An apology on behalf of all liberals to the poor farmers who got nothing from the tax cuts but still voted Republican in 2018. You have been swindled. Face up to it. The only people who are making a buck from the tax cuts are the wealthy elite liberals living on the coasts. Trump promised to make America great but he did not mean you.
That’s right. Your soy bean and pork and chicken market in China are moving to Brazil and other S. American countries.There will be no migrant workers to harvest your crops, and economic turmoil will cut off your financing. Look around. Your kids and grandkids are moving away or taking drugs. Foreclosures are growing and soon you won’t be able to sell your farm or your home or your equipment. Maybe you should move to Mexico?
PS: Michael Cohen blackmailed Jerry Falwell Jr to support Trump.I wonder what Trump has on your governor, senator or congressman. Trump has already demonstrated his moral fiber and it’s nothing grown on any American farm.
Oh by the way, sorry about climate change. Trump and the Republicans lied about that too....look out the window.
129
Yes, I agree that Trump is misleading the people that put him in office. However, all I hear from Democrats are Russia collusion, open borders, LGBT über alles and sanctuary for illegals. What are the Dem's doing to improve the lives of rural America? Nothing.
26
It’s easy to be a cult member. No brain required.
23
There is a price to be paid for thinking your whiteness your greatest virtue.
39
If I were running for President, I would be out there on the country side telling people, "You've been had. You've been hood winked. The Republicans have been playing you. They have been for a generation. They want you to think the problems are coming from Mexico, from South American, from affirmative action liberals killing babies. They want you to think that. They are saying 'Lookie, lookie over here, while they are ripping you off over there.' They are playing you for fools, and they have been at it for a while." I mean, why doesn't anyone just come out and say that. No one says it. It's like its too true to say it or something. Bernie comes the closest.
55
At least the biggest losers will be Trump's biggest supporters.
32
Totally unrelated to today’s column, but did anyone else happen to catch or notice how the disgraced columnist, Marc Theiessen from Washington Post, tried to call out Paul Krugman in a tweet this week? I doubt that Mr Krugman noticed it himself, as it was like a flea biting an elephant.
Hilarious to watch a disgrace try to punch about 20 classes above his weight.
11
I notice that when Krugman imagines rural voters reacting to all this with 'So you think we're stupid!' He doesn't answer the question. How do you differentiate between laziness, superstitious ignorance and stupidity? These people have cell phones and access to all the public information on earth. If you're too busy to read you are willfully ignorant, and that amounts to stupid.
My father in law is an engineer who helped put a man on the moon but he's too addicted to Fox to fact check them. That's what scares me: The right wing has otherwise intelligent people hooked on agitprop.
56
Krugman is really bad for all Americans. In a field that is filled with charlatans (economists), Krugman is a standout. With each economic crisis our country has suffered through, Krugman is on the wrong side of history. Why is he now dipping his toe into politics? He knows nothing about real middle class issues. He is against Trump because Conservatives have made him look bad on every one of his positions. He complains about low unemployment even among the Blacks and low inflation. Yet he supports Obamacare which has done nothing but drive up costs. Get him off the NYT!
6
Trump is terrible for ALL of us!
27
the mainly white, mainly rural, mainly older, mainly evangelical Protestant voters at the core of Trump's base are not looking for or expecting government policies that will be to their benefit because for 40 years and more they have been sold the Republican line that government is their enemy and can never do anything right. as St. Ronnie of Brentwood had it, government is their problem and cannot be a solution for anything. what they vote for when they cast a ballot for Trump or anyone like him is a way to stick it to those hoity toity city elites who take them for dumb rubes. they vote not for benefit but out of vindictiveness. you know, like dumb rubes.
18
Trump, being a con man, was able to jump into a country with deep partisan, racial and social divides and say, in effect, "I hate all the same people you do, so trust me, I'll be on your side".
It is true that Trump hates all the same people as his deplorables: he's not faking that. But Trump is a malevolent sociopath, so he hates us all and he's only on his own side.
Maybe the lesson is, "he's bashing the same people I bash" should not be a reason to vote for a candidate.
25
Boy, I've never read some many anti-Trump comments to a NYTimes as before. I think Trump better not shoot someone on Fifth Ave., they may arrest him now. To add my 2-cents plain, I've cut down on eating red meat. My heart and health thanks me, morally I feel better and finally, I'm striking a blow at the Trump supporters. Goodbye, Marlboro man!
7
Sorry, but the king in the ivory tower, knows little of the troubles of the rural country.
Stick to praising AOC on her knowledge of tax law.
You know nothing of the troubled of us little people.
4
Rural America isn’t reading the Times and they will make up their own minds regarding Trump
7
Messiahs are good because they are messiahs, whatever damage they cause.
2
Recession here we come. Stupid trade war, and disinformation to the one information source followers. Tax cut funded through increased national debt. Take my economy, please.
5
Let's speak truth here. If any rural farmers read it (which they won't and don't) and are offended, too bad.
They dislike "immigrants?" No. No one is ranting about all those sneaky Norwegians coming across the Canadian border. They dislike brown people and non-Christians, and with Trump, that isn't a dog whistle. It's an air horn.
They like guns. The mass school shootings aren't happening in inner city schools. They're happening at white schools, many rural or suburban. But, hey, you never know when one of those terrorist caravans will show up. Pass the Lord and praise the ammunition.
And in return for assuring that anti minority, pro Bible thumper administration stays in power, they're willing to bankrupt themselves. If that isn't pure blinkered stupid, what is? If it looks like Duck Dynasty and walks like Duck Dynasty....
21
Why? Why? Why?
Why does nobody cover the flip side of the never ending saga of the “poor, rural” Trump supporter???
In our bellwether suburban Virginia county, the reddest precincts in 2016 were the WEALTHIEST.
I keep begging the NYT to cover this, but it doesn’t fit the preconceived idea of the less educated stereotypical Trump supporter.
14
Coastal elites, non-elites, rural and urban Americans, southerners, northerners, teachers, doctors, road maintenance workers, nurses, lawyers, construction workers, machinists, and all other workers - the tweets and the pump-you-up-but-with-lies and condescension speeches are ok with you, but let us coastals remind you that President Obama, with his 16,000,000++ job creation after a horrible bankish recession, didn't tweet his successes or pump you up with lies and condescension, or call people made-up playground names or ply you with promises unkept. He just did his work, unlike your coastal elite, trump, a coastal, non-religious, name-calling, non-law abiding New Yorker.
ps. I'm a coastal elite, if you consider a retired teacher as such.
20
Rumor has it our “action” President couldn’t even say “You’re fired!” on The Apprentice without a script...
1
Your headline needs adjusting, Trump is terrible for America and the World!
7
OK Kansas, get ready for a hard landing on the Yellow Brick Road. Trump's hot-air balloon is running out of hot air and the Ruby Red Slippers of The Wicked Mitch of the (Mid) West will not be able to save the day. Trump's Dragon Breath Proclamations have set the Emerald City ablaze and there is no going back. The YBR will run red.
3
For those nihilistic rurals, spite and bigotry trumps pocketbook issues.
6
The south and the Bible Belt will never change . The only thing that matters is more god , more guns , less government, less immigration, less abortion . Say that during your speeches and you will get elected
9
Ill effects on this group of trump supporters couldn't happen to a nicer group of people. You vote, you get the results.
7
The Heartland of America grows not only crops but the long established and valued ideals. Our media has embraced forward thinking in nearly all of these values with constant barrages of modernized thinking with the exception of ---violin music, please---immigration. And why has Congress and the media left off immigration from homosexuality, transgenderism, etc.?
BECAUSE Congress has sequestered the DACA group like a vampire does his next blood meal. They need to keep them safe and snug until they are needed so no talk about immigration as the DACA would be the first item.
1
Can't we take it as read that Trump regards rural America as "the sticks" and its inhabitants as gullible yokels?
5
Trump is terrible for America. Period.
5
I keep thinking about how loyal Communists who were sent to the Gulag kept thinking "if only Stalin knew he would stop this".
7
To understand the power of Trump and the stupidity of his followers, you just have to tune into a televangelist broadcast to see the tricks in action. They always appear to sympathize with your misery for a buck and promise you salvation in the future. They tell you to be afraid because the world in full of sin and temptation and the only way out is to pledge your money and loyalty to the preacher. Meanwhile, the preacher dresses in the finest suits, drives the best cars, and pretends to do the will of God while he "prays" for you. Again, for just a small donation.
15
Trump is terrible for the world. He's behaving now in hopes of reelection, but after that? I recommend sending your wives and children to safety outside the country.
7
Yep, they are willing to overlook hits to their wallets as long as Trump (the man who uses golden toilets in liberal NY) keeps supporting the culture wars and hate of immigrants who have supposedly stolen their jobs.
5
The pecan farmers here have lost their largest customer, China. But per interviews, they still think they will come out ahead, some mythological day.
In the meantime, they very much need their Mexicans to do the actual physical labor on their farms. Not just pecans, of course.
I truly appreciate and am amazed by Texas' hard working farmers and ranchers. But that does not negate the only reasonable conclusion, they are stupid.
When people cut themselves intentionally, we try to help them. What can you do for these self-inflictors? Stay in the voting booth with them?
13
Unless you can convince Fox or Breitbart to publish this, none of the "victims" mentioned (they voted for this) will ever understand the reality.
8
These people got the government they voted for. Their racism, hate and white elitism blinded them to the facts about the man they elected. Despite the truth available to them on all levels they continue to support him. Not.One.Bit. Of sympathy.
14
My theory goes as follows.
To be a Trump supporter, you have to be one or more of these three things:
1) Racist
2) Ignorant (willfully or innocently)
3) Mercenary
We're more than 2 years into his administration, and I have yet to meet (or read the opinions of) a Trump supporter who wasn't obviously at least one of those things.
7
Smoot, Hawley and Trump -- birds of a feather...
2
People say the liberal elite need to get out and talk to the rural / Trump voters.
I've been talking to them for over fifteen years.
I have neighbors who still think the Clintons had Vince Foster and Obama was born in Kenya.
And for 8 years, the NRA told them Obama was coming to get their guns.
It never happened but they don't look back and see they were lied to.
15
So why do they love him? Perhaps their nationalistic leanings overrule their economic self interest. That’s sad.
5
I wouldn't mind if Trump voters got fleeced ....
But I am getting fleeced, too.
10
Demagogue, Donald Trump, look it up. Replace reason with prejudice, incite violence, lack of fundamental principles of right and wrong, appeal to the lowest common denominator, pathological liar,..promise utopia while picking their pockets (new tax law),... blame the "other" for your troubles,...he has to go otherwise democracy goes.
3
I am one who feels no sympathy for Rural America, who foolishly believed in Trump.
To the farming communities; you reap what you sow. To the rest; you made your beds ...who needs monsters underneath them, or in the closet, when the huckster you voted into the White House, is now America's nightmare?
Let Trump's first term be that valuable teaching moment.
8
Our education system has quit teaching civics and how government works. The content of our high school text books is not decided by education specialists as you would assume.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/explainer/article/Explained-how-Texas-picks-its-textbooks-9225732.php
People send their children to school thinking they are getting a balanced education, but more and more right wing, religiously biased people are choosing what will be taught. This is resulting in the dumbing down of America and people who can be easily led.
8
Well, thus far, Trump's racist, anti-immigrant bashing and fear mongering has these people in such a thrall .. that pocketbook issues have taken a back seat. It remains to be seen how much longer that continues ...
5
I see no problem with the harm inflicted on those who voted for it. Elections have consequences and no one should suffer more that those who, with blind faith and closed eyes, chose the path we are currently on. May they suffer the most. "Trump’s biggest supporters are his biggest victims." GOOD! That is so reassuring to me.
Think of the profits to be made by industrial food processor giants buying soy at half price and getting to keep the full benefit by not passing through price reductions to the end user. Like McDonald's, they are lovin' it! Deflation? Never going to happen with monopolies running the world.
Anyone voting for, endorsing or supporting the trump DESERVES to be disrespected. Really! Do they expect praise from the rest of us for their choice in a loser to lead us down the abyss? “So you think we’re stupid!” Yes! Especially if they continue to blindly believe in and support the tyrant they're complicit in putting into power. May they lose and suffer the most for their decisions. While California and the rest of us "Live free and prosper."
5
(wonkish)
“...Economists, reports Politico, are fleeing the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service...The reason? They are feeling persecuted for publishing reports that shed an unflattering light on Trump policies...
As they say inside the beltway, Paul...
Either you’re serving up red meat for Trump – or you’re being served up as red meat for Trump...
6
In celebration of the simpler living easily duped friendly country people we all care about;
Did you really think a rich guy would care about the millions of struggling common people?
2
Bruce Rozenblit, well said response! I have heard or read rural Americans or farmers use similar words that you have written. And similar explanations apply the the Evangelical Christian Right that continue to support a president that is the least Christian by nearly any objective measure. I suggest reading an article by Michael Gerson written for The Atlantic titled: The Last Temptation. This article is well written, balanced and factual. Christians I have talked to have trouble recognizing the "Con" and after reading this article justify their support of this president simply because he supported Christians and Hillary supposedely did not.
Just amazing.......Gerson, being an Evangelical himself and is an op-ed columnist for The Washington Post, a Policy Fellow with the ONE Campaign, a visiting fellow with the Center for Public Justice, and a former senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Education: Georgetown University, Wheaton College, Westminster Christian Academy.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/04/the-last-temptation/554066/
I invite comments on the Atlantic article as well.
5
Trump is an equal opportunity disaster for all of America.
The only specific group, who has gained from having Trump in the White House, are his fellow mega rich elites.
6
a great double feature for the Trump era: Richard III and Oklahoma.
1
We all should notice that we have more in common as Americans than differences, yet we persist in seeing differences and finding fault. It is necessary to trust each other and that is becoming difficult. I believe we are all like citizens of some medieval town complete with stories of witchcraft and religious fear, thinking that those on the other side either think they are stupid or ignorant or that they hate us. We have to stop it, get out of the "reality TV show" and start to listen to each other. Trump unfortunately, likes to sow dissent, and that has to stop. If you support him tell him so.
Krugman, the m night Shyamalan of the economic world.
The Cult of Trump is alive and well -- ok, alive, if not so well.
These people are willing to follow their "Dear Leader" because it is so much easier to take orders than to do the hard work of actually thinking things through for yourself. The other attribute, especially in rural areas, is that if you FAIL to "toe the line" you get ostracized. For a lot of these people, "school" and intellectual activities are "hard." So there is a very strong incentive to follow the crowd.
How many "strikes" do you get? In baseball, which I grew up playing and in which I learned about playing by the rules, fairness and sportsmanship, you get three.
These folks have been using up "strikes" at an alarming rate. A swing and a miss is the modus operandi for many of them. I think that they are well past three "strikes."
There is no point in trying to convince some of these people about things that they just do not want to confront. It is not a question of "smart" or "stupid" so much as a matter of being stubborn to the point of pig-headedness.
We need to work to get Trump and all of his Republican enablers voted out in 2020.
We need to find the 10% of people who (incredibly) are "still on the fence" and get them to vote for the Democratic candidate.
3
Yes, Mr. Krugman, the biggest "losers" financially-speaking are big farmers. And the victims include relatively small farmers here in Virginia.
But the real big losers are all those folks who invested their whole psyche into Trump and his cohorts, such as local office holders from Central Virginia like Kathy Bynum (who was right behind Trump at his "press conference" yesterday).
These victims have been swallowing the hate Trump blasts out all the time, and that hate mixes with their own sense of false superiority, over women, immigrants, African-Americans, gays, and so forth. At this ,"Trump's "sergeants" (local letter to the editors writers) are spewing Trump's "achievements," while mouthing Mitch McConnell's "It's all over" slogan. These folks are going to be very upset when the truth finally hits them-Trump does not care one iota about them.
4
Wow, I had no idea everyone outside of the coastal cities worked on a farm! The author might benefit from a road trip.
2
"Lack of familiarity apparently breeds contempt." Well turned, Professor Krugman.
Forget it Paul. The dirt "farmers" with chips on their shoulders won't hear you.
That would require thinking.
2
Not only that, but the cost of their Chinese made MAGA hats goes up 25%.
5
Paul Krugman and The New York times are providing "Grass Roots" service to the rural folks by discussing issues affecting their everyday life.
The question is how to reach them; through "Rural Intellectuals" who follow Times?
Voting for a man whose policies are destroying your markets abroad and your safety net at home is self-harm of the worst kind. Expect a lot of it...
3
I am a middle class “coastal elite” I guess. The fact that rural America cannot see that the emperor has no clothes disgusts me. Helping the “rural elites” through farming and other government subsidies is a waste of money. Especially when they look down on outsiders and many of the desperate immigrants trying to survive their lousy lot in life. Specialty and small organic farms are expanding and thriving in coastal states and serving local needs. Wake up middle America!
Tough Love.
3
The death of the family farmers happened long ago. When someone is being paid to turn their crops over....it is just welfare. Much like our famou Post Office....costing us billions to send ads to each and every home. We are a country that won't go to alternative energy because every 7-11 will close and the unemployment rate will go up. We were an experiment...a vision for others to follow and wonder where we would all end up. The reality is the farmer or rural American is much like those that fought for the South in the Civil War: the idea that they could be like those who did not have to fight..that could buy their way out of the war. Trump is just that: a pathetic joke of a human being who has always had enough money in the game to not follow the rules. He only cares about "I" and have nothing to do with "you." Still, they go to rallies and stand up and yell for their hero...and wonder how they, or we, will pay their next big bill.
4
I love Paul. He has been right about so much. However, like all columnists, he cannot admit when he is wrong. Liberal and conservative columnists are alike, frequently wrong never willing to ever admit it. Paul just cannot stand it when Trump is right. He makes so much money making liberals happy, he can never give Trump credit for anything and thus kills his credibility. I like what Charlie Munger had to say: "Dems hate Trump so much they cannot admit when he does something right." This is why Trump will be reelected. The Krugmans of the world, who would have so much impact if they were not so fanatical in their opposition, have egg on their face that they cannot even see.
To paraphrase Charles E. Wilson, what's good for trump is good for trump, and vice versa.
Why do rural voters sport Trump against their economic interests? Easy, the churches.
4
I taught science in a rural middle school in Kansas in the 1970’s. It was very obvious that the smart farm kids saw education as a way to get off the farm forever. They worked very hard in my class and I wrote many college reference letters for them. The dumb kids were very poor students and knew they would spend their lives on the family farm! They are Trumpsters today!
7
I don't think we have any chance of changing the minds of rural voters; we just have to outvote them in massive numbers. But, China is a bad actor, and Democrats have not concentrated on going after them. To get China under control, we need someone smart enough to work with allies toward that goal, but also someone who means it (i.e., isn't under Wall Street's thumb.) Just because Trump is incompetent doesn't mean Democrats should assume nothing needs to be done about China.
When will you rural white Americans wake up and recognize that Trump is full of lies. You cling on him because of his promises but look how many of them -whether in public or in private- turn out to be blatant lies. It is time to be rational, not emotional, not being cheated by slogans like "MAGA", Mexico is going to pay", "I will cut your taxes", "healthcare will be much much better".... I don't mean to be impolite because I always have the highest regards for farmers, for the hard work and toils they do days in days out.
3
On the contrary, rural residents have dealt with immigration and the impact on local, low-skilled jobs has been significant. Think about the slaughterhouses of the Midwest or the chicken farms of the South.
I also think Krugman is overlooking a huge group of wealthy, Republican supporters who voted for Trump across the fifty states. His argument is stale.
1
GOP has been bad for rural America in general, however, they will never fully appreciate that unless democrats get off their ivory towers and march out to “unfriendly” territory to penetrate the Fox News bubble.
2
My husband is a doctor. He is for universal healthcare even though it will cut his income probably by about half. He has Trumpster patients who don't have good, or any, insurance, some of whom press him to provide them free medical care ... actually, he often does, though his physician's fees are just a drop in the bucket when the bills also contain hospital and facility bills, tests, etc. etc. ... but what he wants to do is shake them and yell, "Why are you voting Republican?!"
7
We have a second home in a rural area and a neighbor who is on the fence about voting for Trump again. Then he gets riled up about imigration, second amendment, Obama or Hillary and Trump is back in. I rarely say much during our conversations, he just rambles in a full circle.
Not much you can do with that.
8
Mr. Krugman, what do you suggest we *do* about it?
To paraphrase an unrelated quote from Yogi Berra: If many folks in rural America refuse to act in their own self interest by opposing Trump, there's no way to keep them from doing it.
1
Dear Mr. Krugman,
Yet another excellent column. Many of us are saying the same things over and over again about Trump to our receptive audiences, but your up-to-the moment and fact-based analyses should be appreciated and celebrated by all right-thinking members of the electorate. Bravo!
Seth Guggenheim, Washington, DC
1
"His biggest supporters are his biggest victims"
I appreciate the analysis in this article, but this is absolutely false. Even assuming getting exactly what you voted for makes you a victim, these farmers are not Trump's biggest victims when Trump's policies are having so much negative impact on so many more people. One should also remember, again, exit polling data indicated Trump voters' have above-national median income, which was higher than both Sanders and Clinton voters.
I know, out of some bizarre sense of "coastal elite" guilt, the chattering class in NYT's opinion column pages love to over-compensate by talking about the plight of white rural people from Iowa. But don't repeat the lies.
3
Democrats lost rural America when they went off the deep end with identity politics (gender doesn't exist in their wishy wash), forced vaccination, etc. It isn't even about taxes or the economy, though that isn't hurting Trump either. Read the Republican two santa clause theory as that was the game plan since Reagan. Disclaimer I am a Bernie donor.
@Matt. Mandatory vaccination is a controversial thing in rural America? Really?
5
Prof. Krugman, I love you dearly, but I take issue with your use of the word "elite." You are the second columnist in two days (Mr. Egan was another) to use the word--and both you and Mr. Egan, as far as I can tell, use "elite" to mean anyone who lives near one of the coasts.
I live in the northeast (Massachusetts). I loathe Trump and am rooting for Warren for president. I am highly educated (PhD), and have a decent job that just about allows me to pay the bills, no more. I haven't been able to afford a vacation in about four years. My husband is terminally ill and in bankruptcy from his medical bills. Do I fall within your definition of the word "elite?" Please explain!
Meanwhile, NYT, please force your columnists to define the word "elite" before they ever use it again. Right now they all just seem to be using it to describe someone who lives within about 100 hundred miles from the Atlantic or Pacific.
6
He is saying this is how rural voter would view you, especially with a PHD. That is not how he is defining you.
1
The rural people are openly deceived and brainwashed visually for years by Republicans now led by the expert propagandist Trump and his Congressional cohorts.
The Tariffs are the new taxes, consumption taxes.
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is involved in the trade negotiations. The Treasury is suffering a severe deficit as a result of the Republican's tax cuts that went mostly to wealthy individuals and corporations who are remaining in foreign lands. A trade deal was never intended except as a show to bring in the new consumption taxes. Mnuchin's involvement leads me to believe that.
We were all seriously duped by a daily media barrage, not just rural people.
4
Wisconsin is the "dairy state," and our dairy farmers have been especially hurt by President Trump's trade policies. That is if we can dignify these policies by calling them policies, which presumes they were somewhat thought-out.
The trade war with China and others has caused a drop-off in the already over-saturated international dairy market. And the hardest hit by this loss of sales have been the already-challenged family dairy farms, some of which have gone out of business so that President Trump can send his feel-good tweets.
Mr. Krugman says rural areas don't see much modern immigration, but one exception is many of the workers on the larger dairy farms here are immigrants from Mexico. And the owners of these farms are in a panic that immigration policies that would scare off these workers would leave them with nobody to milk their cows. Note that this job is to be at work in a muddy barn at 5:00 AM seven days a week including in mid-winter, in order to make maybe $11 an hour.
Yet President Trump won Wisconsin in 2016; it was his narrowest win. And as Mr. Krugman reports the rural areas backed him; here, it was the northern and western parts of the Wisconsin. Despite all of this, will our people still choose to support Trump again in 2020? Should be interesting...
9
The American political narrative has been so controlled that those without access to quality education have no way of understanding they are voting against their own interests when they vote "established" politician into power. These politicians are millionaires. Many of them are lawyers. We need everyday working people, be they Republican or Democrat, to run and to win in order to get corporate power out of American government.
7
@RCJCHC What "everyday working people" can run for office in Washington, D.C.? Even if we got rid of our horrible campaign financing "system," how many everyday working people can spend the time and energy on a local campaign while still working and raising a family and then suspend their ordinary working careers for two years or longer and spend them in far-away D.C.? The very nature of the job knocks out ordinary working people. Lawyers are actually at the lowest economic rung of people who can do such a thing.
3
You might consider adding the fact that Trump's decision to politicize what is happening with our climate is blocking cooperative efforts to develop crops and farming techniques to avoid or take advantage of the changes. In the rural parts of the Willamette Valley, by example, the increased heat may soon drive out the pinot grapes - but bring in others being driven out of California by the heat. Are the feds doing anything to help farmers get ready? Since the prez says it is all a fake news plot, the answer is a big "No". His supporters are due for another unfortunate surprise.
5
Let's draw a fine distinction between farmers and other rural inhabitants. In the main, the farmers I know tend to support immigration because they need workers. They usually either wish we could go back to the days where you just didn't bother to consider legal status, or that there was some sort of migrant farm worker visa program they could use to get employees. Many of the migrants who work for them are old friends they've known for years. They just wish there was a way to get these guys into the country legally so they can work and make everybody money.
Generally speaking, farmers are also savvy businessmen who easily spot the losses to their operations from the trade war. They know full well who's responsible. Some believe it's worth the cost to teach China a lesson, while others are entirely opposed. None of them hedge and pretend it isn't caused directly by Trump's policies. Unfortunately, real farmers are only a percentage of the rural community.
There are other rural inhabitants who are neither so savvy nor understanding. They don't farm, though they usually rely on the farm community indirectly. The way they see it, Trump is trying to make it where they can get better jobs, dead stop. They don't consider that by harming the farms their communities rely on, they're hurting themselves. They just don't think that far. I don't want to call these folks ignorant, but it's tough not to in many cases. These folks are the Real Trump Supporters.
10
I appreciate that Krugman is focusing a number of columns on rural economics, especially in the time of Trump. Paul, come visit us in southern Minnesota. We elected a right-wing Trump sycophant (Jim Hagedorn) to congress in 2018.
The population around here is aging and people are, quite frankly, scared of (white Christian) annihilation. Rural economic revitalization programs would do a lot of good, especially if they brought high speed internet, healthcare, and government (middle class) jobs, but many people would sooner cleave to religion (the kind that exerts control over female bodies, not that brings good news to the poor) and guns. That is the trade-off rural people have made in exchange for huge tax cuts to rich people who don't live anywhere near here but extract our wealth. Sometimes I feel like I'm in the midst of a doomsday cult, and its savior is Trump.
Given how much sway rural areas have in electoral politics and the senate, we're in a troubling position for when climate change impacts escalate and increased in-migration pressures hit. Maybe we'll rein in billionaires and push back against our winner-take-all system to create an economy that is more fair. Maybe we'll just get less rational. I am working for the former, and the clock feels like it is running out.
14
@Jennifer
I thought about these fly-by-night churches this morning. Many are responsible for warping the mind of many for gain. The mega outfits ought to be required by law to donate a percentage to the poor. Giving alms to the poor isn’t giving to your church! My brother, recently diseased (couldn’t get a stent or open heart surgery like a wealthy guy) once made the statement, if you want to be rich, start a church.
1
They don't care that Trump is actually hurting them as long as he continues to stroke their prejudices. They're more concerned with validation than with solvency.
15
Essentially, the Republicans think the rural people are easy prey. Consider the tariffs; Going back to 2017, we may say the Republicans paid back the wealthy and corporations for their financial campaign support with passage of the Tax cuts legislation. That left us a big ballooned budget deficit. Fast forward to now as today there was no resolution to the trade conflict with China. I contend there was never going to be a trade deal. The tariffs are intended to stay as a new consumption tax which it is, especially now at the higher 25 percent rate.
