{"id":6643,"date":"2026-10-26T19:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T02:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=6643"},"modified":"2026-10-26T19:04:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T02:04:45","slug":"donald-trump-has-been-a-disaster-for-rural-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=6643","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump has been a disaster for rural America"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>7 Minute, 30 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

The president\u2019s policies have taken such a toll on farmers that Republicans face trouble in deep-red states<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Donald Trump\u2019s policies have been a disaster for the nation\u2019s farmers, so much so that a near electoral miracle may soon happen: Kansas, one of the deepest red, most rural states, may elect\u00a0its first Democratic senator in nearly a century<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Trump won farm country handily in 2024, many rural voters in Kansas, Iowa and elsewhere have soured on him because the price of diesel fuel, a key input for farming, has soared by nearly 70%, because farm bankruptcies have surged and because Trump\u2019s trade wars have significantly reduced agricultural exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rural voters are so upset with Trump that polls show that Republican Senate candidates stand a good chance of losing in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas, even though Trump won those rural states by 13 percentage points or more in 2024. No wonder Trump is hopscotching madly across Kansas, Iowa, and other states in the midterm campaign\u2019s final weeks.

No one is saying that Trump deliberately hurt farmers, but when he plunged the US into the Iran war and his many trade wars, he showed little concern about what those decisions might mean for rural America. It was nearly inevitable that Trump\u2019s moves would batter farmers \u2013 by pushing down soybean and other farm exports and by pushing up the price of fuel, fertilizer and farm equipment. Not only that, Trump\u2019s proudest legislative achievement, his \u201cbig, beautiful bill\u201d, further hammered farm country with its major cuts to food assistance and its $1tn in Medicaid cuts<\/a>, which will cause an estimated 1.8 million rural Americans<\/a> to lose health insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe has sold out rural America<\/a> with his policies,\u201d said Jon Tester, a third-generation Montana farmer and former US senator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the Cato Institute, a Republican-friendly, conservative thinktank, slammed Trump over what he has done to farmers. A Cato commentary stated that while Trump calls this a \u201cgolden age\u201d for farmers, the fact is that Trump\u2019s \u201ctariffs are inflicting serious damage\u201d<\/a>\u00a0on farmers, increasing their input prices and causing their exports to\u00a0decline by billions of dollars<\/a>.

This helps explain why farm bankruptcies have jumped by 85%<\/a> over two years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little wonder that a recent KFF\/AP poll found that roughly six in 10 rural voters disapprove<\/a> of how Trump is handling the economy, while about half believe the economy is in worse shape<\/a> than when Trump returned to office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, many rural voters have turned against Trump \u2013 while nearly two-thirds backed him<\/a> in 2024, now less than half, 49%, of rural voters say they support GOP candidates this fall, according to a Fox News poll.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a recent news conference in Washington, John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, sought to convey the pain and anger many farmers feel. \u201cBecause of the misuse of tariffs, record high agricultural input costs, soaring fertilizer costs\u201d, and \u201chigh interest rates\u201d, Hansen said, farmers \u201care facing the worst economic and financial crisis<\/a> since the farm crisis of the 1980s\u201d, when many farms went under because of sky-high interest rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a direct slap at Trump, Hansen added: \u201cJust when farmers need to expand markets for their products, the president seems to be at war with our nation\u2019s top three trading partners: Mexico, Canada and China. When trade wars break out,\u00a0farmer noses always bleed first and worst and longest.\u201d<\/a>

