Only one small quibble with this. You keep saying Trump, which is correct.
It is time to say Republicans did this to you.
No point them all refusing to vote for Trump if they're just going to vote for a different fascist. There will be lots of Republicans saying it was all Trump, nothing to do with me.
I couldn’t disagree more - Republican means something very different, both in form and function, to what MAGA represents and aspires to. The two cannot, and should not be conflated. And it bears repeating, the Republican Party doesn’t exist in the US anymore, it has been eaten whole by MAGA. This is a reality that old school Republicans need to confront. So honestly, Republican does not “cover them all”.
Play word games with the definition of "Republican" if you want - FWIW I feel the same way about the Neo-Liberal Democrats - but they appear on the ballot as Republicans, they caucus in Congress as Republicans, and 100% they support Trump's policies. The message has to be, whoever runs as a Republican is complicit in this, and needs to be voted out.
MAGA only listens to FOX “News”, so they were lied into believing that tRump would be their savior. It’s time to not only connect all members of the “Republican” party to the pain they are feeling, but also connect Fox “news” to their pain. They were lied into voting against their best interests, and are now paying a very high price.
Lacking critical thinking skills. Refusing to even listen to the other side. Scoffing at others. Cheering others being hurt. Not paying attention to history of 8 yrs ago or less. Thrilled big government is be stripped down. How are you going to know the weather forecast? Interest on loans? Sorry to see this happening...but is no surprise to anyone who had their eyes open...
I attempt to promote Substack to my Republican friends. I believe its a news source that gives readers a news source that is more middle of the road. I have been a follower of Substack now for 2 years.
Two good examples (of many) Substackers: Adam Kinzinger, and the Bulwark. Jim Acosta now has joined Substack as well.
once trump is finally dead or deposed, you know these Repugs will all be the same as the French after WWII-they were fine with all the Jews being killed, yet somehow after they were all claimed to be in the resistance. We need to hold those Repugs to account when they lie and claim that they never really supported the Nazis.
Yep. I’m old enough to remember that, after Watergate and Nixon’s resignation, poof! magically no one had voted for him! (even tho he won mere months before)
They will say that, even though Trumpkopf is little more than the culmination of the fascist s**t they've been promoting for decades. How do you spell hypocrite? G O P.
I live close to the only “blue dot” in the State of Nebraska. And every asshole who voted for DJT is getting what they deserve. But the rest of us will suffer too 😓
This is the same state that voted for Medicaid expansion and then took 4 looong years to enact it. Don Bacon, Deb Fisher and Pete Ricketts don’t give a fuck about the poor struggling people of Nebraska.
It is certainly a problem when so much of the main stream TV media is or leans conservative. Working people and people with children often have long days and have Fox TV on as their news source, they are not like SubStack readers like us, who spend a considerable amount of time reading multiple excellent SubStack journalists and seek out information. I believe that PBS and NPR are excellent news sources and should be nationally funded and supported like the BBC.
However, all the people who voted for The Stinking Orange Diaper Load effectively STABBED their own women, stabbed their own immigrant workers, their own elders social security and everyone's healthcare RIGHT IN THE BACK. Fear, selfishness, misogyny, thoughtlessness, and racism is what motivated Nebraska, and every other now-fucked states, and BINGO, here we are.
Fully agree. I’m in Wisconsin and see the same problem. There is so little gained by throwing the blame card. The key for all(!) our futures lies in how we work to educate people to not vote R next time. Hate won’t win over anybody. Empathy and planning a better future might, and no big money required.
Oh, Nebraska—you made your bed, now lie in it. You voted for policies that strip away rights, devastate communities, and hurt the most vulnerable. Now you want sympathy? Sorry, but the rest of us are too busy fighting real battles for people who didn’t beg for their own suffering. Maybe next time, try voting like your lives depend on it—because clearly, they do.
Sorry for your hardships, but karma's a bitch. You had every opportunity to see that Trump was going to round up and deport many of your workers, who I might add, contributed so much to the American economy.
I’m sorry, but I am really getting tired of so many of you saying “Oh well they didn’t really know what they were voting for!” Are you kidding?