So, now the rich individuals and corporations will be taxed less and the middle and lower classes will be paying more. The tariffs are meant to be a new Consumption tax once touted by many Republicans more notably by Steve Forbes who must be content now.
Now we regulars will be paying the burdens of operating the nation as the wealthy are the welfare kings and queens who are still exporting wealth and jobs and have shown no indications of massively returning foreign holdings back here.
That means the Republican base voted to pay more and support the rich. It isn't so much that the rural people are dumb. They are really nice mostly friendly and naive people being taken advantage of by the Republican leaders. They were duped by the best.
I suppose we all have to learn to understand the words the Republican use to dupe us. They protect the guilty by using nice words.
Now we all pay a consumption tax, long a rich person's dream.
5
Trump has been terrible for working Americans, period. Whether or not we workers support him doesn't matter. He is not working for us. He is working for his rich compatriots. As is the GOP.
12
No need to complicate the issue. The word "bigotry" pretty much covers it.
11
Yeah, but they keep going back for more. It's becoming increasingly difficult to feel empathy for the plight of rural communities when the majority remain rigid in their support for their appointed lord and savior, Trump, fully indoctrinated by the regular brainwashing compliments of Faux News and the Conservative Hate Industry, all of which plays constantly on the radios and TVs everywhere you go.
Having recently spent a little over a week in Southern Illinois for work, I couldn't believe the extreme misinformation and the constant "woe is me, it's all the liberals' and Hillary's fault" mentality. All this despite having a top notch university in their backyard. I heard so many pathetic number of excuses as to why they couldn't pursue a better education, which would result in a better standard of living, it made my head spin. Yes, it would be hard work and some sacrifice, but that's what most people do. And if more were willing to go the extra mile, I'd bet my retirement their communities would grow and prosper. But at the end of the day, it's easier to sit on a bar stool nursing a beer and rage on blaming the liberals and Hillary for one's plight.
23
@JK
How do they work (enough to support themselves) and go to school, too?
1
@JK
How do they work and go to school at the same time? My little community also had an outfit come in and determine the greatest impediment to employment was childcare. Didn’t I read a story in this paper about a working mother in New York who left her child in a park to play while she worked? Elizabeth Warren finally addresses this disgrace!
2
Trump may be picking the pockets of rural America, including trying to take away its food subsidies and health care. But he is giving them something in return- that is the right to be openly bigoted and xenophobic. Don't discount that- it's worth a lot. When it occurs to Trump that a useless foreign war (with the bombing of Muslims shown as half-time entertainment at football games) will garner more support from rural Americans we'll really be in trouble.
29
I grew up in small town America, and can truthfully tell you that the conservative bias is due to a belief that "others" are taking what is "rightfully" theirs. Racism and xenophobia are required to mask their hypocrisy for wanting what they feel that they "deserve," so they repeat myths about the multitudes of "undeserving others." Thise who realize the fault in that logic keep their mouths shut because they know that the precious few, and life long jobs that are available depend upon the good will of their co-workers. They also know that "word of mouth" and ill will will follow them, so their is no upside to standing up for the truth.
The only escape from that repressive environment is to leave, and this is the refrain often heard from the droves who leave, but it results in further concentration of that mindset in these shrinking towns.if there are exceptions to this dynamic, I'd like to hear about them.
20
Your story reminds me of how everybody knows how and what to teach because they have been to school. Maybe that's the problem. Lots of people have a small garden or buy organic Everyone is an expert because they read or heard that ....
Self-hatred seems to be the main driving force in modern American politics. Blue states are thriving under Trump's booming economy, but they can't stand Trump. The states that voted for Trump are being left behind, but most of them don't care. They love their wealthy elitist coastal president who comes from America's biggest city. Democratic voters of color overwhelmingly support Joe Biden, the most racist person in the Democratic Party. Bernie Sanders' support comes almost entirely from young white males, most of them educated, whose privileged status would be severely threatened if Bernie were president. And of course Trump managed to get just enough votes from immigrants and minorities to win the presidency.
Maybe we should hope that all of Trump's fantasies come true and America finds itself in a golden age of enlightenment and prosperity in 2020. Then millions of self-hating Americans will vote him out of office. But if that long-awaited recession hits during the summer of 2020, America will reward Trump with another term.
4
Paul, my state also supported Obama. This isn’t Trump country. We are referred to as a swing state. Clinton was never going to go over well in the Rust Belt because they blamed her husband for NAFTA, which sent their jobs south, or so they say. (She also lost her bid in 2008, remember?). If the coastal elite Dems want to win, they should try supporting someone like Elizabeth or Bernie, who understand the problems in the Rust Belt.
5
@rebecca1048
And I’m highly concerned about candidates who hitched themselves to the Clinton train during the primary season.
2
I hate to say it, but I hope Trump engages in an all-out trade war with China. The short-term effects on the U.S. economy will be so bad that many (though not all) of those who voted for Trump will wake up and vote Democratic (or at least stay home) in 2020. Another four years of Trump would be MUCH worse than the short-term harm to our economy.
9
I feel for the soybean farmers, and the wheat growers, too. I guess some of them will need to plan on changing crops, not an inexpensive operation if you've got a lot of specialized equipment needing replacement. What I don't understand is, if grain prices are so low, why are bread and beef so expensive? Why does a Dunkin Donut cost $1.00? That's not Trump's fault, imo it's our acquiescence to corporate greed.
4
He swindles those who believe in him. By doing so, he got himself promoted to be the President of the United States. I would say that is a great deal making.
7
I’ll never forget the Trump supporter who freely admitted that she was alive only because of Obama care. She hoped that Trump would not repeal Obama care, but even if he did and she was still alive in 2020, she would vote for Trump again. I just don’t know how you reason with this kind of mentality.
57
@Sipa111
There are also stories about people who are employed under the ACA who voted for Trump and are amazed (and upset) when he does something that threatens their job. The story of a woman who worked enrolling people in Kentucky's Kynect (state healthcare organization set up under the ACA) who was being let go was classic. She said "I never expected they would go after my job."
We are not dealing with great intellects in some of these flyover states.
37
@Sippa111. That’s a mind that will never change. But there are many independent voters in rural communities. If they want something to get angry at, why aren’t the Democrats getting them angry at Trump for taking away their healthcare? “Give us back our healthcare!” could be a rallying cry. It wasn’t perfect before, but it was a lot better than after Trump got into office.
8
@Sipa111 As in some past dramatic changes of worldview. the brainwashed people will probably just have to die off. Einstein set off two science revolutions, gravity and quantum theory. But many adherents of a Newtonian view didn't really buy the new views, but just passed into history. That is likely how the rightwing nuts will have to leave the scene, not with changes of mind and heart, but with passing away. Those who were first-generation fans of FDR are hard to find now, but Bernie Sanders is about as close to the old-time liberals as anyone. It's nice to hear from those who were there. And it will be very nice to not hear any more from the spinners and fabricators who smear the people and policies who helped to make America a more perfect union.
1
It is truly a mystery in a lot of ways why the red states destroy themselves like lemmings, but I believe a lot of the rural folks are against abortion and unless they never want to show their faces in church again they won't vote for the "abortion party."
We beat our heads against the wall trying to figure out how to reach these people. Why not just do it with a policy that they can understand: helping women who would like to keep their babies when their real world situations make it difficult. I'm talking about throwing money at the problem and having every candidate mention it every time they speak.
Right now Democrats have nothing to offer these people on the abortion issue. Why can't we be the party that promises women everywhere that if they want to keep their baby they can and the Democratic party's policies will help them. Republicans would never do something like that. Who knows, maybe this could get a few of them to find Democrats acceptable compared to the trash fire that is the Trump regime.
17
it is not as much about pregnant women facing a crisis as it is about the wise elder men who demand to dictate to them what they can and cannot do. it is like rape: it's not about sex, it's about assault and power.
3
@Jojojo What if they don't want to keep their baby? No one is forced to have an abortion.
All the Republican senators know Trump is a conman.
Especially Mitch McConnell.
But they do nothing as long as Trump gives them tax cuts for the rich and the right-wing judges.
27
Do you know what an abusive relationship is? That's what rural America has with the GOP. Republicans tell them everything they want to hear, whisper sweet nothings in their ear, then sell them out. Rural America sees no value in the policies of the Democratic party (for whatever reason often pure ignorance or religious doctrine) thus they're desperate to feel included. Rural America is locking itself in a time capsule and expecting the rest of world to remain the same. They don't want to accept change because they don't think they should have to. Sound elitist? Then all this coastal "elitist" this and "out of touch" that. Why don't they get more in touch with reality? Why is it everyone else's problem in this country to help rural America realize it needs to make hard adjustments? You can't help someone who won't help them self. You cannot do for another what they must do for them self. Thus, they sit, angry and confused. Why does rural America follow Trump? Why does someone stay in an abusive relationship? They are stuck, they are stranded, they are hopeless, they are directionless, they don't know what "better" is anymore, and thus they are very angry.
12
You had better wake up and take stock, America's ranchers and farmers who feed nearly every one of their fellow citizens. During the three-quarter century which has followed the end of WWII, America's family farms and ranches have been decimated.
Its causes are numerous, from the aggregation of large swaths of fertile land under the asphalt and concrete of suburbanization and interstate highway systems to the swallowing, on a massive scale, of small, individual family agricultural and horticultural enterprises by large corporations on an industrial scale. Rural America and the small communities which support it and serve as centers of life and services are being obliterated as they are abandoned to economically starve.
The most recent affronts, and possibly the coup d' gras to Rural America, have been the concerted efforts by Donald Trump and his Republican stooges to con and convert it to a machine that feeds their own steadily growing wealth. Why, then, do they continue to support the bearers of their own demise?
The latest generation of Americans has exhibited a refreshing awareness of the rewards to be reaped from a return to rural-based, family-oriented, small-scale agricultural enterprises and the iconic ways of life they make possible while enjoying a the inherent satisfaction they bring with a rich standard of living. There still is time to recognize the scam perpetrated on a vital segment by Trump and the Republicans in 2016, and reverse its fortunes in 2020.
7
1. Don't forget the devastation DJT's policies are having on dairy farms in the midwest (the farms are collapsing at very rapid rate).
2. Farming communities rely on immigrant/migrant labor. If you think things are bad now, wait until harvest time when there aren't enough people to collect/pick/process the food before it rots.
3. be careful not to conflate"rural" with "farming/agricultural". I live in a rural community, but it is NOT heavily agricultural.
11
People in cities tend to have lots of respect for rural America. But a lot of rural Americans couldn't be more snide and disparaging of city dwellers, especially those who live near the coasts. And, to generalize maybe unfairly, many people in rural regions seem very invested in the myth that people look down on them. Tons of modern country songs are resentful anthems defending small town life against some imagined snobs in New York. It's an old story, and a tiresome one.
37
I was born in Buffalo, NY, hardly an "elite" place. I did, however, live for some time in the upper mid-West. It would have never occurred to me to look down on my mid-Western neighbors or the way they ran their farms or their lives. Yet, I found that my mid-Western neighbors, while wonderfully kind, were very eager to label me as an "East Coaster" and attribute attitudes to me that I did not have. I found this isolation oppressive enough that I ended up in Boston, where, for the most part, my friends and neighbors come from all over the country and all over the world. Their varied backgrounds and experiences enrich my own. My neighbors here are hardly "elite". But the folks in the mid-West are being told by Trump and his fellow Republicans, and are all too easily convinced, that we have have elitist attitudes and look down on them. My own experience makes me think that the reverse is closer to the truth. It is we city dwellers who are portrayed, somehow, as less than genuine Americans and we are all the poorer for it. What a shame that this works to the detriment of all of us, especially our rural neighbors.
36
I live in rural western Montana, surrounded by neighboring ranches and many of my friends are also wheat farmers. Most, though not all, are college educated. Their political persuasion runs from centrist to hard right. The ranchers are doing OK, not great, but OK. The farmers are struggling because the price they get for wheat and pulse crops (pea types) has been low for several years now and Trump tariffs are only making things worse. My farmer friends are barely hanging on, and switching to other crops costs too much money in different equipment.
IMO, what makes the difference here between centrist and the hard right Trump fans is Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. My rural right wing friends listen to a lot of right wing radio and my centrist friends don't listen to Limbaufh or Fox News at all. Fox and Limbaugh are promoting a Trump cult, and no matter what the Democrats do or say they are demonized. Trump is always right and the Democrats are always wrong and no amount of arguing about it changes minds. Even ag publications like The Prairie Star regularly talk about how tariffs are hurting producers, but it makes no difference.
43
Maybe Krugman is missing a point. Perhaps Trump simply encapsulates the essence of a true cult leader with his own true believers - even if his words are not true. Perhaps this explains the paradox of his continued support among those most hurting. It's not denial that they are been taken (well, taken somewhere). It is the seemingly contradiction of cults (political, religious, military ,or who knows what?). A successful cult leader can convince his "followers" into actions which often prove obviously harmful, if not totally destructive, to themselves, their families, friends and often their country, if not the world, and not simply economically, Paul. The rationale is the need to "sacrifice for a higher good", no matter how bad. The higher the proclaimed cause the higher the greater is the need (and worthiness) of the sacrifice. Blame what you will- religion, or nationalism, or whatever, but not Trump for its invention- though he knows how to make it work). So, for Trump's followers who are hurting the most- economics may prove ,ironically and paradoxically, the very most needed sacrifice (while others doing well indeed, if not in deeds). Perhaps, this, in some small way, explains most, if not all politicians and leaders . What did Churchill offer his people, "Blood, toil..."? What did JFK say about, "Ask not what your country can do for you..." on the way to the moon and Viet Nam)? Obama promised "Hope"? Is it too early for a Scotch? I hope not.
3
So.
Krugman got into a car and went to rural America, huh ?
...I thought not.
He can know everything he needs to know about America from right there in his ivory tower.
It's OK. You can tell by the tenor of his recent articles that he senses the massive Republican victory coming in 2020.
4
@Objectivist
He got as far as Politico. That's in Ohio, right?
@Objectivist: There are lots of farmers in the Garden State.
@Objectivist I keep seeing comments like yours from people in wealthy coastal blue states like California and Massachusetts. Sure, you guys know everything about rural America. Way to stick it to those coastal elites in their ivory towers. I guess if I was a Republican in Massachusetts I'd be angry too. What's it like to just lose and lose and keep losing over and over and over again?
1
Part of the challenge here is that the core of Trumpism is effectively the grandest Pigeon Drop con ever pulled off. The marks are firmly hooked and they'll believe pretty much anything they're told at this point. The "just wait a little longer", "the big payoff is coming any day now"; every single dodge ever used by con men stringing the mark along is on full display in Trump's tweets and Fox News. These people have invested so much in believing this man that they can't back out. It the same reason why so many people who've been taken by a con like this never report it to the police; they're simply too embarrassed and ashamed. They all believed that they were going to make a killing in a shady deal only they knew about. It's the same reason those bulk emails from Nigeria looking for a victim almost always reel one in. The Trumpists wanted something for nothing, wanted to take from others to give to themselves. They expected the big envelope to be filled with cash. Instead its all cut up newspaper. Sadly, even when they find out they probably won't change simply because it would too humiliating to admit how wrong they were.
13
Are people who gamble in a Las Vegas casino stupid?
They know the odds are with the house. They know they're far more likely to lose than win.
But they gamble anyway -- because it's entertaining.
Trump has harnessed that. He gives people an enemy, a sense of beleaguered togetherness, arousing news reports on a daily basis, shared hatred of the "other" and a few real policies they like.
He, and right wing media, have been effective at keeping contrary information, like this article by Paul Krugman, from penetrating his base.
Trump is a world-class bully. Bullies do it because it's fun and they can't be stopped until the fun is taken out of it. But, with no capacity for shame and nobody around more powerful, it's hard to see how that's going to happen.
I think Trump has probably won. Congress won't be able to stop him until after the 2020 election and then only if there is a Democratic wave and the votes are counted honestly.
11
@RickP
"You cannot bore people into buying your product"
David Ogilvy.
Quick, someone please tell the Democratic candidates before it's too late. Well, for some it is already.
1
@RickP
Counting the votes honestly? Like the Chicago votes for JFK? Or the votes for Bush? Give me a break.
The logic of the argument in this editorial is perfect. Unfortunately, logic is not what drives Trump supporters. It it were, they never would have voted for him in the first place. Their emotional response to their justified discontent was to throw a hand grenade into the political tent to blow it up. Well, it worked. But, as with most explosions, there have been unintended consequences. But at this point, they simply are not able to admit they were wrong, even though they have been suffering the brunt of the fallout from this stupid social experiment. The worst part of this is that its negative consequences are likely to outlive the people who put this man into the drivers seat.
14
America pretty much runs on Selective-Ignorance and Trump counts on that. America is a Con Man's Dream and that is how we ended up with the most dysfunctional and corrupt government in world history primarily spearheaded by the GOP.
18
Your comments may be true, but Trump still hurting them, they are not even aware of it and continue to support him.
What am I supposed to think of them?
They rather keep their racist anti immigrant (build the wall!) views even if it hurts them.
Go figure.
7
The problem is that those hurt by his policies are voting with their emotions, like most of us do to varying degrees. It doesn't make them stupid, it makes them human. The D establishment's penchant for thinking all Trump voters are racists, ignorant, or victims of Russia doesn't help changing their minds. Twice, I've seen Bernie Sanders do town halls with ostensibly hostile audiences. By the end of the meetings, they had changed their minds about him. Why? Because he spoke in terms of basic human rights of Americans--decent wages, health care, education without debt. Vague phrases like "Making America Moral Again" ring hollow because they are hollow. If the Democratic establishment plans to push a candidate with platitudes like Hillary's, they will have the same results as with Hillary.
4
I live in a small town smack dab in the middle of rural America. A lot of my friends and acquaintances are Trump supporters. Why? is the unanswerable question if you assume people vote for politicians who do things for them, who live like them, who have the same values, who appear intelligent, honest, loyal, self-less and at least minimally competent at what they did before running for high office.
I'm not sure I know anyone here who actually benefited from the Trump tax law. They sure aren't getting any help from his agriculture policies.
Maybe it's because they like his racist, xenophobic, plutocratic and anti-liberal trash talking. There sure isn't any other plausible explanation.
27
As for the Trump voters in middle America?
Let them eat cake.
7
So the answer to coastal elitism is to elect a coastal elite who is a supreme crook and con man to boot? Then, falling for the big con, feel disrespected for being considered a rube?
14
I'm not a farmer, but I 'feel' for the particular economic insults that the prayerless mantis in the oval office (a/k/a [by me] Potus Ignoramus-Licentious) inflicts upon them.
As a big-city attorney -- retired (so ... a big-city "nothing") -- I'd love to see a 'resurrection' of the Ag Dep't's Economic Research Service (as well, one @ Interior, EPA, et alia); but, most of all (other than 'sight' of a progressive democrat 'with' fewer than my own 70 years in that oval office), I'd like to see DOJ returned to the 'willing' decent and honorable.
3
Trump is terrible ALSO for rural America. His view is simple. He wants a tiny fraction of rich people to have control over powerless and moneyless masses, forcing them to live their lives in a miserable way for the benefit of just a few.
4
Trump is terrible for everyone but trump.
11
"...[The] Trump administration doesn’t believe in fact-based policy..."? You mean the REPUBLICAN PARTY doesn't believe in fact-based policy when the facts go against their arguments (which is almost always the case). This has been true for decades. ALL they're interested in is scoring the win - no matter how basely done. It is their only real principal. The examples are too numerous to bother listing.
6
Trump is terrible. Period. Full stop.
8
So the answer to coastal elitism is to elect a coastal elite who is a supreme crook and con man to boot? Then, falling for the big con, fell disrespected for being considered a rube?
3
I thought the Midwest needed things to fall apart so it could finally have it's dream prepper's uprising end-of-days Jesus is coming back event...
1
Same old story...
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game
5
I'm surprised Professor Krugman didn't mention the opioid crisis, which seems to be hitting rural America especially hard.
Maybe that's because Trump's 2017 declaration of an opioid emergency has led to such success in fighting the epidemic.
one look at Trump from the hopeless bottom of a barrel and opioid addiction seems like a reasonable response.
1
Trump is terrible for all of America. How the working class has historically been so clueless about the damage done to them by Republicans is one of the mysteries of our democracies, not just of the Trump era, but for many generations.
My father came home from work filthy and exhausted after spending the day lying on his back under a car, no health care, no pension, nothing to protect him when he was too old and sick to do it anymore, and still backed all Republican candidates. He said the Democrats were too radical.
In some crackpot doublethink, he seemed to have the delusion that by aligning himself with the fat cats he escaped the reality of his ground down life.
420
@dutchiris
Your father was a smart man for choosing to be filthy and tired and free than to buy into socialism.
1
Speaking of Trump/GOP policies being bad for farmers, they also feel the brunt of climate change. I don't know much about farming, but I know that droughts, floods, and unexpected frosts don't help them.
Meanwhile Trump and the GOP refuse to even acknowledge that climate change is real much less take steps to address the impact of unpredictable weather on agriculture.
5
Great ignorance can be a blissfully soothing balm.
4
If rural folks are not stupid, they know who to blame when the family farm goes under because China no longer buys US soy beans.
1
Of those states that did not expand Medicaid, how many are mostly rural? I know mine is. And although they vote red, in my county about 80% get some kind of “transfer payments”. But they hate “ those people with their hands in my pockets!”
4
@Ginger
Reminds me of Craig T. (“Coach”) Nelson’s rant on Glenn Beck’s show a decade or so ago: “They’re not going to bail me out. I’ve been on food stamps and welfare. Anybody help me out? No. No.” Amazing.
1
The only place in the world I have ever heard a person call someone else a "camel jockey" or "towel head" was in Iowa. The only places in the world I have ever been bluntly asked "what are you?" (because I am of Asian heritage) were in Iowa and small towns of downstate Illinois. The only places in the world where entire rooms of white people turned to stare and whisper when I entered a restaurant or house of worship were small towns in downstate Illinois. I'm willing to cut people slack for a lot of behaviors, but this is exhausting and willfully ignorant behavior, and just the tip of the iceberg, of what I certainly don't look up to.
12
@HM What about those of us in Red states working hard to turn them Blue?
6
It's like Fight Club. Once the delusion passes, all there is is a guy in a back parking lot, late at night, viciously punching himself.
2
So what?
Rural America is a euphemism for white America. They are getting treated the way they deserve.
Donald Trump won 58% of the white voting majority including 62% of white men and 54% of white women in 2016. Trump was not a covert stealth subtle candidate. Every American knew exactly who Trump was and was not and voted accordingly.
The white American majority is aging and shrinking with a below replacement level birthrate. And the only whites having babies come from the bottom of the socioeconomic educational pyramid. While white life expectancy is decreasing due to alcoholism, drug addiction, depression and suicide.
This will certainly continue to make America great.
8
white CHRISTIAN America... although the local definition of what qualifies as "white" ( that is, fully human) varies according to the degree and persuasion of Protestantism. when I am in a red state and every sentence and interaction with the locals ends with "have a blessed day", what is my takeaway supposed to be... and does it have to do with being washed in the blood of the lamb?
And they think you’re getting treated the way YOU deserve, too.
Looks like you’ll never learn.
@Blackmamba
While I understand your anger, your comments are racist. I am a white woman who is just as devastated as anyone about what is happening in this country. I had an almost complete breakdown when Trump was elected, and still get very depressed when I allow myself to pay too much attention to the damage he and his cronies are doing to this country.
Please don't pillory all white people; we don't appreciate prejudice any more than anyone else, and racist attitudes from anyone just make the situation worse.
2
The townies vs. the college kids, jocks vs. the nerds, farmers vs. the city slickers, south vs the north, Hatfield vs. the McCoys. Capitalists vs. the socialists, red vs. blue, the free world vs. communism. It goes on and on.
We're tribal and there is no getting around it. But, 243 years ago, people decided to make one out of many and grew the United States.
Our so called president would have us believe that the tribes are intact and the very presence of the neighboring tribe is an existentialist threat. Prior to this great divider, we had a president who said it's not a blue country, it's not a red country, it's a purple country.
I'm ashamed of our president and his hate mongering. I'm ashamed of the republicans who enable him and I'm ashamed for the people who support such a hateful agenda by feeling victimized by a chimera invented by this con man.
5
@Zeke27...and that my friend is the Achilles heel of multiculturalism - we are inherently tribal.
@Zeke27
You do realize, I hope, that 243 years ago, indigenous peoples and (of course) blacks were explicitly excluded by the people you claim made "one out of many." Please read your declaration of independence, your constitution, your bill of rights, etc. before pontificating about your less-than-awesome "founding fathers" not to mention your less-than-awesome republic,
1
for all of you complaining about "Coastal Elites" having skewed versions of rural America, I live 12 miles from NYC, many times when I talk about the joys of the City or North Jersey to rural relatives or acquaintances, I get "oh I would never go to New York so much crime" or "ha are you in the Mafia?" once when we were talking about going to New York a relative asked "oh going to see the animals" I said we're not going to the zoo, he said "I meant the people"
4
Trump has made a very fundamental error wittingly or unwittingly aiding the rich of our nation. Instead of penalizing the corporations for being in foreign lands and sending the goods back here where we consumers bear the burden of his Tariffs taxes, he should have more appropriately taxed the foreign holdings higher than the national based corporations which would have brought back the manufacturing. As it is now, the Congressional Republicans sneaked into the 2017 tax reform legislation a new foreign profits tax that fooled all of you. It's only 15 percent or lower than the lowered 21 percent national rate which still made it cheaper to stay out of the country.
You have to understand, the Republicans think and conduct themselves on the premise that everyone is stupid. They are not. Sooner or later, we all catch up to their deceptions.
After the underlying debate about our manufacturing being in foreign lands, we exerted pressure to return manufacturing. Like every other issue of the day, the Republicans met the challenge of the public concern by deceiving them. The Republicans raved about the new 15 percent foreign profits tax to throw some red meat to the mob, but the truth came out quickly and is still under the interest level of Americans.
They duped everyone, except me.
And yet I do not shed a tear.
5
What can you do with the rural population and the unemployed non-college-educated white men who are too dumb to see that Trump has sold them a fraudulent bill of goods in exchange for their votes, and that Trump actively undermines all their interests? Nothing. There is nothing one can do to make these ignorant suckers see the light. So Democrats should write them off and stop trying to woo them back. Instead, Democrats can win with women, minorities, the college educated, youth, small business people, naturalized citizens, the employed working class, and disaffected Republicans. At the same time, Democrats should wage a PR war against the traitorous Republicans who have betrayed the Constitution in exchange for a tax cut that will soon expire.
6
Every middle class resident of any street in America 'votes against his self interest' every day he chooses not to combine with other middle class residents, to outnumber and rob the richest resident of that street. Whether you gang up on the more fortunate and steal their money at the end of a knife or gun, or use the ballot box to vote yourself someone else's money, you are still a thief. Rural Americans are often of modest means, but they are not thieves - a fact that infuriates socialist/'progressive' Democrats.
The letters here explaining how badly disrespected some people feel fail to take into account what the article irrefutably points out - that the con man also disrespects the con, fools the con, takes the con's vote and livelihood.
5
This whole looking down on rural folks is what is getting annoying. I don't know anyone who is like that. What I can't get are good reasons, when trump's hypocritical policies are pointed out to them, why they continue to support the guy. I usually get "because Hilary is worse." No lie.
7
Democrats in SC have said for more than three years that Trump is terrible for the many white working-class voters here who still cling to his promises.
I've spoken with some of them. They may not like what Trump says, but they like that they are working, even though they may not have health care, a decent wage or job security.
Many see Medicaid and other safety net programs as giveaways for "welfare queens." They have no idea that they themselves may be eligible for some of the programs, such as SNAP.
They think that communities should care for their own, but they have no answers when asked how that would be funded or work without funding.
We've all heard soybean farmers, who were greatly harmed by Trump tariffs when China stopped buying their produce, claim it will be alright in the long run. That may be true for factory farmers, but how about the family farmers?
It makes no sense, yet my fellow Democrats and I who diligently try to explain all this to them get nowhere. The response is always "what about..." or "I don't follow it that closely but I won't vote for a Democrat." Crazy.
