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MAGA KY Farmer Writes Open Letter Begging Trump To Make A Deal With China And End Tariffs. [1]

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Date: 2025-04-11

I just had to bring this open letter from MAGA Kentucky farmer Caleb Ragland to Donald Trump begging him to make a deal with China and end the tariffs to your all’s attention. Ragland is President of The American Soybean Association. He is what I call a “Yeehaaw” supporter of Trump when it comes to tariffs. Yeehaaws believe that Trump is a great business man who is using tariffs as a “negotiation tactic.” And the delusion is strong with this one.

Technically, this is not a FAFO story, at least not yet.

Ragland does provide a good background on the challenges farmers face even without Trump’s dumbass tariffs (e.g., the price of inputs and machinery, and the fact that commodity prices are already low). And he can afford to obtain a loan to cover his costs for now. What might have helped with obtaining that loan is that Ragland owns a 1,500 acre farm.

Seeing as I am NOT a farmer, I would think that is a large farm. But the USDA states that it is technically a “midsize” farm at best. I’d love any input from those on Daily Kos who have owned or worked a farm on their opinions about Ragland’s farm.

Anyway, Ragland is a big enough farmer that he fits what my Dad said about farmers (He grew up on a farm). “Everyone one of them thinks they are a Rockefeller.”, my Dad would say. It’s why they vote Republican.

From Ragland:

Like many of my fellow farmers, I voted for President Donald Trump in the past three elections. The president won me over with his commitment to business-friendly tax cuts as well as his track record of reducing regulation and cutting government spending.

Emphasis is mine.

Typical thinking of a Republican businessman. I get mine with tax cuts. I don’t have to follow environmental regulations I hate. And all those government bums DOGE is firing deserve it. It is “A OK” with me to cut off funding for everyone else!

And Ragland doesn’t give a shit that Trump is a criminal either. He voted for him three times. He just bought the bullshit that Trump is some kind of great businessman and negotiator. Ragland claims that Trump “solved” the trade problems with China in his last deal in 2019, but Biden came in and fucked that all up.

Too bad that is not the reality of the situation.

China bought none of the extra $200 billion of US exports in Trump's trade deal In the end, China bought only 58 percent of the US exports it had committed to purchase under the agreement, not even enough to reach its import levels from before the trade war.[1] Put differently, China bought none of the additional $200 billion of exports Trump's deal had promised… However, signing something that was problematic, if not unrealistic, from the start, shows some degree of bad faith on both sides. After two years of escalating tariffs and rhetoric about economic decoupling, the deal did little to reduce the uncertainty discouraging the business investment needed to restart US exports. Most of Trump's tariffs remained in effect, especially on inputs, raising costs to US companies. And by failing to negotiate the removal of China's retaliatory tariffs, the agreement may have funneled any Chinese demand for US exports away from China's private sector toward its state-owned enterprises.

Trump’s deal with China was a dud. Mr. Ragland needs to pull his head out of Fox’s ass. But he hasn’t.

This afternoon, President Trump announced that he would pause retaliatory tariffs on countries willing to negotiate. To me, this is a sign of the president’s good faith. The 125 percent tariff on China still holds, but Trump’s making it clear: They can still come to the table and walk away with a deal that benefits both countries.

“Good faith”? Out of a proven liar? WTF??

As a businessman, President Trump must know how urgent this is. The current trade war with China is a gamble with American livelihoods, especially for farmers—those of us who grew up with soil and sweat—who can’t imagine doing anything else. Mr. President, I hope you hear our plea: Please make a deal with China now.

Mr. Ragland, you are an idiot. Trump went bankrupt six times. Trump is a grifter. And he doesn’t give a shit about you. Your plea is pathetic and delusional.

Trump is hell bent on showing his dominance on the world stage now. And Trump wants to make China kow tow to him. Trump’s going to continue his trade war with China until something breaks, and it’s going to be the American economy that breaks first.

We are all in the shitter together Mr. Ragland, and it was your ideological stupidity that got us into this mess.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/4/11/2315814/-MAGA-KY-Farmer-Writes-Open-Letter-Begging-Trump-To-Make-A-Deal-With-China-And-End-Tariffs?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

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