Trump campaign for two full years before the election and he told people over and over again who he was and what he was going to do. Kamala told you who he was and what he was going to do. So did just about every news outlet in the country except Fox.
With the amount of information that was out there about Trump and Project 2025 along with everything else, being an ignorant asshole does not protect you from the consequences of being an ignorant asshole!
This is what happens when you have 50% or more of your population that are completely and totally ignorant of what goes on in your country, how your government works, who’s responsible for what, who’s running for what.
And in this case, I don’t think a lot of this had to do with any of the other things that people are saying, these people liked what Trump said, feel the same way about immigrants, even though they rely on them every day to keep their businesses alive and refused to vote for Kamala because she was a woman, PERIOD!
They just wanted to "own the libs", that's all. Now they know just what that really means. That doesn't mean they get it. It just means they're experiencing what it means to "own the libs". And they're still getting all of their information from Faux Newspeak, which tells them it's the libs fault - and they still believe it. There's no fixing stupid.
I think Trump used the farmers as patsies, just as he used other, non-MAGA Trump voters. Unfortunately, they believed his lies! Such as him (supposedly): being business savvy, having a good economy in his last administration (Obama’s Economy), sending criminal illegal emigrants back to their own country, securing our southern border, bringing down the costs of housing/groceries/EGGS/etc. on day one, yada, yada.
I believe these are the reasons that non-MAGA folks voted for Trump!
So, rather than BERATE those misled individuals, perhaps they will be more willing to listen to those of us who could see the WRITING ON THE WALL‼️
Their new understanding of Trump and the GOP Congress, may very well impact them and change their minds about what is good for America. Ultimately, they may help the rest of us to STAND UP, RESIST AND HELP TO TAKE DOWN THIS FASCIST ADMINISTRATION‼️
Unfortunately they liked what they were hearing when it was about blaming “others” for our difficulties. Let those “others” suffer. They cheered when they thought undeserving groups lost support from the government. When they lost their jobs. When they were shipped to countries where their lives were at risk. “When they came for me no one was left to save me”.
I would agree when it comes to the true MAGA supporters enjoying others misfortune.
However, there were other Non-MAGAs that bought into Trump’s lies hook, line and sinker and are now very unhappy about what’s happening to them and others.
I DO NOT BELIEVE THERE IS ANY POSSIBILITY THAT THE TRUE MAGA SUPPORTERS WILL EVER HAVE A CHANGE OF HEART‼️
I am sure you are right. There is a Cory Doctorow speculative fiction book that takes place about 30 years from now. There are "MAGA clubs," with old men in beat up red hats who are still making trouble in their communities- smashing solar panels... That may be where these soul-less creeps will be.
I am not sure. I think there are few that did not understand the regime was bigoted and wanted to take away rights and freedom from minorities including women. One had to work hard to not know or suspect. I could be wrong but I doubt it.
how is it possible? Even if you are totally illiterate, all you need to do is listen to trump or musk for 5 minutes to realize how much they hate Black people and immigrants, and are totally hating on liberated women.
I so agree with you, Dorothy! In general, I’d rather educate than denigrate, and in this instance, why on earth alienate future voters for a better tomorrow? Thank you for speaking up.
We have tried to educate them for the past 50 years and it hasn't worked. You know what will work, the same thing that keeps a child from putting his hand in the flame a second time. They need to experience the pain they have brought on themselves.
Yeah, you sort of have a point there. But in order to get them to listen, we have to somehow convince them to stop watching - and believing - Faux Newspeak, and start paying more attention to reality as it really is.
My hope is that when Musk/Trump’s fascist actions begin to permeate into their own lives, the writing on the wall will begin to show itself to them…
Not as fast as I’d like, but it will happen, just like to those farmers who now have a clue, a huge debt, and all sorts of agricultural that they can no longer sell‼️
Well maybe it's time for all the Nebraskan and other States farmers to drive their biggest tractors to DC, MarALardo, Bedminster Golf Course, and Tesla dealerships, jam absolutely everything up around the White house and Supreme Court and actually do SOMETHING.
it won't because the problems they cause are never their fault nor are they held accountable. And when you have 74+ million long con victims in your cult, it's easy to convince them that you're right and anyone that opposes you is wrong.
