burst out in violence at the drop of a hat. It’s like watching “The Ox-Bow Incident,” with the pusillanimous loudmouth Trump in the role of Major Tetley.
Trump is an obviously demented, pathetic old man. He is frightening only because tens of millions of American voters are scarier than he is.
8
I feel so sorry for these people. After all, they voted for Trump because they liked his serene approach to challenges and his level headed analysis of complicated situations. Why should they be penalized? how terrible!
2
No one should understand this current situation more vividly than a farmer. You reap what you sow.
Live with the consequences, all the rest of us are too. I'm kind of running out of patience for people who helped this administration ascend to the White House then was like "aww garsh, this just isn't working!" when reality set in for everybody.
4
So, this guy’s close to losing his farm, wants a wall and still supports a Trump? I don’t care about him or others of that ilk.
2
This is indeed a sorry state and I do feel bad for these folk. That said, you lay down with the dogs and you wake up with fleas. Now these fleas are bleeding you dry. As farmers surely they should understand that you reap what you sow.
2
“We’re being played the stooge,” he said.
We've been trying to tell you that for two years, but you won't hear us.
6
This is illustratvie of the Trump voter. It's all about me, unless 'it' starts to hurt me.
8
@Scott Kennedy: Sad, but true.
Entirely in keeping with the, "I got mine, Jack, too bad about you!!" philosophy at the core of the neoconservative movement.
2
Can Monsanto bail these farmers out?
4
Who benefits the most from the exploitation of undocumented Mexican workers? Farmers! Who voted overwhelmingly for Trump? Farmers! Who benefits the most from government loans and subsidies? Farmers! Who constantly rails against government handouts? Farmers! The irony and hypocrisy is outrageous.
8
Well, if nothing else the hardy Libertarians will survive all of this, being all self-sufficient and whatnot.
5
I had no idea the Heartland of America was so dependent on government welfare.
4
Nevertheless they vote for those who will hurt them the most: tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, weakened and smaller gov’t, trade wars, no immigrant farm workers...
1
Russian asset, Donald Trump, is systematically destroying our country by doing things like this. Putin must be so happy to see this. When will the republicans in the Senate wake up and stand up to this poor excuse for a human being?
1
We reap what we sow.
3
Why does this remind me of a certain charismatic religious leader who led his flock to their death?
I am very sorry for the suffering. I'm unsure if it is self-inflicted. Truly, unsure.
2
"Mr. Trump is expected to address a largely friendly audience on Monday at the American Farm Bureau’s annual convention. Many farmers, including David Nunnery, 59, of Pike County, Miss., have stayed unflinchingly loyal to Mr. Trump and his demands for $5.7 billion for a border wall, even as the shutdown threatens their livelihood."
You just can't fix stupid.
“We’re being played the stooge,”..... In reality, pal, the republican party has been playing you people in the "heartland" for 50 years. You keep voting for the same tired promises from politicians who have no intention of keeping those promises. You should try to remember that it was a Democratic President named Roosevelt who helped save the American farm and introduce modern roads and power grids to your backwaters.
You people can continue to vote against abortion and gay marriage and common sense firearms laws or you can start to vote for your lives and the lives of your children.
4
@Bob Laughlin: Also, and it may not apply to the individual who made the observation about being played the stooge: There is a difference, and a big one, between being played the stooge and actually being one.
There's an awful lot of evidence, and it's mounting every minute, that Trump supporters truly are entirely willing stooges. That's a huge problem.
1
The rural voters duped by Trump once in 2016, get duped again in 2019 by their “savior”. Know your candidate is late but apropos. The GOP is unreliable. Too bad.
2
Meanwhile, Trump still gets two scoops of ice cream.
2
You reap what you sow.
1
I would be willing to contribute to a "Go Fund Me" that provided some support to furloughed Federal workers provided it was guaranteed that no money went to states whose electoral votes went for Trump. I see no reason to bail those people out from the consequences of their stupidity.
4
@Isadore Huss
So, because I live in a red state, I'm unworthy of your charity, no matter how I voted?
Just.... Wow.
1
Maybe, just maybe, farm country and other voters that call themselves his base realize that they have been conned by a professional mobster that calls himself President. Can anybody tell me that we are better off now than under Obama?
1
Please, dear Trump voters, in your hour of need blame Obama, it'll make you feel so much better, or maybe not, I don't know.
Something, something, reap what you sow.
Just a note to the mainly rural conservative farmers that loathe the idea of Big Government, that say that they shouldn’t have their tax dollars going to Medicaid recipients, that the government should not be giving handouts to people on aid, or migrants should not be allowed in our country...funny how you are just fine holding out your hand to the government for loans and other benefits.
To John Myer, the farmer in Ovid, N.Y., needs $15,000 owed to him under the trade bailout to pay his property taxes, which are due by the end of January. Nobody owes you anything either. Stop looking for handouts.
To the the cotton farmer who could not get disaster assistance to help him recover from Hurricane Michael and woman facing foreclosure on her family farm. The dairy farmer trying to make one last attempt to renegotiate her loan with the Farm Service Agency and Pam Moore who is now $350,000 in debt and needs a taxpayer funded government loan...nobody owes you all anything either.
How about you all just ask the man you voted into office and stand behind so faithfully to distribute the 25-50 billion dollars he plans to spend on a wall.
And to Mr. Nunnery who said, “I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” the United States has spent tens of billions of dollars on boarder security in just the last several years. Heck, we spent tens of billions deporting immigrants without any criminal offenses in the last several years. You obviously don’t read.
7
Sad, but anyone who voted for Trump and is now hurting because of his inept governance has it coming...
1
So....it was OK as long as THEY weren't being mistreated. Now, even Trump supporters are realizing that THEY, too, mean absolutely nothing to our cruel president.
I sure hope THEY remember that Republicans only care about the 1%.
Let's make sure the 99% speak with one voice in 2020 and send all Republicans packing.
THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU!!!
1
I’ll bet Monsanto and archer Daniels midland are just fine with all these folks losing their farms and will be or already have donated to trumps reelection campaign
4
Now the big government is not big enough? Just wait 2 more weeks.....
1
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,”
Wow.
Don't share their conservative viewpoint but always admired farmers for their salt of the earth work ethic and ingenuity who understood how heavily subsidized their industry is and when they're being played.
Incredible they would hitch their wagon to a second tier branding manager / reality show host from Queens who probably never stepped foot into a farm and could care less about their concerns.
When you elect a clown, you get a circus.
4
Many American farmers loath the idea of big government until it comes to them. Farmers have at least three welfare handouts now paid for by the American taxpayers, subsidies, tariff checks, and crop insurance. Hypocrisy abounds.
7
He only cares about himself folks. He loves you adoration but could care less what your life is. You are tools for him to succeed. It is amazing your hate and fear is so overpowering that you allow yourself to be literally sacrificed by Trump and his billionaire friends. What has he actually done to help you? Cut taxes on the very rich by thousands but you have a few hundred. Increased the debt for your country by billions in one year. Reduced health care coverage. Created a Trade war that you are on the frontlines for. Gave help and comfort and support to one of our biggest enemies.Created misery for thousands of government workers. No, you are not winning you are losers by your own choice.
2
The tragedy is they trusted republicans to help them. Farmers aren't mega-donors, as a rule, they are hard working Americans, like most of us.
American workers have been under assault by republicans for years.
Where is the 'growth' in wages, they only care about the stock market. Where is the healthcare that doesn't send families into poverty. Where is the infrastructure... this list goes on and on and on, but republicans have only and ever cared about people of wealth.
Any time a republican tells you he cares about you, you are looking a liar, if you are a working American.
If you're a person of color or a woman, they don't even pretend to care.
2
Bottom line for the GOP: the government can bully women and brown people as much as they want, but don’t dare mess with white landowners.
Also, the irony of “small government, anti-welfare” chest thumpers having their housing, businesses, and income subsidized by the federal government.
You’ll not find a clearer example of America’s systemic racism that this right here.
1
That’s right, be careful what you wish for. He wants a wall and he may end up getting four!!
1
Give Trump the money he is asking for the the boarder security wall. He will not give in on this one.
Do you think pleasing Pelosi and Shumer are worth it?
Did you give in that easily to your 2-year old? If so, I would hate to see your 2-year old now!
2
First, it’s border security, not boarder. Second , it’s not to please Pelosi, we the people
Do not want to pay for an unnecessary wall, that is just a symbol of trumps narcissism.
2
There is a crisis alright. Many more soon to come.
1
While these farmer's unfailing support for a crook who gleefully makes their lives more and more miserable with each passing day may seem irrational, it's really not.
Trumpism was never anything more or less than a license to practice overt racism, sexism and homophobia. That continues to be the single unifying factor behind all of his supporters. Hate unites them. Every single other argument they make is window dressing and rationalizations.
The border wall fight is simply another proud welcome mat for white supremacy.
1
I just clicked over to the Fox website. Not a single story of hardship for our furloughed federal workers or the plight our of rural farm communities like this story. The bubble is well insulated.
3
I pity the farm animals who will probably be starved to death if there's no money for feed. Looks like those farmers will all have to find jobs down south, building Trump's wall, only to find out that Trump doesn't pay his construction workers either.
4
Perhaps they can have garage sales; watch their neighbors' herds; or make some cool things to sell from welding.
2
"We are being played the stooge." But you weren't playing the stooge when you voted for Trump, you were one. Experience can be a harsh teacher, but it is the only way to knowledge for far too many people.
2
As sad as this story is and as resoundingly troubling as it is for the welfare of America's farming industry and the well-being of its people, you folks in the agrarian Midwest who unapologetically stood by (and continue to do so) the racist, incomprehensible fool in the Oval Office have clearly received what you well deserve. People hate the idea of big government stepping in when they feel as though they are not reaping the benefits. You hear cries like "too much government overreach" , "people on welfare don't have to work for what they get", etc... The problem lies in the fact that without government overreach in many sectors of this country's infrastructure (notably farming, agriculture, dairy, fishing) those industries can't survive. You all were played for a stooge and will continue to be played. Just desserts? I feel bad for the people in this industry who knew better but are now stuck living, working and attempting to survive while the governmental powers that be keep using you for personal gains.
3
From the article:
"...many rural conservatives may loathe the idea of Big Government [for minority others, and not for people like them]"...
There, fixed it for you.
3
I seriously doubt that rural Trump supporters are abandoning him now. These folks interviewed are probably moderates or Democrats who don't like Trump to begin with. Trump's true believers love him. You see, when you have a religion, you don't abandon it when times get tough - you stand firm through the times of testing. To Trump supporters, their faith can be shaken, but it will still stand tall and proud. Because face it, for whatever reason they worship this man. You will never convince them to abandon their god. Once you internalize that truth you'll understand that there is no point in all of the outrage and "See-see! Trump said something racist! Will you reject him now?" Trump Supporter: "Never!" They will follow him to heck and back. Stop trying to change their minds and start focusing on how you're going to defeat him in 2020.
4
I've been calling U.S. Senators. Of 34 I've called so far, I spoke to roughly 1/3 staffers and 2/3 voice-mails. Senior Advisor Kellyanne Conway has spoken repeatedly on how the President acts on "alternative facts." Fortunately even Chris Wallace of Fox News has finally started calling the White House out on these (ref. Sarah Sanders & terrorist numbers at southern border a few days ago). Please Congress, please put American's back to work again without building a Berlin or Gaza Strip Wall which is based on "alternative facts."