8
I’m no fan of Trump’s tariffs. Agreed. That said... Tell this to the members of the United Steel Workers who will benefit from over $3 billion in plant modernizations announced since Trump took office. Explain this to the people who will build & work at a completely new plate mill. Tell this to the plant managers & company owners in rural SW PA who cannot find enough qualified workers for their small factories. Tell this to the people whose pay rose last year at the fastest pace in nearly two decades.
2
@Once From Rome
Tell it to the workers at GM’s Lordstown plant who were sold out by Mary Barra.
As usual, Paul Krugman reveals himself to be a precious national resource. My only criticism is with his last sentence. Rural Voters are not Trump's worst victims. That is a fate shared equally by all Americans.
7
They feel disrespected by coastal elites so they ... vote for a man who lives in a gold-plated penthouse in Manhattan.
1986
@Julie. Yeah, but by no stretch of the imagination is he “elite”.
61
@Julie
True but that man is despised by the costal elites.
So maybe it’s really just the old adage that the enemy of my enemy is my friend in play here.
50
@Norville T. Johnson
Actually, he is despised by students, blue collar workers, white collar workers, stay at home moms, retired people, people working in the professional classes, child care workers, teachers, librarians, waiter and waitress, hairdressers, garage collectors, the guy who is currently fixing my roof, as well as rich and knowledge people and people in the creative classes. The group of people who despise trump and what he is doing to America is large and varied. And don't let Fox tell you different.
150
Prof. Krugman is right. People in Red States suffer in many ways from Republican policies. One in which they pay the ultimate price year after year is in high fatality rates and numbers from vehicle violence especially without timely medical care. See
https://www.fairwarning.org/2017/02/top-traffic-death-states-support-trump/
I can’t even envision a suitable enough punishment for Trump for the harm he’s done to this nation through blind ignorance and hatred. Hopefully the SDNY is amassing felony indictments.
3
I live in rural America. My neighbors are farmers, craftsman, and service workers, and to a person they are better off than they were three years ago. They have more work, more income, and more wealth. Which is to say, your entire column is an exercise in obfuscation. Contrary to the implication of your column, they are not stupid. They know that under Trump, they have experienced real gains.
3
In nowhere but a fantasy land are people from rural America better off than they were three years ago. Maybe there’re fewer of those hated immigrants?
9
I wish I could say the same, but nobody I know is doing any better.
6
@Charles
You either are floating down the river of denial or live in a fantasy bubble. US Farmers are in serious trouble. And so is the security of those who live in the US because we depend on them to feed us.
1
Rural voters probably blame immigrants for their plight - not Trump and his trade wars.
4
Only problem with this article is the NYT readership in rural America is probably much lower than in the cities.
4
As has been said before, Trump supporters simply like his racist, homophobic, misogynistic, anti-environmental, anti-intellectual ways of thinking and acting because that’s how they think too. Good article, and the reality of things has absolutely nothing to do with their support of him. They will stay loyal.
6
The soybean farmers in the Midwest drive me crazy.They are going bankrupt, and yet they still stare glassy eyed and declare improbably that "Trump has kept his promises." And then they claim "We're sure Trump's trade policies will help us in the long run." What promises? What help? He is destroying their lives, and will wreak even more destruction if he can cancel the ACA.
This is tribal rationalization in the extreme. These farmers are using no logical reasoning whatever. They just "don't like those liberals," and will tolerate anything coming out of Trump's mouth--or Pence's! Pence was just here in Minnesota yesterday spouting the craziest nonsense anyone could imagine, and the rubes were still cheering.
6
Out there in the beloved heartland of myth, where the inhabitants have better values than the rest of America, it seems they succumbed to lies of a false Messiah. They have reaped what they sewed. Sympathy? Not one iota.
4
Typically a liberal asks "how can government help me..." while a conservative asks "how can government hurt them..."
Which is why rural America doesn't care if Trump hurts them... as long as he "owns libs" more.
1
I went to high school and college in Georgia. Through Facebook, keep in touch with many. Most claim to be Christian and despised Obama yet adore someone as immoral as Trump. Not to mention Trump has mocked southerners often. Can you imagine if Obama mocked Jeff Sessions the way Trump did? Yet, they still love him. Why? He won't take their guns away. The wall thing probably has something to do with it to but guns are the main issue. These people are truly insane.
6
Unfortunately, They will gladly give their lives for him.
2
@Grove: Michael Cohen once said that. No more.
2
so would Michael Cohen. until he wouldn't.
I often feel like our conservative friends and neighbors have gotten into a cult. I find it helpful to read stories of people leaving gangs, cults, and hate groups. The hardest thing for these ex-gang members is often finding a place to express doubts without being torn to pieces. This is especially true when the corrupt leader makes loyalty the only virtue.
There is a path out. We can do our part by staying true to our values and declining to be a part of the corrupt leader's narrative: constant war, everyone for themselves. instead, let's concentrate on doing the most good for all, and let our actions speak louder than the corrupt leader's empty words.
5
Republicans like to gloat, portraying election wins as mandates to punish us. Let's remember that elections have consequences and the Republican base of voters will be punished economically by those they voted for. The Tariffs are taxes on all of us. Think of how much smarter the Republican base will become after learning how they are deceived.
"Rural voters also feel disrespected by coastal elites, and Trump has managed to channel their anger. "
Yes, and they are right to feel they are disrespected. And can see that every time they see an entertainment show on TV, never mind the late night comics. The competition to be "edgy" is inherently disrespectful of anyone who values any sort of tradition, as is common for rural citizens (and many others).
This is not new or a result of Trump. Think of Franks' book "What's wrong with Kansas" from the 1990's.
Maybe the coastal elites should think about their responsibility for the anger that led to President Trump's election. Both the business elite eager pursuing "disruptive innovation" without considering the lives of those "disrupted" and a cultural elite constantly pushing to erase any semblance of tradition as a source of meaning in people's lives.
@Mike S. What traditions would those be? Allowing people to love who they chose and express that love with marriage? Allowing women to have control of their destiny by allowing them to control what happens with their bodies? Working to ensure that people of color are able find work and housing and not be denied that because of their race? Working to ensure equal pay for equal work so women and minorities aren't cheated? Or making sure that a government isn't promoting a particular religion? Maybe it's being concerned when law enforcement seems to kill with impunity in many places? Or maybe its because we have very real concerns about the private arsenals out there that seem to contribute to tens of thousands of deaths each year. I would really like to know what benign "traditions" us "elites" are trampling on? Because if its anything on this list those aren't traditions that anyone should support and really aren't places that can be readily compromised on either.
1
But there’s something missing from this argument: rural people love Trump for his hateful policies and rhetoric toward immigrants and liberals. I feel genuine sympathy toward small-town America for its ignorance and allegiance to a con man.
1
Krugman is right, but how do you get those people to understand?
Rural americans want to keep their counties free of immigrants and for that they would do anything - even vote against their own interests.
2
This rural alignment with Trump...it's NOT all about economics, people. I'm surprised reader comments have avoided the obvious connection between rural America and the Republican party due to anti-abortion attitudes (and guns). I was born and bred in farm country in the Northern US (lots of soybeans grown there) and I can tell you some people will vote for whomever the Republic party puts in front of them (regardless of economic policy), because of (a) religious mandate from churches to overturn abortion and (b) they're worried about government taking away their guns. That's about it.
5
No he's not, I live in rural America and it's just fine here. I guess it depends on your attitude.
13
@solohoh What is the primary agricultural product in your area? Trade wars won't affect lettuce, which is consumed mainly in the US, but will punish soybean producers. It depends on which rural area, and how exposed they are to diminished exports.
21
@Ken
Solohoh obviously did not read the body of the article, as his/her post is a direct response to the title of the piece and nowhere in it does it say that rural America is not "just fine," which is a subjective term. Rural America can be "just fine" and still be hurt by Trump's policies.
26
This area, the San Joaquin Valley, is the breadbasket of the nation. The largest ag show in the world is at Tulare in February.
1
Coastal Elites in the headline is next to idioticly inflammatory. It is also simply wrong. Elites, referring to the financial elite, are the root problem, coastal or not. Rooting for "liberal" elites is just rooting for nicer dictators. Political dominance and control must be removed from the financial elite and their wealth and returned to honest true representative democracy, untainted by financial elite influence.
The West Coast liberal democrats have a real corruption problem. Washington state's senators are owned by PhRMA, Big Hospital, Big AG, Boeing, and the MIC. They fundamentally support the machine that let's big money usurp our real democratic choices. That contradicts and undermines their pro-women, pro-environment and otherwise liberal stances.
When real representative democracy is in place sensible progressive policy and real justice will lead to a truly prosperous USA. That will happen when candidates who prioritize ending big money corruption are elected. Until then we are just settling for slightly nicer dictators.
2
The ignorant ones elect the evil ones. Really sad. Screwed by their hero. The republicans have played this game for years.
4
This is how you know our democratic system is screwed. The central cog in the machinery of democracy is voters acting reasonably, self-interested while being mindful of the general welfare. The principle unifying themes of Trumpism are detachment from factual analysis and enthusiastic disdain for the general welfare. The much more urgent question for our country than what is to be done about Trump is how will we get citizens to bring their reason and compassion to governance of all the people?
2
The NYT paywall and those of the WPost, Bloomberg, and the W$J deny access to less affluent people who thus must rely upon TV and social media. That’s one reason why Trump’s poor people don’t know he’s been cheating them.
Free, high-quality information, like education, is essential to a democracy and to a well-functioning economy. Lower taxes on our top news organizations would be a good trade in exchange for free open access over the internet.
The internet should be free or cheap and universally available.
3
@Kevin Cahill
Trump raised tariffs on Chinese made newsprint. The newspapers will have to raise their prices, or go to all internet distribution.
2
The internet should be free? Do you include all content available on it? Should we have the government subsidize content providers?
There’s nothing stopping people from listening to NPR, which is free.
I am a Montana farmer with a Master's Degree in Mathematics (I don't have any idea why Krugman thinks the term "coastal elites" is valid...what makes them elite?). Clearly, Krugman is ignorant of the current state of agriculture. Almost all farms in Montana ARE corporations, although we are not. The reasons are financial, including taxes. As far as immigrants are concerned, who do you think is doing the weeding of all the sugar beets you consume? Who picks the Flathead cherries? Krugman has done no research for this article and is just repeating mindless propaganda (or is it wishful thinking?).
We have nine Indian reservations in this state and I think you will find that is where most of the support goes for SNAP (i.e. food stamps).
As far as the bargaining in trade is concerned, most of us support it. It is about time we had a President with enough guts to confront the issue of unbalanced tariffs. Germany: 28% tax to import a Ford (18% of which is a "value added" tax to make Fords as expensive as a Mercedes). United States: 1.4% to import that Mercedes to the U.S. We can afford to pay a little higher prices for a time, to create a level playing field for our manufacturers and farmers. We have been subsidizing the world economy for long enough...since WWII.
2
Thanks for the anecdotes.
@Raz
I'm glad to hear that corporate farmers are doing so well in Montana and that white people don't use SNAP. Now, if all you well off farmers can stop taking my hard earned money for your subsidy benefits I, a tax payer can do well too.
1
Try to explain to Trump why a stronger dollar will have an even larger impact on trade.....
You see, the power of the conman lies not in the con, but in his victims refusal to admit that they were conned. Trump is the expert in that arena.
Obama was right -These self defeating people "have their guns and bibles"
Derp!
4
See article from May 7 in Politico. Economist are leaving Agriculture Departments Research Service because they're punished for publishing reports that point out that Trump's policies are hurting rural voters.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/07/agriculture-economists-leave-trump-1307146
Every opinion piece by the left starts with the assumption that everyone has no greater ambition than to be a ward of the state.
2
There is a difference between being “a ward of the state” and being an individual who votes for those who offer reasonable solutions to benefit the common good. Very few of us are “wards of the state.” We work hard and pay our taxes and expect a relatively level playing field that offers decent education and decent health care and decent pensions when we reach our late 60s.
6
It's the GOP secret sauce. How do they get such strong and blind support from those they oppress the most?
2
I wonder if the NYT will accept this truth, Trump legalized industrial hemp with the 2018 Farm Bill in December. It's now legal for farmers who were once making a decent living on tobacco to grow industrial hemp. This is a major benefit to farming states like Kentucky, who at one time was the nation's leading producer of industrial hemp until it was made illegal in 1937.
People can work for a living instead of taking welfare.
1
I am surprisedPK didn’t mention the lack of cheap labor brought on by trump’s immigration policies. This is a factor for dairy farmers in upstate NY at least.
1
These rural residents voted for Trump to shake things up (for other people). Well, he shook things up and now they are shaken by the changes he has caused them by his disastrous trade, diplomatic, and agricultural policies. Well, welcome to the real world. We are all connected; what happens to one group impacts the rest sooner or later.
2
Dear Paul,
You know this, I know this, any intellectually capable, independent thinking person knows all the facts that you write about in the NY Times every week. The problem does not Fox broadcast true economic data and the middle of the county bible-belters don't read the NY Times, let alone your column. If they did, they wouldn't support Trump, his policies, or the policies of the hypocritical republicans that are only out for themselves and their corporate welfare buddies.
Thanks for the good read and strong facts.
4
We and most of our friends are mostly professional people - doctors, professors, engineers, etc., with many possessing post graduate degrees in their professions, and many/most of us have traveled to many other countries - Russia, China, Israel, India, Vietnam, etc. I say this not to brag in any way, but to establish the fact that we, as such, certainly fit the popular definition of 'elite'.
And as may be expected, or as is always impled by many, we do not admire Trump and many of us are apalled that this country, probably the greatest country on earth in several centuries, is being 'led' (?) by such a crass/indecent person.
But even among us, there are some who seem to think Trump is next to God.
There is one, who is a doctor, who has been in very high positions, e.g., chief of cardiology in a hospital, etc., and is greatly admired by all his friends as a genuinely good person and highly knowledgeable (except probably politics or current politics). But if you visit his home, you find Fox News blaring constantly! He does not come out praising Trump all the time, partly because he does not seem to really follow day-to-day politics, but his constantly watching of Fox News tells you that he admires Trump.
And then you have an engineer, who was an executive at a NY power company, he just comes out swinging in praise of Trump. Listening to him is just mind-boggling for most of us non-Trumpers! We wonder how an educated, rational person can be so supportive of Trunp?
6
Pew Research Center noted (Mar 20, 2018) that "the GOP advantage among rural white voters is now 24 percentage points (58% to 34%)". https://www.people-press.org/2018/03/20/1-trends-in-party-affiliation-among-demographic-groups/
What messages and action plans do the Democrats offer to these rural voters? Or, have they given up much of the rural and small towns?
2
Serves them right. As the cliché goes, elections have consequences.
4
It is easier to lie to a person, than to convince that person they have been lied too. - Mark Twain.
11
If the net result of 45 is that rural areas experience even more brain and youth drain, that seems like a win to me.
Also, whether intentionally or not, Trump has driven up gas prices to levels not seen since the halcyon days of W - great for oil companies, bad for rural numbskulls driving ludicrously oversized trucks to compensate for, um, whatever. Another win!
2
Fox News is propaganda, and it's unfortunate that it's the voice of rural America. They listen and think they are hearing the truth, and don't look further, after all the President appears only on Fox News.
5
As usual, Paul is right. As usual, the MAGA Heads could care less. They're with Trump now and tomorrow and forever. It's not because of facts and figures. It's fear, anger, and hatred; ergo, Trump.
2
Sign me up for a double helping of schadenfreude. And I won’t feel guilty at all!
2
Don't call them victims. Victim implies some degree of innocence and his rural supporters are willfully ignorant even when it is clear his policies are hurting them. Take the Soy bean farmers who lost there $26 billion dollar of trade with China because of his uncoordinated trade war. Yet, most of them still said they support him and would vote for him again ($12 billion dollar boondoggle they got helped soften the blow but how long will that last). Take the red state supporters who have lost healthcare or had to pay sky high premiums because of Trump's efforts to end Obamacare and most still say they will vote for Trump. Take the people who complained about having to pay more taxes after being promised a tax cut --yet they still support him, These wiling suckers deserve what they get but don't call them victims.
8
Most of us don't understand how these people can support trump despite his inability to even care for these people. However, if you look at all the surveys after the 2016 election, the overwhelming reason they supported trump was "cultural fears" which is a code word for fear of the "other" the non-white, the Jew, the Muslim, the Mexican, etc. etc.
It is time for the productive majority to understand that the large portion of white America (particularly in rural America) is actually racist. That is not going to change after trump.
7
Trump is not terrible for rural America, if he is affirming their religious and cultural values, and so, once again, we have a NYT opinion piece that makes one's economic well-being the only indicator of what is good and what is terrible, and that is so, sad.
2
@Isle
"religious and cultural values"
Code words for rascist haters of anyone who doesn't look ,talk, and think exactly like them.
Yep, you nailed it.
So affirming racism is a good thing?
I live on the so called " elite" East coast. I am a middle class immigrant who believes like many that the " common good" is what makes the fabric of this society. I grew up in a farming community in Europe. Like other farmers all over the world, my father and other farmers I knew, were weary of rules, regulations and tariffs enacted from above. I understand that the farmers in middle America are suffering right now or will suffer from the tariffs this administration is putting on China. I would like to offer compassion and yet, they elected this man who has done nothing but cheat them. Some of them are reluctantly saying that they got cheated. Others would still vote for him despite the setbacks just because of his name and his loud mouth. They have to realize like millions of Americans that what is going on right now will hurt them for a very long time. They put their trust in someone who is nothing but an arrogant cheat, a con artist who is in this for himself only. He does not give a fig about the poor Iowa farmer who won't be able to sell his soybeans to the Chinese, will have to forget about replacing his tractor, or buy a washing machine for his wife or a bicycle for his child. If prices go up in the supermarket or the Home center, will it finally make some of these voters realize that they got cheated and have to vote this man out of office. If Congress cant help us resolve this problem, maybe those voters will see the light of day!
1
I regret to admit that my image of farmers has deteriorated. I used to think of them as the kind and hard-working Jonathan and Martha Kent who took in an alien (literally) and raised him as their own son. Now I think of them as, well, Trump supporters.
8
Rural Trump voters are not the problem. The disproportionate affect Rural Trump voters enjoy because of the electoral college is the problem.
6
It's remarkable that people who stand to lose the most by republican policies tend to be republican voters.
3
Unfortunately while both political parties spent the last several years choosing money over their constituents while strictly serving the interests of their corporate donors, "Don the Con" came by and told many exactly what they wanted hear. He also told them he would "drain the swamp" in Washington. Little did these folks know that Trump spent almost his entire life in the swamp "up to his neck" and he enjoyed every minute of it.
The farmers were the "sacrificial lambs" resulting from a problem that did not really exist and that continues until this day. However, the voters that ultimately support him were not the only ones that were hurt by Trump's actions, it has also been the taxpayer who has had to "cough up" over $12 BILLION dollars in subsidies to try to help people that Trump is needlessly hurting. and wasn't really necessary in the first place.
3
What Mr. Trump does is convince the economically struggling that it is the immigrant who is their enemy, not the rich. The enemy of the small family farm is not the immigrant, it is the large, automated corporate farm. The enemy of the unemployed machinist or automotive worker is not the immigrant, but automation. The Republicans cleverly pit Caucasian and brown/black/immigrant people from the middle and lower classes against each other. Rather than blame the rich who are orchestrating the squeezing of the less economically fortunate, the Republicans have convinced white people that the "other" is stealing their jobs, and getting government entitlements as well. The reason the Republicans do this is because if the disenfranchised white/brown/black/immigrant people all realized that they are in the same boat, so to speak, the rich would be voted out of office. Heck, they would be lucky if we didn't have a situation akin to the French Revolution, where the poor overthrew the rich. By having the poor consider each other enemies, based on skin color, country of origin, religion, etc., the rich have deflected the righteous anger that should be aimed at them. By dividing those who should stand in solidarity, they keep their power.
13
@betty
Scapegoating and Divide and Conquer.
The oldest political tricks in the world.
2
@pkbormes
Exactly. Divide and conquer. If the disenfranchised only stood together, their numbers would be overwhelming to the 1%.
Political leaders from any party can reap benefits by portraying people of color and/or immigrants as "others" (such as the tendency to view them as those who do not look like us), "job-takers," "violent," "without papers," "illegal thugs," etc. and direct and channel the anger and resentment created (in mainstream people) by the circulation of such rhetoric (of exclusion) toward political benefits. Recent American history has proved this strategy to be very successful in winning elections and gaining power. It is saddening that political leaders keep planting the seeds of "resentment," "hostility," and "anger," and manipulating people for political gain without ever reflecting on the implications of those tactics on longer political stability, progress, and the emotional well-being of the nation.
3
Republicans have always punished most of their voters, but in essence, the country would be a better place if only republican voters had to live under republican policies, because one view of how the rest of us had it, at some point, would have a big majority of those republicans voters not voting republican anymore.
3
Krugman preaches and scolds from his elitist bubble. In his early days, he built a sound academic reputation. Now he's all politics.
Should we believe his prognostication ? As when he predicted high growth from Obama's stimulus? Or more recently his prediction the economy would suffer greatly under Trump? Krugman has been wrong plenty of times.
Far more important (except to bankers and government officials) than an economy's raw size is GDP per capita. Many people also rightfully value social stability and cohesion. Krugman's globalist
approach undermines both.
So much of mainstream media functions merely as a progressive echo chamber that any dissent shocks (and even offends). Perhaps this provokes Krugman's condescending attitude.
His subtitle admonishes ; "...biggest supporters are... biggest victims" . That phrase can certainly be turned around and re-applied to his own party.
3
How so ? Be specific by quoting facts.
2
'specific' -- Which group is the biggest supporter of the Democrats? Which group has done least well under their policies and is doing markedly better under Trump?
1
Only if you ignore everything that can't be reduced to numbers, as Professor Krugman always does.
1
@Michael Livingston Because the numbers are where the truth of economics reside.
3
Is there nobody who can mount a kind of "truth offensive" which would reach those who up to now have bought into the Trump deceit machine? I have read and understood, for instance, what was done in order to deceive British voters ans get them to vote for Brexit. Surely people propagating the truth should be able to make farmers (and others) realise that they have been and are still being conned?
2
There are a lot of farmers out there with no noses as a result of trying to spite us "elites" by supporting Trump. Will they never learn?
3
In a time of so much injustice everywhere you look, this headline hardly seems tragic, but I’d argue that the people who suffer most from Trump’s policies are the people who understand the harm that those policies cause.
The most frustrating thing about reading this piece is that it will never change the mind of any Trump supporter. Rural Louisianians I've talked to that voted for Trump (and still support him even though his policies are rendering them bankrupt) tell me that supporting him is not really about his policies. To them, Trump is revenge for having "suffered" eight years under Obama. As long as Trump is being politically incorrect, insulting Democrats, LGBTs, and all liberals in general, they will continue to support him and cheer him on. They don't want to be told to care about the poor or care about black people and the plight of gays and transgendered persons. They also don't care if GOP olicy enables corporations to pollute or cut jobs without notice or even a reason, because "they provide the jobs in the first place." It doesn't matter because "Trump is going to save all those innocent babies." It's not necessarily his policy. It's his attitude.
6
I am skeptical about the purported resentment of coastal elites - Donald Trump is the embodiment of a coastal elite if ever there was one. My guess is that they resent the people they see as the "undeserving poor" living in the big cities - who they think lack the work ethic or the Christian family values that they grew up with. They resent them even though they rely on the same programs, maybe especially because they rely on the same programs - because they don't consider themselves to be the same, and when politicians tell them about the overly entitled poor, they think about these liberal snowflakes who get all exercised about PC issues, who seem intent on destroying people's careers, because maybe they have too much time on their hands, or don't have more important things to worry about.
They don't think about the many working poor in the cities, who do the low level service jobs, or clean other people's houses or run small businesses - maybe because many of those people don't look like them.
Not pandering to them would require calling them out on their lack of empathy for the majority of Americans who don't live like them.
3
They either don't get it or don't care, Paul. It's a lot more fun to "put it to the man," whoever the man is, and support their macho-wannabe, posturing, nationalistic hero. What's sad is, their children don't have a vote but will pay the price.
4
Yet another in the ongoing series of Trump-induced-misery to his most ardent supporters: Why waste the time? They do not care as long as they believe it's a thumb in the eye to those mythical Coastal Elites.
How about a continuing dialogue from Krugman about the continuing misery Trump policies are causing the majority, that is- The Rest Of Us?
2
This same opinion piece has been written, in one form or another, for years. "What's wrong with those people? Why don't they understand that they're voting against their self-interest?" Perhaps what matters most to them is not what matters most to you. If you haven't figured that out by now, then I think you're at least as uncomprehending as you accuse them of being.
3
With their continued declining incomes, rising income taxes, added-on tariff costs, and widespread opioid addiction problem, I anxiously await some glimmer of hope that rural America will now, at long last, wise up to what they gleefully ignored about trump in the first place: that he is a maniacal egotist willing to sell out his countrymen to win a p contest with the leader of China.
3
I wish we could get away from the labeling; Most people I know personally in NY are not elites of any sort; most people I know in rural areas are not idiots.
But a lot of people - rural and urban,coast and central, and all the uncounted places in between - don't understand economics ( arguably no one does, but that comes after the struggle to understand). And a lot of them ( us) want to have our needs catered to. And we have perhaps, all fallen into the habit of blaming THEM for all the things wrong with our system.
It goes both - or rather all - ways.
That doesn't mean I don't hate trumpism: the political philosophy which allows for continual attacks on reasoning, for which the end justifies any amount of dishonesty and manipulation. But the manipulation has increased hate, and diverted attention from changes that threaten us all.
1
Watch the Chicago Board of Trade, as prices for corn, wheat, soy beans, pork, cattle, dairy, poultry, etc. plummet. Thanks to Trump walking away from China, today, the family farm/ranch is doomed.
{begin sarcasm[
The only good news? Corporate raiders will buy up the farms and create virtually farming monopolies. Near urban ares, farms will sprout houses and strip malls. Oh, and fro w while prices at the supermarket will decrease, because farmers will try to sell what they have, just to get something. Then when the monopolies kick in; food prices will sky rocket.
[end sarcasm]
China doe snot need our food, they can get it from places like Brazil. Of course, doing that meas n cutting down the Amazon forests. Less Amazon forest; more accelerated climate change.
I just wonder how many farmers are ready to burn their MAGA hats? So, far, east of here (eastern plains of Colorado), still strongly support Trump and the Chinese tariffs; at least fro now. We'll see when fall harvest comes.
3
The very personification of irony, I guess. Humans can be pretty mystifying animals, that's for sure.
Lack of familiarity?! More like a fierce contempt of the all too familiar realization of immigrants being the low paid engine that the rural agricultural economy is greatly dependent upon.
2
You will read here, and elsewhere, about the contempt of the coastal elites for flyover America. Alas, I think that this, too, is a myth. There is much more resentment the other way around. One of Trump's talents is that he can channel that resentment for his own purposes. Think about it -- the anti-Christ is beloved by the Evangelicals! And it's not as if they don't know the bargain they have made.
5
Trump's cultists are committed to his twisted narrative. I don't believe them capable of the sort of objective analysis that shows how much Trump's policies, actions, and statements actually HURT them.
They can't manage it, so they continue to vote against their own self-interest. They simply can't figure these things out.
3
The global migration towards cities continues. The back sliding of rural areas continue. Lets first educate these rural Americans so they can then try to work their way out of the abyss. To long they have sat there and watched the abyss become their home land.
3
An other great article by Paul. Hit the nail on the head. The 38% have issues. This is to sad. Sheep to slaughter. Lead my "Mr. Lie". Truly a sad state of affairs. A sad comment on our society as a whole.
2
Pres. Trump's fight with China will ensure that once again the US taxpayers will have to pay billions to support US farmers, whose products are the best in the world. How can they feel good about getting handouuts instead of respect for whatt they create through their effor?
5
@Michael Anasakta But we can never, ever call those payments, ahem....welfare.