I hope you are right- it is really hard to believe they listened to this demented, cruel man for a decade and then decided he is their man, that they will ever do an about-face. It is so depressing to see the non hardcore MAGA voters claim, like these farmers, that they voted for fascism because it would lower prices, knowing full well that they were voting for hate, for cruelty, and for deportations. I hope you are correct that they might change their stripes and join the take-down, but the fact that they saw what we saw, and didn't think it was a barrier to voting for Trump does not bode well.
They will never change even if it hurts them; they’ll just lower the bar or say the pain will turn into wealth from those ‘generous’ billionaires. Some MAGAts said they voted for him because of family values. WTF kind of family values does a rap!st have? Are you kidding me? So stupid.
Voted for lower prices? Never thinking that their crops would be also included in that ? Lower selling price for their farms. Lower prices for their farm equipment, trying to save the family farm? And the price of eggs? That shouldn't be any consideration for farmers... They should have their own chickens...
I Agee, berating them won’t work. But I don’t know what will. Trump ruined the soybean industry in his first grift-o-rama and had to come up with programs to bail out the farmers. China, then the primary purchaser of US soybeans, decided to shop elsewhere after that. Soybeans have never fully come back from that, and these yahoos go out and vote for him again. So how are we to kindly reason with them? They don’t even believe in their own experiences or that of their neighbors!
If only the Republicans had written a plan about everything they wanted to do once they returned Trump to office. If only they released it in its entirety so everyone could see and read for themselves. Maybe these folks would have known better? Or maybe not…
I am sorry, no apologies for people who voted for Trump 2.0. By last year everyone knew that voting for him, whatever the reason they picked, came with white supremacy agenda, so it became the question of voter’s own moral sense. They all knew you cannot pick and choose certain policies, if you vote for him, you vote for the whole package.
I'm a Canadian and, as a Canadian, I have to apologize for entering a clearly US centric thread. We apologize, it's what we do when we walk into someone else's business. As a side note, when someone threatens our sovereignty, we don't apologize; that's a gloves off bare knuckle hockey fight. But I digress.
My concern here is the emotion that surrounds this. These are your neighbours. They do feed you. They do hard work that many of you (and myself) do not choose to do. They have a culture they were born into and perform a service that gets crapped on by nature, business, and the government all the time. I know that I wouldn't want to experience that, but they have chosen it, and are people in your country, and you do actually need each other.
I get that they "chose" drumpf, but how much of a choice was it really? The amount of political manipulation that takes place is truly staggering. Drumpf set up a, largely, false divide, and lied to everyone like a con man does. People are taken in by con men all the time. And, generally, we can scoff at them from a position of safety, but that's not this. We're all in the same boat here. If these people are at fault, how much at fault are they when you account for such unprecedented manipulation over many, many years? 50%? 25%? 10%?
At what point do you think people would be ready to take a breath and realize that you now have a shared, and massive challenge?
The people of the US are a great people. The people are far more powerful than their leaders. But if they take too long indulging in schadenfreude, they will deepen the divide between them and their true power will never be realized.
Again, I apologize for wading in and I'm sure it seems like I'm passing judgment, but that's not remotely my intent. What you've read (and thank you for reading) is genuine concern for the state of the world, and the recognition that the continued divide is what drumpf and his cronies want. A divided country cannot make the change that needs to be made.
Were in this together. Canadians and Americans alike. Sometimes the hardest battle to fight is the one where we come together with whom we may disagree to find common ground. You have that common ground now, and you're all (well, most all) great and generous people when we strip away these superficial issues that all mask the same core desires.
The situation in Nebraska highlights the concept of policy feedback: the consequences of public policy shape political behavior and attitudes—but not always in the way constituents anticipate.
In this case, the alignment of rural agricultural voters with political platforms advocating deregulation, reduced immigration, and decreased federal spending has resulted in policies that, paradoxically, undermine the very economic structures these voters depend on.