1
Farmers duped. But, farmers should be in control of own risk. American taxpayer tired of their welfare/commodity subsidies. Farmers received billions for 17 years, consecutively.
Farmers, call your republican reps and stop your President of Russia.
Oh schadenfreude, you are so delicious.
1
We all know the trump soloution to ever problem
Bail and go Bankrupt
2
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You’ve been conned! Now, get over the shame of that reality and use your noodles to vote this guy out.
1
You were warned. The man is a con and has been a con his whole life. You voted for a man who has been sued 3500 times - and you think he cares for you. There is no indication he has cared for anything but his money and his media presence. You fulfilled his wildest dream- top of the news 24-7. Now you feel the shaft. You should have listened.
3
Let "farm country" "make adjustments" like everyone else. Get off your welfare queen status!
3
Way to listen to other members of the American family!
Not all farm country supported Trump! I'm a small, organic farmer in Western Washington and although I don't have ties to the government for loans (anymore!), I do depend on inspectors at the Canadian border to keep working to inspect loads bringing my chicken feed. Apparently, those workers are slated to go next week. If I can't get feed, my farm is done.
22
@Carrie Little hope you survive, unfortunately I am familiar with Eastern Washington and they are rabid Trump supporters.
2
Orting is not in Eastern WA - it’s in Pierce County! And while a good portion of E. WA does vote Republican against their own interests, so does rural Kitsap County, Snohomish County, etc.
2
Assume the risk. It is your business. But, good luck.
As the con man Trump's damage and consequent devastation continue, we might ask ourselves, who is benefitting from all of this? Most certainly is isn't the American people (with huge swathes of the government in shutdown mode, and minimal food or water inspection, etc.), or numerous industries like farming (on a precipice), or US security (with an unpaid TSA and Coast Guard), or the US economy, and on and on. Think also about the announced abrupt pullout of US troops in Syria, and the abrupt pullout of half of the troops in Afghanistan, and the constant attacks on US allies (and the recent demotion of the EU representative to the US), etc. Who is benefitting from all of this disruption and chaos?
Russia. That country clearly is benefitting. Ask yourself why a US leader would endanger his country to such an extent that a hostile foreign power would seem to be the chief beneficiary?
Congress and Trump voters like these farmers, you had better wake up before it's too late!
22
I think you meant the Mitch McConnell’s Senate. Congress is now poised to expose the con.
2
@Sleater
My bet is that the smaller farms will go under and then BIG AGRO can swoop in and grab them at a pittance.
Isn't that the Trumpian way?
2
So many people saw Trump as a lifeline in a world with so much change that that it seemed unsteady and unfamiliar. The appeal of his message is understandable to those whose world seems to be crumbling about them. But Trumps is and always was a con-man. He conned these people whose longing for an answer overrode their critical analysis and fact checking of this criminal.
The lesson is clear, if difficult. These folks need to acknowledge the error and move on to find an authentic answer in someone seriously concerned about their welfare.
31
Keep the government out of my Medicare.
Sad (to coin a phrase...)
17
As a nation we all voted for Trump and we will all pay for it. The comeuppance has arrived in the form of pain for farmers, govt. shutdown, environmental destruction, and a diminished view of the US on the world stage. Why do conservatives repeatedly vote against their own interests?
12
@M Martinez
As a nation, we voted for Hillary.
Add in Republican Jim Crow law suppressed votes, voter file purges and black-box vote counting...and Hillary Clinton won the Electoral College also.
Popular vote
65,853,514 48.2%
62,984,828 46.1%
We are being occupied by a political criminal Russian-Republican syndicate.
Remember in 2020.
11
Leave me out of "all."
2
@M Martinez "As a nation we all voted for Trump".
What? We as a nation did NOT vote for Trump. The Electoral College did.
2
Re:
Mr. Trump is expected to address a largely friendly audience on Monday at the American Farm Bureau’s annual convention. Many farmers, including David Nunnery, 59, of Pike County, Miss., have stayed unflinchingly loyal to Mr. Trump and his demands for $5.7 billion for a border wall, even as the shutdown threatens their livelihood.
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said.
Voila the mindset of those who voted for putting up
the Easter Island stone heads millennia ago instead of
working to save themselves from the ecological destruction
that they, not their gods, were responsible for.
32
Ignorance is bliss
1
Farmers like David Nunnery who still supports Trump even though he may lose his farm are textbook examples of Stockholm Syndrome. I've wondered how catastrophic it has to become for their survival instincts to kick in. Apparently, bankruptcy and loss of livelihood aren't bad enough.
44
@Mike T
It's a cult.
They will happily walk over the cliff for him and his bankruptcy.
Sad.
6
@Mike T
agreed. I wonder if Trump set someone's home on fire and watched it burn, would they still support him?
I'm beginning to wonder.....
2
They failed by voting for a man who lacks not just character by any idea of what the government supplies to the American people. I hope they come around to consider this the next election.
16
These people are the core of Trump's base and like all those who deal with Trump they are suffering because of him. All of these farmers in one way or another need the federal government and cannot afford to have it closed. Despite the fact that most of these people voted for Trump and brought much of this on themselves, we need to support them as they are a vital part of our nation. Mitch McConnell and the Republican Senators need to vote to reopen the government and get these people the funds and resources they need to feed all of us. When farmers suffer we all will suffer. Republicans, reopen the government!
326
@Ferniez I think folks are learning that government isn't an abstract, far-away entity imposed on us, but it's us ourselves. We need to treasure it and use it wisely, not as a momentary political plaything.
50
@Ferniez Don't know who you are talking about, but if you are saying Big Ag feeds America, you need to think about it. Nobody eats the millions of bushels of field corn grown every year. Sure the residue from this corn makes high fructose corn syrup which goes into almost all our processed foods. But this makes us fat and contributes to health problems. Who needs this? Field corn also makes ethanol that goes into our car fuels. Unfortunately, it takes more carbon fuels to make ethanol than ethanol can replace. No benefit here! Oh, yes, taxpayers also subsidize the ethanol industry. The government should be reopened to be sure. But the farm program makes big farmers rich and tosses aside small farmers who are the ones who really produce foods we can eat.
37
@Ferniez, the selfish few minority party are destroying what good is left of this once great country, please, please vote, vote all Democratic in all elections in the foreseeable future until at least another party as good as Democrats can form to replace the corrupt, greedy and inhumane republican party and the evil they and Trump represent.
36
It's difficult not to feel sorry for these farmers.
But what were they expecting from someone like Trump?
Now they know, in any case.
15
Guess what, America? Because many farmers are unable to plant their crops and keep their dairy farms running, there is the possibility of food prices going up. The shutdown is showing the far reaching ramifications of the Trump presidency.
21
@Leonardo
Good. We all eat too much cheese anyway.
Trump's trade wars reduced U.S. agricultural exports to China by 48% last year. The Chinese used to buy $12 billion worth of American soybeans annually but now buy them from Brazil. In North Dakota alone, soy farmers lost $280 million. Nebraska farmers have taken a $1 billion hit and California fruit and nut growers lost $2.64 billion. And bankers are reluctant to bail out desperate farmers. Farm bureaus estimate that 20% of farmers in the upper Midwest won't be able to get credit to finance spring planting.
19
Perhaps this will help farmers, and others in rural America, see that the Federal Government is not the bogeyman that conservatives have made it out to be. We stand stronger if we stand together. That means promoting the common good, including through government programs that strengthen all the beneficial aspects of our society.
37
O...M...G. Trump was right when he stated that his followers would vote for him even if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue. From this exceedingly informative article by Healy and Pager:
“‘I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,’ Mr. Nunnery said.“
Unreal.
92
@Charles- I agree and I hope these people who still support him and his absurd notions of security get what they deserve. Unfortunately, the rest of us will unwillingly get dragged along.
3
Beware the True Believer.
2
@Charles Similar to a woman who was about to lose her job at a factory that made steel nails. Her company imported Chinese steel, but because of the tariffs it wasn't going to be able to do that anymore. So it was laying off workers, and she was one of them. But she said she'd vote for him again. I don't get it, either...
4
One would not wish to wake up and discover oneself alone, duped and bankrupt.
There has to be compassion for the difficulty of individuals leaving what is essentially an authoritarian cult of personality. The internal forces, combined with social/media pressure are tremendous. We are social creatures and are hard pressed to separate from apparent sources of care, community and communication. Rarely is there an opening for contrasting information. Ideally-- there would be space for political disagreement and challenge with welcoming those struggling in transition.
157
@Rebecca
People who voted for Donald Trump committed an act of grievous civil negligence. They needed only to spend an hour or so skimming David Cay Johnson's book, The Making of Donald Trump. It showed conclusively why Trump is unfit to be president. Many people voted for Trump as a an act of political vandalism, a way to give the finger to "the elite" - people who worked hard to get an education, built successful professional careers and saved/invested to achieve financial security (that would be me). Now many of these disgruntled Trump voters are seeing their lives ruined because of what started out as a mnemonic to help an incompetent blowhard to remember to demagogue immigration issues at rallies for the easily bamboozled.Trump's base chanted "Build the wall!". Now they are realizing that, sooner or later, Trump betrays everyone. They should stop whining and take their medicine - and maybe learn something about the dangers of nascent American fascism.
46
@Rebecca
Trump should be personally sued for the losses suffered by everyone who has been financially impacted by the shut down.
11
@Rebecca
I've got some compassion - when they leave the cult. Until then - they're hurting all of us. I'll have sympathy for the pure innocents who are hurt by Trump first, those who did not vote to create this situation.
26
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. This is the victory the flyover folks demanded. They should be enjoying their spoils without any complaints.
45
National Psychosis more like it. I feel for everyone who was betrayed by trump but how is it that a man who has openly and clearly screwed over everyone he works with, talks like an idiot, and bald face lies all day long is entrusted by people to take care of them? Because he was on a reality tv show that depicted him as an astute businessman? That’s insane.
49
Well, maybe next time they’ll think about voting with their brains and not their “gut”.
36
@Doug K
I doubt it. The gut is too strong, and especially if the democrat cannot present a strong, honest, moderate, and likeable candidate, these people are going to stick with their long term affiliation.
3
They fell for a con by an obvious con man
and
they make a "product" that requires pain and suffering of a sentient being for a "food" that is meant for nursing baby cows and humans can do without.
Sorry, nice attempt at sympathy, but NO
18
@Zenster. I too feel the same way sometimes. But the problem is that the decisions made by by these voters are holding our entire country and the world at ransom.
Why are Trump & GOP making people suffer? What is being accomplished?
25
@DR_GRANNY
Grand Old Punishment
Cruel Christianity
Stealing from the poor to give to the rich
That's what make deplorables happy.
3
Because Trump is convinced complainers are Democrats
@DR_GRANNY Trump doesn't want to be embarrassed by losing after he painted himself into a corner. I think he also likes the distraction from investigations.
The classic move of a con is to convince people that they are the ones with the con artist who are "in the know".
People believing Trump who literally have everything to lose from federal agencies being ripped out from under them is on a level of tragedy. A liar is a liar. What is it going to take.
My own mother's tiny farm is in Trump country in Texas. With the guy who leases it waiting for the USDA office to open.
20
To Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer -- as Bruce Springsteen wrote, "No retreat, no surrender"...
30
At this rate sometime around Valentine's Day, these rural red states will be rural Dead states. Then the next plan will be for John Cougar Mellancamp to hold another Farm Aid concert. Yeah, ok, get all the liberal Left musicians and fans to save these "Conservative" farmers that voted for the person responsible for their demise.