1
The peculiar thing about facts is that they really don't care if you believe in them or not.
Facts are true to themselves, not to the ideology or wishes of their observer.
1
Vermont is the most rural state in the country. Trump received 29 percent of the vote there in 2016. The socialist tax and regulation policies of Vermont have decimated the business environment and caused young people to leave the state in large numbers. Bernie Sanders has been an elected official in Vermont for 36 years. Imagine him doing for America what he has done for Vermont.
The Politico article quotes Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue as dismissing the concerns of economists in his department, and insisting that he wanted data-driven, not politically-biased analysis, a clear example of Trump-era propaganda of stating that black is white. This sort of spin by political appointees discredits the factual work performed by government professionals in favor of a political outcome. The same can be said for how Trump treats foreign policy analysis from State, the CIA, and Pentagon.
As for rural voters facing downturns in their economic prospects, Trump will try and deflect the blame from his own policies to other factors, such as immigration. Hopefully enough will see through the spin.
4
One of the biggest problems in rural America is the lack of fact-based journalism available to those who watch television and who may not have access to sufficient broadband to hear diverse points of view. Fox is for all intents and purposes free, and those living in rural enclaves with satellite dishes or basic cable watch Fox. The NY Times and The New Yorker are unavailable, but the National Enquirer is in the check out line. Farmers have traditionally valued independence and are distrustful of "big government" - associated with the Democrats, unfortunately. This is changing - the popularity of candidates like Sanders and Kirsten Gillibrand may help diminish Trump's control of narrative - and one hopes that the three years of Trump's lies will open the eyes of red counties and states and cost him his undeserved support.
6
I've lived my entire 73 years in the Northern Plains states (except for some years in the Army), and both parents came from farms. But I've also been shaped by an excellent state university system, clearly a bastion of "liberal" thought. So here I stay in my twilight, assailed by extremes of both sides of our national cultural wars.
Those "common" people most supportive of Trump are indeed hurt by his arrogant, reckless, and nearly illiterate hip-shooting. But they have shown a remarkable toughness because that's how they are, in supporting their "champion" for white citizens, against (fill in a blank), as one guy seeming to support the "package deal" they believe in.
In sharp contrast, the Democratic "party" presents a nearly incoherent gaggle, running the gamut with its many mini-parties, passionate for issues that too often have little to do with what common people need or find acceptable.
Having thought about these things a very long time, I think the only thing that might pull us all back together is another major war, for a truly common purpose. We've recently had some bad floods, warring against the planet. When the guys pull a boat up to your porch, you will not be asked which party you "belong" to before you can get in.
2
@Danny
umm, we have been fighting in Afghanistan for over 15 years.
I guess you haven't been watching the news for the last 15?
Because that ongoing war puts the lie to your wacky theory.
In the run-up to the 2018 midterms, I was in contact with some grassroots groups in Iowa. They told me that the farmers were well aware how Trump's policies were hurting them. The farmers kept saying that they hoped Trump would fix the situation and turn it around. So this is not reasoning politics. This is faith-based politics. All the facts and statistics you like won't change their minds because they have put their faith in Trump. Like people who are exploited by fake preachers, it's going to take some harsh reality, up close and personal, before they come to and accept what Trump's done to them.
11
Many of the Trump voters fell for the con job and the chance to get rich. They rolled the dice just like a gambler but came up with Snake Eyes. And now they are hooked, and have to keep playing the game hoping to win in the end.
7
the TPP was designed to avoid these scenarios by providing leverage we could use when negotiating w/ China thus protecting farmers and all the sub-99%. as well as intellectual property. China is now creating other markets as a result through their belt and road policies, and there's a good reason for that -- they see the importance of the big picture and the potential in growing markets in underserved developing countries that will continue their growth pattern as our markets get saturated. They're playing the long game, while Trump is nit-picking his way toward driving our economy and stature in the world into the ground for his short-term benefit.
The TPP would have maintained our stature, and provide a counter-balance in global politics -- something Trump doesn't understand, or chooses to ignore, again for self-motivated factors.
4
Trump may yet do America some good. Perhaps we can break the stranglehold of republicanism on America. Perhaps we can actually elect a liberal to lead the party of Republican light.
But that's not Biden.
2
It's time for Hollywood -- Yes, HOLLYWOOD -- to get involved here. American culture is awash in movies and TV shows that do PR for cops, soldiers, private investigators, lawyers, bankers, politicians, physicians, scientists, gangsters, cooks, cooks, and more cooks ....
But where are the farmers? WHERE, apart from an occasional locally-produced (in farm country) short PBS program? Is farming so completely lacking in humanity, drama, and intellect (e.g.) as to be uninteresting? How is it possible that preparing (too much) food for the few is vastly more interesting than producing food for all? By their media-watching habits/addictions, Americans make it clear, unwittingly or otherwise, that they care next-to-nothing for farming or for farmers.
Thus nobody should be surprised that American farmers view the rest of us with suspicion. It's actually more than we deserve, given all the food we eat.
When I was very young my favorite TV program was "Lassie." My family watched it every week, without fail. Lassie was a farm dog; Timmy was a farm boy; and Timmy's parents were farmers. Their lives were interesting, compelling, honorable, and occasionally very exciting. I've been infatuated with farms and farming, and I've had great respect for farmers, ever since.
7
@RR I'd also add where are the movies celebrating the successes of a democracy? Where are our Frank Capras? Why does every movie celebrate the hero King or the powerful super hero? Too many people get their day to day knowledge for entertainment, not actual learning. The movies teach them that democracy is ineffective, corrupt and useless. After nearly 50 years of that bombardment of course they'd gravitate to an authoritarian who assures them he on their side.
Cultural issues don't just boil down to "immigrants and race" for rural people. There is a general sense among many people, not just in areas officially considered stastitically "rural," but also many small towns and outer suburbs in flyover country, that costal, urban "elites" have utter contempt for everything about their way of life, from their cars to their homes, from their work ethic to their desire to know their neighbors, from their tastes in entertainment to their religion.
And frankly, as someone who grew up in the small town Midwest and went to graduate school in NYC, this perception is very much validated by reality.
There are many people in AcelaLand who look out at the United States of America and still see nothing but the "View of the World from 9th Avenue."
People will endure imperfect economic policies before they endure flat out disrespect of their culture and themselves, and until coastal liberals get this, they will battling Trump and whatever follows him for very long time.
[FWIW I voted for Clinton, but I understand why so many people, including many of my friends from back home, voted for Trump.]
4
@A F
This does cut both ways, right? As a progressive, I resent it when red-staters portray us as "immoral" for being supportive of gay rights or inclusive on immigration, or support the goals of Black Lives Matter. One cannot point fingers at one side when it comes to the divisions that exist in the USA today.
10
Good thing the kickers are in no way contemptous or insulting with regard to people who live in cities, isn’t it?
3
I assume the feeling is mutual. That the flyovers disrespect my city culture.
Why though am I not bothered at all by what they think, while they are so stressed by my opinions? The fact that they basically living off the blue states, given statistics that show the reds to be serious net takers of federal government funds, doesn’t even temper their animus.
I think the answer is they have too much time on their hands.
1
I am 71 and worked hard all my life to leave poverty behind and become one of the "coastal elite". It's a nice life! Too bad rural Joe Sixpack can't try it - he might like it. A big bust is coming - much bigger than 2008. You think the "deaths of despair" in these area can't go any higher? Wait until the 2nd Great Recession/Market Crash (I'm in cash) comes. The Fed is out of bullets and the Trump administration is already running a trillion dollar deficit. There will be little available for a bigger safety net. Perhaps then our rural fellow citizens will begin to think hard about which is the working man's party. But I wouldn't bet on it.
10
Big city residents supported and voted for trump too, and still and will do. i have seen no better politicians other than Bernie.
1
There should be some statistics to support the headline statement... farmer income, farmer production costs... I see none. Did the fired ERS employees carry the reports out with them? Soybean price drop has been ameliorated at least partially by subsidies. I don't know about grains, but Paul certainly should have been able to quantify that a bit. This is imbalanced reporting, and Paul is out on a limb again. BTW, familiarity with the urban immigrant problem also fuels discontent.
6
It’s, “unbalanced,” this is an EDITORIAL on the EDITORIAL page not reporting, and the little blue letters are LINKS to the data you swear is not there.
Good grief.
This column is incisive and well-written. I wonder where this population is getting its news. A lack of information literacy could be one reason they support Trump.
2
If "elite" means a discriminating, thinking person, if "elite" means a person who does not tolerate presidential lies, if "elite" means an educated person who has curiosity about the world, and celebrates the growing diversity of our country, then count me in.
14
Exactly. "Elite" sure sounds a lot better to me than "ordinary."
3
@maureen Me too!
When you have an individual, DT, who had 4 bankruptcies in his companies, and was ostentatious in his personal life, you know that person isn't someone who should be in charge of any economy let alone this one. Sadly, these farmers, hopefully learned their lesson in voting for him. We know too many who did. The fact that this morning when our debt was on the market, the Chinese stayed out of the bidding. Each year, China buys our debt, and they own 28% of the $4.2 trillion in Treasury bills, notes, and bonds held by foreign countries. Think that this country can finance its out of control spending for all things, military, entitlements, and tax cuts without the Chinese? Think again. DT is not good for this country, or the world. He is a danger, bent on war, and destruction, not only around the world, but of every institution in this country!
12
Wouldn't if be nice if - just like the Sneeches - we came to understand just how much we have been prodded, guided, encouraged to hate each other.
I think we'd all start directing our ire at the groups - like the Koch Network - that foster this so. What we could accomplish if we all worked together. No wonder division is such a lucrative stock in trade.
5
Trump's support from rural America isn't based on giving them economic growth, it's based on the idea of giving them economic growth. That is, Trump is promising a basket full of goodies, but the basket remains empty. All they have is the promise of a full basket and that's what they are holding on to.
You see, the power of the conman lies not in the con, but in his victims refusal to admit that they were conned. Trump is the expert in that arena.
First he convinces them that all other sources of information are false, all fake news. He tells them that only Trump will give them the straight talk. They believe because they cannot let go of the con. Then he hammers them with a constant stream of lies. They buy all of it.
With the internet and right wing media, these people also fall victim to groupthink. If you can get three people to agree on something, the something becomes valid. These media outlets form the basis of massive group think which then locks down the con.
It works! Even farmers who are suffering claim that is OK so long as there is a better outcome later on. This is also their not being able to let go of the con. Things must get better.
If things still do not improve, Trump will then blame the Democrats or Hillary or Obama or whatever.
In the meantime, Trump has done everything to boost the income of the very people that he claims to oppose with his phoney populism rhetoric.
And that my friends is how he gets away with it.
1381
@Bruce Rozenblit ...but they're not 'deplorables.' Just gullible common people who can never admit they're wrong.
52
@Bruce Rozenblit Thanks for your thoughtful and (to me!) accurate explanation of the con (or the grift, right?). Sigh. I'm reading Making Habits, Breaking Habits, by Jeremy Dean, and your explanation ties in completely with what he tells us about what happens when reality disagrees with what your habit of thought is. You deny reality.
85
@JCX Deplorable, on both counts. Makes me want to introduce an 'awareness quotient' as a qualifier to vote.
56
You have made your point, but rural America rejected Hillary Rodham Clinton because her progressive, permissive, and promiscuous values do not line up the values of rural America. The current crop of Democratic contenders are even further even left field than Clinton; they have even less appeal in rural America. We here n rural America don't agree with the social changes brought about Progressives; we do not consider what they do as progress, we consider it decadence. If the Democrats want to win rural America back, run a candidate with wholesome values. Until then, we will have Donald J. Trump. Thank you.
6
@Southern Boy What exactly is it about Donald Trump's personal life or conduct in office that indicates that he has "wholesome values"? Please, be specific. We are confused.
3
@Southern Boy
You mean "wholesome values" like sleeping with porn stars, or "grabbing women by their p----"? That kind of "wholesome"? There seems to be a disconnect in about 35% of the U.S. population.
3
@Southern Boy
Wholesome values? Sometimes I am just baffled. There is no response but the rhetorical question.
2
Every article written based on the idea that rural voters are acting against their own self-interest is predicated upon the belief that every American seeks the safety and paternalism of big government. Freedom is a double edged sword. Economically it can allow one to become the world’s richest or to live in destitution. It can allow us to attend the greatest universities if we can afford them or, like my grandfather, lead to factory work at age twelve because the coal company would pay for school once he was old enough to work. The problem with the left is that they are universally unable or unwilling to accept this fundamental truth. They ignore the failure of every other economic system to falsely suggest that socialism isn’t the first step to communism. They don’t have the stomach to compete in the bare knuckle, survival of the fittest works of free markets. They’d prefer we all live by the lowest common denominator and it’s implied safety.
3
Oh. Thanks for the explanation.
I’d been wondering why the highest rates of drug addiction, poverty, and welfare usage are all pretty much in rural America. Couldn’t figure out why miners and farmers demand subsidies from taxpayers in such large amounts, either, or why farm country hoovers up so much disaster relief.
It’s the tough-minded freedom and independence.
I shoulda knowed.
5
@Robert
Those you describe are symptomatic of the decline of American society. Where we once risked everything to face an uncertain future if only for the endless possibilities, we now seek the safety of the nanny state. In 1902, great grandmother sold everything she had to buy passage to the US for my two year old grandfather. She watched as he boarded a ship with a 17 year old woman from their town in Ireland. He was taken in by an uncle who had already settled in West Virginia. He never saw his mother again - she died of pneumonia in 1908. Yet he loved this country and appreciated the freedom it offered even though he never owned a home or held anything more than a menial job.
@From Where I Sit As long as corporations are coddled and protected and allowed to suck at Big Government's teats, I'd say we don't really have free market capitalism.
1
I'm not sure the drumbeat of "But why, why, WHY do they vote against their own economic interests!!!" is doing any further good at this point. The plain fact is, these folks have decided (consciously or unconsciously) that their cultural interests (for better or worse) are a higher priority.
10
The attitude came be summed up as, "Being white is more important than being right."
1
Simple. It’s because their bigotry takes precedence over their very survival.
1
I would love to know the history of great American programs that lead to economic success. The two I’m aware of are the railroads in the 19th century and the space program in the 1960s. I hope Mr Krugman will write an article on how these initiatives helped the country and then provide us with alternatives that would work today.
4
“Rural farmers feel disrespected by coastal elites.” In other words, they resent being seen as foolish for blindly supporting an administration whose policies consistently undermine their own well being, and that of the rest of the nation. This is currently exemplified by the current Chinese tariff debacle likely to further punish farm belt families.
But the rest of us should admire such tenacity in the face of imminent, self-inflicted financial devastation.
4
Yes, farmers have the God-given right to be beaten down by superior forces that have the money and position to conquer them. This, despite the American folk belief that anyone, no matter his station, can win with perseverance.
This is all true, but it ignores the elephant in the room, abortion. Rural people don’t seem to care about looming facts like these as long as there’s a Republican who will work to shut down a woman’s right to choose.
Of course trump’s policies hurt rural Americans, but they either don’t seem to realize, or care more about regressive reproductive rights.
9
There's another aspect in this which hurts midwestern farmers. They tend to rely very heavily on immigrants, largely illegal, coming in from the southern border to work on the farms. The farmers couldn't survive without their labor. For example, look at Devin Nunes' family in Iowa. They, along with their fellow farmers, are terrified that Trump's immigration actions will rob them of this southern labor. And they might be right. Yet they keep supporting him.
Why?
These farmers are typical Americans. They aren't particularly afflicted with prejudice or hate. They just want to eke out a living and feed their families. They are well educated in the economics of agriculture, so the understand clearly what Trump's actions threaten them with. So, why would they continue to support him?
Frankly, it's a mystery. It could well be that there's an inertia of having always voted Republican, and they can't change now. Or it could be something else. But it's not ignorance.
Whatever it is, it's an opportunity for the Democrats. They need to figure this out, and get information like in this column out to them. Make them aware of how self-destructive they are in supporting Trump. He is their enemy, not their friend.
2
You need to leave off "for Rural America." "Trump is Terrible for All America" with his tariffs not only hurting Midwest farmers, but for importers and consumers across America. And if they don't like his tariffs, then there's his policies exacerbating global warming that are affecting crops and causing major floods. Then his petty feud with providing more hurricane aid to Puerto Rico means the disaster relief bill is stalled in Congress. So, if you don't like a petty, vindictive person who worries more about his weak narcissistic ego than those who really need aid and help--all of America, then stop voting for him. As he said to his so-called "base" after his election, "I don't need you anymore." One of the rare few moments of truth.
3
I struggled to make sense of Trump's election and what it said about marginalized people, who'd lost their voice in the political and economic systems. I've concluded that the faction of Trump's supporters featured in this piece, do have legitimate grievances, which have built over time and across parties, but that doesn't account for their support. Trump's true distinguishing feature is his brazen promotion of hatred, and particularly, racial hatred. His supporters embrace his eschewing of convention and his obliteration of convention, because they view it as the means to vest "America" in the hands of its rightful owners: white people. Trump is the logical consequence of America's long-festerimg racial rot. This country has neglected true racial atonement and allowed racial hatred and inequality to define its past and corrupt its present. It is in that environment, with internalized notions of racial superiority and presumed deservedness that misguided frustrations grow into political movements and malign opportunists take advantage.
6
Many rural people would rather die than take charity from the government. Democrats force the charity on them; Republicans save money (to give tax breaks to the superrich) and leave them to their preferences.
2
@sdavidc9
Can you say farm bill? or how about that 12 billion Donald gave your boys after he cut your soy bean market? Charity? Didn't see anybody refusing THAT charity...
2
@sdavidc9 No one forces anyone to take charity from the government.
1
Until the power of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire becomes “fair and balanced”, until we invest appropriately in education, until we get rid of Citizens United, etc., we will lose experienced professionals who dedicate their careers to upholding truth.
5
Trump doesn't need to worry too much about losing farmers' support in the Midwest. As long as he keeps feeding them the raw meet of racism and xenophobia, those sorry people will follow him wherever he cares to take them.
2
@mather
Amen!
There is something very wrong in rural America.
I have lived in the midwest. While coming of age in Iowa (a long time ago) I once felt that Iowa "had my back". My family could not afford the private liberal arts college I wanted to attend. Iowa rescued me with state grants to cover the cost difference between state colleges and expensive private schools. When seeking a loan for college costs my local small-town banker offered me an unsecured loan at a good rate. A good summer job with a builder or farmer was always available. Tom Harkin was elected to represent Iowa in Congress.
Since then they have elected Grassley and King. While channel-surfing in Nov of 2015 I saw a rally where a crackpot pastor (Kevin Swanson) was discussing how to humanely execute non-repentant homosexuals. This would start when the one true religion was the religion of the land. Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee were in attendance. Ted Cruz followed Swanson's rant and commended him on telling the truth. The audience agreed loudly. Seems they were ready for their version of sharia law to be implemented.
The disease of fanatical religious fundamentalism has taken over much of the "heartland", and they are easily manipulated by the GOP, even by the likes of our immoral president. They are dedicated like no other constituency.
Everyone else must get out and vote. I hope our country survives.
12
There are people who, when they have banged their thumb with a hammer, bang it again to see if it was really that hammer that hurt the thumb. They also support Trump, for much the same reason.
2
"They are feeling persecuted for publishing reports that shed an unflattering light on Trump policies."
This is probably the most long lasting effect of the corruption of the Trump "presidency." He will drive out all the best people and replace them with inept, brown-nosing cronies who will simply write the reports they are told to write by their political bosses.
Normal people know that democracy depends on an informed electorate. A corrupt administration and "president" knows that keeping information from the electorate allows them to tell lies without end. Trump lies an average of 11 times per day as it is. As the quality of information decreases over his "presidency" he will lie even more and get away with a lot because the data is not there, is not studied or is suppressed -all by order of corrupt politicians.
It is wholly predictable that Repubs constantly claim "there is no data to support" whatever. And then do everything thy can do prevent data from being known or developed knowing that the data will show they are lying about whatever they are talking about (we all know that Repubs lie as a matter of policy so anything they claim is automatically suspect).
4
They elected him. I don’t hear them complaining.
5
Sure. "Old Values" code word for America pre-civil rights. To those "folks", racism and hatred is the "old value" they want back.
4
Considering that China is now buying pork, soy, and corn from Russia these days instead of us - and God knows what else (probably also energy and weapons) - just what country is Trump actually making "great" again.
Trump has so little regard for his fans, that he walks into his rallies wearing suits he had made in his overseas sweatshops, shouts out some xenophobic birther stupidity, and they give him a standing ovation.
As to his fans, wake up: If you think Trump doesn't make insulting remarks about you and insult you routinely - just not on twitter - you must be walking in your sleep.
3
Trump is terrible for all of America (and the world) - period.
8
Read the humorist Robert Benchley piece regarding New Yorkers and rural Americans from almost 100 years ago.
It will open your eyes.
1
Acquiescence of Trump’s framing of a deliberate misinformation campaign.
People in the coastal areas who oppose Trump are not elitists.
Trump, who has been coddled and pampered all his life, bailed out for his wrongdoing by his daddums, who has had a private chauffer since puberty … is an elitist.
And this Congress, you, and we the people should not accept that Trump, Mnuchin, Barr, or any of his other arrogant toadies to frame the terms of a debate that they set with obfuscation and labeling of sane informed electorate as “the coastal elites”. We are the not the ones taking advantage of the people who voted for a con man.
2
"I'm really very glad that China is now buying corn, pork, soy, and other products from Russia instead of the United States. I don't think the America really needs China for a customer."
Sincerely,
a Soybean Farmer...
... in Russia.
4
Rural farmers's would still vote for Trump in the next election no matter what. And if something does goes wrong. he'll just blame anyone other than himself.
1
Paul you speak as though The Democrats and the coastal elites did something for rural America. I hate to tell you but the boarded up rural towns all over Oregon are thanks to anti logging liberals( of which I was one), tech replacing people in jobs and the internet. The inability to get Doctors was further worsened by the ACA as there are a disproportionate number of rural folks on Medicare and Medicaid: The ACA cut the physicians fees to pay for uninsured folks(God forbid they cut the insurers profits) and already scarce physicians elected not to join exchanges nor accept cuts to their fees. Rural America has been under attack from all sides for decades. BTW all those “ small farmers” you refer to make up a very small amount of goods brought to market, something like 16% I believe, the rest is big ag and big family corporations that book over $1,000,000.00 a year in sales, usually much, much more. Also most of those little farmers you speak of are either secondary or hobby income farms, it’s just too expensive to bring in a wheat harvest for example, one combine alone can top $200,000.00 then you must have the ability to borrow lots of money to plant your crop, wait a year or two, then hope the weather and prices holds. BTW Those poultry farms in Iowa readers commented on were dependent on cheap illegal Mexican labor, they were raided, the Orthodox Jewish owner sent to prison on multiple charges and now they’re paying more to legal Somalis, a step in the right direction.
2
So farmers make their decision based on emotion, and if they are as distressed as this suggests, those emotions are high. Facts don’t help change emotions because the emotions create their own justifications, true or not. Blame bad times on immigrants or elites or atheists or whatever. Facts won’t change their minds. They have their own “facts”/justifications
Can democrats change these emotions? Certainly guys like Krugman can’t. They speak the wrong language.
3
Rural voters know immigrants well. Visit Lincoln NE and have a look. Over 130 languages spoken in Lincoln NE public schools. If you don't 'see' immigrants in rural towns you are not looking very hard. The Ag economy cannot function without them. Why then all the MAGA nonsense from them? Willful Ignorance and just plain stupid Pride. All that got shaken badly in the floods this spring; crops still in storage, ruined by water, entire ranches cut off, livestock lost in the floods. It was a biblical situation out there but it was in the news cycle for about 5 minutes. NYT and you Mr Krugman, as much as I really admire you, need to do a bit more boots on the ground for yourselves on this one. There is a huge story within the story that is untold.
3
These comments, largely sane though peppered with a measurable amount of disgust, contain a few accusing other commenters of “coastal bias” and what amounts basically to bigotry directed at rural populations. That’s a pretty inaccurate point of view. Bias and bigotry are illogical hatred of a group of people based largely on stereotypes. It lumps a bunch of people together in one box without regard for their individuality. It assumes something about people that you know nothing about - they are this, therefore they are automatically that.
That’s not what’s going on here. “Coastal elites” (absurd term) don’t look with disdain on “flyover states” because of some bias based on where they live or any other demographic - it’s incredulity based on their very measurable actions. Mr. Krugman rightly points out that these people are easily ginned up by the so-called “culture wars” so that they consistently vote against their own interests. They do so time and time again because they fall for the propaganda the right incessantly spews at them and make no effort to determine if they information they receive is actually accurate. They live in isolated communities with exposure to few outsiders beyond their own closed groups and as a result of that and the media they receive, they seem to have a developed a kind of political siege mentality that prevents them from looking at the world as it actually is, and it’s having a disasterous effect on the entire country.
All the Chinese need to do is say they have Trump's tax returns.
4
Nobody wants to admit that decades of lousy education and unfair economic policies are rotting away their prosperity. Better to blame the foreigners and people on the coast and vote for an angry politician who just wants to go back in time.
4
As I think we all know by now, fear and hatred of "the other" is more powerful than reason. Trump blames all America's woes on "hordes of immigrants," just as many white nationalists have done before him. So many, in fact, that the rural victims of GOP policies Krugman describes here nod their heads and feel it must be so. Punishing their imaginary "enemies" is even more important than helping themselves.
Again: the cruelty is the point.
3
Be careful for what you wish for. As Midwestern owner-operator farmers are driven off the land by repeated market crises, powerful corporate interests are replacing them. Respect for the customer, respect for the animals, respect for the land, respect for the environment - these are not compatible with corporate capitalism. Corporations have the political clout necessary to resist environmental or healthy food regulations. Once corporations gain enough market share, look for retail prices to rise relentlessly. So, expect to pay a lot more for less healthy food.
3
Wonderful article. Spot-on observation that rural folks likely would not catch themselves reading Krugman's articles, but if they did, their anger would likely be directed at the messenger rather than at the mounting evidence and facts of the situation.
Hence, the power of Trump's incessant mind-conditioning wail of "fake news" to undermine reputable journalists' corrections of Trump's daily mind-bending lies (10,000 and counting, which must be the presidential record for lying to the public while in office).
And then there is Trump's lawyer and town crier, Rudi Guiliani, who famously said, "Truth isn't always the truth." But Guiliani also said, "You never agree with any one candidate 100 percent. I don't agree with myself 100 percent."
I would hope that individual farmers and famers' organizations would be calling their Republican legislators in the state and in Congress to register their displeasure and the frightening harm done by Trump's capricious policies and behavior, which really is making America Worse every day that man is in office.
Trump doesn't process or do anything but get mad and totally deny any criticism. The only hope for farmers is to get through to Republican politicians, who really need to hear directly from constituents who are being damaged and/or embarrassed by Mr. Trump's words, policies, and actions.
And if the GOP fails to respond, the farmer can always vote for Democrats.
1
As everyone in rural America knows, the farmers' children have gone to the cities to pursue different lives in urban and suburban neighborhoods, some even finding their futures in universities, finance, and industries.
As farmers age and help is increasingly hard to find, who is going to buy their farms? And with agricultural commodities prices low and international markets closed by trump policies, and future indicators all pointing down, the value of their land and expensive agricultural tools and equipment losing their value each day, how are they going to buy seed or pay their bank loans?
And every business in rural America that depends on meeting their farmers' needs will suffer.
Our "flyover country" needs some flyovers with planes dropping leaflets explaining how Trump policies is taking the money out of their pockets, food out of their children's mouths, and closing their nearest hospitals.
They won't get the "news" watching Fox or listening to "AM Hate radio."
5
America's vast geography may be a negative factor working against our progress. The rural areas in the middle of this huge country are relatively cut off from outside influences. Compared with the coasts, they historically didn't live with people who weren't like them. They were more isolated from progressive influences.
In small countries clustered together like in Europe, more people live near borders and the flow of progressive ideas has more chance of acceptance--at least in modern times.