While it is tempting to interpret the current agricultural crisis as a failure of governance, it is more accurately described as a reflection of democratic accountability and the often-contradictory nature of voter preferences. The expectation that government will “get out of the way” while continuing to provide stabilizing subsidies and labor support is logically inconsistent and politically unsustainable.
While I agree that empathy remains a critical component of democratic discourse, effective governance also requires responsibility, foresight, and a willingness to reckon with the outcomes of one’s choices. For Nebraska farmers, that reckoning has arrived.
Agreed. And in a more general sense, we need to (Canadians included) move away from politics entirely and focus on governance. We have conflated the two to the point of absurdity. When we can have some empathy, and we realize that this is not a zero sum game, we can focus on collective governance instead of this ridiculous politicking that's taking place. That's where the planning and foresight will start t to happen IMO.
The job of the government is to put a plan into place that can last generations, not just until the next election cycle.
Empathy and governance, not psychopathy and politics.
We also have to factor in a problem that dems have not really done much about- these rural red areas do not hear directly from Democrats unless it is an election cycle. The rest of the messaging comes from Repubs year round, all day every day. When we say Dems have communication issues, this should be the top of the list.
The Civil War was called “brother against brother” and there are people that would gladly fight again to have the right to own slaves return. They don’t seem to care about humanity.
I was born and raised in Nebraska and I left as soon as I could because I hated it there so much. I hated the belligerent, bigoted, ignorant culture. The homophobia in particular hit me personally. I consider the place to be a version of Hell. All of this is to say that I'm willing to bet I hate Nebraskans more than you do.
That being said, I can't get aboard the victim-blaming sentiment of this piece. Like most US Americans, Nebraskans really don't know what they're voting for or against in terms of substantive policy. For the majority of voters it's really just vibes. I see this just as much among Democratic voters. (I've never voted R for president, but haven't voted D since 1992.) Look at the horrific things Bill Clinton did: "ending welfare as we know it," putting the prison-industrial complex on steroids, deregulating finance and media, NAFTA. He utterly betrayed his base in ways we're still living with, and D voters just keep going back for more.
I guess I'm saying I don't see how the undeniable ignorance of Nebraskans is a distinguishing feature. Seems pretty typical to me.
Because of the Electoral College, an individual's vote for president only matters in a handful of states, the "swing states." I have never lived in one of those. In 2024 I voted Green in NM, which was guaranteed blue. So no, you're just incorrect.
And I don't hate those Nebraskans for bringing this regime on us. I hate them for being the belligerent ignorant people they are. I hate the Democrats for bringing this regime on us because that's where the real fault lays.
It boils down to being Joe Biden’s fault for not bowing out of running for re-election from the start, but certainly after his disastrous debate performance. Then the Dems could have had a proper primary to choose a candidate.
People resented having Kamala Harris shoved down their throats and many sat it out, giving us trump and his destruction.
Joe Biden, in his demented hubris gave us this shit show. And anyone who thought that America was ready to elect a woman , much less one of color. Strategic miscalculation and stupidity by the Dems brought us to this.
I blame Biden and the Democratic operatives who hid his dementia from the public 500%. Biden told us he would run as a one term president, so he should have graciously bowed out and allowed a primary that could have given us a chance at a real race. Biden will not be remembered well.
If you want to talk about dementia in the White House you have to start with Trump. He is nothing more than a useful idiot, a sock puppet for his cabal.
In California, Big Ag has been asking the Trump administration to exempt them from the ICE raids though because they know they depend on the migrant labor.
I would guess that the industry doesn't mind individual farmers going out of business because they can consolidate more.
If nothing else, all these policies pushing small business owners of all stripes to the brink and beyond, as well as make it unaffordable for average people, sets the stage for big companies to buy everything, farms, homes and businesses in a fire sale. Then we start creeping back towards serfdom.