16
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,”
Geez ... what can you do with those who apparently hate brown people more than they care for the well-being of, not only their fellow citizens who are suffering because of this pointless shutdown, but themselves and their own families ?
Oh well, I guess after he loses his own farm he can get one of those "great jobs" the undocumented are supposedly taking away and go to work picking somebody else's cotton ...
71
Plus we already already HAVE! "some border security" - actually quite a lot! What is this guy thinking? That we have none? But its hard to argue against people who discount fact and reality.
1
I thought these people hate big government?
41
"We're being played the stooge." Are we supposed to feel pity for these people now because they voted for Trump (a failed businessman and a con man who had zero qualifications to be President), due to their own ignorance?
25
I'm playing the world's smallest violin for these people.
Oh the government "elites" are bad, taxes are bad, welfare is bad.
Then they lose THEIR benefits, and suddenly "Oh government, help us!"
I guess you...reap what you sow.
41
The farmers made a huge mistake when they banked on an ignorant huckster of a candidate in Trump.His latest whine “So you won’t give me what I want?” is a disservice to all. Farmers, like teachers, make up the fabric of this nation. They allowed themselves to be duped by a cheap medicine show the likes we haven’t seen since the depression.
23
talk about a welfare state !
you reap what you sow
14
I grew up in a midwestern metropolitan area. When we called someone a "farmer" it was an insult for being dumb, boorish and gullible. While as an adult I know longer believe that, seeing people in rural areas who voted for Trump certainly calls the stereotype to mind.
18
we depend on our farmers to be practical.
djt came into the 2016 presidential race with a 40 YEAR documented history of lying, cheating and thieving.
how/why did you BELIEVE even one word he said?
29
@bob lesch
Some of us will just sit back and enjoy seeing it burn
Those farmers who voted for this serial liar got "the government they deserve." Hopefully they're smart enough not to repeat their mistake in 2020.
13
People continue to vote for out-of-touch leaders who are concerned more with their ego than anything or anyone else. Trump is a spoiled rotten child of wealth, excess and insecure masculinity; on the basis of research many of his supporters are likewise insecure in their masculinity.
11
Wow - who knew the federal government did something or that serial liars who have stiffed people their entire lives could not be trusted?
12
Unfortunately, this is what happens when people continuously believe every lie a con man tells you. Since 2016 up until Sept. 2018, he lied over 5000 times (according to the Washington Post)! Blatant lies at that! Factless information every time he speaks. Back-tracking things he said publicly by saying he never said it. Millions of people hear him say “Mexico will pay for it.” You don’t say that publicly unless the deal was sealed. He did the same thing with North Korea. He lies to keep his base. The base keeps saying he’s done so much. He hasn’t done anything but hurt our country and our citizens. The government has no checks and balances, congress doesn’t stop him from making impulsive decisions without putting them up before the house or congress. He believes OUR country is his kingdom to do whatever he desires.
9
It is sad to see the turmoil Trump has visited on these people, but for many of them the old adage, "stupid is as stupid does" applies in spades. For decades, they have been thoroughly dependent on the big government they abhor. Yet they cling to an ideology that deprecates government action. They toed for this criminal grifter, and even now most of them continue to support him. That limits the sympathy one feels for them, because the damage their votes (and the votes of others like them) have inflicted on this country and the world at large are unforgivable. What on earth will it take for these folks to wake up and smell the coffee?
12
These Trump supporters, big-govt haters and other ignoramuses should put their money where their mouths are: you support him and hate our govt, give it all up: your farm subsidies, your social security, your medicare, and what else you receive that benefits you as a citizen of this country. You think he’s great while he upends this country, then live with it. Unbelievable these supporters. He could literally take food from their kids’ mouths snd they’d say he’s great. I mourn for those of us who did not vote for Trump and who will suffer from his asinine, selfish and corrupt policies. I can’t believe our Constitution is so flawed that we can’t remove him/neutralize him while he wholeheartedly and maliciously takes the US down in flames with the approbation of our equally corrupt Congress. Shaking my head in horror, disgust and disbelief.
25
Agreed, except the solution is with the senate, not congress. The New Democratic congress stands ready to remedy this horror show.
2
Xenophobia is a powerful and dangerous drug that destroys lives and communities.
13
The wall is dumb and pointless, but in the grand scheme of things, also cheap. Of all the critical needs to take a stand on, why was this wall chosen as the ultimate line in the sand? Nancy and Chuck are repeating their sins of the past by picking all the wrong fights, making mountains of molehills while the actual mountains are ignored.
1
FYI, it is tRump who drew a line in the sand. Based on lies no less. There was a deal that the senate and congress agreed to, then trump fearing his base at foxnation reneged. Please keep up with the facts.
3
Trump is a bully - a person who habitually seeks to harm or intimidate those whom he perceives as vulnerable.
For the first two years of this administration Border Security was a non-starter for the republican House, Senate and Administration.
Now Trump declares a crisis on our southern border with a new Democratic House in play. Why? Because a bully does not allow people's disrupted lives to stand in the way of declaring he is still king of the block - with or without clothes on.
11
Well welcome back to the reality based community. Took you long enough.
8
"We hate government and government programs, but if we don't get OUR government money from OUR government program we'll lose the farm."
Wah-wah.
19
@Glassyeyed-
And just recall how full of sour vinegar and utterly absurd self-righteousness they were denouncing those “Welfare Queens” in far-off California during Reagan's presidency; the ones who drove gold Cadillacs.
Remember those gold Cadillacs?
Imaginary villains, those Welfare Queens, and their gold Cadillacs; which they knew. But they hollered, fumed and hissed all the same.
2
Those rural conservatives only loathe Big Government when it's writing checks to someone who is...not them.
20
Just some quick questions for the republican farmers about to lose their livelihood and their homes:
What did you expect?
Are you happy with the result?
Was it worrh it just to see the liberals squirm?
Where are you going to live now?
26
DJT-
Is quite busy “Robbing Peter, (Our Government), to pay Paul!” Or Putin?
3
Yep you all were duped. Trump doesn’t (and never did) care about the well being of farming and ranching America (except as a way to roll back any Obama era initiatives). This Kansas born girl urges you to please start voting your real interests!
9
Question:
Is Donald Trump's family OKAY?
Wait til the Trump's and Hannity and WIndbag show up to buy your farmland for pennies on the dollar.
Hannity did just that in the last real estate swoon.
I predict they are licking thier chops as they wait for Trump to drive the ag business into the ground.
Elections have consequences people. For those in the Red States who put this clown in office, here's a farming phrase you can repeat as you watch it all go down the drain:
"You reap what you sow".
Or..YOU get the manure, THEY will get the crop.
11
"I may lose the farm, but we really need border security"
... and we're supposed to feel sorry for this person? How much Fox News are these people willing to mindlessly stare at before just maybe considering they've been had?
20
aI don’t knowho to even begin to think about people like Mr. Nunnery who apparently is willing to lose his farm in order to gain “some border security.”
8
Here are the two sentences that most jumped out at me, and seem to epitomize the lack of recognition by conservatives of all the POSITIVE things our government does FOR us.
"While many rural conservatives may loathe the idea of Big Government, farmers and the federal government are welded together by dozens of programs and billions of dollars in spending."
“We’re being played the stooge,” he said.
When will voices of clarity, like this person's, begin to be heard on the major propaganda outlets such as the Limbaugh shows and FOX "news"??
People have been led by these outlets to believe that "welfare" in this country is only going to poor urban blacks ("takers") while they cash THEIR government checks with little or no sense of irony or even recognition of the irony.
It's "Keep your gubmint hands off my Social Security!" all over again.
12
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said. No sympathy from me, Mr. Nunnery. Maybe you _should_ lose the farm, for as my grandma would have said, it'd be the cheapest way to educate you.
21
Oh gee - you mean the guy who doesnt like to read, doesnt believe scientists, has the attention span of a 2 year old, cant speak proper English, inherited billions and lost most of it, bankrupts numerous businesses, and is a narcissist has NO IDEA what he is doing and the country is suffering as a result?
Noooo really?
16
I think it was a Republican who said something like, "You can fool some of the people all of the time.......". Duh!
5
in my limited experience, Farmers are the most creative problem solvers, the most wiley, innovative folks out there. I dont understand one bit how they believed Trump for even a nano-second. but I guess the fact that they have been SO UNDERSUPPORTED by America for so long made them think, because this guy was "different" that maybe that was a good thing. IT is not. He is a lying idiot and cares not a wit for anyone. But we failed our famers before this. That's the real truth of it, so let's not smirk as they suffer this latest betrayal. Its jsut the latest in a long line of US policies that have disempowered them.
262
@meredith America has never failed our farmers.
Massive federal water projects to provide water for less than the cost of delivery. Favorable tax status for farmland. Crop insurance and price supports to maintain income. Allowing huge farms to be created counter to existing law and policies.
Pretty generous attitude toward farmers in America.
Read the book "Cadillac Desert" and tell me the US has not gone overboard helping farmers.
137
@John Harper
I note one point that puts your entire post into question. "Allowing huge farms to be created..." This has been the problem for farmers since the 1980s, when there was massive farm loss and transfer to agribusiness, all creatively managed by various government and financial agencies. Today, mega-farms benefit from federal assistance, while small family farms struggle. At a time when we need to turn back to sustainable farming methods, many of the smaller farmers are experiencing a rerun of the types of financial crises that crushed many of their parents' generation.
61
@meredith It is human nature to solve problems in the least disruptive way possible. Crop prices low? Produce more to maintain income BUT then oversupply forces prices even lower and the downward spiral is inevitable. Farmers represent less than 3% of the population so I am not so sure they were a deciding factor. Dairy price supports have distorted milk prices for so long American produces far more milk than we consume. A wiser path for the government would be to buy out dairy farmers removing a percentage of the oversupply for good.
24
AG is right up there with health care when it comes to a system needing a complete overhaul. Farming has too long been a losing proposition and most Americans take the food on their table for granted. This is a real crisis and not some populist, manufactured emergency designed to maintain an electorate base.
10
Thought-provoking article and comments, particularly Epicurus because he/she is a farmer in rural Ohio, a bastion of Trump supporters. However, most sympathy is with those of us who did not vote for this GOP national disaster. Farmers who voted for Trump are now suffering from self-inflicted wounds. Everybody makes mistakes at one time or another but this one was pretty obvious from the very beginning. In November 2020, they will probably vote the same so how can you expect sympathy for their plight. The Trump administration has harmed me, my family and my country and the Trump supporters are complicit with that harm and bear some responsibility. While the farmers’ story needs to be told, so does their contribution to their own situation.
88
@Ronald I'd recommend this twice if I could. Every American had over a year to assess the character and qualifications of candidate Donald Trump. If they believed what they were hearing from said candidate, they are now receiving precisely what they deserve. And I'm left totally speechless when I hear farmers expressing their continued support for Donald Trump, despite all the damage he is doing to our country and to them individually.
49
"many rural conservatives may loathe the idea of Big Government..." Another harsh example of people voting against their own interest. The rural conservative gripes about government on his or her farm, not thinking that they - as all of us are - remained directly connected to the government as a dependent. I feel for them, but in some ways I don't, since many backed this chaos monster. We reap what we sow.
37
Voting against government as a theory and using government to continue your lifestyle is hypocrisy
1
Agribusinesses are one of the largest beneficiaries of wealth distribution and subsidies of the welfare state. Irony if the best sense of the word.