Despite it's various problems, the European union has made progress--- has had health care for all for generations. It bans the death penalty. It has strong gun laws for public safety. Its nations pay for infrastructure and transport. Their taxes and regulations are more adequate for public benefits. They have unions on corporate boards. They've had women elected as top leaders.
America, once seen as the world's great democracy, has been blocked from achieving these policies that most modern countries see as centrist. Here they're labeled radical.
We see millions of voters in the middle of the country, entrenched in their prejudices and resentments. They were ripe to be exploited, and thus elected a president who brings shame to US before the world.
America, once touted as the most equal society, is now the most unequal among advanced nations.
10
Prof. Krugman describes a phenomenon that is really puzzling to most Americans (the majority that voted for Hillary Clinton). Why do the individuals most harmed by Trump support him so fanatically?
Good education creates readers who can keep up-to-date on current affairs, and many rural schools have neither the best teachers or the most contemporary curriculums which would, over the long, run have an equalizing effect on voters.
Republicans have a record of cutting state education budgets--an area where more elected Democrats need to concentrate their energies to oppose and correct.
8
I am not going to be in the least surprised that this combo of screaming attacks on Coast Liberals and constant hacking away at rural small farmers is really intended to drive farmers off their land and hand ot iver to banks, real estate and Beatrice Foods.
Planned or not, it’s certainly going to be the result.
5
Paul is right that rural America feels most of the financial pain in Trumpamerica and they accept that because they feel disrespected by the rest of us and probably also become a lot of people living there are 'value voters'.
However, Trump and the current GOP is really threatening ALL OF US by doing whatever they can to break down our democracy by disrespecting the Constitution, law and any unwritten rules that work against them. To them it is a power game and the will of the people is something they really don't care much about. The next election needs not to be about how bad a person Trump is or the economy of the country but about the economy of its people, saving the democracy, healthcare, infrastructure, gun control and responding to climate change.
2
The simplest answer as to why they love him is cause he speaks their language: anger and distrust, tinged with the faint promise of reviving their successes. The other is that he visits them. 40% of all simply vote with their emotions. Clinton said it best: "I feel your pain."
4
Maybe the farmers of America should figure out how to re-brand themselves as real-estate investors with an unusually expansive interest in gardening. Then they could benefit from the GOP tax package.
4
Farmers have been receiving government aid in one way or another for decades. They have also benefited from the research and development funded by the federal government. Farming is without a doubt a very difficult undertaking and requires government support to be able to not only feed all of us, but to add to our exports as well. The problem as pointed out here is that irrational policies and politics will bring great harm to rural communities everywhere. As Paul observed many of these farmers are supporting policies that are destructive and will have long term negative consequences. Immigration is a case in point. Most of these farmers cannot survive without immigrant labor, yet many hoot and holler at Trump rallies to build walls and shoot immigrants.
While we do need to better understand rural communities, they also need to adapt to a new and changing America and become more inclusive and more attentive to their own interests in rational terms. Much as they might dislike foreigners the farmers of America must find a way to deal with the world outside their small towns if they are to prosper.
4
A bushel of wheat was $8.86 in August 2012 and $3.95 in October 2016. Corn was $8.10 and $3.49. Soybeans $16.22 and $9.91.
Trump was put in office by collapsed farm prices and recession in rural areas.
Now Trump removes China, the largest customer, and collapses the prices again.
Make commodities cheap again.
5
"Why, then, do rural areas support Trump? A lot of it has to do with cultural factors. In particular, rural voters are far more hostile to immigrants than urban voters — especially in communities where there are few immigrants to be found. Lack of familiarity apparently breeds contempt." So Dems have to do a better job at reaching out to these rural folks with this kind real data. I've read that some Dems are writing off the rural areas because they believe that there is no hope of converting the Trumpian true believers but if we are to be one country, rural and urban, an attempt must be made.
6
Coastal elites, rural America, flyover states, I live 10 miles from the Pacific Ocean. That makes me a coastal elite? I am just not feeling it. The largest landowner, my neighbor, is the Federal Government. Hundreds of square miles in the Siuslaw National Forest. Labelling people by right of where they live or what they do never works, except to divide them. The President's "talent" at dividing people has been demonstrated. The job of a president is to un-divide people. That's why it's called the United States. Tough job but not one this President is willing to take on.
8
Of course the same thing can be said about pretty much anybody, even when they make a good-faith effort to understand something they haven't experienced. Because they haven't experienced it. For example, no white American can understand the fear in the black community, each and every time they come into contact with law enforcement. Members of that community are speaking from their own experiences when they assert that merely being a black male in America can be -- in and of itself -- the equivalent of committing a capital crime. So imagine how hearing a sitting President muse about how the police shouldn't worry too much about the use of excessive force plays in that community. We would all do well to remember that you can't have any real understanding of anybody else's perspective until you have walked a couple of miles in their shoes.
7
I recently retired from wheat farming here in Washington State. I think between a quarter and a third of farmers around here are Democrats like me. People tend to think that people like us don't exist, but we do and we help make our state blue, if not our congressional district.
On average, ruralites have always been more conservative than urbanites. Ruralites have always been behind the curve on social change, for good or ill. Wheat farmers know they are dependent on free trade, but in the intense tribalism that's developed, they can't break from the Republicans regardless of how destructive Republican policies are to them personally. Trump is pretty safe ignoring the pain he causes rural folks but he'll maybe throw us a bone and pay us some very inexpensive lip service.
8
This piece and many others have described Trump's lust for dishonest figures to be published by the government. Facts - simple facts, not theories - about farms, climate change, who pays for the trade war, the size of inaugural crowds or the popular vote for President, etc, etc are not appreciated by Stable Genius.
Makes you wonder if his administration has persuaded some less honest workers to claim falsely that the economy is doing well.
2
the erosion of rural america isn't helped by the erosion and neglect of funding for rural education. small town america needs the most funding for public schools, libraries, hospitals, and other governmental programs that benefit all citizens there. if we don't fight to adequately fund these neglected areas in our country, we're complicit in their demise. stating the obvious, this administration uses these areas as stages for their divisive propoganda rallies, with no intention to address their short and long term economic needs.
8
If the forced resignation of agricultural analysts isn't Orwellian, I don't know what is.
Doesn't any U.S. politician have the guts to oppose Trump? And I don't mean Pelosi, whose avowed strategy is to play nice and hope he gets voted out in 2020.
8
I'm not so sure Trump policies are bad for rural Americans. Clearly polls show their attitudes towards him are not wavering much. I think there are $12 to $14 billion dollars targeted on farmers hurt by tariffs - that can only help them. When farmers start to lose their farms attitudes may change, because owners will change, but so far things are holding. Also, IMO the tax cut hyped the economy, combined with a lack of illegal immigrant labor, has created a low skill, no skill, labor shortage which is increasing working wages at the bottom. You put it together and rural America may be OK with Trump - certainly that's what you mostly see in the polls.
So far, it’s been half that.
And farm bankruptcies are up.
10
@Robert Here's a link that might help you rethink the national (as opposed to your local) farm bankruptcy rates (hint: it's not that bad):
https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2019/feb/26/heidi-heitkamp/does-us-have-record-bankruptcies-farm-country/
Re subsidies being only 1/2: It's May, it takes time to get that money out there. And I will not be surprised if the Congress approves even more $ for "poor distressed farmers". Plainly, subsidies will take at least some of the edge off the losses tied to a trade war.
Re wages for low skill/no skill labor (and I expect that's most rural labor): they are up after many years of stagnation, it's a fact (I think it's a Fed fact).
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/13/workers-at-lower-end-of-pay-scale-getting-most-benefit-from-rising-wages.html
I do not assume the rural vote is either going to abandon Trump, or that they should abandon Trump because of economic considerations.
IMO, articles like Krugman's, that the poor dumb chumps have no idea what their interests are, commonly reveal the poor dumb chumps are the author of the article and those that read and agree. If the Dem party is going to recapture the rural vote they have to move beyond the Dem party's ignorance of rural interests. The Dem party has to stop caricaturizing these people as a bunch of dumb, hopeless, racist, deplorables and begin to focus on their needs and aspirations. JMO
If only rural America’s ignorance didn’t penalize the rest of us. No empathy left here, but plenty of anger towards them. The Dems better get moving too on impeachment and a strong national consistent platform, or a lot of our “elite” anger will go towards them for passivity and inaction.
9
@Meg Riley
your opening sentence is the epitome of coastal elitism.
Of course, Dr. Krugman is correct. I live in an extremely rural area. There are a lot of whites that love the guy based on Fox talking points which are all lies. Now, there are also farmers who are progressive Democrats and who see through the lies. But, there are many more "conservatives" that are tied to the arguments of pro-gun and pro-life. The two major points that are easy to understand and worth fighting for as far as they are concerned. The third big point, that of the silent majority, is a massive bonus. Due to what Dr. Krugman correctly points out as a lack of familiarity, there has been a current of racism that prior to Trump ran under my town's surface. Many of these people now love the fact that he speaks "the truth" about immigrants and minorities. Due to the electoral college, progressive farmers are never represented in the general election. We do hear their voice at the state level, as is evidenced by the current Dem Governor.
10
Economics and politics share a difficult problem. Much of economic policy ideas are based on the idea of rational markets but people who make the markets are not entirely rational. Similarly political ideas are promoted with the idea that voters are rational but voters are not completely rational.
Many of the suffering Trump supporters will tell you that they are persevering in order to make things better in the future. That's one follower dynamic - believing ever stronger in the thing you have sacrificed for.
The question is, what, specifically, are they suffering to achieve? Is there in fact a better future ahead that they are contributing to, so they will be respected and rewarded for their sacrifice?
If you ask real estate investors in New York, the answers seem to be disappointing, if not alarming.
4
Trump has a longstanding record with farmers and rural communities - his Atlantic City casinos, for example, offered millions from the hinterlands the opportunity to get really, really rich, really, really fast. Much like his current policies, he's always been exceptionally skilled at getting hard working folks to trust him, and gamble away their futures.
9
Who will pay the price ? Eventually we will all pay the price . The whole Country will pay the price . Imagine what damage the stable genius that was able to lose more than one billion dollars in a decade can do to the Country . If he was the pilot of the plane you are about to fly in , before the plane departs , you would break the door open , and jump out of the plane onto the tarmac . That is called the self preservation instinct . Those that voted for Trump hoping for lower taxes or less regulations got their wishes but followed their leader over the cliff . They forgot about their own self preservation under an erratic and unhinged leader drunk with power .
7
Professor Krugman is spot-on in this analysis--except for two big reasons why rural voters cling to the Republican Party. One is simply historical inertia. They and their friends, families and communities have voted for Republicans since Abraham Lincoln. That is especially true in northern rural states. The second is that the culture wars, so-called, only fit into the confirmation bias of many such voters. After all, they say to themselves and each other, what else can you expect from the corrupt urban and coast-wise elites but abortion, gay rights, etc. etc. It is a very, very big mistake to underestimate these factors in keeping such voters in place. They are going to look as hard as they can for Republicans who represent their "values," and resist as hard as they can any effort to move them off what they perceive as their precious history and traditions. Occasionally, they will rise up and vote for Democrats to punish other Republicans whom they perceive to be traitors to their traditions. Trump himself, for all his depravity, is thus perceived as a weapon for their own grievances--until now, when Trump's trade wars are beginning to create enormous pain among actual farm families, and their leaders, who are privately hearing some powerful grips. My wisdom for what it's worth is simple: no Democrat who does not express profound respect for these people is going to get their votes.
6
As others have hinted or stated here, Hillary and the other corporatists, who get supported by the wealthy and the corporations, ignored the Trump supporters, who are more downtrodden than many. They had less opportunity for education (or did not take it) and good jobs and they felt "neglected" and ignored. Which they were.
That simple. And if there are still enough of them next year, they will elect Trump again. Unless the Dem candidates get serious about how they can help the downtrodden and people who live paycheck to paycheck. No handouts needed. The downtrodden have not been "taken care of" financially as the GNP has grown and corporations have done well. For decades this has been going on. Millions and millions live paycheck to paycheck. We need the 2 trillion dollar infrastructure plan. We need a national health care system that really, really, works. My own state has 26 billion dollars worth of infrastructure problems just for the water and sewer companies and has only 30 million for it. Deterioration an entropy all around. Put people to work; help them out; give them security. Otherwise Trump will will in 2020.
That simple.
2
I stare in flabbergasted awe at anybody who can scream at Hillary about corporatism and the wealthy, apparently on the theory that Donald John Trump was born in a ramshackle cabin outside Little Rock somewheres, and made his money by the sweat of his brow.
Hey, pop quiz: which of the two was born in NYC? Which one married a guy from Arkansas and lived there for years? Which one got S-CHIP passed, and which one’s yanking your health care?
Which one owes China $500 million, has a son-in-law who got Kuwait to bail him out to the tune of $700 mil? Which one brags about being a tax cheat?
Lemme guess: you think all this proves Trump’s a genius. Who loves him the little people.
1
Koch Brothers and Addelson, GOP supporters, not "corporalists"? They ain't farming gentlement for sure. Funny, while reading this comment, all I could picture was a Fox News bubble-head spewing the words.
The mythology of the GOP is too compelling to overcome the facts. It's on the Democrats to make what is actually good for rural America enticing.
5
And what is good for "rural America"? The world is moving on from farming yet they refuse to get educated; towns with a high number of immigrants do better economically than only-whites towns yet they chose racism. College education is vital for survival in the 21st century, yet they call us, the college educated the elites. No different than with a self-destructive person, there is nothing you can do to help a self-destructive society that will help them if they all they want is to be self-destructive. What rural America wants is enablers: continue giving me money so I can continue hanging on with a way of living not viable in a developed country anymore because going back to school to learn skills that will allow me to make a living is too much work. If rural America were not white, pretty sure rural America would be calling folks like them "lazy welfare queens". The solution: eliminate the Electoral College. The United States is a majoirty blue country now so one person, one vote. Eliminate the need to court these folks for their votes as they fo not want progress, they want the status quo that favored them based on the color of their skin, something the Electoral College still does. We need to level the electoral playing field as there are more of us than them now.
3
Nice to see Chinese markets closed UP ....
Guess someone is finding this trade war "Easy to Win"....
If so, let just his supporters to deal with it.
2
" Lack of familiarity apparently breeds contempt." I admire Krugman's wit almost as much as his economic wisdom.
1
Finally, Trump is hurting who he should be hurting!
3
@Gore
Sorry, but Trump should not be hurting anyone.
1
you can fool some of the people all the time, all of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. oh, never mind.
2
Paul, you left out the part about trump sent by god to save the ‘self-righteous’.
4
Paul
I know the theme of every article is trump is bad, but when was the last time you set foot in the Midwest? I spend a ,out of time there and the jobs are back. When you have kids and have been unemployed for years and now the jobs are back you do t spend all day infatuated why trump is evil, you just go to your job and work. The people in the Midwest do t want hand outs they want jobs. The poor on the coasts are too sophisticated to take factory jobs, they can have lattes with Paul.
4
The trade war is on! Dear rural America, you are on the front line of a war of attrition, and you voted for it.
You see, Bush 43 and Obama had a choice - let The Great Depression II destroy 30 percent of US GDP and set the world economy back a decade, OR bail out Wall Street charlatans. For the sake of the gen pop, they bailed out charlatans.
Now a crisis of Trumpian proportions and creation is about to murder farm markets. Will the US and China step back from the abyss?
Paul, prepare to cut your vacay a little short.
2
Let it be. The United States is not a farm rural economy anymore so get with the times and acquire skills that will allow you to make a living in the 21st Century or really starve. That is something us, non-white, rural, folks learned the hard way as there were no subsidies coming our way to keep us happy in a 20th century mental trap. Ironically though, this Wal-Mart-living crowd is the one paying for Trump's squabble as a tariff is really a tax on the consumer.
Ask the farmer:
Can you survive on $3.46/bu. corn?
How about 8.04/bu. beans?
1
So Trump supporters are angry at us because we think they're stupid. And we're angry at them because they are stupid.
7
This guy will be remembered as another Barnum or Bunyan in our pantheons of con men and imagined heroes and we will be remembered as the saps who put him there.
And I'm being hopeful.
3
@Ian MacFarlane How about Elmer Gantry?
Mr. Krugman has been consistently incorrect forr over 20 years. Time after time. When, oh when, will this be stated and admitted?
2
It might be helpful if you gave even one example to back up your very sweeping claim.
They like him because he is "hurting the right people". They feel powerless, but being on his team gives them a sense of power. They feel bullied, so they like the guy who bullies others in their name. Oh, and they just plain like his racism
5
I'm reminded of the story where the mule skinner was accused of animal cruelty. It seems thatnNo matter how hard the mule skinner tried the mule wouldn't move. The mule skinner finally hit the beast in the head with a bat. According to the mule skinner it wasn't cruelity, he was just trying to get the mule's attention. The mule skinner called it " attitude adjustment"
In the case of Trump supporters no amount of "attitude adjustment" will work since their belief system is basically a belief in Trump and his lies. Bein uninformed and ullible is bliss.
3
GOOD! Maybe they’ll wake up before it’s too late!!!!
1
Perhaps also they might listen less to their preachers and more to the book they wave, e.g. Isaiah 5:20 KJV "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"
2
These are the same people that fervently believe bronze age myths of "sky daddies" and virgin birth and talking plants.
Not really a big leap to believing all the nonsense from a New York TV conman.
4
"" So, you think we're stupid?""
Well, maybe. Why do you keep making political decisions that harm yourselves?
6
They always are.
2
Imagine that! Red State voters vote against their own self-interest! Never heard that before.
LBJ's famous quote (I won't bore you with it here--you know it well enough) still holds true. These folks are voting out of anger. Anger at "the system". Anger at having to go to work every day to eke out a basic living. Anger at the "gummint" that lets prices rise and allows manufacturing jobs to go to China. Angry that the few remaining good jobs are taken by immigrants. Angry that Obamacare ruined healthcare.
They play the lottery. When the ad comes on TV, they think that the Publishers Clearinghouse camera crew will be on their front lawn next week.
And when a candidate offers them lower taxes, better healthcare at lower cost, a wall paid for by Mexico to keep out the Mexicans who take the good jobs and (by the way) smuggle drugs, and to lock up that uppity woman whose husband created so many of these problems for them, what could be better? He calls out the "Mexican" judges and the "Obama" judges who give my rights to people who don't deserve them. He is as angry as I am, and he's in a position to do something about it.
It's about time. They knew it, they were right all along, and finally, finally there is a politician who will do something about it.
3
Trump is terrible for America, period.
6
They'll keep cheering Trump till locusts descend on them, and then they will blame the locusts on immigrants.
3
Trump is certainly very very good at deceiving the gullible;
And with the help of those who are also willing to aid and
abet such brainwashing of the rural gullible...like media
brainwashing FOX news etc....well Trumpism has its believers
drinking...Trump Ade....and believing that Trump Ade will
come to the rescue of all those who are selling them a bill of
goods.
Similarly those that drank Trump Ade and lost money in the
phony Trump University...the Art of Brainwashing continues
Oh how to discredit Trumpism...Just make the comparison
to all the phony bill of sales that Trump and his corrupt supporters have gotten away with in the past...as they continue to use the Media of ...Trump's Art of Alternate Reality....and if caught in the Act of Deceiving any and all;
well Trump keeps on the Art of Deception...with bigger lies.
Trumpism has duped all the phony Republicans in the Senate
as well...
How to combat lies...just fact check every word that comes
out of Trump's mouth...and prove him a liar...every single day.
3
Life is tough for lots of Americans, not just the red-state rubes who continue to support republicans. But as long as they get their 'news' from Fox and their 'religion' from Jerry Falwell Jr, they won't have a prayer.
5
Paul Krugman overlooks wealth distribution in rural areas. Like urban people, aren't some rural people wealthier than others? Perhaps Krugman could have given a rough estimate of the break-even point below which voting Trump is irrational.
Is this why Pelosi and some rich Democratic House members are so reluctant to impeach? They might be acting rationally, being above break-even?
2
Good. Let these people get hurt as much as possible. For decades they have overwhelmingly supported a Republican party that has not supported them. It was Democrat trade deals like NAFTA that opened up foreign markets to these farmers. TPP would have done the same. And is almost exclusively the Democratic party that is fighting to preserve programs like SNAP and Medicaid / Medicare that so many people in these communities need. Yet the Democrats will never ever receive any credit (much less loyalty) from these people. So let them get crushed by Trump's economic policies. Some people just have to learn the hard way.
5
Paul Krugman, champion of rural America, lol.
2
Few people are really stupid but many are ignorant. When you watch fox propaganda and listen to the likes of Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, you have to be ignorant.When you watch The Apprentice and believe that the fake personality there should be president, you are ignorant. The people who ran the show said trump consistently made the worst choices and they had to work hard to make it look right.
That is what is happening with this presidency.
2
When has Trump ever helped anyone but himself or his family? (Crickets)
4
“ So you think we’re stupid!”
As someone who resides on the southern coast of Maine, and who follows politics quite closely, from your actions I am convinced that many of you are irrationally fearful of immigrants, especially those with dark skin. Does this make you a racist? Yes, and because of this fear, many of you have willfully chosen to become members of a divisive and destructive cult-like movement lead by a malignant narcissist who, for his entire life, has cheated and mistreated workers, paid no taxes, hired undocumented workers, deceived and cheated on his wives, admires and emulates autocrats and became POTUS with the help of a foreign adversary, namely Russia. Whether you agree or not, the reality is that Donald Trump is totally unfit for the presidency and by continuing to support him, you, and the Republican Party leaders in Congress, are now responsible for the Constitutional crisis in which we now found ourselves. If none of this bothers you and you still think Trump is your man, well then I do think that yes, you are willfully and extremely stupid.
4
Trump is terrible. Enough said.
"You can fool some of the people all of the time. You should concentrate of them." George W. Bush.
2
These people choose their racist and xenophobia over their best interests. That's the whole story.
1
Truth, Trust & Reality are losing out to lies, liars & criminals. Truth can still win out. Dems need to show up big time; Bob Mueller & his team live on television will be a game changer. They will be trusted to tell the truth, to be real. Nancy P, Nadler, Cummings, Adam Schiff, Mark Warner & Sen. Intel Comm. Chair, and other recognized & respected leaders (all 4 living past Presidents) must stand together, at the same time and tell the truth. There are so many good honest recognized leaders and scholars, leaders with wisdom, knowledge and courage. Please - stand together and speak the truth. You must not let trump and Repub party lies take over our nation.
America will be lost to the worst POTUS & political party in US history. Remember: we either all hang together or we all hang separately.
But you all were great, is that it? Give it up hypocrite; he has our vote and your eye has our thumb.
1
With only two legitimate choices ..Clinton/Trump what do you expect?? Things could be better, but things could be a helluva lot worse.
The message being put out by new/old potential democratic presidential candidates is the same...everything is bad..economy is bad..jobs bad..trade bad..etc..When in reality things aren't that bad at all. So they are asking potential voters who ya going to believe..me or your lying eyes!!
1
Mom, look! I traded our last dairy cow for some magic beans!
Son, take that outside now! If those are beans then they've already been chewed!
They're rubes, suckers, or as Bugs Bunny would say, "what a maroon". They're never going to admit they've been had.
Trump's supporters want to see others get fleeced but they'll never admit they've been had too.
My Southern relatives blame everybody else for the racial conflicts, and in Memphis they complain that the city govt is corrupt now that the blacks run it, but it was corrupt 100 yrs ago or more. WC Handy sang "Mr Crump don't like it", but it could easily be Trump don't like it, so they don't either.
I'm astonished that they expect people to behave better than their race behaved. Many of my relatives didn't actively participate in racism but they didn't work to prevent it either (granted my mother would hire black women to help out when she was a single mother who worked) but Faulkner was wrong, they were never going to address racism until it looked them in the face.
Trump's divisiveness only work to divide us. We must stand up to the racism and the corruption.
1
Kind of makes you not care about them.
4
Let them eat fake?
2
Kansas has a Democrat governor, by the way.
1
Where I live the farmers are all turning to industrial chicken farming (CAFOs) and they think it's great but little do they know how life will really be living under the giant thumb of a giant corporation who cares about one thing only - making money. And if you ever saw one of these football field chicken houses full of 40,000 chickens just waiting to die you'd never eat chicken again. I have not eaten chicken since January (and have no plans to ever again).
1
Sorry but all Americans will significantly suffer for Trump's attacks on government agencies that provide objective factual information for decision making. Yes, it harms us in making good economic policy by in the bigger picture it harms democracy and instead promotes autocratic rule. Those in authority tell the public what they need to know in order to control them. That like harm not just farmers but all Americans.
4
I'm a retired psychology prof who has read some of the research on what people think about politics, government, etc. It's pretty sad. Most people are woefully uninformed and don't really care. One researcher concluded that most people aren't interested in issues because they can't understand issues. The people who can understand issues have disproportionately fled to coastal states where the intellectually demanding, and well paying, jobs are, leaving a dull residue in rural states. Those are the states that vote for Republicans and Donald Trump. A few years ago, the percent of college grads in state populations was the best measure I could find for dividing red from blue states in two presidential elections. Way more than most people would like to admit, intelligence drives the bus.
9
2 words: Fox News.
6
@michael a
Six more words:
Rush Limbaugh
Sean Hannity
Anne Coulter
The far right has an outsized presence on AM radio, which is often the only source of news and talk radio in rural areas.The personalities have fallen over themselves to prove how much further to the right they are than their competition so that they can gain market share and stay relevant. It's a toxic combination.
5
@Scott Cole And when you're in your combine or thresher or other machine for hours at a time, that's a lot of listening time.
1
You barely scratched the surface. Rural America--specifically, the Midwest, is facing permanent decline because of climate change. We are only now beginning to see how bad things will get. Most of that land will become all but unusable and worthless, with only the most wealthy corporate farms able to ride it out because they don't own all of their land in one spot. When the small farmers leave or disappear, it will be just the massive corporate farms. Think those areas are underpopulated now?
I have nothing but sympathy for the despair of poor white Americans but I can't actually say that we want the same thing because they are rushing towards authoritarianism and that, ultimately, will finish the job.
7
You're right, Dr. Krugman, facts are the Trump administration's worst enemy.
One thing we can do is to bring out the story of those economists forced out of the Ag dept. What was their experience? That's an important perspective on what Trump is doing to the US.
1
Perhaps rural America needs to hit rock bottom before the US can come to us senses. Bring on the great depression, let these rural guys have it.
6
I was born and grew up in the midwest, and I can assure you that its residents do not feel like victims, i.e., the white, working-class. They are proud, independent, certain they can fix things themselves, generous to the less fortunate, very hard workers and can take care of themselves. How The Fool has won them over makes me incredulous.
5
Maybe that's not the only thing your wrong about.
Thanks Paul! The loss of family farms continues to spiral out of control under Trump - eventually it will reappear as higher food prices and inflation. This from Wisconsin. In addition we have the GOP's anti-environmental policies in our state with the downsizing of the Department of Natural Resources. I credit Fox News with the brainwashing of rural America and the lack of Internet to get real news. I hear and see it everyday in the suffering and misguided people who have not awoken to the reality you are writing about. Demagogues have this effect on people - giving simple answers that are not true, exploiting fear and hate - especially racism. The sad reality is that Trump simultaneously makes their world worse and gives them scapegoats to hate. In the bigger picture it is simply fascism.
7
I am a liberal democrat who lives basically "in the closet" as far as my political beliefs. I am old enough to remember when the culture here, though always conservative, was much more tolerant - probably left over from nearly every male serving in WWII. I truly don't understand the support of Trump the rural population. They accept the propaganda of Fox News and the local news stations, now owned and controlled by Sinclair, as gospel. The area of the state west of Lincoln is normally referred to as "greater Nebraska" - what an oxymoron.
8
Paul you need to get out of your easy chair and see how America lives and thinks. I live in the country. All of my neighbors, every single one of them, will vote for Trump again. Until the Democrats truly represent these people they will vote for the next Trump over and over again. They despise electing someone just because they are diverse. They despise hand-outs. They never want to think that they need help from anyone else (except a relative). The rural voters think differently from the city folk. They are hardworking, salt of the earth type people. Whether they are voting against their own self-interests is really irrelevant to the way they think.
