People are asking farmers for whom they voted. When you voted for Trump, you voted for more than just politics. I am not saying every farmer believes in all the topics I am mentioning below, but you did support it in one way or another when you voted for Trump. Trump was the first president to run on human injustices out loud. His campaigning points on immigration and project 2025 should have been more than enough to realize he did not care about human rights.
POLITICS VERSUS VALUES
My biggest concern with the MAGA farmers right now is they keep saying this is just politics and everyone is taking things too far. I disagree. Trump has taken politics to a morale crisis never before seen in America. Americans have been shot in the street by ICE with no repercussions. We have people disappearing from the streets. We have millions in pain and/or dying because they can’t get healthcare. Children can’t eat because government programs have been cancelled. international aid was cancelled. We have committed war crimes on fishermen in coastal waters and girls in schools in Iran. We have pedophile rapist being protected because those rapists are rich white men. Racism has never been more prolific since the ‘60s.
This is no longer about just politics as we know politics. This is absolutely a referendum on morality, human rights, and equality. People are both passively dying and being murdered.
ENDLESS CYCLE:
I am struggling that we have to keep bailing the farmers out every time Trump is in charge. How many times do we keep doing this? When do you wake up and recognize that Democrats protect your farms through their policies, not the Republicans.
Did you know every reputable economist in 2024 said that Harris’s policies were better for you than Trump’s? Not only that, but you lived through Trump’s first administration. Yet you went and voted for him again. Why? Is it because hate, racism and transgender fear is more important to you? People are asking you how you voted because they want their money to go to people who believe in community, growth, and collaboration.
Let’s say we bail you out again. What reassurance do we have you are going to vote differently in the future? What reassurance do we have that you will learn this time and break the cycle? The fact that you go out of your way to say you will never vote anything but republican because other people are mean to you tells me you are incapable of empathy for others. You are incapable of walking in someone else’s shoes. You are incapable of feeling the pain and misery of immigrants, poor people, transgender people, gays, Muslims, and other minorities. You don’t recognize the harm you do to others, only the victimhood you perceive from them.
I’m pretty sure their stories of hate and abuse far exceeds yours, yet you are asking for them to forgive and forget and help you when they have no reassurance you can change.
VICTIMHOOD:
The farmers keep saying we are not your enemy. Why are you being mean to us? So you weren’t being mean to the poor people who lost their SNAP benefits? You weren’t being mean to the women who lost their reproductive rights and have to travel to different states for healthcare. You weren’t being mean to all the people whose healthcare tripled? You weren’t being mean to the gay people who have to justify their existence. You weren’t being mean to the people of color being beaten, dragged, and thrown into detention centers…with or without their kids. You never got on TikTok and listened to their stories when they were the victims. You only get on TikTok and cry when you are hurt.
Did you give money to immigrants, family planning, or gay rights groups when they were oppressed? Yet, you want everyone else to give you money now? I guess I’m just not understanding this.
If you want us to give you money, I want you to guarantee a heavy monetary commitment to family planning, immigration lawyers and the LGBQT+ community once you are back on your feet. Can you do this? Show us all this works both ways.
WE ARE PURPLE:
Some of the MAGA farmers are saying ok, we are purple. We don’t care if you are blue or red politically, just support American agriculture. Ok, then support marriage the same way. Why does it matter if it’s a man and woman, two women, or two men? Let’s come together and support the idea of marriage, not just straight marriage. What about race. Are you ready to treat everyone equally despite their skin color? What reassurances can you give me of this? Will you pay the migrant workers that help you a real wage going forward as if they were white people? I like your idea of everyone coming together. What is your commitment to equality in other communities since we are supposed to treat the agricultural community as one?
SURVIVAL MODE:
I keep hearing the farmers say they are in survival mode. We need to help them. What about the immigrants ripped off the street and denied due process. Did they get a survival mode? Would you have given them money for a lawyer? What about the Epstein survivors? How many years have they been in survival mode?
VITRIOL:
Another thing that really bothers me is the vitriol of the farmers. How many times have I heard things like: libtard, snowflake, dimocrats, democraps, commies, I drink liberal tears, woke this, woke that, cancel culture. This is extremely cruel. Are you going to go on Tik Tok and apologize for this language. Are you going to stop using this language? What reassurance do we have that you will stop this cruelty if we give you our money?
MY CONCLUSIONS:
So how do I feel about all this? Please forgive me, people with addictions, if this is an inappropriate analogy, but it’s the best I could come up with.
I feel like this situation is like someone with a drug addiction. The drug makes you think differently, behave differently. When your high, you are more self-centered and you’ll do anything you can to maintain that high. I feel like this is what it is like with MAGA.
They are addicted to whatever self-validation, hate mongering, or whatever emotional or social satisfaction this movement gives them. They will do whatever they have to in order to maintain the MAGA drug. They will convince themselves that their addiction is good, that it is not adversely affecting others and that their behavior while they are high doesn’t harm those around them.
It takes a lot of energy to maintain any high. Eventually you have to come down. When you come down it hits hard. When that crash hits, it’s easier to play victim or make excuses than to admit you were high and behaved badly. I believe this farming situation is a crash from the high. They aren’t willing to admit they have an addiction yet because they aren’t giving us any reassurances that how they treat others will change.
Addicts will lie, make excuses, and apologize over and over without changing their behavior or lifestyle. They keep saying they’re sorry to family and friends as they repeatedly ask for money and forgiveness. (This would be the farmers as they reach out to all of us.) Yet, they continue to return to the drug. I feel like nothing is going to ultimately change their behavior until they hit bottom. Sometimes you have to lose everything before you begin the healing process, re-evaluate yourself, and gain introspection. Once you start the healing process you will realize the world doesn’t revolve around you, and other people suffer just as much or more than you do. Everyone is trying to survive, regardless of skin color, sexuality, religion, or socio-economic status.
As much as I don’t want anyone to lose everything, I feel like we are at the family intervention stage with the farmers. As painful as it is, we can’t take another hollow apology. We aren’t going to bail you out again without some reassurance you will “go to rehab,” start the healing process, and make real life introspective changes.
This is now difficult time full of harsh choices and tears. We aren’t going to bail you out again no matter how painful it is. It is time for you to hit bottom. It is time for you to re-evaluate your choices and take ownership of your decisions, including the long term consequences.
We will be here waiting with open arms, once you can prove that you are in “rehab.” You are experiencing empathy toward others. You are acknowledging the pains of people outside of your small communities. You realize your actions have consequences for everyone. Until then, it is a harsh, uncomfortable, and painful moment.