Hopefully, NYT readers will remember this shutdown and this article the next time they read about self-reliant, family farmers and ranchers. Even without these direct payments that have slowed due to Trump's shutdown, they also receive all the social benefits urban dwellers do, in addition to outsized subsidies for their roads, water supply and flood protection, and payments for producing unneeded, surplus crops. This all comes courtesy of taxpayers who, for the most part, live in cities.
46
and that's the beauty of our system of representation as envisioned in the late 18th Century: make sure the landowners, the yeomen and planters, remain at the top of the social pyramid. after all, that's the way it was in England, the model for a new American aristocracy of land owning commoners.
6
Mr. Trump: "Do the Dems realize that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats?"
He's right, in a sense. Even if they weren't Democrats before, they're going to be Democrats in the future.
48
Maybe now as this senseless partial shutdown of the federal government enters its third week, many of the farmers who have maintained their staunch support for the present occupant of the Oval Office will at long last rethink that support. His unreasoning intransigence shows that he does not care at all for them, because he has put many of them in a precarious position in which they will be unable to pay their debts or keep their farms.
Nor does the GOP care about their plight either because, while the Democratic House has already initiated legislation to end the shutdown forthwith, the GOP-controlled Senate has steadfastly REFUSED to do likewise and work with the House to make the government fully functional again and able to address their needs.
WAKE UP TO REALITY, FARM COUNTRY. The GOP does NOT care about you nor appreciate the mess they have now put you in. They - along with the White House - are more intent on playing a cruel game of power politics at your expense. (Perhaps now you won't waste your votes on them in 2020 and vote instead for a party that puts the interests of We the People first, rather than engaging in petty political games.)
18
It is remarkable how farmers, who are particularly reliant on federal government programs to buy seed, equipment, get loans, get crop subsidies, and market their food, still support Trump, even though these programs are shut down and he's started a trade war. One farmer in today's issue supports Trump, saying "we need some border security", even though it means he might lose his farm. What kind of politics is this where people support a President who intentionally ruins their prospects and their way of life?
It reminds me how dictators keep power through propaganda, rewriting history and painting its leadership as heroic. Fox News is like North Korean TV rewiring Republican brains to believe that Republicans, no matter how bone-headed, are always good, and Democrats are always bad, so much so they are willing to lose the farm, like North Koreans are willing to starve.
45
This situation reminds me of Brexit: Vast disparity in income leads to anger leads to unwise political decision leads to multitude of injurious side effects.
Expressing anger at injustice can feel good, but institutionalizing the response in a haphazard manner by empowering demagogic persons/policies with unorthodox, unworkable, unfair ideas is not good.
15
This generation of farmers and rural American's are showing the same disturbing character that I witnessed in the last generation in Washington State. During the early 1990's the 80-mile I-5 corridor from Olympia to Kelso, Washington was lined with Right Wing and UltraConservative signboards demanding the Federal Government get out of our lives, that the Feds stop taxing so much, and Let Washington Citizens make their own local decisions.
Then a series of wet winters produced devastating floods in the Chehalis and Cowlitz River valleys. I-5 was closed for almost a month, many dairy farms were destroyed, and timber harvesting was almost entirely halted. That pretty much shut down the entire economy of SW Washington State.
Those right wing "get the Feds out of my life" farmers and loggers could not have moved more quickly or with more purposed to DEMAND that the Federal Government rebuild I-5 and the Corps of Engineers spend billions of dollars re-engineering the Chelalis and Cowlitz flood control systems. They also demanded the Federal Government pay them disaster relief money and make inexpensive loans available to all the dairies, local small timber service businesses, and everyone else who suffered while the local economy was at a standstill.
Again, NOW, those who demanded the Federal Government be diminished, minimized, and removed from their life's are screaming for federal assistance to help them in their time of need.
Nothing changes.
38
My granddaughter is marrying a delightful young man who is from Longview and now lives in Castle Rock. I have flown the SFO-PDX line many times and was somewhat surprised at the change in attitude in that one hour drive on Highway 5 from the airport to Castle Rock. And many of those jobs there are in the paper industry and union. It certainly opened my eyes. It isn't that many of these people are not nice and pleasant but their blindness to who is keeping them safe from Mount St Helena's eruptions is baffling.
1
A little self help for the dairy farms. Reject the insane current system, adopt supply management and stop producing milk beyond domestic needs. There would not be 638 fewer dairy farms in Wisconsin even with the trade war if you had fixed your system with supply management. Trump likes OPEC leaders like the Saudi's but does not think supply management is good enough for American farmers
6
@On Therideau
In 1970, I worked in a Unionized grocery store and my hourly pay was $3.62 per hour, the minimum wage was $1.45, and the price of a gallon of milk was $1.05. Yesterday, I paid $1.49 for a gallon of milk.
3
@allen roberts
On the urban E. coast, a quart of organic milk is now going for $5.00 - $5.50. So, at $10-11/gallon, my milk price relevant to your 1970 wage/milk ratio seems comparable. You're getting a bargain at $1.49/gallon somewhere, possibly a loss leader at a WI convenience store price?
1
We can blame and shame each other all day long and actually accomplish...nothing. In the meantime, our friends who work for or receive assistance from the federal government are seeing their lives crumble before their eyes.
My local community is hosting a potluck this Tuesday for our neighbors who are furloughed through no fault of their own. They aren't allowed to get other jobs and some are resorting to yard sales for funds to keep their households going. Yard sales.
Why aren't the employees in the White House or Congress on furlough? Let the president and elected officials share in the pain and misery of their egotistical behavior. Then see how fast a compromise would occur.
13
I am truly sorry that anyone loses a farm or a home or a business. I really do feel for the people who commented in this article. But my sympathy is moderated by the fact that many of these people detest the federal government and holler that it should leave them alone - until they need it, at which point they decide that it isn't doing enough.
The people mentioned who are waiting on bailout funds are, I feel confident, opposed to "handouts" for anyone else.
There's also the fact that they're getting exactly what they voted for. They didn't mind when others suffered under this administration, but are shocked and furious that they themselves are going to feel pain.
27
@Susan Shows how hypocritical they are...
Farmers are shrewd thoughtful independent thinkers, and unbelievably hard working. In general they are also among the most reliable church attenders.
How is it that this population overwhelmingly drank Trump’s
koolaid?
21
Shrewd thinking and churchgoing hardly go together. Easy to get the religious ruffled up over fetuses and "the gays" and then critical thinking and logic go out the window as fast as the money out of their pockets into the collection plate. Religious people are so easily fleeced and fooled. It's really no wonder they are a huge part of the Trump base.
2
Not only are some farmers learning how important government "welfare", or bailouts, are to their business; but they're also staring down the barrel of a labor shortage. Those immigrants Trump wants to keep out? They're the people that pick and process America's food.
Ironically, the math may work on this whole program. Trump's tariffs have reduced the number of buyers for American agriculture; so who needs migrants to work the field anymore? America looks ridiculous right now...
17
@Buck Biro Trump knows firsthand how important illegal immigrants are to the functioning of American businesses. He employs them at his hotels, golf courses, and wineries.
Makes you wonder if David Nunnery would be so entrenched in his support of Trump if he hadn’t received north of $285,000 from the USDA. When you’re willing to bet the farm there has to be more behind the poker face.
9
I hate to see anyone suffer. However, I have very little sympathy...in fact, none at all.....for those farmers who hate big government but rely on that same government to send them checks.
Perhaps the solution is to eliminate all forms of support for those in agriculture. They can sink or swim on their own....just like the rest of us.
15
"Many farmers, including David Nunnery, 59, of Pike County, Miss., have stayed unflinchingly loyal to Mr. Trump and his demands for $5.7 billion for a border wall, even as the shutdown threatens their livelihood. “I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said."
If this guy's willing to lose his farm over "some border security" that doesn't directly impact him, then I say he deserves to lose his farm!
27
Why any farmer anywhere thought a self-promoting real estate developer and reality TV star from NYC has ever even thought about them, let alone care, is beyond me.
But they did and they voted for him. Their myth of independence reinforced by his nationalist populist rhetoric and lies.
But elections have consequences. Corporations like Trump's will be only too happy to buy your land for pennies on the dollar and kick you to the curb. They can't wait.
As for you? Hey, you can "make adjustments" I believe was what your president advised. Feel like a winner yet? Still feel the government "is the problem"? The next time you vote? Pay attention!!
19
I'm finding it somewhat difficult to have sympathy for many of these people. They often are the ones complaining about big government and people other than themselves receiving some form of government assistance. They talk about personal responsibility and creeping socialism. And yet if you read through this article it seems that farmers have numerous government entitlement programs to assist them not available to non farming businesses. Now that the big government they disparage is shut down they are angry that it is shut down.
"I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said." How can you reason with something like that. Mr. Nunnery you got what you voted for but in the end if you lose your farm quite possibly the rest of us taxpayers will wind up bailing you out. So much for free enterprise and market driven capitalism espoused by the party of trump.
9
I just saw a news blurb in which a gentleman was speaking for the federal workers and he said "These are middle class people ..."
Sorry but no. If you are "middle class" then you are not going to be affected by missing one paycheck.
Middle class is having a home and a vacation home and enough in savings that you could go a year to 18 months without work and still pay all of your bills without making any changes in lifestyle or selling off assets.
You folks hurting today the first missed payday, are DIRT POOR. You are a fully employed poor person!
Stop lying to yourselves, you are letting the politicians whom have done this to us off the hook by pretending to be "middle class". You are assisting them in the propaganda they use to manipulate you.
14
@magicisnotreal, spot on. I’ve been saying exactly that for years. Almost everyone I know is one or two paychecks away from catastrophe. Then is not middle class.
2
These people have railed against Big Government for years, while cashing their big government checks with regularity. They went for Trump for reasons variously listed as party loyalty, shaking up DC and hating Hilary. Maybe those reasons might start looking like less of a good idea when it comes to voting for your president. Maybe not. But if these people couldn't see Trump for the losing low-rent grifter he has always been, then they bought the ticket and now they are going for the ride.
10
Not to mention the scores of immigrants working for these so called rock ribbed independent business men who are known as farmers. Cut all of that waste, but keep the economic incentives and assistance to good folks like me. That about right?
5
Why did the heartland of America support a NYC developer who had a long history of lying, stiffing his contractors, filing for bankruptcies, fleecing people with a fake university and generally displaying a total lack of morality? They must realize by now they were taken for fools. If they would like to redeem themselves they could start speaking out loudly about the destruction this malignant narcissist is visiting upon our Republic.
6
Some guy named… hmm, what was his name… said "government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
Sorry, can't think of his name.
A bearded guy I think.
I guess he meant that a free people, able to think and speak and breathe and conduct themselves freely - and associate with each other as they see fit - informed by a free press, would find ways to govern themselves which led to the common good.
Including a kind of "common good" partnership with each other through the establishment of entities and agencies which support the hard work that Americans do each day. Because government is basically us - we the people - and it's something we should rightfully rely on to move us forward as we put in our daily efforts.
Government is not our enemy anymore than a free press is.
And, any wood-headed, anti-American, self-serving crackpot (and those who blindly support him) who would say so and, upon a whim, with no intellectual rationale would shutter that government - that relationship and agreement we have with each other (of, by, for each other)…
Should go immediately to ----.
For that person doesn't love us or the nation we've built.