1
@Sarah99...not to many on this platform will understand the street savvy of your post. Well said.
As a rural person in upstate NY who DOES know what the heck is going on, this phenomenon is thankfully not true of off of us.
We read the Times, get public radio, Free Speech TV, etc. as well as have a scientific education.
We did drive through rural America during the run up to the Bush invasion of Iraq. All we could get in our pick up was hate radio "news". The stopping spots all had Limbaugh, or similar preaching blaring. Not a single newspaper with news on the paper stand.
This began after Reagan got rid of the "Fairness Doctrine" in media. How to get this idea back is maybe what we need, or something better. This looks like a pipe dream now.
4
If informed at all, rural voters rely on fox news, bumper stickers and opinions at the local diner. It's not only low information, it's bad information.
The real talent of the gop is capitalizing on this to lie and mis-inform rural voters into voting against their own self interest. That plus scaring them about immigrants, gays, guns, etc. etc.
2
Not everyone who lives here in the Midwest support Trump. I do know people who regret voting for him. In my travels in the past year Trump supporters are in the Midwest, the West Coast and in the South. Those are the regions I’ve been in. The defining factors I see in the entrenched Trump supporters is that they are white and gullible. They believe the falsehoods contained in Trumps words and in the plethora of faker than fake Facebook memes that seem to originate from fake accounts. They are ignorant of how our government is structured. Many of the people I personally know who are avid Trumpists rely on social security disability and Medicaid or Medicare. Many of their children have children who badly need Medicaid coverage and without it would not be covered. Their parents work but not at jobs that offer coverage. The president they support would pull the very rug from under their feet and they do not see it. No matter how I try to reason with them via responses on Facebook, they ignore me or dismiss me. They probably think I’m a detested Democrat. I’m a registered Independent but there seems to be no middle ground these days. Trump has tapped into a collective self-defeating anger and ignorance found everywhere. Let’s not start a regional war when there is a war for the minds of Americans all over. There is a disease Trump fosters and it’s symptoms are ignorance, hatred, racism and blindness. Let’s not add regionalism to the list.
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@Kristi I agree with your comments and I am reminded by them of this saying: "It is much easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled."
In NC, independent means all but brown shirt.
Paul Krugman has a track record of being absolutely wrong about how the economy would fare under President Trump. The latest economic reports show Krugman is continuing with his streak of getting it wrong again. The facts reveal that the lower 25% of the workforce have benefited the most from the President's policies.
Yet, Paul Krugman has shown no contrition for his string of mistakes. It as though his false, dire predictions have no consequences. So he will continue to vent with his doomsday omens, while The President has exposed Krugman's Trump Derangement Syndrome, which has caused him to lose his judgement. His disdain for 45 trumps any rational analysis of this administration. He can't help himself.
2
@William Aiken..... The facts reveal that the lower 25% of the workforce have benefited the most from the President's policies.....Before you claim that they have benefited from Trump's policies, you should tell us exactly what those policies were and how they have led to those benefits. I don't think you can do that.
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@W.A. Spitzer Simply cutting regulations that were ubiquitous under the Obana administration have been significant in lowering unemployment. Couple that change with improvement for small businesses by cutting the corporate tax rate that has inspired investment in the US economy.
Those two Trump policies are the foundation that have this economy smoking as the envy of the world
But you'll never hear anything positive from Krugman during these amazing times of peace and prosparity All you'll get are the side effects of his Trump Derangement Syndrome.
The deficit should never be booming in an expanding economy. The fact that it is means that this is a sugar high. Like a neighbor that appears to be wealthy based on his spending habits when he’s simply racking up credit card debt.
2
It’s the poisoning of politics with religious zeal and righteousness leading to a disconnect between reality and belief. Rank corruption has filled the breach - Trump and his cronies - and we’re learning the hard way how dependent we were on fundamental decency. It remains to be seen how long it will take to establish that POTUS and his family is indeed not ‘above the law’ - but establish it we must or what remains of our democracy has been overthrown before our eyes. One place to begin: which candidates will reverse Justice Dept policy against indicting a sitting POTUS?
2
"His biggest supporters are his biggest victims."
We can't fix stupid, but we could fix (get rid of) the electoral college, if we focused on that as the real problem crippling American democracy.
So let's frame it thus: "It's the electoral college, stupid."
Americans choose the right person most of the time. But the electoral college has saddled us with the second place candidate in 12 of the last 20 years.
When are we going to direct our attention to the real heart of the problem?
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My teacher in elementary school in the early 70's said to not worry about the electoral college as it almost never voted against the popular vote.
So far 2 Radical Right Presidents by the electoral college, and 1 by the supreme court.
So much for representative democracy.
1
Trump, his appointed administration, and the republican Senate rely on an ignorant population that responds well to and is controlled by fear tactics, creating "enemies" (them vs. us mentality), and making empty promises that play out in "group-think" behavior and beliefs. It is a tried and true formula used by despots, dictators, and monarchies for centuries.
Trump is not smart enough to have pulled any of this off (he is merely the demented stooge - as they so often are) but the republicans with Koch Bros. money have been at it for 30+ years to take control of the state governments, the judicial and legislative branches of the federal government.
I have zero sympathy for trump supporters. They put him in office and if they suffer downside consequences then that's the way it goes. Unfortunately, for the rest of us (and the world) it doesn't stop with those people. The rest of us suffer too and the harm that has been done is heading down the road toward permanence.
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Well, at one point or another economic realities trumps racial and cultural biases I hope. Meanwhile, I am not sure why should the "coastal elites" have any compassion for people who deeply despise them.
2
Tell voters the truth. Show them the facts. Advertise them widely. Have testimonials from real people. And then, if people choose to be willfully ignorant, or to let their bigotry overwhelm their self-interest, then they get what they deserve.
5
"Of the 100 counties with the highest percentage of their population receiving food stamps, 85 are rural, and most of the rest are in small metropolitan areas."
Translation: 85% of the 100 counties in the US most dependent on food stamps are in farm country. The other 15% are in small cities and towns. NOT the big coastal "elite" cities, Chicago, or Atlanta.
When the soybean and chickpea growers' sales have been devastated by Trump's tariff policy, when over half of all wheat is exported, Trump is KILLING the bread-basket of America.
So when those folks who wildly and eagerly support him ask "So you think we're stupid!" what are we supposed to answer? I remember a medieval cartoon of a man strangling his goslings...to keep them from drowning.
But this is what dictators do to achieve and keep power: Appeal to the rural folks' deepest fears of "the other" and blaming "the other" for the economic devastation they bring on the rural people for their own and their rich friends' benefit.
And so the rural folks strangle their goslings. And bring down a Democracy.
4
Why rural voters would believe anything out of Trump's mouth regarding him being their savior is bewildering. Trump is one of those rich "coastal elites" that rural farmers supposedly hate. Trump probably does not know how farms operate in the first place. The only farmers that Trump supports with policies are Industrial Farms. These are the farms that benefit from the Trump tax policies. But if Trump wins the Trade Wars, they will be in trouble too.
Hopefully these rural voters have realized this by the time 2020 roles around.
2
@Jean Unfortunately, the many rural voters appear to be doubling down on sticking with trump. It certainly is bewildering. Those of us on the East Coast have been well aware of trump's bankrupt business and abysmal lifestyle for a very long time . . . perhaps people in the middle should have listened. Closed mindedness has consequences and it never has a good long-term outcome.
1
Including holding 2 mutually exclusive ideas at once.
Trump is terrible for rural America and the worst part is many do not even realize the con man for what he is.
So much rhetoric being thrown around it seems people deserve what they get because they allow much to happen. And then they complain that of their economic wows. Take tariffs, how many times does Trump remind us that China pays for his imposing this tax on imported goods. And just how stupid can you be to believe that companies are going to sit back and absorb all these $billions of expense. Just how stupid does an American have to be to allow Trump to pass a tax bill that allows businesses to pay less taxes totaling $billions, or for businesses to place $billions in off shore tax havens to avoid taxes. At some point all this must be summed up to one major point: stop allowing politicians to say "yes" when they should be saying "no." And why isn't the press, the savors of freedom and truth, holding the greatest lying president ever in American history, to account for all the falsehoods he passes on to the public. We sit back and allow it. Do we not deserve the pain we allow to happen.
Secretary Sonny is helping out by moving the economists (ERS and NIFA) out of DC and into the Midwest so they can be closer to their stakeholders and customers- the farmers, I suppose, and not policy makers, Sonny, and Congress. Others see it as an effort to diminish the economists' influence by getting them out of D.C. KS, MO, IN, and NC are in the running. Oh, and this will save money too- lower salaries, lower office space costs, etc, even though a cost-benefit analysis hasn't been done. Move or resign/be fired.
https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/05/agriculture-department-names-finalists-disputed-office-relocations/156754/
But they've voted to join the union-AGFE. https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/05/agricultures-economic-researchers-vote-unionize-ahead-planned-move/156908/?oref=river
If rural America is isolated by location, band width, and the sense of keeping "them" out, as well as the constant baloney mouthed by Rush and Fox faux news, what will change minds? All the facts contained in the column and by readers matter not a whit if rural America refuses to listen. Trump has become iconic, an archetype many follow for his shameless pandering of lies, and more lies. Big ag like big pharma doesn't count small fry. Fertilize, improve yield, sell more pills, and when sales to China fall due to Trump's tariffs, or the opiod crisis hits your town or county, what then?
1
The Dems were outfoxed by the Reps in red America. Using every trick in the book, they lied to, scared and bought the voters. The Reps spread a message that the Dems with their regulations and gov't overreach were going to take everything that mattered to these independent folks.
No wonder Trump was like the second coming, the Reps had created the perfect conditions for an anti Christ.
The Dems are beginning to push back and Reps are showing their desperation. It is going to be the worst of times for awhile though. Don't tune it all out and go about pretending life is normal. That is the surest way to lose this struggle.
1
Rural America won’t stop until Trump has bankrupted the country and gotten rid of social security and medicare. I’m sure glad they don’t need their own money. (Sarcasm intended.)
Americans have become so spoiled, so affixed to their own sources of news (for the minority that actually care), and so motivated by their own sense of how things should be that nothing will alter the minds of the dedicated partisans on either side of the aisle.
James Carville was right: “It’s the economy, stupid!”
As long as there is relative economic stability in the lives of most Americans without fear of high unemployment, bread lines, and daily disruptions to their lives, most Americans won’t really care one wit about what Donald Trump does or doesn’t do. We have become much too selfish a people to place the preservation of democracy high on a priority list.
As long as I can feed my family, get the kids to soccer, go to work every Monday morning, and watch reruns of “Roseanne” from my BarcaLounger with a beer in my hand at night, it matters little what all of the corrupt politicians in Washington do.
THAT, my friends, is the attitude that Donald Trump is counting on to get him re-elected.
1
The crazy thing is that anyone cares about rural voters at all. The only reason rural voters are in the news is because coastal voters are disenfranchised. The country would be in better shape if we were a democracy.
1
There is an old adage from long ago that basically states that if one tells the same lie over and over and often then for many the lie will become truth.
That is what happens in Trumplandia. The lies from the charlatan become truth just as the grifter's lies about the birth certificate took hold.
Are the farmers stupid? I think not, but, they are looking for a savior who is adept at messaging and having them believe in that savior as they would a preacher in a tent revival. Stupid, no, gullible and incapable of critical thinking? Yes.
Time will tell if those present Trump supporters realize they are nothing but game pieces, as the rest of us are. Just some of us realize that.
To my lifelong appreciation I grew up among these folks, and they are not stupid. But they are ignorant of much that has been learned by hard trial in earlier generations. With a little effort, ignorance, unlike stupidity, is correctable, but sadly easily spreadable.
Farmers certainly aren't stupid. They've been fleecing the public interest both politically and economically for generations. Dare I say centuries. You should read about the cotton industry for instance. We're not talking about Tom Joad here.
That said, let's play devil's advocate for a moment. What if we assume farmers aren't a shrinking percentage of aging workers increasingly uncompetitive in the global market place they helped create for everyone but themselves.
Why in the world should we subsidize a failing industry? Reagan fans tell us we should let them all fall flat on their faces. South and Central America are better food sources for most Americans. That's capitalism.
Reap what you sow.
Trumpism, "America First": Angry repetitious rhetoric, blaming those that are not like them, fear that they will lose everything. Trump is nothing more than a huckster. Trump has created a cult that gives those that support him a sense of power, of being understood, of feeling a sense of inclusion. Cults foster the belief that only its leader understands them and therefore will lead its members to a better life. Cult members feel, for the first time, powerful and understood. Trump is a supreme cult leader engendering anger and distrust of others, hate and racism. This provides the cult members feelings of empowerment that they haven't felt in a long time. The way to stop a cult is to provide a sense of support and understanding and kind and cooperative leadership that will provide inclusion, caring and solutions to the problems they face.
All well and good Paul. But they ain't listening. (I guess because you are a "coastal elites" Who are they listening to? Trump! Go figure.
The truth is that America could do with a good stiff Bear Market and recession. (I say this even though 60% of my liquid assets are in US securities.
Bear markets and Recessions are a cleansing force that scrubs away stupidity and ignorance. Particularly political.
My fear is that Trump's luck is going to last into 2020 and then we will have an ENORMOUS financial crisis. It goes without saying, Trump, nor his sycophant stooges in the White House are completely incapable of dealing with a crisis.
Better to have it now, than after 2020. By then it will be catastrophic.
1
Rural American is all about the ability to be armed to the teeth without question, hatred of anyone who isn't of their religion and the same race. It's all the KJV, hetero marriages and 4 kids. Totally fine, but that is all they acknowledge or tolerate.
If President Trumps public policies floods, burns or craters their farms and homes, so be it. People have free will run head first against their best interests. I'm done talking, and am beyond caring with my relatives are all MAGA. Let them get flood again. Let them be medi-vac 200 miles away to the nearest hospital, because they have no services or infrastructure left due to tax cuts. Their kids boom out of there like rats off a sinking ship because therenis nothing left but a few churches, a gas station, and maybe a small grocery store.
Trump is a terrific salesman. He sold rural Americans that time travel to the past is possible. That we can go back to 1950s. If people chose to believe, I say let them. Let them pay the price for the fantasy.
2
And, worse, he uses patriotism as the hook to get his followers to do the dirty work. He hugs the flag but won't do a thing to defend it. He brags about not paying taxes. In the rural town I grew up in he would have been told to just keep his mouth shut and to stay away from us.
I live in a blue state, I know that my tax dollars go to support the red states. Mitch McConnel's Kentucky gets almost $2 dollars from DC for every dollar they send there, Mississippi it is almost $3. I have found this annoying, but was willing to deal with it. But once the red states took control of the government in 2016, what did they do? They raised my taxes by reducing my state and local deductions.
That's it, I've had enough. If Trump's tantrum economics bankrupt his supporters, that is their problem. I hope that 'owning the libs' keeps them warm at night. I'll vote for anyone who takes my tax dollars away from red state America. They started this fight, I'm done paying for people who hate me.
7
We all have choices. Some choose to think for themselves. Many don't. Rural America has been played by a Con Man and all of the lies have been reinforced by FOX and the evangelical base that is in fact a group of total hypocrites. They have sinned and they reap the whirlwind of their own destruction because they chose hate over love, anger over evolution, ignorance over fact based reasoning, and those choices taken together can be called nothing other than stupid. Those who know better, still chose Trump because they refused to want to provide any help, any love, or support to "those people". The problem is they are now just like "those people" whom they used to ridicule. They voted against education and now they are ignorant. They voted against rational gun laws and now their children and unfortunately ours, are being murdered. They voted against controlling pollution and they and their children suffer from it. They voted against protecting workers rights and so their wages are depressed. They voted against protecting consumers and many have lost their homes and businesses as a result. They voted against providing healthcare for the poor and yet they suffer in silence. And all because they can't stand the thought of not being able to punish only the "poor" girls who had sex outside of marriage, got pregnant and wanted an abortion. At some point maybe the stupid will learn but not until they have done great damage. Resistance to them is the only sane thing we can do.
1
The Democrats, from the top of the ticket to the bottom need to hammer these points home, and need to downplay the cultural issues that are so divisive (and ultimately fruitless in getting votes).
This does not mean abandon, or change position on the cultural issues, but really, is anyone going to change their vote based on convict voting rights, transgender bathroom rights, etc???
Stick to these issues, and don't insult peoples religion and the Dem's might win back enough of the rural vote to make a difference, especially at the local level.
Dr. Krugman, how many times must this be said?
Politics.Is.More.Than.Money.
What is the difference in getting an extra $5k / year though great agricultural policy if its clear the country's leaders think you're a deplorable rube?
Its the same reason that despite better employment prospects for minorities, they aren't exactly running to support Trump.
Economic arguments (save for HealthCare) are largely moot at this point in domestic politics.
1
The analogy that comes to mind is big tobacco. Trump is Philip Morris, and rural America are the smokers. All of the facts show that the product is bad for them, but they continue to smoke and wrap their decision to do so as free will and anti-establisment. When it’s really just ignorance and hatred toward more informed people telling them what they don’t want to hear. So they double down on the false hoods and follow their leader off the cliff. Sigh.
2
Excellent presentation of the data and its analysis. Maybe the rural voters will see the light, and depose the electoral college president. Karma!
The only sorry thing is that mostly sycophants and willing massagers off data will remain in the Agriculture dept.
They are called rubes for a reason. These people in the rural states have been long known for their willingness to fall for a con man. It’s not just education, these people lack basic common sense.
1
I have lived in flyover country my entire life, except for my time in the army, grew up in a small city and worked pink- or blue-collar jobs. I have zero sympathy for my family members and neighbors who voted for Trump. Anyone who's paid any attention to the news over the last 30 years should have seen what Trump is. And I don't care if they're angry. That's no excuse for feeling so sorry for yourself that you'll throw your vote--and our country-- away on a fool like Trump. As to the farmers who voted for Trump but are now hurting because of Trump's idiotic trade war, hard cheese. You got to be pretty dependent on crop subsidies and insurance,I bet, but you ate up all that Republican twaddle about the government being the problem. So, enjoy your president. Elections have consequences.
3
Guess I shouldn't be surprised, but the costal bias in some of these comments is just astounding! Many commenters accuse Midwesterners of willful ignorance while they display their own ignorance of anything outside their own sphere. There are educated people, cities, and -- gasp! -- Democrats all over the Midwest. Some of those Democrats are farmers. Enough of the stereotyping, please. Dehumanizing segments of the population is one of the reasons we got Trump.
1
Framers are always the easiest to foll around due to many reasons including lack of meaningful education, perpetual poverty and highly religious nature. Farming is also the most demanding job with least financial remuneration. Naturally, every political party in every country exploit them with a false hope that would never materialize so long our addiction f cheap food and corporate control of how food n' feed are traded and consumed.
Only 4 big American companies (collectively called ABCD) globally dominate commodity trading since more than 150 years. They have huge political and economic muscle. Most politicians, particularly corrupt businessmen like Trump Trump, would be always interested to cooperate with such big businesses and dish out all sorts of lies and (false) hope to those unfortunate farmers. Anyone standing to stop it would be kicked out or nicely sidelined.
Long live "Democracy" :(
Great economic insights as always. But poor and middle class voters have always voted against their self-interest. Republicans know this well, and continue to pander to voters' racial, religious, social and sexual prejudices. Voters are not only deceived by Republican economic lies. Many know and do not care. They would rather have fewer dollars in their pocket than a leader who promoted racial, religious and sexual equality.
There is one additional point. In rural areas probably, at least intuitively it seems so, an attitude of "I don't care what the Federal Government does, it doesn't affect me" is more prevalent. Ironically, it is Trump that is making it clearer that this is not true. "Thanks Mr. T"!!!!!!
1
I grew up in the rural Midwest. There has been much written about how the people living there feel disrespected by the coasts. Let me try to explain. It is not unusual to read an article in the NYT about the virtues of organic farming, about mixed crop sustainability, about cover crops, and protecting water sheds, and about the catastrophe of "factory farms". The people from the city read these articles without question and believe they represent some sort of reality. The city folks then go on and express these ideas as if they knew them to be fact, without knowing the very first basic thing about farming. They have no idea why farmers operate the way they do, and how totally impossible something like organic farming on an income producing scale would be. And yet they persist in believing they know more than the people who actually live there. This I am smarter than you attitude, when in fact they are so obviously ignorant, tends to be annoying.
177
@W.A. Spitzer
"Coastal elites" are so hated by Republicans that the President they love so much - and who has done so much financial damage to them - is one of them? Does that make sense to you?
I supposed the average farmer would also consider me a coastal elite, having grown up less than an hour outside of Philadelphia. Surrounded by nothing but farmland.
The simple fact is that "coastal elites" is as much a fiction as "welfare queens" and farmers destroyed by the Estate Tax.
278
@W.A. Spitzer I also know nothing about the vagaries of oil drilling and natural gas fracking, but I know it's bad for ocean life, our water supplies, even earthquakes. And I also know that there are renewable energies that we're not pursuing because Big Energy makes sure those industries are starved for government subsidies, which they hoard for themselves.
Maybe if Big Agribusiness didn't have Heartland farmers in a chokehold, they could make money from farming responsibly. Just a maybe.
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@W.A. Spitzer
This is what bias, prejudice, assumptions that are untested or not experienced, look like. And which applies all around, to everyone - the rural midwest, east coast, north, south, and anywhere else. Experience seems to be the best teacher, but we can't all have all the necessary experiences that might allow all of us to understand everyone's perspective.
Thus, we ought, all of us, to consider that we might have the only worthwhile opinion or idea or even experience all the time. It should keep many more of us humble and willing to have minds open to learning and understanding more than we know. Humility and the willingness to learn would go a very long way in making society function better.
Just a thought...
27
An often used German proverb translates to about: "The most stupid calves search for their slaughterer on their own!" or "The most stupid calves search for their slaughterer by themselves!" It is obviously often used, because it is often true.
In Germany it was especially true in the years 1933 to 1945! I know; you don't have to tell me!
(P.S. In German the reflexive pronoun goes through a lot smoother than in English; therefore - and because the phrase results in a rhyme in German - it's English translation is unfortunately a lot less snappy)
"His biggest supporters are his biggest victims."
Yes, and the sad truth is that rascism, right wing "nationalism", white power mental illness, is at the heart of that support.
So those fools are getting EXACTLY what they deserve in Trump's tax windfall cuts for the super rich, Trump's unrelenting attempts to gut consumer protection laws, medicare, social security for the elderly, etc. etc.
No sympathy from me for these fools.
1
The conception of Trump’s base does not account for his far bigger base of white males. Arguably the reason the polls were so far off during the 2016 campaign is because white men in other demographics did not want it publicly known that they were voting for Trump, and it is they —his even bigger “base”, who will likely vote for him again. That’s what we’re really dealing with. It’s what got him elected the first time and what will get him elected again if this reality goes unrecognized. He must be impeached, all the way impeached. Fight the battle now so it won’t be a losing one at the polls in 2020.
1
Please stop using that tired phrase "coastal elites."
I've lived in Oregon, California and Kansas. The vast majority of people in every one of those states is not elite or even elitist.
Given that they are receiving bailouts, this is right on target..
“Rural voters also feel disrespected by coastal elites....”
I’m sorry, but if they still support this con man in the face of everything he has done, then, frankly, they richly deserve that disrespect.
2
"A lot of it has to do with cultural factors" It is all about "cultural factors" in particular racism and evangelical Christianity. Racism is how the Republicans have working-class whites/rural voters to vote for tax cuts for rich 1% whites. Reagan and neoconservatives in alliance with the evangelical fundamentalist Christians formed an unholy alliance which has culminated with Trump. “Totalitarianism demands a disbelief in the very existence of objective truth” George Orwell
Why, then, do rural areas support Trump?
three reasons:
he is not a democrat.
he is not a woman.
he is white.
As H.L. Mencken once wrote, "No one in this world, so far as I know ... has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people." Never truer than with our fake "president".
In order to appear "tough" rural Americans will cut off their own right arm.
2
Rural Trump supporters' sunk costs won't permit them to admit that they were horribly wrong about Trump. Their psychological and emotional investment, pun intended, trumps any tangible benefits––healthcare; jobs; a strong safety net; etc.––they might obtain from voting for non-populist-socialist-progressive-intellectual candidates.
Better to blame others than to look in the mirror and face the truth.
Republicans rely on people voting against their own interests. When their constituents do get hurt, just blame liberals, immigrants, and "The Media." Don't underestimate the ability of Trump to sell...I'll call it nonsense so this doesn't get flagged. This is a man who -- in the wake of failing to build his promised Great Wall -- simply started telling his voters that he did indeed start the wall. Everyone got the message and nodded in agreement.
When he tells them they're hurting because of those immigrants and Democrats -- who apparently hate Merica -- they will nod in agreement. In strict terms, Trump's not a fascist; however, he borrows this from fascism. He realizes that emotions and ethnic solidarity are more powerful than truth -- especially if you challenge the entire idea of truth.
I don't know the answer to all this. The entire Western World seems to be sinking into the dark place of tribalism. Don't assume progress is inevitable, and certainly don't assume our institutions can survive anything.
And hey, liberals. Stop it with the woke litmus testing. That's the kind of thing that won't win people. Be more like FDR, and less like the caricature that conservatives imagine.
I fear that a lot of Trump supporters just want to burn down the mission. They don't trust anyone in power, they get a kick out of watching the orange wrecking ball, and have somehow come to believe that things will be better when the dust settles.
1
I'd be interested in what middle class farmers think and why. There are many more of them than rich or poor farmers.
I liked things the way they were pre-Trump. Blue states were the tax base, red were largely the beneficiaries, and no one spent psychic energy battling one another. I have always paid to the top of my tax bracket (due to lack of deductions as opposed to wealth), and never felt put-upon about it. I was happy for my taxes to go to those who needed a boost more than me. But with the advent of Trump, I learned just how much those folks hate us - enough to destroy our country just to bask in the glee of "owning the Libs". All I ever wanted to do was help where help was needed. It's hard to feel that way knowing what we know now about the sentiments and sheer destructiveness of those who take that help.
6
But seriously... the last time the nation was this divided ?
If it wasn’t the Civil War, then when ?
1
@David Martin
I think it was the "catch rule" incident in which the Pittsburgh tight end caught a touchdown pass at the end of that Steelers-Patriots game.
In 1961, I was one of 48 graduating in the largest school in my Nebraska county. Most of us couldn't leave fast enough - and we didn't move back. A handful stayed and took over family farms, but almost all of those farms are dead now, or almost dead. Resentment festers as farms are sold off, the town shrinks, bright young people continue to leave, and almost everyone remaining is in some way living on the government. That's hard to take.
The question is why this gets blamed on the Democrats.
One answer is that neither Democrats nor Republicans have come up with anything that would restore the energy and optimism on which the area was settled.
The ethos of the west is that settlers fought the Indians off the land, plowed it, fed an ungrateful country, and didn't take a dime from the government. They are "God's chosen people," according to Jefferson and agrarian myth.
If not, then who are they? What will happen to them? What happens to a dream defeated?
3
As usual, the Comments section is full of additional insights to a typically informative article by Prof. Krugman. I would like to add two more groups who rather blindly vote Republican (and, therefore, for Trump). These are the anti-abortion and Second Amendment folks. Although not exclusively rural, their steadfast support of any Republican candidate make them a powerful part of the GOP base. It may be dismaying to many, but there it is. Perhaps the day will come when we can all recognize ourselves Americans first, but that time is not now.
4
Sure, Donald Trump's policies have been detrimental to rural America, but have the economic policies of post-national globalization promoted over decades now by the likes of Paul Krugman and the Davos-dependent Democratic elites been so good to rural America either, or to working Americans or the planet, for that matter? And just like the Republican establishment, the Democratic establishment has tried to distract us with its own brand of identity politics and its own set of hot-button social issues. Just because Donald Trump is a monster doesn't mean the big-money corporatist Dems who want to take back power are looking out for our best interests either.