You’re right, I have seen a lot of this blind following of people like the Clintons on the left, mostly from “coastal elites” professionals who have NO CLUE what is going on in rural America and don’t care how NAFTA etc damaged farmers and workers because they literally don’t know anyone outside their own socioeconomic bubble. And I’ve given up trying to get them to care (my grandparents farmed in IA and I grew up in the Midwest). People in AR (i lived there nearly a decade) HATE the Clintons and Dems in general because of what neoliberalism has done to them. Vibes aren’t enough, no matter who you vote for…people have GOT to read the fine print and do proper research or they will get screwed. I don’t have sympathy for people who vote to actively harm me and take away my rights and then shoot themselves in the foot. Hopefully they will learn a lesson from the experience but I’m not holding my breath.
Yeah I also resent people who vote to take away peoples' rights, I'm right there with you. I had a good friend from college who voted Trump in 2016 because he's a businessman who felt he would do better under a Republican administration. He told me and other friends that he wasn't in favor of the anti-woman, anti-gay, etc., stuff, but it's like dude, that's what you're voting for too. It was disappointing.
I fled Nebraska to live in liberal cities like Minneapolis, Boston and Portland and I enjoyed those places in the '90s and early 2000s. But the last decade and a half I've been in rural areas because I work in farming and like the great outdoors. But since 2016 the atmosphere has been getting steadily spookier. I worry more now about "looking straight" than I used to, that's for sure, and that's a bummer.
I hear you. I’ve lived all over the country and overseas, most recently I moved to a blue state to be closer to my elderly Mom and to get my YA daughter and myself out of a place where we have fewer rights than a corpse. I grew up in a rural area, love the outdoors and am not a big city person but I’m not going to TX or any other red state ever again. Enough is enough.
I helped a friend at a festival south of Lincoln last fall. Lots of people of different stripes attended including gay couples holding hands. My thought was absent the humidity, i could live here.
I'm glad you enjoyed your time there. I've heard that it's better than it was, at least in Lincoln and Omaha, and I'll find out for myself when it's time for me to go back to help out my folks, but in the meantime, there's many other places I'd rather be, which I'm sure you understand.
Say what you want about NAFTA, but the agreement did not cause the steep plunge in agriculture prices during the five decades before it took effect. You know, the postwar period. Yet NAFTA is the villain according to Steve Bannon and Donald Trump, who as president enacted new tariffs. (What a great idea!) According to an Economic Research Service report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on April 23, 2019, crop prices did rise 41% between 1970 and 1990. Still, in relative terms, they shrank compared to the 116% increase in the price of consumer goods over the same period. The main problem in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, etc. has been the destruction inflicted on the rural economy by large-scale capitalism in recent years by corporate agriculture. Corporate consolidation and large factory farms gobbling up small family farms are the problem. And they're the ones squealing the loudest when it comes to the lost immigrant workforce. Just don't throw in the small family farmers with these big corporate ag giants. In 2018, the four largest meatpacking firms controlled 85% of the beef market. The four largest hog processors controlled 70% of the pork market. Four companies held 85% of the corn seed market. In the U.S., the number of large farms over 1,000 acres, doubled between 1978 and 2017. In 1949, 53% of rural Americans lived on farms, but now only 6% due. So you see, the problem isn't neoliberalism, it's a free market economy that has encouraged unbridled growth in agriculture.
The Clintons and “Neo-liberal” Democrats are NOT the Left. They are Republican-lite. They are wolf in sheep’s clothing. Apologies to wolves. Their greatest crime is fooling working people in blue states into believing they care about them. They are the benevolent slave masters who are less obviously cruel but keep you enslaved nevertheless. Republicans are the cruel masters that beat you and work you to death.
True, but they are perceived as “the left” by a lot of people who have fallen under the MAGA/Fox News cult. It’s time for a change in the Democratic party to become a real labor party.
Bill Clinton didn't run on "ending welfare as we know it". Quite the contrary, he was the one who was supposedly on our side. Remember that town hall style debate he had with King Bush I and Ross Perot? King Bush said "I >feel< your pain" - and of course the media rightfully pounded him for the hypocrisy. Clinton otoh talked about >helping< the poor and middle class.