(without his tax dollars apparently)
We The People.
And the government WE freely established and WE rely on to promote our hard work and move our beloved nation forward.
4
Every article on the government shutdown should include the information that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is complicit with Trump in destroying the economy and people's lives by refusing to allow the Senate to vote on the House bill to reopen the government. This guy needs to be pounded day in and day out (as do the traitorous Republicans who stand with him) for this evil.
11
How long is it going to take for the non-1% Trump supporters to wake up to the fact that they’re victims of a massive con job by Trump and his Republican enablers? There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
3
“Many farmers, including David Nunnery, 59, of Pike County, Miss., have stayed unflinchingly loyal to Mr. Trump and his demands for $5.7 billion for a border wall, even as the shutdown threatens their livelihood.
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said.”
Ahh, yes: When the galvanizing power of hate, racism and xenophobia outweighs the instinct to survive, reflected by the willingness to lose EVERYTHING to prevent Brown people from accessing ANYTHING.
#ThisIsNotAmerica
13
Farmers have long been the recipients of “big money”. Be it corporate farms or family farms, they got their money. Now that their president has shut down the money spigot they are scrambling. If you want your business to run smoothly, vote out your president.
4
I heard people say"Trump is going to Go to Washington and blow up the system, that's why I'm voting for him" the old saying be careful for what you wish for. These people are now victims of the blow up.
18
Mr. Nunnery of Miss. would rather loose his farm than not get the wall built! My goodness please explain to me how you can put your farm and family in total ruination simply to build a useless wall. Them Democratic solution is modern technology, enhanced security, more officers, more court judges, all the complex needs of the southern border for less money. Mr. Nunnery you are the butt of a stunt. Wake up.
12
@Mother
it's the same magical bone that lets folks believe in religion in spite of the facts in front of their eyes.
1
Good for them. Stay with the moron president, but please don't ask for financial aid. Be strong.
13
I have no ill will to these farmers and my fellow Americans. I just wish we could come together in 2020 and elect someone, anyone better than this mini tyrant con man who is destroying our nation
8
@Mixiplix
If we continue down the path of not holding the republicans responsible for the mess we are in to account it won't matter the tiniest little bit who gets the presidency in 2020.
There must be an accounting followed by real and last consequences for what has been done to this nation and its citizenry over the last 40 years for the profit of a few thousand people.
1
HL Mencken had it right when he said, “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
I feel sorry for these people who latched on to the last piece of flotsam that was floating by, Donald Trump, in an election that should have been won easily by Hillary Clinton but she couldn't keep away from rubbing elbows with and taking speaking fees from the Wall Street Banksters that destroyed the economy in 2007.
The conman sold these people a bill of goods and it's coming back to bite them while the conman lines his pockets with emoluments.
You shouldn't believe what a politician says but you can sure go by what he does. This carnival barker hasn't earned an election let alone a reelection. Will the conned be able to see it? I doubt it.
8
Maybe farmers will realize now that they ARE part of the Welfare State. Keep voting Republican and shooting yourselves in the foot.
13
Hey, they wanted to drown the government in a bathtub and they did it!
10
So this is 'real' huh? Is it as real as people dying for lack of medicine and fresh water after hurricane Maria? As real as a Muslim mother not being able to hold her dying child due to restrictions on entry from Muslim countries? As real as children locked up in cages at the border?
All of this from the man you have supported. Now that your ox is being gored, you look for sympathy.
My heart bleeds.
22
"We're being played the stooge," one farmer said.
Most of you WERE played the stooge in 2016. You proved Barnum's famous observation that there's a sucker born every minute. Have you learned your lesson? Sadly, polls show that the GOP "base" continues to support their reckless leader.
11
Does the term "political knuckleheads" have a place here?
It is appalling so many decent Americans could fall for
Trump's hoohah and flim flam methods of operation.
9
Look what a hungry for attention non man and a 24 hour news cycle have created: a president who cannot read, who steals, who lies and now, who is destroying the lives of hard working Americans. Those who still 'stand with him' on these this have issues they may want to explore. trump is a mobster and a thug used to taking what he wants and getting what he cries for. Well. Where do we go from here? This is a coup. Slowly grinding a democracy to a halt via drunkard Bannon's self indulgent philosophy and McConnell's racist, corrupt leadership. LOCK THEM UP.
15
@lulu roche Trump does not know how to be president; he's playing president and doing a lousy job at it.
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said.
losing your livelihood to own the libs....smart buddy...real smart
22
As Melania's jacket said - "I don't care...do you?"
11
Really, how stupid is it for a farmer in Mississippi to be OK with using his farm and his livelihood because he is afraid of poor farmers and their wives and children? And then I suppose if he loses his farm he will expect taxpayers to help him support his family because he doesn't have a job. People with this mindset are ruining this country.
11
Why did "Farm Country" overwhelming buy into Trumpism which was obviously a clown show from day one? The only answer is the underlying if not overt Trump message of racism and appeal to the evangelical fascist cult. It is questionable America will survive the Trump era and it is truly embarrassing to be an American with Trump in the W.H.!
14
I’m empathetic in every way, except here. He was crystal clear during his campaign—racist, selfish, idiot with zero competency to run businesses he was handed money to start. THAT is who they voted for; next time be careful what you wish for and who you vote for — god help us all as it’s likely to get worse before it gets better.
13
Maybe when these folks are living in a tent under an overpass and on socialist welfare they'll finally figure out that racism, flag-waving chauvinism and fervent support of a fascist lunatic wasn't such a great idea. But no, they probably won't. They'll plant one of those huge American flags in front of their tent and carry on until they die.
10
"Small Government" Farmers need to practice what they preach. Time to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and stop expecting the government to bail you out. What kind of snowflakes are you anyway?
13
Schadenfreude.
6
Farm country, hardworking women and men of farm country...then WHY did you believe this charlatan Trump, who throughout his life has looked down his nose at hardworking people and cheated them? What on earth made you think he ever cared about ordinary people? Please, the nation begs of you, next time around...don't listen to the rainman.
5
Conservatives hate big government. Except when they need it. Hypocrites.
17
You reap what you sow....
6
When "I told you so" simply isn't enough.
9
You reap what you sow.
3
I guess a lot of illegal aliens are plaguing Wisconsin and upstate New York. So you hang tough there: you voted for DT. Hope you like what you got.
11
Google 'farmer plows build the wall' and you'll see that how NYT is cherry picking to make Trump look bad. Farmers overwhelming support Trump.
1
@John...
If you actually read the article, that's exactly what they imply... Reading comprehension, it's fundamental.
3
That’s the point of the article. Many continue to support him against all logic and self-interest, and to the detriment of the rest of us. There’s no need to cherry pick. Your perspective is the story. That you don’t seem to realize it is a sad sad reflection of the state of the country.
2
Any farmer who needs to suckle from the government teat to survive deserves to be put out of business. This is, after all, a capitalist society, and not a communist one.
4
Here's an example of one farmer's subsidies over the last 20 years: https://farm.ewg.org/persondetail.php?custnumber=A05002601.
I sure could have used $285k in handouts from the government over the last two decades.
You made your bed ....
4
It is really hard to work up much sympathy for people who voted for a pathologically lying, ignorant, racist demagogue because they AGREED with vile rantings. If you vote for a moron, you get moronic policies. What these people are learning is what anyone who ever trusted Trump learned: Trump cares about only one thing - Trump. Everyone else is a mark to be fleeced. Sadly, these people inflicted Trump on the rest of us as well.
11
Poverty, xenophobia, stupidity and spite in white America is what got Trump elected. It’s hard to imagine escaping this cycle when white America is getting poorer, dumber, more racist and more spiteful under Trump.
6
I’m sorry, but they’re idiots. Farmers who voted for him are reaping what they sowed.
9
Welp...y’all wanted him now you got him...y’all stood by his foolishness for 2 years and look where it has gotten yal and he could care less. Way to go maybe yal will think twice before standing by an idiot next time.
4
Trump is a crazy cult leader, taking his flock down the path of destruction.
5
@Danafoto
Unfortunately, we are all going with them.
1
When you mistake a man who sits on a golden toilet for 'salt of the earth', don't be shocked when the earth gets salted...
7
They're being played for stooges? They've been played for fools for years by the Republicans, who banked their votes by pandering to their social conservatism and other less attractive characteristics and, after winning elections, proceeded to ignore their priorities in favor of wealthy individuals and corporations.
But no matter: the next election, the GOP trotted out the same themes again: hate immigrants, hate minorities, hate anyone who isn't like you, hate the poor, hate the disadvantaged and those in tough straits for various reasons. Talk enough about abortion and how much you care for the unborn (screwing all the time those who are already born). Pit one group against another. Typical GOP fare. And again, after the election, the party returned to its masters, the plutocrats, and ignored the needs of its supporters.
And now those supporters, who gladly gave the GOP their votes throughout the Republicans' unveiled support of bigotry, xenophobia, homophobia, racism, sexism, massive income inequality and unbridled hypocrisy, are concerned that they've been played for suckers?
They've made their beds, now they have to lay in them.
9
Well the risks of capitalism and the benefits of its filtering out those unable to compete is working in all its glory. Farming and ranching have always been a crap shoot. Most of the farmers and ranchers in this country are directly are indirectly beneficiaries of programs established in F.D.R.'s new deal. They like many may not like the government,but are upset when their benefits are not forth coming.
1
What Trump and many of his supporters share is ignorance of reality, and immigration is at the top of the list. Arrogance combined with incompetence makes for an angry narcissist pretending he is making America great again. His supporters simply don't care that he's lying, which makes them their own worst enemies. They deserve each other.
Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
5
I’m very sorry if the SNAPProgram and or school lunch program that helps the poor is hurt in any way at this time. I and my siblings received helped fro a lunch program in the 70s thru high school, if we didn’t, we would have been hungry at school. I grew up in Jefferson county, New York. My mother a Democrat, my father a staunch Republican, not fun when it came to politics at the dinner table. My father worked hard at many jobs, my mom at home tending a small farm and many vegetable gardens. Huge chest freezer outback and rows of canned food in the basement, the local government coop helped as well. In the end, I don’t understand why many by so few have to suffer? Food should not be on the table at all when it comes to politics. To all politicians, stop..
4
I sure wish I could get $15,000 from the government like John Myer is expecting to get to pay my property taxes. Hell, I can’t even deduct my property taxes now.
22
@Ronald Stone
Plant soybeans.
Trump will bail you out and then when you can sell a small part of them to the Chinese you can get paid twice for the same crop!!!
4
I thought farms are heavily subsidized by the USA government?
5
@Majortrout
"corporate" farms.
1
From many hardship articles that I've read in NYtimes, it seems that an far too many people are dependent upon the government for things, such as crop loans, home loans etc. I understand the point of the government trying to stabilize things from the 1930's depession/crop failures, but it just seems that once the government comes in, it never goes away.
I also wonder about people's ability to manage money/save. All too often the story is that how will people pay their bills? Come on, after one month you are broke? Something says you can't save. Ditch your cell phone and your $100 sneakers and that pickup truck/SUV.
6
Excuse the metaphor, but the chickens are coming home to roost. It has long been the dream of the right - and especially those akin to the so-called Freedom Caucus - to strangle the government or at least shrink it significantly. Well, we're getting a pretty good taste of what that actually looks like. Do away with the Department of Education? Sure. Department of Energy (and remember good ol' Ricky Perry who failed to remember which three departments he wanted to get rid of...and what he's "leading" now?). EPA? Eh, who needs it given that it gets in the way of profits? This truly resonates with the folks in prior elections who demanded "Keep your government hands off my Medicare." Oy! Ya get what ya pay for, huh?