Sure, American-born Americans who are struggling to stay in the middle class, or simply aspiring to reach a vanishing middle class, have no reason to trust Trump. But do we have any reason to trust the Krugman crowd either when they've given us a steady stream of "don't believe your lying eyes" wrapped up in convenient economic theories we're not supposed to understand, all while our middle-class prospects have been vanishing before our eyes? (I'm doing quite well for myself, thank you, in the imperial 21st century anti-American-worker American economy, but I'm a bug, not a feature.)
2
@Mitch Gitman, a good point, however the differences in policies between Dems and the GOP is still blatant. Which party supports expanding affordable healthcare, REAL tax reform, rather than massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, support for unions, and expanding voting rights rather than curtailing them? For all the faults of both parties, there are still substantial between them.
1
@TRA You're absolutely right, and I don't want to be getting into a false-equivalence trap. Even if the Dems nominate the most corporatist, Krugman-esque candidate in 2020, that candidate will still have my vote in the general.
1
During the Great Recession and its prolonged recovery period, the states with the lowest unemployment were Ag states (many of which were also benefiting from the introduction of fracking in mineral extraction as well). Minnesota, Iowa, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma all had low unemployment rates through the entirety of the Great Recession.
The big reason for this was the health in the agricultural industry during the Great Recession. The reason for that was the demand for ag products from China. At the turn of the 21st century I recall reading articles on the end of the American ag industry as the interior of Brazil with its multiple growing seeds opened up. For whatever reason that did not occur.
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and China have all had success in Industrial Policy but it is supported by giant bureaucracies with cross functional coordination between sectors. We have industrial policies for only two sectors of our economy: Defense and Agriculture and these both have huge bureaucracies in their own sphere.
I think this country ought to have industrial policy to ensure the health of each sector and stabilize employment for workers, but I find shoot from the hip a bit disturbing, especially when it’s Trumps hip that’s doing the shooting. The likelihood of it not turning out well is disturbing.
The thing with Trump is that his tricks were on display in 2016. There is no more insurgency in him. The turn up the hate campaign of Bannon has been played. Its abundantly clear that Trump's populist plutocrat has morphed into plutocrat tax cut slouch that reaped 100 million dollars in 2017. As wealth flies away as fast as the Hubble constant to the wealthy. The chances for upward mobility become more ossified. Trump has made a fortune losing money. So much for his business acumen. All the talk that he was going to work with Russia has become a deep cold war with Russia. John Bolton and Sheldon Adelson are on the Saudi Israeli war bring on the war with Iran band wagon. But Trump's supporters, the 2nd amendment people and the white supremacists are all still there. The Democrats have become lost in the impeachment forest. The tribal forces in American politics are pronounced in Trump's favor. Once in office the GOP doesn't want to lose presidential power and the control of the executive branch. If Trump gets another term its likely the GOP will have 6 justices on the Supreme Court. Even John Roberts will not make a difference.
1
About the price collapses because of the international markets: the problem here is easily understood from an economic point of view, and so our farmers are getting hurt. But maybe places should feed themselves, and if they cannot they shouldn't have so many people. And the agricultural system is overestimated. Much of it runs on the unsustainable--for many reasons--of petrochemicals and pesticides. Our massive and bulk-wise cheap agricultural exports are perhaps far more expensive than we have imagined, and it is time to rethink.
Most Americans favor being tough on China - it's in fact probably the only thing for which Americans overwhelmingly support Trump's intentions, but not necessarily his methods - yet it might be his undoing. China knows how to target retaliation to hurt Trump the most. Wouldn't it be fitting if Russia helped elect him and China helped defeat him.
The common thread in a lot of posts seems to be the misunderstanding prevalent in the minds of people in these rural areas.
My opinion is that the media in a lot of these areas is controlled by republican owners or sympathizers e.g. Sinclair?
Having traveled with people in their cars during the day while they listen to Rush and the like and seeing the Fox news channels in hotels/restaurants, I blame lack of media balance (or would a "liberal" voice get ratings?).
There is definitely a lack of perspective or balance in what people see or hear in these regions.
2
Misunderstanding prevalent because they refuse to be part of that educated "elite" they so despise. It is not misunderstanding, it is ignorance, plain and simple.
I was raised in a deep red rural community (pop < 2,000). Another point that is often missed is that government programs are perceived as helping only African-American and Mexicans rather than whites. The idea of the "welfare queen" plays well with moderate (to low) white income people who believe whatever taxes they do pay go to directly to the people of color in their area (or in cities) rather than them. The media (starting with Paul Harvey continuing through Sean Hannity) encourage these perceptions with one off case examples. Any talk of statistics or data is dismissed as "figures lie and liars figure". When rural white folks benefit directly with a government check (Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security) there is this idea that they've paid enough taxes and it is deserved. Another interesting analysis for me would have to do with the impact of religion on this thinking since I think the media and religion tend to hold this decrepit building of thought together. Once these are successfully addressed then reason may reign in the heartland.
3
With all due respect, Mr Krugman... tensions between the rural communities and those of the coasts might be tempered a bit if you, along with others, stopped referring to those of us on the coasts as being elite. While I'm sure that some people feel this way about themselves, I do not. Nor do my friends. On the contrary, due entirely to some good fortune over which I had little control, I am blessed to have a life in here. Furthermore, I have the utmost respect for the farmers, ranchers, and industrial workers in America. I wish their employers thought of them as highly.
6
"Why, then, do rural areas support Trump?"
Rural Americans are being tricked. This reminds me of the the housing bubble that caused the Great Recession, but for farms. When the bottom half of farmers default on their loans, which we know they are dependent on every year, it will be Wall Street who will swoop in and buy all that "distressed property". The trade war will accelerate this trend.
This is why republicans for years have been accusing Democrats of wanting to "take away people's freedom"... that is just a cover, Wall Street wants all that land.
2
They are not being tricked.Trump is feeding something still very much alive in "rural America": hatred. Give them racism, xenophobia, mysoginy. I am sick and tired of this "Good old mid-western, rural folk" myth. Do not you people watch when they interview Trump supporters: Not only they obviously not sound like Harvard scholars but the vile and hated oozing out of their pores is just so disgusting. Reality is that the great majority of Trump supporters are uneducated, hateful "folk" who only now have to face what the rest of us, non-white America, have been facing for decades without the help of privilege based on the color of our skins.
Mr. Trump has made them feel they are the "real Americans", "real patriots" with old values who enjoyed The Apprentice, while we were the snobs. The New Yorker who has not been a successful businessman, has probably never held a shovel in his hand, makes them feel they can trust him. Why? Given all this, what should the Democrats do?
Having lived in a rural Virginia County , Dr. Krugman is spot on about rural economic problems. The attitude of many is a variation on the “ welfare Cadillac “ propaganda. Those “people” should get a job and not ask for handouts. A healthy, well fed, and educated population is a key foundation for rural economies. Investment in social programs that support people are a good investment for society and an offset for the monopoly and monopsony economic structure in place in this country.
2
Rural economies need to evolve. Developed countries like the United States are service economies where earning a living as a farmer is not feasible anymore as it is cheaper to get food from under developed still rural economy based countries. Rural folks need not only to get their rural behinds back to school to learn skills useful in a service economy, even if not "college type" if they want to eat but make sure their kids get the proper education because they ain't gonna make as farmers. Yeah, farming a centuries old tradition but time to let go or be left behind.
Washington State provides a mini case study in how neglected rural areas by the administration will translate into political loss. The City of Seattle has grown since the 2010 census equal to 30 of our 39 counties. The States three metros are most of the growth. The Agricultural Eastern part of the State has a high Hispanic population so a citizenship question will hurt the Republican Districts as well as urban. The rural counties have a high percent of people over 65 and higher unemployment. It would be in the Administrations interest to strengthen the safety net in rural areas as well as assist the farm industry.
3
I think this might go beyond Trump. Reagan's policies also decimated family farms but farmers disproportionately supported Reagan also.
I have relatives in the rural Midwest -- even in rural areas of the Northeast -- and I have absolutely no idea how to talk to them about politics or issues such as the environment or gun control. I like them and they like me when I avoid those topics, and most of them know enough to avoid those topics with me too. Some of them will agree with me on political matters but they will usually only admit it when we quietly have a conversation alone. Fox News and Rush Lamebrain et. al are a big part of the brainwashing but religion is another part of it. It doesn't matter whether it is Catholic or Protestant, there is a lot of fundamentalist nonsense. We are actually active in church communities in our town that have a social justice bent and someone at my relatives' church actually came up and belittled us for being "social justice warriors" whatever that is. I honestly do not know what the answer is. The brainwashing just seems to be too thorough.
6
This is reporting we need. Amidst all the noise coming out DC stories like this are going un-reported. And there are so many. Too much attention is put on the circus, and not enough on what's really going on. Thank you Paul Krugman for shining a light on what's important.
3
Clearly, live in middle America. This article hits on the conerstone of which I have been discussing with my collegues on the coasts. The socioeconominc divide in this country is much more multifolded, than urban vs rural, race, education-level, etc. It is much more to our exposure to these interactions with one another. I live in a state that votes to raise minumum wage and medicinial marijuana, but I live in a state that elects state legislature that want to restrict our voter initiatives and promote the "Trump" agenda. Rural America has been forgotten about and we have not been charged by national rhetoric. Historically, progressive politics has much of its foundings in middle rural America. We are still waiting on a candidate to come here and talk /listen to us.
3
OK, Trump's biggest supporters are his biggest victims. Wait till rural Americans get a load of the prices of high tariff Chinese stuff that's flooded all our dollar stores for aeons! Rural Americans voted Trump into office 2 years ago. Now we're in a constitutional crisis with a president who is defying the Congress and the courts. We're in for a penny, in for a pound with a presidential impeachment that may take 2 or more years, given the length of time (26 months,1972-1974) it took for President Nixon to resign. Meanwhile, farmers have been done badly by climate change, Mother Nature and president Trump, not the coastal elites.
7
"A few weeks ago Trump told a cheering rally that his cuts in the estate tax have helped farmers. This claim is, however, totally false...”
Perhaps it depends on your yardstick. Despite the price of gold declining in 2018, the price of farmland increased.
Maybe less collectivism is good for farmers.
Actually, many farms depend on immigrant labor, so rural areas are not as unfamiliar with them as Prof. Krugman asserts. Recently there was an article in the Times that covered the dependence of upstate apple orchards on immigrants.
3
Democrats need to split up their efforts:
Delegate environmental and social progress pressure to cities and states. Focus federally on economic issues like healthcare and fair taxation of capital income and corporations. Issues that sell in rural America too, without the rest of the agenda.
You all don't want to hear it, but that's Bernie.
Cities and states can do a lot more to further environmental and social issues, there is not a single city in the US with a Low Emission Zone or streets where pedestrians and cyclists don't have to stop and wait for cars every other block.
I refuse to believe people who live in American cities would not want to reduce their daily intake of carcinogenic fumes, like Europeans have done before them.
1
Dr. Krugman's insightful column raises a more general point about government services: the Trump Administration, is actively degrading the ability of the federal government to do its many jobs. It's quite clear that in some cases this is not merely deliberate, but at the top of the agenda (as in the appointment of people to head departments and agencies who are opponents of those departments and agencies, or are lobbyists for companies being regulated). Some of the damage is probably sometimes deliberate and sometimes inadvertent, but always to be expected, a consequence of creating a work environment that feels so negative that experienced employees (like the agricultural economists) feel that they just can't stand to be there. One of the multiple reasons to hope that a different president is elected in 2020 is in order to stop this damage as soon as possible.
2
It would be a mistake to assume that rural voters are abandoning Trump because of his trade policies. No doubt some have changed their minds, but in my casual contacts I have not heard any Trump supporters regret their choice or decry his White House performances. They are more likely to defend him and remain hopeful he will deliver on his promises.
4
Trumps grifting of his Marks continues.
According to the Environmental Working Group, in the first round of Ag. bailout payments made at the end of October, 68% of the checks went to the top 10% of farm households.
1,000 of the current recipients didn’t even live on a farm. They are distant big city residents who never drive a tractor and are often farm owners in name only.
Forcing American taxpayers to subsidize billionaires is nothing new.
Small farms make up 90% of all farms, yet in 2016 they only received 27% of the commodity payments. They only received 17% of crop-insurance protection payments. Since 1995, nearly 75% of all farm payments have gone to the richest and largest 10%.
https://iowastartingline.com/2018/12/05/68-of-trumps-farm-bailout-goes-to-richest-10/
2
@Dobbys sock
Yes, here in Texas, the aggie exemptions on land are used by many city folk and of those, most certainly are Trumpistas.
2
I don't know. It seems that the love of Trump for cultural reasons and the continual lying by his mouthpiece, Fox News, will keep nearly all of them in his camp, at least through the election. After that he could care less about them, as Krugman makes clear. In the meantime the country is being destroyed.
2
Paul, there are always winners and losers and why would we expect you to take anything other than an anti-Trump position?
Again, a tariff is a customs duty on merchandise imports and gives a price advantage to similarly imported goods, raises revenue for government and protects local jobs. There's not too much wrong with that!
Whereas free trade creates jobs in lower wage, lesser regulated and lower taxing countries at the expense of American (and Australian) jobs it runs roughshod over sovereignty and enables corporations to play one country off against the other for a lower wage, lower taxing and lesser regulation outcome.
In short, a race to the bottom and a race responsible American economists shouldn't be championing.
I remember when George W. Bush in his first term tried to get the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to reclassify fast food workers from being counted as food service industry workers to manufacturing workers. At the time, around 2003, manufacturing was leaving the U.S. in droves, and the Bush Administration had to have some way of telling American voters going into the 2004 election that manufacturing was doing just fine. Voila! They decided to count people making hamburgers as the same workers as making trucks, still and airplanes. Problem solved. Except, back in 2003 the BLS just said "No", and that was the end of that fact corroding GWB effort.
Today? I would not be surprised if the Trump Administration tries to get prison inmates picking-up garbage along the roadside reclassified as mining industry workers. Boy, I hope I didn't just give Trump an idea, but then again, Trump doesn't, y'know...read.
3
Rural America, for the most part, seems terrible at assessing its own long-term economic interests. A book about Kansas comes to mind!
Political symbols, particularly of the rigid, in-your-face kind seem more important to the Rust Belt and rural America than our much ignored and maligned (these days) constitutional values, character, honor, etc.
Why? As a comfortable East Coast, privileged elite, I can only assume because they do not share my public sector values, and perhaps more importantly, they are hurting - Big Time!
Perhaps the dems need to better understand the places in the country that do not want a Biden, Harris or other (perceived) East/West Coast elite dem in the WH. Maybe they just like an in-your-face approach, whether it serves their “best interests,” or not!
1
It is important for Democrats to better understand why farmers support Trump.
In addition to the reasons you note (hostility towards immigrants and disrespect by coastal elites):
Farmers saw huge health insurance premium increases under Obamacare.
Democrats often do not visit the heartland, or much less often than urban areas.
Farmers believe in the 2nd Amendment; guns are needed to protect livestock and provide food in lean times –Democrats push against this.
Farmers believe in self-reliance - even though many receive subsidies, they frown on those who don’t make do with what they have. Farmers favor equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. Farmers hate government ‘overreach’ regulations that drastically impact their use of their own land.
Farmers are insular; they live isolated lives and are not exposed to diverse views exchanged by educated and informed people. Farmers use radios to get weather reports and commodity prices, not listen to world politics. They are surrounded by like-minded neighbors. Farmers have strong, traditional family values; strong, god-fearing, religious beliefs. Farmers pass along conservative values and thinking to their children, generation after generation.
Farmers hate Political Correctness, and smug, sanctimonious, clueless, elitist liberals – including those who belittle people in red states as uneducated, pick-up driving red-necks who wave flags and cling to guns and religion.
Farmers hate to be disrespected.
2
@Ed First, you just trucked out every conceivable trope to describe farmers and coastal elites. I wish you could meet my Trump-supporting friends in suburban North Jersey and Long Island and New York City - and my non-Trump-supporting agricultural friends from Iowa and who actually WORK for the Dept. of Agriculture (whom Krugman is writing about). Lastly, those six nonpartisan economists leaving the Dept. of Agriculture will hurt farmers and agricultural workers and interests even more since this administration is allergic to accurate data-gathering that doesn't comport with their *alternative facts.* Incidentally, this is how Maoist China, and other totalitarian states too, headed into state-originated mass famine. Gov't bureaucrats in agricultural ministries were compelled to misreport facts and figures.
1
I want to read a response authored by someone in the Trump administration. I want the response to have the same level of evidentiary support and cited sources Mr. Krugman uses.
1
Did anyone see"The Last Word" with Lawrence O'Donnell last night? He showed Trump's rally in the Florida panhandle where Trump laughed and said, "Only in the panhandle can you get away with that sort of thing" when one of his supporters yelled out that the way to stop immigrants at the border was to shoot them. But Trump wasn't the only one laughing; the crowd let out thunderous applause.
You don't expect Trump to set a moral example. But those people at the rally are adults who by now should know right from wrong. If the had any sense of decency, they would have have abandoned this monster a long time ago.
Are these people "disrespected by coastal elites" as one has suggested? Speaking for myself only, I certainly have no respect for anyone who could applaud at "shoot them" or Trump's comeback. And if I could have given someone the benefit of the doubt for having voted for Trump, it's difficult now to do so if they can still support him two and a half years later.
In the end it's foolish now to expect these people to make rational decisions about their own economic interests when either they have never understood which party best serves them or bigotry "trumps" everything else.
4
Nice try, Krugman. Have you read the book "How to Mislead with Statistics" yet? You could be its author. And, clearly, your readers are expert "critical-thinkers" - they support a continued narrative that defies logic and economic realities on the ground.
2
I'm not sure if any of this matters. Here's why: if you only watch Fox News and do so for anything more than 5 minutes, you'll see that story after story after story uses inflammatory language to stoke the fears, grudges, insecurities, biases, etc. of those watching. I just sat next to a woman on a flight who had Fox in her ears for the full 2 hours of the flight. Their presentation of how the world is (according to Hannity, Ingraham, Tucker, Jeanne, and of course, Trump) is a full-on assault that BECOMES their entire perspective. That's why most who support Trump haven't budged one bit in 2+ years. It's because this 'alternative universe' view is what they firmly believe now - even more than in 2016 - and there is no convincing them otherwise, even if it hurts in their own wallet or pocketbook!
6
Hmmm... Is this price-fixing? Farmers negotiate their price per bushel early in the year. A rage tweet now drops the price, so farmers negotiate for lower dollars. Then, later on, all is forgiven, and China is once again a favored nation, and can buy up cheap wheat and soybeans. Who benefits? Big corporations like ADM. Who else? Maybe someone who gets a little "Schmiergeld" in his pocket, or who will be offered a cushy post-government spot and a no-extradition contract?
1
It’s soybean planting time. Does anyone know how many farmers are deciding not to put in a crop because of market uncertainty?
2
@GiGi...Oh they will out in the crop alright. It is just a matter of whether you would rather go bankrupt fast or slow.
A corollary to Mr. Krugman's essay is that the Democratic Party's one time basis had also included the urban poor. The poor are not as urban as they were 40 years ago. Lower income families have been consistently pushed out of urban centers by rising rents and real estate.
Until the current transition to fascism is fully established you generally cannot bludgeon people how to think or what to do although municipal police departments never stop trying with African-Americans. Instead, a government- Trump’s government for the moment- may try to control the information citizens receive that shape their opinions and decisions that influence action and reaction (propaganda). If we had a functional Congress that understood their crucial and constitutional role as a firm check against abuses of power by the executive branch (late sixties and seventies) the state of affairs we confront today would be very different including the odds that our democracy might survive.
1
Let's face it; Trump's organization did an excellent job of test-marketing the issues, preferences and slogans that appealed the most in those areas where Trump could get electoral votes. Then, as he has always done, he stuck his backers with the bill once he got his objective.
Rural America has always been isolated from the rest, but it has become more so over time - it's a very different culture and lifestyle, with particularly pernicious challenges.
So, Trump cherry-picked the anxieties of that part of America - racial, economic and pride-felt. Through Fox News and his denigration of any other source of information, he's controlled the information they tend to get and hold believable. Trump has used it as well as his support of the religious right and extremist GOP to get what he wants while hurting the country deeply. It's smart strategy that has preyed on rural America. I almost feel sorry for them.
4
Actually, rural voters vote for the GOP and Trump BECAUSE their communities receive so much aid.
Here's why...
1. The people benefiting from (receiving) the aid don't vote.
2. The people paying taxes, who do vote, are angry at their "able bodied" neighbor cheating the system.
We elites don't witness the cheating, but rural Americans do. Every day. They all know a relative, a neighbor, or a friend who they think is able bodied collecting disability, medicaid, food stamps etc.
Studies show cheating is very low, but in rural America it's enough to invoke anger and resentment.
If Democrats want to win elections they need to wake up to this reality and take ownership of this issue. They can save the programs by calling out and declaring "war on cheating."
The only votes they'll lose are the people cheating the system. Both of them. And, by the way, neither of them vote.
3
I lived for three years in southwest Ohio. We encountered many nice folks, but they found me to be an alien. As a Jersey boy, my accent is not as New York-ish as that of a real New Yorker, but in Ohio, I was considered a New Yorker no matter what I said. And amongst Baptists, my religion (Catholic) also stood out.
It turns out that rural folks ARE insular and prejudiced against difference. If they visited the average big city office they would be shocked at the many different people we have who consider themselves Americans.
That presidential elections turn on these voters is troubling.
4
@Terry McKenna
It turns on these voters because of the American electoral college system, which will continue to cripple American democracy until the system is repealed.
The list of Counties with the highest percentage of people on food stamps includes some of the smallest Counties in the US by population. The volatility of this statistic given the small population sizes means that only a small change in the number of people on food stamps could change a County’s position on this list by double digits of percent. An ordering by County population size or by per capita income within Counties would be more convincing than this statistic which could be radically changed by very small changes in food stamp program enrollments.
2
Dr. Krugman, you are right, but remember Obama's words in 2008:
"They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
3
The problem goes beyond and way earlier than Trump. The GOP has always been a shill for the super rich, corporate players, relying on foot soldiers at the polls that are Pavlovian about cultural/ethnic issues. A Faustian infernal political machine...
But I was hoping for a bit about Trump's own taxes today.
To segue to a rumination on that BIG stocks fall at the end of last year (and the miracle bounce back in the first days of this year. It seems a "whale", or few, could well have sold stocks, creating a gain to be taxed, but have immediately bought in as much stock, which (via manipulation, selling in clumps for no good reason, driving down markets in panic style) creating an off-setting loss for the gain, when the" new " stock, is sold. Calendar changes over, run values back up (having bought stocks again, at the bottom) to the before drop valuations, and no real problem.
Point being, as with many Trump returns reported in NY Times... the IRS should have evidence of HUGE stock loss write offs.
It is the timing of the market moves, end of personal tax year and beginning of next, with no long term valuation difference, that is so suspicious...
(oh, and for a nightmare, say T and his cronies, with money saved, beg, borrowed or stole; were to crash the economy intentionally, to buy everything up at a fire sale price...)
There is a famous story from many years of ago of when a paper (I think The DM Register) asked Sen Grassley, the self-appointed guardian of farmers and anti-tax man, to provide the names of Iowans who had to sell their farms because of the estate tax. You know how many names he produced? None. Not one, yet he continued to champion its elimination based on the imaginary negative impact on farmers.
11
The rhetoric always degenerates into Red State/Blue State and who pays their fair share. If you were to plan a driving trip across the country, take a close look at a map. The Interstate Highway System runs through both Blue and Red States. About seventy five percent of the funds to build that system came from the Federal Government. Funding of the policing and upkeep of that system is borne primarily by the states. Some of the most rugged terrain the interstate system crosses is in what are called Red States. Yet, the system is not efficient if it does not traverse those states and never would have been built without Federal dollars. We need to get away from the constant Red State/Blue State rhetoric and concentrate on the "United States".
1
But who bailed our the banks and allowed hundreds of thousands to lose their homes, did little to raise the minimum wage, allowed credit card companies the right to charge 30% interest, continued to support the US war machine that takes over half the US economy and gives it to the arms industry? All this while rural America suffered, and Obama and Co. did little to help it,
Not newcomers out to grab votes, but only Bernie Sanders has consistently supported the common man in every way, and this includes rural Americans.
If Mr. Krugman truly wants to end the mal-distribution of income in the US. he must support him, otherwise the magnificent exposure he makes today of the dirty workings of trump and past administrations will continue.
So when exactly did that bank bailout you loathe (and I agree with you about that) happen?? August of 2008. Who was president then? That’s right, the same crowd that piloted the country during the run-up to the collapse. But you blame Obama instead. Why am I not surprised?
2
Plenty in agriculture see the benefits of immigrants, but not all rural areas or still based in agriculture. These rural areas, however, are full of people who believe they are true Americans, and true Christians, who place restricting women's choice, retaining the death penalty, eliminating all taxes, weakening the government, etc above their own personal gain. It is true irrational behavior that Mr. Krugman, as an economist, should recognize is the Achille's heel of econ.
4
You bring up the point that rural Americans believe they are disrespected, that the elites make fun of them. I've thought often about this. I live in Manhattan during the week and live in a rural Republican county in New Jersey on weekends. It's a working class, mostly white community. I feel like I go between two countries: Manhattan on weekdays, and Sussex County on weekends. And yes, I do hear the disdain coming from my Manhattan bubble. But I struggle with believing that people will hurt, really hurt, their own interests merely for these reasons. or merely for cultural reasons.
@NYC
Yes the will "really hurt their own self interest".
When people are poorly educated, isolated and ignorant about almost anything that occurs outside their village, they are really not aware of the impact their decisions have on others and themselves. Their decisions are not based on facts, since they don't really care to or know how to look for them, but on emotion.
We have all heard before about the groups that primarily make up rural America. They are the racism, guns and religion factions.
A member of any of these groups votes on that one issue. they are so emotionally blinded by that issue, that nothing else matters thus making them incredibly easy to manipulate like trump has.
Trump isolated the one common component from all these groups when he said " I love the lowly educated" .
Actually, rural Americans do interact with immigrants. Immigrants and "non-whites" account for some of the biggest growth in rural areas. In some cases, they are saving little towns. Oddly, in the ag businesses in our area, the owners and managers are big Trump supports--while knowingly employing undocumented immigrants. Our town is about 10% Hispanic, changing the landscape of the community and the schools. Other towns have higher immigrant populations. Having grown up in rural Pennsylvania, I saw first-hand the racism that lives in the open. No one questions it, and the expectation was that I would agree as well. I would say that some of the people I know have never had an actual conversation with a non-white person in their entire lives. They do shelter themselves, even if they live side-by-side with non-whites.
6
Mr. Krugman, thank you for your column today. I have no disagreement with your observations and I understand your confusion. I live in Trump country. My roots spring from many generations of South Carolina farmers, although I myself am not one. I have many good friends who voted for Trump and are unwavering in their support. It is hard to understand, especially because they are mostly intelligent and reasonable people otherwise. They can give you intellectual reasons to explain their support for Trump, which usually are an extension of GOP politics and economics, but I believe the real reasons are more visceral. They like Trump because he breaks things and disrupts the liberal orthodoxy, which they see as a threat to their traditions and way of life. It is ironic, is it not, that Southerners would put their trust in a shady New York business man, but that is part of the mystery of it all. Despite our Christian heritage, we have been taught for generations that poor people are mostly to blame for their condition in life and that foreigners and the federal government are not to be trusted. As Faulkner put it: "The past is not dead. It is not even past."
8
Voting for a liar, cheat, and thief is always a mistake no matter where you live.
The Democrats should focus on the 85 rural counties you mentioned. Educated the voters in those counties with the facts. Erode Trump's base from the inside one county at a time. Trump will not increase his base but must maintain his base, if possible.
What Republican Senators and Representatives are running for re- election in those 85 rural counties?
Once again, the 2020 election is for the Democrats to lose.
5
How many other government reports have been tainted by Trump politics?
For instance the fed tell us inflation is under control but everything regular Americans buy has gone up 25-30%. The only exception are chicken and pork products.