Crushing welfare wasn't even his idea, a GOP controlled congress pushed it on his desk, and he disgustingly signed it. Even if the GOP had a filibuster proof majority, he should have vetoed it out of principle, but obviously the principle just wasn't there.
As you point out yourself, he utterly betrayed his base. As for D voters going back for more, who else did we have to vote for? Perot?
People being too stupid to do actual research and understand what their vote means garners no sympathy from me. Considering their cool president is directly threatening my nation's sovereignty, i will watch with glee while he burns their way of life to the ground. Hopefully they'll see sense and start baying for his head before he can do real damage to the rest of the world.
Agree with you. People need all the support we can get, including disillusioned MAGA voters. Do not push them away. Get them involved. The democrats are not saving anyone either.
I don't want small farmers to lose their land and go out of business. I love and support family farms. Will farmers rise up against the pastors, radio and TV stations, and corrupt Republicans that manipulated them? I don't know. Their suffering gives me no joy, no solace. People laughing at the shock and misery befalling America's family farms suggests resentments and sadism.
Big Ag doesn’t much care about small family farms except maybe to gobble them up. I thought this piece was directed at Big Ag, in particular. I may have misread.
I care about the future of small family farms. But I also care about clean air and water, climate change, cancer research, USAID, the arts, and a whole host of other things being gutted by this administration. I don’t take pleasure in anyone’s misfortune, but it’s hard to feel too sorry for people who voted for this. Trump didn’t become an evil force overnight… many of us could see it from a mile away.
It’s all intentional. Their master plan is to destroy small farms so that hedge funds and other corporate predators can buy up all of America’s farm country and control food production. Abolishing USAID which paid farmers for their crops, cutting Medicaid, Medicare, the VA, social security, immigrant labor. Once the overlords own all the farmland, they can work the land with the immigrant prison labor force they are amassing. Maybe true, maybe not. We’re seeing stuff now we never would have believed.
I don’t think so. I think it is ‘how does it feel when it’s you’ sentiment. Frankly farmers/ranchers have gotten a lot of benefits that taxpayers do not.
The answer to your question is no. They will simply blame "the libs", just like those same pastors, radio and TV stations and corrupt Republicans tell them to. There's no end to the manipulation.
Oh, wait, it gets even better. The Orange Scourge wants to strip down the NOAA and NWS right along with it. Good luck with that. We're right at the start of tornado season, and Nebraska is close to the bullseye (the dubious honor of Oklahoma). You're not gonna hear any sirens this year - just a sudden loud roar before your trailer is smashed to pieces, if the baseball sized hail doesn't finish the job first. Congratulations.
Thank you for a great piece. You nailed it. Too late to cry over something the farming community pushed. The same goes for Vets who overwhelmingly voted more than 70% to support trump. Now they are in a state of shock too. Hard to have sympathy at all.
I’ve noticed the Trump flags aren’t so prevalent in the country these days, not like before. However, I don’t think they’ve had a change of heart about the guy. Once they start getting their subsidies, the flags will be back out.
What makes you think they're going to start getting their subsidies? Trump/Musk cut them all. And they're not done yet. With a little luck, Musk will swing that idiotic chainsaw right into his own skull.
Only one small quibble with this. You keep saying Trump, which is correct.
It is time to say Republicans did this to you.
No point them all refusing to vote for Trump if they're just going to vote for a different fascist. There will be lots of Republicans saying it was all Trump, nothing to do with me.
Republicans don’t exist anymore in any real sense. There is only MAGA.
Okay, then say MAGA if you must, but honestly, Republican covers them all.
I couldn’t disagree more - Republican means something very different, both in form and function, to what MAGA represents and aspires to. The two cannot, and should not be conflated. And it bears repeating, the Republican Party doesn’t exist in the US anymore, it has been eaten whole by MAGA. This is a reality that old school Republicans need to confront. So honestly, Republican does not “cover them all”.
Republican values have been the same as current MAGA values for fifty years.
MAGA is merely a term for what occurs when they say the quiet bits out loud.
It’s always been GQP policy.
Nah. This is entirely the Republican party and they've been working towards it for decades. At minimum since Reagan.