12
These people voted their lesser angels and against their own interests when they went for Trump, motivated by racism, xenophobia, sexism and a sense of religion that Jesus Christ himself would have rejected. I have little to no sympathy for people who are against “big government” but want their farm aid, government loans, disability payments and every other form of what might uncharitably be called “white people’s welfare.” Do they not understand the meaning of “e pluribus unum?” We are a nation of immigrants, strengthened by diversity. Until they can embrace that, let them feel the pinch of their miserly impulses. “As you sow, so shall ye reap.”
24
@Rosemary Kuropat
Mitch McConnell, with his inaction in the Senate, is becoming more and more responsible for the shutdown. Congress is supposed to act as a check and balance on the Executive branch, but McConnell is unwilling to perform his Constitutional duty to do an end run around this president by overriding Trump's veto.
5
I think farmers imagined the mid 20th century as a time when America used to be "Great". ... Well, welcome to the 14th century, farmers. Agribusiness might let you hang around the land that was yours in return for your sweat and your compelled loyalty.
6
"Elections have consequences."
Former President Barack Obama
For those who appear gleeful that Trump's voters are getting their comeuppance, just wait. In the long run, all Americans are going to suffer from the consequences of Trump's and Trump's Party destructive policies. Many Americans who didn't vote for Trump are paying a price now, our time will come.
4
@Trina I haven't seen anyone who's gleeful. And I think that those of us who are liberal and opposed to Trump understand that he has already hurt all of us, and our situation will only get worse as long as he's in office. I hope that our country, our institutions, and our belief in democracy and the rule of law can recover from this ongoing disaster, but I have my doubts.
6
It is amazing that Trump still garners loyalty from the people he has destroyed.
14
I commented on the looming credit/lending crisis for ag as soon as the tariffs were enacted. Finally, the media is catching on.
Consumers, get ready to pay for higher prices in the grocery stores if you can find what you want.
Of course, Mnuchen probably has a fund fully invested to buy distressed and bankrupt ag operations.
4
Do these people realize that they are "the takers" they so desperately despise?
As they say in farm country....you reap what you sow!
No sympathy here.
10
It is all very sad. However, the enforced dependence on subsidies (ie dairy, corn, soybeans) and a truly mindless corporate industrialization of the industry has severed the land use from any kind of human relationship to the land.
I truly sympathize with those struggling and hope they will find relief soon. But it is a system that is seriously flawed and it is needing to change to a more human-based management of land resources.
On another matter, Mr Nunnery’s continued support of The Wall- well, I guess that distracts one from what is happening far from the Southern Border. And he may well lose his farm thanks to that support.
5
Sorry farmers but you should know that you reap what you sow.
5
Attention Red States:
You were never "in" on the Con.
You are the Mark.
Sorry
Love, Blue States
PS-can you return the extra tax money we appear to be sending you ?
14
A fine piece of rhetoric for the Dems. That is, minus the blue state finish and unnecessary snobby and snarky P.S. We want those fellow citizens’ votes, big city person.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you as your voting chickens come home to roost.
9
“I May lose the farm but I’ll never lose the right to vote against my own best interests” said the white farmer, proudly.
14
It's what conmen do.
4
These folks did what they would have told you they would NEVER do, they fell for a slick Yankee, hook, line and sinker. But don't expect repentance, the siren sound of that sweet hate music is too beautiful. That's the cultural reality. Like the woman standing in a bombed out Croation village 30 years ago, "Yes I want peace, but first I want to kill some Serbs".
12
Moving and sad, this account of American farmers suffering from coast to coast because of the president's obdurate demand to build a wall on our southern border with Mexico.
Donald Trump has been exerting pressure on the Congress to bend to his will by shutting down our government for the past month. Farm country has stood by Trump, but as John Mayer, an upstate N.Y. farmer put it: "It's a personal power stance [by Trump] because he doesn't really care about anything, I don't think, besides himself." We are all being held hostage by this president.
417
@Nan Socolow
Don't be sad. These people voted for him, specifically so he would do these things. They just assumed it would be "other people" who felt the pain.
78
@Nan Socolow The truly sad part is their insistence on standing by Trump. It's like Stockholm Syndrome, falling in love with your abuser.
42
@Nickster
Yeah and people like this guy:
I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said.
get zero compassion from me. There was another article where a Trumper was saying that he wasn't "hurting the people he was supposed to hurt". These people bear actual malice to fellow citizens and other humans. I can only produce so much compassion for someone who wants to "hurt" me.
35
The GOP and Trump gave farmers billions in stimulus. It is obvious they would like Trump.
3
Unfortunately, the farmers have been duped. When will they learn that Trump is not on their side?
4
The President, when recently asked about furloughed workers said something to the effect that "they would figure something out. They always do".
But when he was campaigning he never told people in coal country "you'll figure it out". He made promises.
I believe the possibility that the President is secretly gunning to become a literal "King of America" must be considered. This MAY actually be his secret desire. Even if true I doubt he would ever admit such a thing publicly.
4
It is easy to get siloed into being absolutely deplorable and showing little compassion for those in Trumps voting block that suffer from the shutdown and the tariffs. However, remember that dehumanizing neighbors and whole blocks of people is what the Republican Party does well these days. They don’t need anymore assistance at gleefully watching as people suffer. Let’s ignore this negative reflex and reach out and give a hand or a kind word to someone who may not deserve it, but needs it.
8
@Dr. Girl I'm not opposed to a helping hand, and I don't want anyone to suffer. I just want the Trump voters currently angry about their plight to remember that they need "handouts" sometimes, too, and that they depend on the government they say they loathe.
1
Just another "we hate the government but we love all the money it gives us" story.
20
Trump destroys everything he touches. His long history in business is quite clear on this point.
The delusional segment of Americans who voted for him, whether out of nostalgia for an imagined past, racism, economic desperation or what have you, are now finding this out in the most visceral way possible, by losing their livelihoods. Guess what, the competent operation of government is actually pretty important in a complex society of over 300 million people.
This is not pleasurable to see. It is disgraceful and sad. We need to get this guy out of office while we still have a country.
16
How does one feel truly sorry for these people? I struggle with feelings of vindictiveness yet I also remind myself that we are taught that our choices have consequences. I will assume that in their Christian, midwestern upbringing, they were taught lessons that they did not use later in life. My main concern is that their ignorance and disconnect may also allow them to identify a scapegoat for their misery. We know how that story usually ends.
7
To Mr. Nunnery, who is fine with losing his farm if he gets a wall, I can only say he is unarmed with the facts. We can have border security without Trump’s wall.
Meanwhile, against this backdrop of pain suffered by many people beyond government workers, we have the recent news that the U.S. fertility rate is declining. Where will we get more workers to pay into Social Security and Medicare to help find our old age? Yes, immigrants pay into Social Security and Medicare. They also do the dirty work Americans can’t be bothered with. And they commit less crime than our citizens do. That is a fact.
Maybe Mr. Nunnery is also okay with losing his safety net as well as his farm. As long as we keep the brown people out. Right?
This is insanity. I have no sympathy for Mr. Nunnery. I have a great deal of sympathy for the other folks profiled.
11
Funny thing, the brown people he is trying to keep out come here to work while he knows if he loses his farm he would have no problem becoming a welfare king.
3
“It’s just been one thing after another, after another, after another”. To that NY dairy farmer I ask, are you finally starting to see a pattern here? Not only for your farm, but the entire country? As B. Dylan so eloquently put it, you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. It will continue to be one thing after another, after another, after another until the one big THING in the WH is evicted.
12
In "The Life of Cheese" by Heather Paxson, part of the narrative that emerges about dairy farmers throughout this country is that there are different values and views of life that bring people to look after land and cultivate it. With this in mind, isn't it reductionist to just focus on the economic impact of the shutdown on farmers?
"Different values": government free money in the form of subsidies.
'We’re being played the stooge' - and you are just realising that now . . . I am sorry sir, but I feel little sympathy for you or any Trump supporter. How could anyone have been so blind or was it willfully blind to have not seen the man for what he has always been - a grifter, huckster, and a man laser-focused on the only that has ever mattered - himself.
8
It's clear that Trump voters wanted someone who would disrupt and dismantle the Federal government as much as they cared about any particular policy issue. On top of these two motivations, they wanted someone who would punish the people they despised, especially those who had "cut in line" to get government" handouts like food stamps and healthcare. It seems to me that those voters are now getting exactly what they wanted. They cut off their collective nose to spite their face and now they're complaining about how they look in the mirror. I don't see these voters changing their hearts and minds on the issues that elected Trump in the first place. Bitterness and hatred are inwardly motivated and largely immune to external circumstance.
12
The people affected by the government shutdown should be given very extended deadlines to pay taxes and loans so they don't lose their businesses and homes to make up for the loss of income and financial support due to the government shutdown. Will this hurt banks perhaps? Yes. But Wall Street can handle the pain more easily; individuals and families should not lose their homes and businesses. And if Wall Street is in pain, Trump will listen. He has no real respect for the hardships of the average person, but he cares about the wealthy losing money.
3
Dear Farmers: I know that you are smart and hard working. I know that many of you believe strongly in our basic American values. What I do not know is why you continue to support a man who is so ill-suited to being President.
President Trump has proven himself to be a world class liar, a foul mouthed sexist, and a mean spirited man who insults anyone who does not agree with him.Furthermore, many of the people who were in his Cabinet or staff have been forced to resign - some have been indicted and/or convicted.
So what will it take for you to admit that you made a mistake?
4
My family were farmers. My moms second husband was a farmer.
Farmers can USUALLY tell a fraud when they see one. How they did not realize they were being conned and used is baffling.
780
@John We were at a county meeting last night (Howard County, MD). We are in rural western Howard County, and the purpose was a "listening" session with the new County Executive. There were at least two farmers who spoke. One's first concern was for the new County Executive to convince Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Shumer to "build the wall." Another's top concern was building the wall to "keep out MS-13". There is no sign of MS-13 anywhere near here... Most of the immigrants out this way seem to be involved in the kind of hands-on work that supports farms... So, why this fear of immigrants and especially MS-13? My wife suggested, and I think it's true, that there are a very small number of radicalized right wing rural people in the area (one is well known for the large right wing signs that he posts along I-70). These people speak to other rural folks with an authority that no outsider can match. Fox News largely confirms the fear mongering. I suspect that the fix includes local people that they trust (meaning people like them) setting the record straight. It would probably also be good to have more new sources that speak authentically to blue collar America. They trust Fox because it does this (although the message is what it is...). They distrust the NY Times, Wash Post, etc. because they are all products of white collar, college educated, professional America. These are all just observations -none of my opinions are necessarily fixed.
174
@John If you truly want to understand why rural Americans supported Trump, read two classic books. First, Alexis de Tocqueville's 1840 "Democracy in America", which describes the movement of settlers through the continent, and the values of rebellion against authority they took with them. Then read Richard Hofstadter's 1963 "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life", which documents the history of the 1/4 to 1/3 of Americans who reject intellect, embrace emotion, and thereby become willing targets of demagogues. The startling applicability of both these classics pinpoints with breathtaking accuracy the situation we currently find ourselves in.
155
@John People who fall for con men are usually the same people who have always fallen for con games. They are people who would rather believe in believing than see the reality closing in.