Also the feds tell us unemployment is low but 90% of the available jobs don't pay enough to live on.
We have already seen the justice department and FBI used a political tool of the Republican Party to suppress opposition.
1
I think there is something to be said about having a paragraph about how a rural Trump supporters feel disrespected by coastal elites on an intellectual level, followed by a paragraph insinuating that they don't understand how Trump's policies affect them.
4
@Tommy Well, would you knowingly vote for a guy who is ruining your livelihood? Farmers and rural Americans are either 1) voting for their own demise on purpose because they are sacrificing themselves and their families for this "higher" cause, or 2) voting for their own demise without knowing that that's what they're doing. Which is it?
Trump has taken things to a new level, but voting for their enemies has been a rural thing for some time. I would argue that they know what they are doing and that they actually enjoy the pain.
I have moved around the country and have generally lived in rural areas. I like a country setting. However, I do not really ever belong to a community. My wife and I have a few close friends, but could hardly be considered "locals". We talk funny, being from somewhere else, and even though we are not brown, we are "not from around here" and we will never be. We are fine with that.
Here in rural southwest PA everyone is certain that Obama is the main problem with America. I kid you not.
9
@Chris I know how you feel.
The key to a lot of what you say is race. There are many people around here who knew nothing about President Obama's policies or programs but they did look at television and could see that he has real dark skin. That is all they needed to know.
2
Someone once told me that "Life will teach you a lot if you just pay attention to what is going on."
When I look around the country it seems to me that the places which are prospering are those that encourage education and are open to people of different backgrounds and religions (or no religion). Everyone says that the coasts have elites who are doing well; I don't ever hear any talk of the rural elites. Some of the places in red America that seem to be doing well economically are those that welcome immigrants and people who are different.
The person who has the biggest effect on how a student does in school is the student him/her self. I believe that we should have good schools and social services but at some point each person has to take responsibility for his/her situation. The farmers and others love to vote republican and voted for The Con Don. So now they get to live with their choice.
As an aside, the farmers that I know are always complaining about something. Prices are too high or too low; it is too hot or too cool; too dry or too wet. Everything is too something.
4
I think the main factor that both leads and keeps people in trumpublicanland is isolation.
People in rural areas often live secluded lives. They may be part of a small community but spend the majority of their time alone, either with their work, their immediate family, or with a television. There is no incentive or push to change the channel, so to speak, and no exposure to the social fabric that keeps metro areas moving. What seems obvious to the Coasters because we see it daily - that society is a fabric, and tearing it is dangerous - is far from rural Americans' daily life.
As the government pulls services, rural America's isolation increases. They get less from society; transportation is more difficult; everything is harder; individualism increases; the rhetoric from right wing news ramps up; there is even less incentive to change the channel.
Repeat for a few decades and you land where we are now - a cadre of the voting public who would vote for Donald Trump if he literally kicked them in the teeth because he's the only thing left, alone with them at the bottom of the spiral.
5
My family has been farming in NW Iowa since the 1870s. Its actually worse than what Dr Krugman portrays in that farmers don't own all the land they farm. Allow me to propose The Feudalism Project. The Big Lie states that all land is owned by family farmers who in turn pay all property taxes that fund schools and other services. This notion keeps taxes low ($28/acre on $10,000/acre land). The reality is that a large percentage of land is held by absentee landlords with zero interest in the well being of the local populace. Ergo, we return to the state of feudalism our forefathers fled in Europe. The Feudalism Project compares the percentage of land owned (see county assessor records by zip code) by local versus out of county/state/country owners. The goal is to educate voters that inreasing property taxes on absentee landlords to fund schools and local services is in the best interest of their community.
10
I live in a suburban county. Eighty percent of its population lives in cities or towns. I'm retired but work in nonprofits serving the disadvantaged. That work relies heavily on the data and analysis produced by the USDA Economic Research Service. Degradation of the USDA ERS poses a threat to our ability to serve our suburban disadvantaged.
Restated, degradation of the ERS is not only a problem for agriculture, it is a problem for all of us.
2
@thomas briggs I'm about 40 minutes north of you :) Will moving the ERS office to the Midwest, as is proposed, help your nonprofits any more or less than their staying in DC? That's part of the logic behind the plan- be closer to stakeholders, customers.
@patricia Hi Pardner. The data are mobile, extremely so as in the cloud. Moving the office, in my view, makes no difference, except perhaps to make it more difficult for policy makers in Washington to access the data and analyses.
I'm guessing the very same people who chanted "lock her up" will continue to do so out of sheer, stubborn pride, but, once inside the voting booth, they will pull the lever for Joe or Bernie or Kamala or Elizabeth or any Dem. The country will have learned its lesson, and it's going to be a Democratic landslide just like the 2018 midterms.
3
I certainly hope you are right.
The real problem here is not so much that Trump is terrible for rural states (which by all accounts, he is), it's their steady and resolute inability to see him for what he is, and that they continue to support him.
And you don't have to be an Economist tho know they're getting the short end of the stick.
Between the bogus G.O.P. tax bill that serves big corporations and the wealthy elite, and Trump's harsh tariffs on China which is taking a huge toll on soybean and pork farmers -- not to the recent weather conditions in the mid-west brought about by climate change in the form of tornadoes, droughts and floods -- and this country's agricultural industry has been hit hard.
And yet at his prodding, they continue to blame Democrats, the liberal media, socialists and "coastal elites" without even realizing who and what the biggest source of their problems is.
In fact, while cheering him on at his rallies, they remain blissfully unaware that there's still no effective replacement for the Affordable Health Care Act on the table even if they reelect him in 2020 -- and all government assistance programs be it Medicare, Medicaid or Food Stamps are on the future chopping block.
Just like they don't realize it's us "coastal elites" who live in the higher-tax and predominantly Blue states that are helping to subsidize them.
It's much easier for Trump to keep up the lies and call reality "fake news", than actually face the problem head-on.
And he's wrong.
6
Politicians in both parties threw workers under the bus a long time ago – declining real wages, less benefits, fewer rights, increasing economic inequalities ….. All just a consequence of power serving power.
Now, Republicans are negotiating golden parachutes for the corporate and investor classes under the new economic order ruled by China. Negotiations will never benefit workers in the United States – that is just the cover story. Rural America and workers of all types will lose bigly if the negotiators for the United States are successful. Remember these are the same people responsible for the tax cuts which did nothing for rural America and those living paycheck to paycheck.
I find everything mentioned above disturbing. But what I find most disturbing is the cheery, eager faces in the background at each rally held in the heartland by dear leader. It reminds me of the same deranged euphoria of admiring, loyal crowds in the run up to the last world war.
5
The tariffs represent a money laundering scheme:
Pretend China is going to pay tariffs increasing tax revenues while the consumer has actually to pay this by way of higher prices, refinance the tax cuts to the wealthy by those revenues. The narrative is China payed for the tax cuts while it was actually a bottom-up redistribution scheme. Mission accomplished!
2
Trump wants to run against Bernie or Warren as with a strong economy he'll scare enough swing voters. Biden could still likely beat him. Seems to me if the economy turns any democrat wins
2
One main reason rural America supports Trump even though it's not in their best interests? They get their news from Fox and Limbaugh, so they're not really getting any true factual information at all. Perhaps when their tax refunds start coming in lower than last year, and their tax bill is higher than last year, and their food (and everything else) costs more than it did last year hard data will finally prevail. But it's hard to lean in to the headwind of hour upon hour upon hour of pure disinformation, 24/7.
6
@Trobo
Add Sinclair to the list. Like the gas station with the same name, Sinclair Broadcasting might consider using a dinosaur on its logo.
4
I remember during the government shutdown early this year that many farmers were hoping things would start up again quickly because they rely on climate forecasting and market forecasting to determine which crops to grow and which livestock to raise.
Yet so many of them still think government--and immigrants--are the problem. The disconnect still amazes me.
5
Small county seats located in the middle of a sea of soybeans often have factories that drive their economies, or, at least they did 20 years ago. And, those factories had union members whose unions (whether the members liked it or not) supported the Democrats.
Bill Clinton's economic policies (effusively praised by Krugman) and NAFTA were terrible for small towns in rural America, terrible for the union members, and terrible for the unions.
Yet, over the past two decades, I have somehow missed all of Krugman's articles on the disastrous trade policies (which he supported) that gutted rural manufacturing jobs, and thereby gutted support for Democrats in rural America.
Those former union workers have been waiting 20 years for a trade war.
Say it Paul: "I was wrong."
2
The information in this column provides a wonderful opportunity for the next Democratic candidate to actually go to rural America (Unlike the last Democratic candidate) and repeat Ronald Reagan's wonderfully effective campaign question, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?".
People don't change their thinking because they "see the light", but rather because they "feel the heat". Right now, rural Americans are feeling the heat, bigly.
3
I have zero sympathy for beleaguered farmers. They look into the camera and say they still support trump ( while standing in flooded fields and admitting China probably won’t be buying their soybeans anymore. MAGA.
8
“Everything is political” has an echo from academic movements in the not so distant past. The writings of an otherwise intelligent Foucault, for example, can be associated with this kind of nonsense. I would think the right-wing would be surprised to hear who they’re in league with.
1
Most of these folks will vote for Trump again, thinking they're somehow sticking it to the coastal elites. But, the coastal elites continue to prosper, while in Trump country things continue downhill. If Trump voters are trying to prove a point, it's simply not working. It's ironic that Trump's economy is doing so much for the people that opposed him, but very little for the ones who support him.
10
Once again Krugman nails it. According to the Wall Street Journal, farmers in 16 mostly Midwestern states have filed for bankruptcy in record numbers, due largely to the almost total loss of the Chinese market for soybeans and other U.S. farm commodities. China was the largest buyer of American soybeans until it imposed a retaliatory tariff on them last year. Soybean exports to China fell by 90% and farmers lost almost $8 billion in sales, according to the American Farm Bureau. Forbes also reports that Chinese foreign direct investment in the United States, which creates jobs and contributes to economic growth, plummeted by 82.7% from 2017 to 2018. Our trade deficit with China, which irks Trump no end, has actually increased because of the trade war, meaning his tariffs are achieving exactly the opposite of what he intended. It was almost $80 billion at the end of March, an increase of $5.1 billion over a year earlier. "Trump often brags about the amount of money his tariffs have brought to the U.S. Treasury and about the damage they’ve done to the Chinese economy," said Forbes, "Yet the budget deficit continues to increase and the economy of China grew by 6.4% in the first quarter of 2019. Meanwhile, virtually every dime of Trump’s tariffs is paid by American businesses and consumers. He seems oblivious to this. He seems deaf to the myriad business and agricultural groups that have been begging him not to ramp up the trade war with more tariffs."
9
Spot on, Dr. Krugman.
At this point, I am licking my chops in anticipation of the 2020 election, when voters, who understand the truth of who and what Trump really is, crush the anti-immigrant, self-destructive rural American voters at the polls. There is absolutely no use wasting time trying to reason with them; they are uneducable at this point, regardless of their circumstances. They need to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to better lives.
Be that as it may, let's not forget the wealthy, who are also uneducable. Studies have shown that the stock market has invariably (and I do mean 100% of the time) performed better under Democratic administrations than under Republican administrations. (As that liberal bastion the Wall Street Journal has noted, "Since 1900, the Dow has averaged a 7.8% annual gain under Democratic presidents, compared with a 3% annual gain under Republicans.)
Trump's been crowing about the stock market's performance, but in fact when you look at that performance on the whole since he became president (including the 5.7% self-inflicted negative returns in 2018 for domestic stocks), it's been so-so, and lower than during Obama's administration. The wealthy tend to be heavily invested in the stock market, so you would think they'd want to elect Democrats. But no. In this regard, at least, they're just like rural Americans, voting against their own best economic interests.
5
When you talk to fellow farmers about how Trump has hurt rural America they shift the conversation to how the democrats murder babies and how the democrats will take their guns away. The day after Trump was elected commodity organizations praised his election but said we'll meet with him and change his mind about tariffs. I'm shocked how naive these people have become. This area used to be democrat but now I see rusted out vehicles with Trump stickers. Cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security would devastate these areas even further. If your main source of information is Fox news you would believe that the democrats are responsible for everything that's wrong with the U. S. They cheer when told that estate taxes ruined rural areas yet can name no one who has paid estate taxes in decades. No one seems to care that the Russians influenced our last election and continue to seed discontent with impunity. It is frustrating but we can't give up. Vote.
13
Culture beats economics in the short run, but economics eventually wins. The people in the Trump areas may be ignorant, but they do not lack an intuitive understanding of what's going on here. The vector for rural economics has been down for 50 years (at least). It has nothing to offer but commodities in a 21st Century world. The workers and residents there understand this well enough to avoid making economic arguments for why they should not be sinking, but instead constantly bleat about their vaunted "way of life". As if, being so morally superior, it should be subsidized by the rest of us. There's nothing Trump could do about their economic plight but make it worst. They knew this and voted for him because he promised to "hurt people who needed hurting". They are dead-end people clinging to a dead-end world and have nothing left but a hunger for revenge.
9
I live in a liberal, heavily suburbanized state. While attending a Catholic Confirmation party for my nephew and his friend, I'd say 95% of the adults were Trump supporters. Thankfully, I engaged with a gentleman of 85 years who told me the same three stories three times. People seemed glad that I was keeping company with him, but the good fortune was mine because he provided me with a way to avoid confrontation with a mob of Trump supporters. By the way, he was infinitely more articulate and repeated himself much less often than Trump.
18
Even before Donald Trump, the nation’s farmers were targeted by Republicans for special treatment by which the farmers were wooed by subsidies which allowed them to export more crops and to sell more of some crops like corn domestically to produce (inefficiently) ethanol.
All of this ended up making the farmers less competitive, because of the effect on the dollar.
Trump, with his tariff wars, has hurt farmers even more than the traditional Republicans. The farmers and many other folks living in rural America apparently love Trump and his hatred for strangers with accents.
The lies about crimes by illegal aliens have taken a toll.
Better educated people living in the heartland often see it
differently.
Though Paul Krugman and others in coastal, urban areas may be reluctant to admit it, there are significant numbers of men and women in the areas west of the Mississippi who see value in having immigrants helping to harvest the crops and starting businesses.
These enlightened Americans refuse to fall into the Trump trap of voting against their own economic interests and against their sense of fairness.
It is an enormous mistake to alienate the good people because of intellectual and geographic snobbery.
2
Less large scale urban aka rural voters are also now really affected by the concentration of media in right leaning hands, in particular Sinclair and Fox with its regional sports nets. With Reagan's deregulation of media ownership, there is a super concentration of media in a few hands. Before Reagan, companies were limited to 5 TV broadcast stations, and limited overlap of TV, print, and radio.
While many think of the internet as the great equalizer, just take a look at the first two paragraphs of Muellers report and you see that the influencers can hijack the discussion.
To many folks in "fly over country", the 10 o'clock news is where one gets tomorrow's events, weather, and to see how the grandkids did in sports events in the day that has passed.
With Trump spending less than $400MM nationally on election safety for 2020, when so many voting machines are outdated, and social media so everywhere, our democracy is at risk.
And the voters who will be most impacted as accurately reported by Mr. Krugman, will not have a level playing field to fact check their interests.
4
We have a similar problem here in a Canada. Alberta is the major contributor to transfer payments to less successful provinces, especially BC and Quebec. Both these provinces gain billions a year from Alberta, and then turn around and bite the hand that feeds them. Neither BC nor Quebec will allow pipelines on which Alberta desperately needs, and both attack Alberta for its contribution to climate change....and so on. Rural US, depends on transfer payments from ‘liberal’, and successful states such as New York and California (much in the form of social/entitlement programs). These Trump states constantly attack and degrade the very states that feed them. When will the hypocrisy end?
3
"Rural voters also feel disrespected by coastal elites, and Trump has managed to channel their anger."
It's not just "disrespect". The court system is dominated by coastal elites, and they have the power to strike down laws favored by rural voters. Count how many abortion laws have been struck down in states with no representation on the Court.
"Rural voters are far more hostile to immigrants than urban voters". I live in a basically agricultural area and don't keep up with the activities of the farmers. However, it would appear that farm labor around here is mostly done by immigrants, probably a lot of them illegal. I don't know why farmers would be so opposed to immigrants since they would be out of business without the immigrants. Some stronger bias must be in operation. With Trump, they are simply getting what they asked for.
4
Look at what parts of the country Bernie carried in the 2016 Primary, look at the NY Primary Map. Almost every single rural or semi-rural county was carried by Sanders in NY. Almost every single urban county went for Hillary, with the exception of Albany, and Orange County which is semi-rural went for Hillary.
Mainstream elites, the DCCC, scratching their heads about 2020 on how to win middle America, refusing to accept reality. America is ready for a change in economic policy and how we talk about American Capitalism. They just refuse to accept it because they are part of the problem.
How many urban voters will vote for Trump over an economically progressive candidate vs. rural voters that will vote for Trump over a third-way economic neo-liberal? I think we have already answered that question and it is called the 2016 Presidential Election.
We nominate a radical centrist (Biden), republican lite Democrat that focuses only on Trump and the cultural wars and we lose 2020 and probably our society along with it.
8
We live out here in rural flyover country. They believe and that is all that matters. Facts don't matter. It was easy for Trump to sell them a fantasy wrapped up as vaporware because they already had moved from Democrats to Republicans who sold them the same fantasy in their state legislatures and in the federal legislature. They were ready made to blame someone, anyone else either the cities, the immigrants or the coasts for their problems, not recognizing it was the self same conservative politicians that caused their plight. Trump just used the mistrust and hate already in place. Gingrich and his ilk succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. The rural midwest will keep believing right up until the last family farm is auctioned off at a tax sale.
6
Paul,
They'll wake up. They always do. But the critical question is, will they wake up in time for the 2020 election.
3
The real pain is just beginning. The metric that counts in rural America is land prices. These have steadily grown over 20 years- most especially in the Obama years- due to a combination of foreign markets and government supports. Take those away, as Krugman points out, and the price of land plummets. The housing bubble might look tame by comparison.
5
Great! As a fifth generation American and the first in my family to a make my living outside of agriculture, I, and most people I know who are actually real farmers and ranchers (not factory or hobby farmers), would welcome a drop in land prices. People whose livelihood is tied to the land need to be able to purchase more land to increase production and grow their businesses--which feed our nation by the way. Here in Texas, the explosive economic growth and influx of new residents has jacked up prices of rural land-in some places, up to $20,000 per acre, putting it out of the reach of most smaller farmers and ranchers.
High land prices are great if you're selling out to a contractor who wants to build a subdivision full of million dollar ranchettes, not so much if you are making your living in agriculture.
@Tired Completely backward. Unlike suburban Texas, rural America is emptying out. Ag margins are extremely thin in the best of times. The only thing that keeps anything going is the ability to borrow money-season to season- based on an increasing value of the land.
The only ones who are, or will be, able to survive the fluctuation are corporate buyers (often foreign). It's happening every day, and will only accelerate. There will still be farmers out there, but they will be hired hands of multi-national corporations.
1
Suburban? Visit West, East and South Texas-this is Ag country. Don't be fooled by a few large metro areas. The farmers and ranchers here have moved with the times-peanuts to cotton to grains to grapes. Mohair to meat goats. You name it, it's here. Many have been successful for generations. They have not succeeded by borrowing against against their land annually to maintain a failing business. Those who are successful are smart business people (the same as in any field) who have been willing to change with the times. Those who haven't are in another business.
I watched a show where an panel of farmers were being interviewed about the tariffs. They all agreed that it was really hurting their business. Only one said that Trump overplayed his hand when China called his bluff and stopped buying American products. The rest said that they were prepared to take the hit if it meant a better future and they still had faith in Trump. The one who disagreed was in his late 50’s. He reminded them how hard it was going to be to get that loan to plant next year when they lost money the year before.
6
Just look at Kansas to see how helpful hard core Republican policies were to the economy and how Democrats can win in rural areas. Under Sam Brownback’s leadership Kansas economic growth fell far behind the rest of the country in recovering from the Great Recession and deficits exploded so badly that it could not fund education. Finally even Republicans rebelled and in 2018 a Democrat won as Governor. Facts are facts and if people’s lives are no better than 4 years ago then they will listen. Certainly they will listen to Dems if they make the effort. With Chuck Schumer cheerleading Trump’s tariff policy it will make it hard to have an effective in farm country. Biden and his union support may conflict him in this region. So Amy Klobuchar, Beto and Mayor Pete could make some good inroads and be strong VP candidates.
3
@Daniel Salazar
" So Amy Klobuchar, Beto and Mayor Pete could make some good inroads and be strong VP candidates."
Why only VP candidates?
@Thucydides
Great question. They are Presidential caliber. If they can show well on Super Tuesday then they have a chance at the nomination.
Voters who support Trump must see something they like.
Trump is undeniably able to connect with them, telling stories they want to hear, stories that make them feel emotionally connected to their elected leadership.
Their current situation however difficult, doesn't seem to have been helped by government policies.
The markets are against them, and modernity is against them.
Things just keep getting worse, so its understandable to want to believe that Trump is on their side. It's an elixir of hope.
But that's what con men do, they take advantage of our 'wanting to believe', and fleece us in the process.
7
"and modernity is against them. " Thats correct Oh.
Automation and productive efficiency have reduced the need for large parts of the population to be on the farm.
All around the world small towns are abandoned and young people are obtaining education, skills and moving to the cities.
Take a look at the abandoned towns in Japan, Italy and other countries and realize this is a human global migration and next step in human advancement whether we like it or not.
If we let rural America send us backwards America will be overcome by the countries that move ahead.
2
@Oh
"...modernity is against them."
That is the distilled truth.
Several years ago NPR reported on an interesting finding from a study. It found that fully twenty percent of the populace believed the sun revolves around the earth. Jay Leno used to occasionally step out of his studio onto the street and question passers by about basic facts, such as the number of branches of government and their respective functions. The responses were funny, but sad. Equally sad but not as funny are the responses we hear on a mind-numbingly daily basis when an interviewee is asked about a fact and replies with a feeling or belief. When I hear this It brings to mind a local federal judge from the past. Part of my trial preparation was warning witnesses not to answer questions by saying what they felt, because this judge would immediately intervene with a stern adominition and lengthy lesson on the difference between feelings and facts. I feel like this comment is a wise one.
5
@Dale Irwin But Dale remember when Leno did that? He was in NYC, not rural America. Dumb exists everywhere.
Love your columns, Paul, but who is this one intended to influence? Rural Trump voters (where I am now) don't read the NYTimes or any paper -- ditto all Annie's comments. The ignorance in this country is what is bringing us down and it's not limited to rural America. We need a "post-Sputnik" response to our lack of rigorous education as well as one to climate change. As a culture we've gotten soft and trivial and we're paying the price.
11
One inescapable source of support for Trump in rural America is its whiteness and fear of “the other” that Trump has so well exploited. Because they watch only FOX and listen to Rush, they believe that there is truly an invasion of dangerous migrants, and that white Americans will be soon outnumbered. (As an aside, when I travel through the deep Midwest and invariably encounter FOX on in the hotel’s breakfast area, I quietly suggest to the desk manager that, since they have guests from all over the country with differing views, why not turn on a neutral channel, like HGTV. It works every time. It is a small victory to neutralize FOX propaganda, even if just for a few hours.)
7
@J.
Change the channel? Heck no. When travel, I always get them to change the channel TO TRUMP News and then listen to see what others from other parts of the country are thinking. But if Ainsley Earhardt is on camera and anyone asks me what state I'm from, I always say Georgia or Oregon or some other state.
Unfortunately, most people who read the NY times are aware of the damage that Trump's economic policies are doing to the country. The real problem is, how do we get these Trump followers to realize the same thing. We need to be careful not to insult their intelligence, it is hard to educate them, and with Fox news blaring 24/7, we need to find a new, novel approach to get them to 'see the light.' Any ideas?
7
Agree on all points, but what does that really say, bottom line?
Rural Trump supporters are saying that they are so angry and disgusted about how things are going that they're willing to pay dearly in order to be heard and, more importantly, to vent their rage, for their Silent Majoritarian sufferance can be appeased and contained no longer.
Revenge is sweet, served hot or cold. They liked the "good old days," when men were men, and respected, powerful, legends (in their own minds). Days when minorities humbly accepted subservient roles. The world was a much better place "back then." In fact, it was great, for white men.
Unfortunately, we're all somewhat selfish, and, perhaps fortunately, built to fight back when we finally have had enough, e.g., our Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Men will fight for both psychological and physical reasons. We are but naked apes with a thin veneer of civilization. Winning is not the most important thing for us; it's the only thing.
Patrick Henry channeled this human trait, for more noble reasons, when he said, "Give me Liberty, or give me Death."
[Sorry for the crass collection of cliches: My education consisted, and consists, primarily of bumper stickers. a man can learn a lot from them. Not necessarily wise things, of course, but a lot, nonetheless. (I spend a lot of time in bumper-to-bumper traffic, where my library is.)]
5
Many rural Trump supporters are willing to suffer in the trade war because they stand against a foreign ‘enemy’ ie China. They are willing to suffer as a sign of patriotism and love for their country. They are willing to suffer because they think tariffs are being paid by the Chinese. As long as their sufferings hurts a foreign competitor then it is all for a good cause. This is in a way an ideological and nationalistic stand that is a very strong force to recon with. That reminds me of the reasons Russians support the strong hand of the autocrat or the Party while living in total misery and oblivion. A common ‘enemy’ unites people and makes them feel strong for a while. Never mind that without markets (and government subsidies and regulations) there is not trade. Without trade there is no work, no jobs, no manufacturing, no prosperity. Trump and his supporters want the world to behave as we are the one setting the rules which hurt those that obey them. How is this going to work? How are we to deal with China and the EU on our own and why?
I just don’t see a good way out of this mindset.
2
Once the kerfluffle is over, I think our nation will be better served by disseminating as many departments out of DC to the hinterlands as possible. One, it will open up new professional job opportunities in these communities. Two, staff will be closer to "real people" and not live in the DC bubble. With new communication technology, holding video conferences is a viable way for meetings and collaboration between scattered sites.
4
I am visiting in the south right now and am astonished at the percentage of adults I see (over 50%) who are grossly overweight, so much so that they have trouble walking down the street. They seem oblivious to the fact that they've done this to themselves and it hurts them, badly. If they treat themselves this poorly, why do we expect them to treat the country well? If they are this oblivious to reality, why do we expect them to do anything other than follow the "reality" TV star who is the personification of fake news?
8
Please learn something about how the Standard American Diet affects the brain and behavior before you judge.
Please don't write "coastal elites." This phrase, a favorite of the right, bears a not-so-subtle implication that the Americanism of residents of the East and West Coasts is suspect, and only good solid "Middle America" is the real America. We are all Americans with equal rights to speak our minds and advocate for policies we think are good. As you have shown repeatedly, Paul, the policies pushed by "coastal elites" -- Obamacare, higher taxes on the wealthy, strong environmental protection, on and on -- are far better for our fellow citizens in the middle than anything Trump and his Republican acolytes favor.
10
Here in the UK if farmland is unprofitable it's turned over to developers to build housing. Maybe the rural voters see the immigrants as competition.
You missed one other area where tariffs are hurting the rural economy. Manufacturers of niche farm equipment in rural areas import steel from Canada and then sell equipment to rural farmers and export to other countries— they are hit from both ends by Trump’s trade wars.
2
"Why, then, do rural areas support Trump? A lot of it has to do with cultural factors."
And if the rural areas are simply hopeless and despair to change their economic fate either with a Democrat or or a GOP President?
And maybe they are thinking that the Trump's tariffs are punishing the big financial, agribusiness companies, which maybe are part of the same hedge funds which make trade in China and export towards America?
And if the rural areas culture would reveal being not so bad and Trump's policies may inspire a change in the American agribusiness, which have a better regard for them?
This story reminds me of the Leftist Italian discourse on the rural areas supporting a corrupt party and even more corrupt governments for 45 YEARS after the WWII, while refusing to vote for their 'natural' party, the Communist Party, the party of the workers and proletariat.
Finally, the history tells us the Italian rural areas maybe were right, while the leftist intellectuals were wrong.