Black Farmers Not Interested In Serving In Trump's Trade War
White farmers mostly okay with it.
Months ago, we brought you the story of those intrepid soybean farmers who steadfastly cling to their support for Trump. Some of these men were even willing to die for Trump's bullshit; this is how insane America is right now. These men are also the most important people in the nation, besides the coal miners, and the MAGA people who feel marginalized by coworkers speaking Spanish, so it is very important that we keep tabs on them. Last time we saw them, they were still supporting Trump, even though their soybeans were rotting in the fields due to high storage prices and retaliatory tariffs. Things were already rough for them, and they were in desperate need of those promised payments from the federal government, but instead Trump ate their faces off, and it was "sad."
This week, that obstinate orange foolius is up to his old trick of lying to the only people who believe him these days; he attended the 100th annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation. He went there to whine about his stupid wall, not to help the farmers, so you were probably fooled by that but good.
Here are the lowlights from Trump's rambling, weird, and self congratulatory speech:
From Time :
"No one understands better than our great farmers that the tough choices we make today reap rewards for centuries to come," Trump said, adding that their "greatest harvest" is yet to come.
Not to nitpick here, but this reminds me of the riches and rewards Creflo Dollar promises his flock they will receive if they buy him a new luxury jet. I'm not one to ruin a good hustle, or to act too good to get a little grift going, but damn, can a sistah get in on this shit, man? Hell, I'll fake start a "Farmers for the Wall" super pac, and put up a GoFundMe if I can keep a little measly old 20 percent. I'm not a greedy person.
"We're doing trade deals that are going to get you so much business, you're not even going to believe it," he said.
I did NOT hear much applause for this line AT ALL. Don't the farmers want MORE wonderful, easy to win trade wars? Haven't they enjoyed waiting for government checks to keep them out of bankruptcy?
"You need people to help you with the farms," Trump said. "It's going to be easier for them to get in."
Maybe if you stop deporting the actual people who fucking work there, the farmers wouldn't be quite so fucked, ever think of that? Also, your goddamn trade war hasn't been good or easy , by the way.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue last week extended the deadline for growers hurt by Trump's trade war with China to apply for federal aid meant to offset their losses. But some farmers will still have to wait until after the government reopens to see their checks. In addition, the Farm Service Agency, which distributes loans to farmers, has been shuttered since the first week of the shutdown.
See how important they are? They get welfare because they voted for Trump. And it's obvious they still love the hell out of the man who is causing them to be poor and miserable, because even with 500 protestors outside, they STILL don't blame Trump.
Richard Musel, of Bennington, Nebraska, a corn and soybean farmer, described business as "marginal" but said he doesn't blame Trump. Musel said Trump has been good to farmers and had no choice but to get tough with China. He criticized Democrats for refusing to fund the wall.
You see this shit? Not only do they not really mind the trade war marginalizing their business and destroying their profits, they actually blame Democrats for not paying the ransom. As a matter of fact, they think this pain they feel right now actually has a purpose and will help future generations of farmers. We don't know why the fuck they think that, but then again, we don't know why the fuck Trump's not in prison, so maybe WE SHOULD SHUT UP.
Everything isn't Skittles and cupcakes in Trumpville, though. Some of the farmers are at the end of their rope, and unwilling to die as a result of friendly fire in this trade war of attrition. They need their government handouts, STAT!
From WaPo :
Outside the hall, where Toby Keith music boomed, Earl Williams Jr., a Rockford, Ill., corn and soybean farmer who is on the board of directors of the Illinois Farm Bureau, said that the trade war has to end.
"We've got to do something. This is killing us in the Midwest," he said. "We've managed to alienate so many of our traditional trading partners."
Maybe some of the farmers regret their enlistment in the Soybean Soldiers militia of Trump's Trade Tariff Army? Nah. Let's close with the only black person harmed by the shutdown who will ever be interviewed. Apparently CNN and MSNBC trade guests like those weird kids used to trade Pokemon cards, because I could swear I saw him with Katy Tur also. Meet John Boyd Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association:
He had a completely different perspective, huh?
From Crooks and Liars :
JOHN BOYD: I believe farmers like that gentleman and all due respect to him,I believe they see themselves in President Trump. White Male. Quite frankly, the people that have prospered under his leadership have been white men.Farmers probably supported Donald Trump, President Trump, excuse me, probably at a 90% rate, farmers have. But I don't support the president's policies. I believe that they're bad for farmers like myself and farmers around the country. If they continue to support that and wait it out, they're gonna end up on the auction block. I can tell you right now, today, I wouldn't lose my farm for President Trump. I wouldn't do it for President Obama ... He claims to be the best dealmaker in the world, he needs to step up and make a deal with Congress and put our federal employees back to work and put our country back to work and put me back to work as a farmer, and the members of the National Black Farmers Association. Any time we have to turn to the government for relief -- at $1.65 a bushel, historically African-American farmers have not prospered at the United States Department of Agriculture. They have not doled out loans equitably to African-American farmers. They haven't doled out subsidies to African-American farmers equally. I don't have the trust in the United States of Department of Agriculture that they are going to run to our aid. Here I am waiting for my own payment as the president of the organization for a check for $15,000 that I have yet to receive.
Well, GODDAMN!! Looks like Jim Crow woke up from his 15 minute nap, and is probably running the Department of Agriculture. It's no wonder the white farmers were willing to continue to suffer a while longer; they're getting their money and probably the black farmers' money too. For all Trump's talk about black unemployment, and sentencing reform, and how he and Kanye just, you know, click on a deeper level than most non-narcissists understand, Trump has done a horrible job at treating black people like we're full people. Give that man his 15,000 dollars, assholes! And know this, Department of Agriculture; we will be holding hearings nonstop for the next two years. You will be asked about your loan practices, on camera, in public, for as long as it takes to get the truth. You better get it straight.
[ Time / WaPo / CrooksAndLiars ]
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But nobody's talking about that, because the #TRE45ON White House doesn't want anybody to know anything about that.
I'm intrigued, but I won't ask. I do know there's a LOT of people with jobs like that, people we never see and whose tasks we're never told of and whose opinions are never reported in the NYT.