Okay, I see your point. We do agree that the politicians we used to easily name as Republicans are all MAGA bootlickers now.
It does mean all of the ones in office won’t stand up to Trump
they're all spinless human garbage nazis
He called the s--t 'POOP' !
Play word games with the definition of "Republican" if you want - FWIW I feel the same way about the Neo-Liberal Democrats - but they appear on the ballot as Republicans, they caucus in Congress as Republicans, and 100% they support Trump's policies. The message has to be, whoever runs as a Republican is complicit in this, and needs to be voted out.
MAGA only listens to FOX “News”, so they were lied into believing that tRump would be their savior. It’s time to not only connect all members of the “Republican” party to the pain they are feeling, but also connect Fox “news” to their pain. They were lied into voting against their best interests, and are now paying a very high price.
Lacking critical thinking skills. Refusing to even listen to the other side. Scoffing at others. Cheering others being hurt. Not paying attention to history of 8 yrs ago or less. Thrilled big government is be stripped down. How are you going to know the weather forecast? Interest on loans? Sorry to see this happening...but is no surprise to anyone who had their eyes open...
In other words “woke.” It’s no accident that Donald railed against us “woke” people, it was so they wouldn’t listen to us.
I attempt to promote Substack to my Republican friends. I believe its a news source that gives readers a news source that is more middle of the road. I have been a follower of Substack now for 2 years.
Two good examples (of many) Substackers: Adam Kinzinger, and the Bulwark. Jim Acosta now has joined Substack as well.
RINO -- Ed
once trump is finally dead or deposed, you know these Repugs will all be the same as the French after WWII-they were fine with all the Jews being killed, yet somehow after they were all claimed to be in the resistance. We need to hold those Repugs to account when they lie and claim that they never really supported the Nazis.
Yep. I’m old enough to remember that, after Watergate and Nixon’s resignation, poof! magically no one had voted for him! (even tho he won mere months before)
They will say that, even though Trumpkopf is little more than the culmination of the fascist s**t they've been promoting for decades. How do you spell hypocrite? G O P.
I live close to the only “blue dot” in the State of Nebraska. And every asshole who voted for DJT is getting what they deserve. But the rest of us will suffer too 😓
This is the same state that voted for Medicaid expansion and then took 4 looong years to enact it. Don Bacon, Deb Fisher and Pete Ricketts don’t give a fuck about the poor struggling people of Nebraska.
So why do they vote them in over and over again?
Right wing media is, for many, their only window into the rest of America.
It is certainly a problem when so much of the main stream TV media is or leans conservative. Working people and people with children often have long days and have Fox TV on as their news source, they are not like SubStack readers like us, who spend a considerable amount of time reading multiple excellent SubStack journalists and seek out information. I believe that PBS and NPR are excellent news sources and should be nationally funded and supported like the BBC.
However, all the people who voted for The Stinking Orange Diaper Load effectively STABBED their own women, stabbed their own immigrant workers, their own elders social security and everyone's healthcare RIGHT IN THE BACK. Fear, selfishness, misogyny, thoughtlessness, and racism is what motivated Nebraska, and every other now-fucked states, and BINGO, here we are.
Great comment.
I posted a limited comment above about Substack and it benefits. Substack is a great source for news.
RINO -- Ed
Because it feeds their fears and hate rage. It's ok, they will eventually realize that they have been had.
They vote them because supremacy, patriarchy and racism is really the brand!
and you cant spell HATRED without 'Red Hat'
You got me 🤷♀️
Exactly
No elected republican cares about anything other than his/her/their own power…..because they have NO inner power.
Fully agree. I’m in Wisconsin and see the same problem. There is so little gained by throwing the blame card. The key for all(!) our futures lies in how we work to educate people to not vote R next time. Hate won’t win over anybody. Empathy and planning a better future might, and no big money required.
Absolute truth! Don't forget the current governor pillon. He's worse than rickets, he can hardly put a sentence together.
You are sooo right! Ricketts bought the election for that guy and does whatever Ricketts tells him to.
You need money, Nebraska?