72
In 2011, Georgia passed an extremely harsh law, HB 87, designed to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in Georgia. The law worked exactly as intended, much to the dismay of farmers in the state who'd always relied on cheap (illegal and legal) immigrant labor. Crops rotted in the field without workers to pick them. Now true criminals (prisoners) pick crops in Georgia. Georgia lawmakers simply didn't consider the full consequences of the law they passed. Farmers didn't consider the consequences of electing a man whose intended goal was to disrupt the government they rely upon in order to succeed in business. Actions have consequences. No one has focused on the consequences of building a 2,000-mile wall along the Mexican border. The intended effect is the reduction of immigrants to the U.S., but what are the true consequences, economic, ecological, and otherwise, of that wall? Contrary to myth, illegal immigrants do not receive public assistance, so the "savings" as a result of reduced benefit payments is nil. The loss of workers, however, could spell the end for U.S. bountiful food production. Be careful what you wish for--you just might get it.
9
@Nina RT
Great points all. This also flies right in the face of gop goals of maximizing stock values, increasing corporate profitability and well being. Ronald Raygun ordered laws meant to cut off the hiring of illegal immigrants by jailing employers who knowingly hired illegals, to stopped being enforced. Cheap labor, maximize profits. donald is simply doing one more oxymoronic thing.
1
They are farmers. Let them reap what they have sown.
7
So what is turning those self-reliant farmers against Trump, is the loss of goodies from the big-government that they hate so much?
12
Many of these people are Trump supporters. They are responsible for all of the damage Trump has done and continues to do to the United States and the world. This devastation seems appropriate. They put their faith in s totally unqualified bigot and continue to believe he knows what he is doing as they take hand outs from the rest of Americans .
9
Utterly classic:
Farmer can't get his $15k from a bailout created because of Trump's trade war.
Due to Trump's shutdown!!
8
It’s interesting how many conservative Republicans are against “Big Government” - right until the point that the government isn’t big enough to serve their own needs.
6
Trade bailout.
Federal disaster funds.
Crop insurance.
Federal loans.
And these people claim to loathe Big Government.
They need to take a long, long look in the mirror.
25
Add in cost of building and maintaining rural electrification, which at least out West is a federal subsidy to farmers who hate the federal government. And cheap grazing fees on federal public lands. And federal dams to pay for the farmers to empty the rivers of public waters at low costs. But most of the farmers hate the federal government that has created their livelihood and quality of life. Hypocrites.
6
There is a part of me that should feel for these people, that should offer a compassion and caring for their situation. I can't. For the most part they were supporters of djt and voted for this hateful, monstrosity of a president. I am sorry but as farmers they should know: You reap what you sow.
6
You reap what you sow. That is a concept that all farmers should understand.
2
It's one thing for Trump to stiff contractors as a substandard builder from Queens, but defrauding America's farmers is a total abomination. If GOP lawmakers from agricultural states don't do something to stop the madness, then all will lost, and we will deserve it.
3
@H. Clark
You can trust, they could care less. It's trump or bust for these soldiers.
4
A limit to sympathy for people who depend elaborately on federal programs, federal money, and general federal support yet mouth ignorant slogans against 'big government.'
It's like that old Tea Party fool who said, "Tell the government to keep it's hands off my Medicare!"
You farmers helped elect a malignant narcissist who lies constantly and continue to support him as he destroys your livelihood in the name of a fabricated security crisis: it's hard to say anything except you made your choice.
7
Farmers - if you loved him in his "campaign based on fear" in season 1 and just couldn't get enough of him in "trade war" and "border security/government shutdown" in season 2. Then just wait until you get a load of him it his greatest feature "climate denial - the fix is in"!
You're gonna absolutely love it!
Coming to an agricultural theater near you soon.
9
I wonder about the man who said he was okay with losing his farm because “we need border security.” What reality does he live in? Does he feel personally endangered by immigrants and asylum seekers? Does he believe they’ll be roaming the streets like an army of zombies spreading death and destruction? I wish I could see into his head so I could understand why anyone would be willing to lose their farm for a wall. It makes no sense at all.
8
Farmers, more than anyone else, should know that you reap what you sow.
3
If only there had been some sign prior to the election of who and trump really is
Given their willful ignorance on how harmful this man is, I have a very hard time conjure up sympathy for them
For all of the white trump voters who are now being hit in the pocketbook, let me impart the same wisdom non-whites heard for decades:
Quit whining, pull yourself up by your boot straps, and stop looking for a handout.
Try to better yourself! Have you thought about going to college? Finally, to paraphrase Dan Quayle, I’m sure there’s a McDonald’s hiring even in your rural town.
8
If you voted for Trump you are not being “played the stooge”. You volunteered for the role and it’s difficult to feel sorry for you. Farms usually have chickens on them - well, they’ve come home to roost. I hope it was worth it.
8
A fool is now born every second. These farmers are actively sabotaging their livelihoods and futures out of devotion to a liar, a charlatan, and a bully. When will they wake up? Probably only once it is too late and they can no longer do their job, whether because of financial difficulties or because the air, ground, and water is too polluted to grow anything. Sad.
4
They done did their family wrong!
Oh well, as they say, "Live and learn." Good luck to your family who are about to suffer from your shortsightedness. Think next time.
1
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said.
A fool and his money are soon parted. Trump has played his voters the fool.
7
You get what you pay for. No, you get no more than what you pay for. Now, substitute "vote" for "pay".
3
"I never thought the leopards would eat _my_ face" says woman who voted for the Leopards-Eating-People's-Faces Party.
9
To the Farmers Who Support Trump,
You can't keep taking all those subsidies AND keep siding with Trump and wailing against the Federal government. As a resident of NYC, I only get back about 82 cents for every dollar of federal taxes I pay. I am subsidizing YOU. I understand that this tax inequity is probably necessary for this nation to function. Maybe you could at least vote to support the Federal system that sustains you?
Instead your choice is to support a ridiculous charlatan who shuts down our government over a vanity projects and who has said he wants to destroy the Federal government. You need to face the fact that you are turkeys voting for Thanksgiving. I understand that circumstances are extremely hard in rural America and I understand that change is urgently needed. But if you are going to drive yourselves off a cliff in the Trumpmobile, then all I can do is watch you plummet to the bottom.
9
@Malcolm
So many responses are so amazingly well thought out and so spot on accurate in nature. There are so many "Twilight Zone" type things happening right now that it would appear 70% of the voting public is going crazy and the balance is too misguided to understand the difference. Maybe it's just time to "hunker" down and stick your head back out in 2 years?
Well, don't know about you but I'M tired of winning.
Where, oh where, have all the grownups gone?
3
its hard to feel sorry for the farmers that supported Trump that benefit from constant government assistance (which i am not opposed to) but that don't approve of other people receiving help - as if their needs are more important somehow.
11
There were a great many of us who voiced concern in the run-up to 2016 that a Trump presidency would not only be disastrous for America as a whole but its most vulnerable members of society in particular.
In the past two years we have seen unconscionable tax cuts favouring the wealthy, trade wars that have damaged traditional economic sectors such as agriculture, a gutting of safety and environmental protections for ordinary Americans, repeated attempt to rob low income families of their health care, an open invitation to racism, bigotry and misogyny, and now a government shut-down that hits lower income public servants the hardest.
Ironically, Trump's own base - the less well educated, lower income, older white citizen - is the segment of American society most aggressively targeted and most severely impacted by the president's backward policies, by his blatant war against the truth, and by his persistent attempts to undermine democracy.
As sad and disheartening this must be to those members of Trump's base who so strongly and vocally supported his candidacy, it is nonetheless fitting and appropriate that their chickens are coming home to roost. There is no magic wand to protect people from their own missteps, miscalculations and bad choices. You reap what you sow.
We can only hope that congress and the courts will step in to save the nation from the most unstable, amoral, inept, divisive, self-serving and possibly corrupt presidency in many generations.
17
638 Wisconsin dairy farms have gone out of business. And it wasn't that long ago they were all were yippy yahooing about the renegotiated NAFTA deal that gave them greater access to the Canadian market. Oh well, better luck next time.
11
News flash to the Trump base: Trump cares more about him appearing to "win" than any of you actually losing.
This should have been obvious to anyone who closely examined his business practices in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, but I don't think many (any?) of Trump's base really did.
11
"While many rural conservatives may loathe the idea of Big Government, farmers and the federal government are welded together by dozens of programs and billions of dollars in spending."
Therein lies the problem. Rural conservatives THINK they loathe the idea of Big Government. They like it for themselves, but not some unnamed darker skinned urban dweller who doesn't deserve it like the "heartland" does.
We demonized "coastals" have been bailing out the "real Americans" for Trump's trade wars with our tax dollars. But, God forbid, money is spent on California wild fires or Puerto Rico!
It isn't really Trump that has me demoralized. Two years later I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that he was elected and he still enjoys 40% approval. My fellow Americans - including the subject of this article - have me demoralized. I don't even feel like the USA exists anymore. It really isn't a country, but a collection of people at each others throats. It seems like a failing marriage on its way to divorce court.
23
@JMM
Damn well put.
3
We’ve always had the historic rural and city attitudes toward each other with the “slickers”’running things. This “loathing” seems to come from environmental rulings that prevent farmers from polluting with their various wastes and chemicals the waters and grounds. Or “polluting” their livestock with certain feeds, chemicals and utterly inhumane living conditions. Danged gummit can’t tell me what to do but I like the money and tax breaks. The language may be a little harsh but it’s not all that much different than the energy, mining and other large industries, including the food processing sector itself.
3
@JMM
Oh, and please don't feel like the Lone Ranger.
Most Americans are in the dark regarding where and how their food is produced, and the complexity of the whole system that produces it, from big AG to small organic farms.
I spent most of my summers as a kid in upstate NY near many family farms and it’s heartbreaking and maddening to read this piece.
It’s also evident from many of the comments that this is a topic which needs more in depth discussion and reporting.
4
@Barbara Brundage
You're right but it all boils down to everywhere you want to look, when you turn up the rug, there are clear signs of capitalism at its endgame.
2
This is the 21st century. Most of your food comes from abroad. Ask your local supermarket for a list of produce point if origin and you will see. We tax payers are subsidizing industries that should have disappeared long ago as we are no longer an agricultural society and based on good old capitalism, they are money losing enterprises. Farmers like manufacturing workers need to go back to school to acquire 21st century skills instead of expecting us to support them.
Elections have consequences.
The current President only cares about one thing - himself.
Stop voting against your best interests.
14
Comeuppance is always a great headline, but I'd really be interested in the Times reporting on the history/logic of the primary selection process. I know Warren is out in the Midwest right now, visiting a lot of these very same communities, and something in me wonders if the two issues aren't related. Somehow we've oriented our entire electoral system around the most unrepresentative states in the country. Coincidence? It seems more fair just to have a primary vote in all 50 states and not let these belles of the ball continue in their narcissistic ways.
6
Sometimes opportunities are not what they appear to be. No winners here, just losers? No there is one group that will most certainly benefit from the suffering of these small farmers and that is corporate agriculture . Is that the goal?
8
I've tried to be sympathetic to the plight of rural America. But I am exasperated by their inability or unwillingness to open their eyes and see the reality. The GOP, Trump in particular, does not care about them. Enough is enough. I think it's time for them to apply some GOP medicine to their pains: Smaller government and pull your self up by your own boot straps doctrine.
