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Tariffs May Drive Farmers To Bankruptcy - It is Doubtful They Will Get a Bailout This Time Around [1]
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Date: 2025-04-16
Farmers are among the most respected, productive, and hard-working business people in the US economy. They are the backbone of rural economies and in recent years the backbone of the Republican Party when an estimated 78% voted for the President in 2024.
But they failed to learn a simple lesson from the President’s first term. The lesson is that America First means America alone and against the world. Being against the world also means that a significant portion of the foreign market for US farm products like soybeans and wheat will evaporate.
Farmers required a huge bailout during the President’s first term. For example,
“Direct farm aid has climbed each year of his presidency, from $11.5 billion in 2017 to more than $32 billion this year — an all-time high.”
These subsidies continued to increase in the years following 2018 as farmers collected a windfall of taxpayer money.
This should have been a wake-up call about how the President’s policies are destructive to international agricultural trade and thus a direct threat to farmers.
But farmers seemed to ignore their precarious situation of government dependency and continued to support the President’s choosing to focus instead on his fear and hatred of foreigners and his feelings of victimhood as his most desirable qualities as a leader.
Farmers had become used to some government subsidies little by little and just accepted this much larger bailout as business as usual despite its unprecedented size, scope, and the fact that much of the need for the bailout was caused by the person giving them the bailout.
They strongly supported the President despite his devastating trade policies that were destroying their markets and thus threatening the long-term viability of their businesses.
There is a truism that hate and fear are more powerful than love and kindness. The fear and anger of Christian Nationalists and conservatives in general seems to be strong enough to overcome rational approaches to economics. The unwise and self-defeating behavior of farmers supporting a President who destroys needed trade relationships seems to confirm this.
Fast forward to 2025 and we see a repeat of the Presidents’ trade policies but now they are larger, more unpredictable, more powerful, and with much greater reach.
It is increasingly likely that farmers wanting to Make America Great Again may unintentionally drive much of the rural economy into bankruptcy.
But one thing farmers and ranchers should be aware of is that as the President moves towards consolidation of power and closer to dictatorship, he needs their approval and votes less and less.
It is highly inefficient for the government to prop up farmers and government efficiency is critical to giving his wealthy friends continuing and bigger tax cuts. Agricultural subsidies run directly counter to his much-lauded DOGE goals.
This time around, he is more likely to ignore farmers’ pleas and demands for subsidies and as this is his second term in office, their votes are irrelevant to his continuation in office. So, they have little leverage.
One thing that might cause farmers to fear the President’s future actions is that of the dozen or so billionaires on the stage at the President’s inauguration, none represented farmers, ranchers, or the rural economy. The farmers who put him in office seemed to have become somewhat irrelevant.
Looking at the long history of the President’s business dealings with people, one cannot help but notice that there is a pattern - he uses people and when he gets the upper hand and no longer needs them, he abuses them (sues them, insults them, stiffs them, ignores them, etc.).
The supporters of wealthy and corrupt people who promise them greatness always think the victims of such corruption will be others and never themselves. Needy farmers who expect a repeat of the 2017-2020 subsidies may be in for a big and unwelcome surprise. The bailouts may never come.
Farmers are likely to be treated more like the seniors asking for Social Security handouts, veterans asking for subsidized medical care, students wanting subsidized loans, and welfare mothers seeking state support. We welcome the farm community into the increasingly large group of dependent people that the wealthy and powerful disrespect and as Elon demonstrates even despise.
One thing is likely. When the administration takes a chainsaw and cuts off the flow of government money to farmers, they are not going to enjoy being seen as part of the above group of beggars in the least.
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/4/16/2316862/-Tariffs-May-Drive-Farmers-To-Bankruptcy-It-is-Doubtful-They-Will-Get-a-Bailout-This-Time-Around?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web
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