Many rural voters backed Trump in 2024 because he promised to cut prices, including energy prices, and vowed not to plunge the US into unnecessary, expensive wars overseas. But now many feel betrayed because Trump began an unnecessary, expensive war against Iran that caused diesel fuel \u2013 which farmers rely on for their tractors and combines \u2013 to soar to a record $6.52 a gallon<\/a> in late September, before declining somewhat (to $6.32).<\/a> This price spike \u2013 diesel averaged $3.75 a gallon<\/a> before the war \u2013 cost most farmers thousands of extra dollars when many were barely breaking even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCompared to last year, our fuel bill is $50,000 higher<\/a>,\u201d Vance Ehmke, a Kansas farmer, told the Hastings (Nebraska) Tribune, while \u201cfertilizer, that\u2019s going to be at least another $20,000 or $40,000 increase. That\u2019s all due to Trump and his war in Iran. We are madder than hell about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to tell you that I am a Republican, and I\u2019m pissed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, the American Farm Bureau Federation ran a bad news article saying \u201cthe record-high input cost environment<\/a>\u201d, meaning high diesel and fertilizer prices, means that \u201cno major row crop\u201d, such as soybeans or corn, \u201cis projected to clear break-even\u201d this year\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and other farm states, ranchers are fuming that Trump announced plans to import roughly 660m lb of tariff-free beef<\/a> with the aim of cutting beef prices by 25% \u2013 one of the many ways Trump\u2019s tariffs angered consumers was by pushing up beef prices. The National Cattlemen\u2019s Beef Association voiced dismay<\/a> about Trump\u2019s beef imports, saying the move would undercut the struggling industry\u2019s stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The North Carolina farmer Matt Bell had a warning for Republicans. Bell, who voted for Trump in 2024, told CBS News<\/a>: \u201cEverything we touch has gone up. We\u2019re in a position now where we\u2019re mad and ready to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With rural America in deep pain, Bell and many other farmers who traditionally backed Republicans want to send a message to the party that controls the White House, Senate and House. Many are angry that GOP lawmakers haven\u2019t sought to protect farmers by fighting against Trump\u2019s tariffs and war against Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to get some other voices in there<\/a> to push back a little bit on this stuff,\u201d Nancy Danner, a soybean and corn farmer in Iowa, told the Wall Street Journal. \u201cWe need as many changes as we can get.\u201d Danner said she planned to vote only for Democrats in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Wall Street Journal headline had bleak news for the GOP, saying: \u201cRepublicans are facing the worst political environment<\/a> in farm country in decades.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this dismay could go far to elect Democratic Senate candidates in rural states:\u00a0Josh Turek in Iowa<\/a>, Adam Hamilton in Kansas, Roy Cooper in North Carolina and James Talarico in Texas, not to mention the independent progressive Dan Osborn in Nebraska.

John Tsitrian, a South Dakota business executive who writes about rural America, didn\u2019t mince words about who\u2019s to blame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFarmers are hurting<\/a> thanks to Trump\u2019s apocalyptic screw-up,\u201d he wrote. Perhaps the biggest screw-up, in Tsitrian\u2019s view, has been the loss of global markets caused by Trump\u2019s never-ending trade wars, which he said had caused long-lasting \u201cstructural damage\u201d to US farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Trump\u2019s first term, the US and Brazil each provided about 40% of China\u2019s soybean imports. But as a result of Trump\u2019s repeated trade wars with China and China\u2019s search for more reliable, less antagonistic trading partners, the US now provides just 23% of China\u2019s soybeans<\/a>, with Brazil providing over 60% and Argentina 10%. With China importing around $60bn worth of soybeans annually<\/a>, that means a painful loss of $10bn a year in US soybean exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has long been known to seek to shovel money, often lots of money, to people who are angry at him. Just look at his shameless plan to hand out $5,000 to every American adult<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing how upset farmers are about sky-high diesel prices, Trump announced a new handout on Monday at a rally in Kansas \u2013 he promised $8bn in emergency aid to US farmers<\/a> in what he called the Harvest Fuel Relief Program. It seemed like a desperate, last-ditch effort to rescue Kansas\u2019s incumbent Republican senator, Roger Marshall. That came after Trump announced a previous $12bn bailout of farmers last December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While acknowledging that farmers need emergency aid, South Dakota\u2019s Tsitrian wrote<\/a>, \u201cToday\u2019s tough farm economy, in regular need of federal cash infusions, is the result of a disaster that has a specific name attached to it: Donald Trump. Unlike most disasters, this one was utterly foreseeable<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across rural America, there is fast-increasing frustration, dismay and anger about economic conditions, Trump\u2019s policies and GOP lawmakers whom farmers have long supported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis Republican-led Congress has not done<\/a> their job,\u201d said Hansen, the Farm Union president. \u201cThey have not helped our nation\u2019s farmers in our time of need, and it is time for a change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steven Greenhouse is a journalist and author, focusing on labor and the workplace, as well as economic and legal issues

Reprinted from The Guardian<\/p>\n

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