7
@Felix
The U.S. is the only developed nation never to have experienced famine at some point. No government, GOP or Dem. want to be on the receiving end of that mistake if at all possible.
Understand this. Food is what made and still makes the American economic engine possible. You can work your 60 or 70 hours a week because not only is the proper, safe, food available to you but also packaged to fit your exact lifestyle.
Imagine the gears at work on a daily basis, not including mother nature and d. trump, that makes it available to you even through the mail!
Food production is hard, demanding, and not glorious work. Support it and you support the nation as a whole.
2
90% of your food comes from abroad. Ask your local supermarket. This is not 19th century America that where you had to grow your food. Truth be told, the money we are wasting propping up farms and cattle dairy industries would be better spent educating these farmers in 21st century skills so they can stop working on 19th century industries.
@KC
Believe me, I understand your point and wholeheartedly agree. I wonder if the food producers see your point. Why vote, be it Dems, GOP, or Independent for a President/Party that is going to hurt you? And, still support it once you know it is hurting you?
Are some farmers ignorant? Yes they are. Are all farmers ignorant? No they are not. It is very easy for the average consumer to point the finger at the Trumpite farmer. Regardless of politics we consumers play a leading role on how a farm operates because we want to easily and conveniently walk into a Wegmans or a kroger and buy a package of chicken breasts and canola oil. The farmer who produces that chicken and corn growing in his fields is constantly under the hanging noose of the big corporations who control the price of feed and fertilizer. The average cost of a combine harvestor tractor that gets that corn off the field and onto our plates is $600,000. A farmer is always in perpetual debt in order to maintain the convenience of the consumer buying that bottle of canola oil and that package of chicken breasts.
However, a farmer and consumer can change their ways. You can begin by buying local. (make sure it's local) We consumers and local farmers can easily work closer together using online co-operatives. Is it an overnight solution? No it is not but we can become less dependent on Kroger and Wegmans of the nation over time and help them reduce the hundreds and thousands of tons of food they throw out every year. You want politics and subsidies to be less of a thing then we need to change our habits. Don't complain that pint of strawberries at the farmers market is a dollar more then go to Starbucks and buy two grandes lattes for ten bucks.
8
Reality is that 90 of what you buy at any supermarket comes from abroad. The United States will not starve if we were to considerably reduce the number of farms and dairy cattle industries. Stop the subsidies and let the market forces determine which farms get to live. if anything, let's educate these farmers so they themselves or their children will stop having to depend on a money losing disappearing industry.
BTW, here is a challenge for you: go ahead and try to buy all your food from local sources only, Philly-area only. How long before you run to the supermarket? Why go to back 19th century food procurement methods?
"While many rural conservatives may loathe the idea of Big Government, farmers and the federal government are welded together by dozens of programs and billions of dollars in spending".
Yes! The Trump supporters don't want "the others" to get government assistance but when it comes to them ... different story all together.
Now they're feeling the "real Trump love" ... he understands them ... he gets them ... he's going to tell them to have a garage sale or sell their blood at the local blood bank "to get by"!
So ... much ... winning!
7
I find it hard to believe it could be as difficult as you portray and that perhaps you cherry picked some hard luck cases.
I think farmers are very smart people and would not support a leader who was doing the amount of damage to them you portray.
The last set of polls i have seen say they are more loyal to him now then ever
1
@DT - Read the economic news. Trump is damaging these people that's the truth.
2
So when the government does good things we like it. When we don't, it's called Big Government. This is ridiculous. Once again, it is amazing to hear that a farmer would rather lose his livelihood to pay for the wall. It is confusing that people vote against their own best interests.
The government shutdown is against all of our best interests. The wall is simply symbolic of Donald's ego.
9
As someone who lived in the plains states for years growing up, I remember when Democrats were governors and senators of these states as well as Republicans. I always thought the people pragmatic, regardless of what some of my "east coast elite" friends and neighbors thought. Now these midwesterners are revealing themselves to be the very stereotype they resent. If they thought Trump would elevate their status, well his election has done exactly the opposite - made them look like the gullible rural rubes and small town racists that the coastal folks always believed them to be.
8
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,”
I've been saying this for two years: for so many Trump supporters, fear and hatred of the "other" is more important than their own well-being.
As ye sow, so shall ye reap.
13
"While many rural conservatives may loathe the idea of Big Government, farmers and the federal government are welded together by dozens of programs and billions of dollars in spending."
Even the New York Times can't avoid using the Conservative trope of "Big Government" in article after article I've read over the years. Why is that? Is Fox News so pervasive that even left-leaning writers feel compelled to fall into the trap?
It's never been a question of "Big Government" vs. "Small Government" (President Reagan's remarks notwithstanding), but rather, WHO does the government work FOR: You, me, farmers, family-owned small businesses (not including Koch Industries--the only thing "small" about it is that the Kochs own it lock, stock, and barrel), students, single parents, struggling entrepreneurs ...or billionaires and mega-corporations, tax dodgers and real-estate developers like our so-called "president."
The truth is, what we have right now--shutdown notwithstanding--is better described as Corporate Fascism. How about coming up with some new-and-improved "messaging," which the Right has always been very good at and the Left really needs to understand, adapt, and adopt their own.
4
How can it be that so many farmers who are Republicans and claim to believe in less government support Trump while at the same time want more financial support from the rest of us? Is hypocrisy a rural disease?
6
Gee whiz, "small government" Republicans like their government bailouts, subsidies, and loans too. Imagine that!
4
Maybe the best part about this Is that these farmers they finally realize that they actually are part of an intricate welfare system that we all benefit from.
They are paid by the government to produce food for the rest of us. Not that we don’t appreciate that, but they shouldn’t hold themselves above the rest of the welfare system
856
@Timmy F
They don't hold themselves above anybody, I believe. They're just the ones in the crosshairs now.
9
@Timmy F. They see themselves as "deserving" recipients of government programs while others who may benefit from a government program are "takers".
79
@PBB you make a great point. Many of these folks rail against the welfare state but continue to feed at it's trough. The sad part of this is many of these people may lose their farms because of a stupid wall that is in the long run of no consequence other than to ply the ego of Trump. But we need to continue to support our farmers as the nation cannot live without them.
48
"We...in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity..." - communist doctrine or a founding document of our country?
I feel for these folks. Just honest people trying to make a living in an uncertain political world. These folks made only one mistake - they trusted the tRump and his lies. As will others who aren't in farming but who are impacted by his madness, they will have to pay for his misguided infantile whims. It's not fair, but maybe there's some lessons to be learned here. Maybe.
2
President Reagan once said “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.” And rural Republicans ate it up.
Well, look who stop showing up?
Rural voters have been biting the urban taxpayer hand that’s been feeding them our tax dollars like forever. I want to feel bad for them but frankly, first I want to see them eat a little crow.
As they say, be careful of what you wish for.
3
Trump has recently floated the idea of robbing disaster funds for his wall. I suggest he instead think about robbing the Trade war bailout funds.
2
Many people in my DOI office (Yes, I have been furloughed since the 26th of December) voted for Trump. I remember coming into the office that sleepless night after the election to smug smiles and gloating. I have been burned many times by the GOP. I learned the hard way, you better have a large stash if you are an American. It has always been an erratic ride in my life time. No Ozzie and Harriet. I can last a year if necessary. Of course then my retirement is shot and I may spend my Golden years as a Walmart greeter. No pension in my position. But I digress. Those same smug people are also furloughed. They are throwing a fit. I try hard not to, but Schadenfreude is getting the best of me.
9
“I may lose the farm, but I strongly feel we need some border security,” Mr. Nunnery said.
Wow. What a great epitaph.
4
These farmers are angry because their government welfare checks have stopped. And, they voted for and still support the guy who stopped them. They deserve no sympathy.
7
It can be difficult to muster sympathy for a guy with a smoking gun in his hand and a foot that suddenly hurts real bad. Individually, this is tragic, and there are lots of exceptions, but collectively, the family farm went all-in on Trump. Did they really think he cared?
3
Ms. Moore, what you "have to do to get by" is evaluate the competency of your president and work to replace him as quickly as possible. Learn from your experience.
2
Unfortunately, the last line of the article is what Trump wants to hear -- that people will manage, no matter what terrible mess he makes for them.
And, yes: anyone who voted for Trump thinking he would "Make American Great Again" has been played for a stooge.
2
Trump's style of governance could be called "trickle-down chaos." He has no solid basis of knowledge and understanding for his decision making; indeed, there aren't any real decisions being made -- just arbitrary, unilateral dictates. One day it's this, one day it's that, the next day it's the other. He digs in his heels, relents momentarily, then retrenches. Farmers, investors, immigrants, allies -- all are being jerked around by Trump's whims and edicts du jour. Unfortunately, as long as he says he's the greatest, that's good enough for some people. But confidence ain't competence.
469
@Citizen-of-the-World
This is by design, not happenstance.
15
@Citizen-of-the-World. I think he has a solid understanding of his decisionmaking; I suspect it is centered entirely around the highly unusual concept of becoming a literal monarch. I also believe he is canny enough to mask and disavow this goal. Of course I don't know for sure and I may be wrong.
But for example, to become a literal monarch you would have to tear down and make illegitimate law enforcement institutions (they of course would be a threat to the monarchy); you would have to portray the justice system as unfair (criminal justice reform legislation?) Etc.
But perhaps it is worth considering a Trump monarchy on its policy merits at least (lively and boisterous rallies?)
10
@Citizen-of-the-World
President Trump is not on out on a limb, on his own: virtually all Republicans in the House and Senate support him.
6
If the farmers lose their farms, the farms get bought up by large agribusiness corporations. Small scale farmers don't make large donations to Trump. Giant Agribusiness corporate entities do. Hmmmm.
7
It is my understanding that many of the suffering farmers voted for Donald Trump and for Republicans because they opposed “big government” and its involvement in every day life. This is just one result of their votes, and they now are reaping what they sowed.
4
I'm sorry. But, by in large, you listened to the same rhetoric I listened to, read the same articles about trump university class action lawsuit for fraud. d trump could not have been any more clearly a grifter. It stood out like a laser beam. I had enjoyed 8 years of relative peace and prosperity, as had you, under President Obama. I had taken advantage of his ACA to cover my "self employed" family, finally, with health insurance I could trust and could afford.
Many farmers are "asset rich and cash poor." Believe it or not it can take a relatively small thing like a government shutdown to effect them just like it would a government employee who lives from paycheck to paycheck. The farmers just have far larger payments to meet than the average government employee. Add that stress to the other normal stress factors every farmer faces daily of living and working with things that are alive and either breath in or emit oxygen but most of all now have to deal with the almost unimaginable economic pinball effect of a donald trump administration and the stress can just simply go off the charts.
Been there done that and managed live through it personally and as a family but I can certainly attest that what donald trump has done to the grain markets is hard to calculate and the long term damage to America's soybean exports has the chance to be simply devastating.
7
Aren't these people the same ones who subscribe to Reagan's belief that "the government is the problem"? Maybe they'll come to realize just how central to their own well-being government really is. The Democrats are missing an opportunity here; they should be hammering home the idea that government really can be a source of solutions, even if, as in this case, the Trump policies caused the difficulties to begin with.
The saddest part of all this is that they were sold a bill of goods by Trump, yet they refuse to accept the fact that HE is the problem.
Trump's trade policies caused the losses that the government is now bailing out. Maybe Donnie boy might have had some money to build his wall if these subsidies hadn't been necessary. Compounding problems day by day...
2