Tax your wealthy residents, and tax your mega churches.
Oh, Nebraska—you made your bed, now lie in it. You voted for policies that strip away rights, devastate communities, and hurt the most vulnerable. Now you want sympathy? Sorry, but the rest of us are too busy fighting real battles for people who didn’t beg for their own suffering. Maybe next time, try voting like your lives depend on it—because clearly, they do.
Not all Nebraskans voted for the orange felon, we are unfortunately out numbered.
Perhaps, but it is up to you to talk to your neighbors and even out the numbers.
Sorry for your hardships, but karma's a bitch. You had every opportunity to see that Trump was going to round up and deport many of your workers, who I might add, contributed so much to the American economy.
I’m sorry, but I am really getting tired of so many of you saying “Oh well they didn’t really know what they were voting for!” Are you kidding?
Trump campaign for two full years before the election and he told people over and over again who he was and what he was going to do. Kamala told you who he was and what he was going to do. So did just about every news outlet in the country except Fox.
With the amount of information that was out there about Trump and Project 2025 along with everything else, being an ignorant asshole does not protect you from the consequences of being an ignorant asshole!
This is what happens when you have 50% or more of your population that are completely and totally ignorant of what goes on in your country, how your government works, who’s responsible for what, who’s running for what.
And in this case, I don’t think a lot of this had to do with any of the other things that people are saying, these people liked what Trump said, feel the same way about immigrants, even though they rely on them every day to keep their businesses alive and refused to vote for Kamala because she was a woman, PERIOD!
They just wanted to "own the libs", that's all. Now they know just what that really means. That doesn't mean they get it. It just means they're experiencing what it means to "own the libs". And they're still getting all of their information from Faux Newspeak, which tells them it's the libs fault - and they still believe it. There's no fixing stupid.
Especially a black woman☹️
they knew what they were voting for, all they cared about is that he hates brown people too
If they didn't know it's because they chose not to know.
I think Trump used the farmers as patsies, just as he used other, non-MAGA Trump voters. Unfortunately, they believed his lies! Such as him (supposedly): being business savvy, having a good economy in his last administration (Obama’s Economy), sending criminal illegal emigrants back to their own country, securing our southern border, bringing down the costs of housing/groceries/EGGS/etc. on day one, yada, yada.
I believe these are the reasons that non-MAGA folks voted for Trump!
So, rather than BERATE those misled individuals, perhaps they will be more willing to listen to those of us who could see the WRITING ON THE WALL‼️
Their new understanding of Trump and the GOP Congress, may very well impact them and change their minds about what is good for America. Ultimately, they may help the rest of us to STAND UP, RESIST AND HELP TO TAKE DOWN THIS FASCIST ADMINISTRATION‼️
Unfortunately they liked what they were hearing when it was about blaming “others” for our difficulties. Let those “others” suffer. They cheered when they thought undeserving groups lost support from the government. When they lost their jobs. When they were shipped to countries where their lives were at risk. “When they came for me no one was left to save me”.
I would agree when it comes to the true MAGA supporters enjoying others misfortune.
However, there were other Non-MAGAs that bought into Trump’s lies hook, line and sinker and are now very unhappy about what’s happening to them and others.
I DO NOT BELIEVE THERE IS ANY POSSIBILITY THAT THE TRUE MAGA SUPPORTERS WILL EVER HAVE A CHANGE OF HEART‼️
I’M NOT SURE IF THEY EVEN HAVE A SOUL‼️
I am sure you are right. There is a Cory Doctorow speculative fiction book that takes place about 30 years from now. There are "MAGA clubs," with old men in beat up red hats who are still making trouble in their communities- smashing solar panels... That may be where these soul-less creeps will be.
I am not sure. I think there are few that did not understand the regime was bigoted and wanted to take away rights and freedom from minorities including women. One had to work hard to not know or suspect. I could be wrong but I doubt it.
how is it possible? Even if you are totally illiterate, all you need to do is listen to trump or musk for 5 minutes to realize how much they hate Black people and immigrants, and are totally hating on liberated women.
I so agree with you, Dorothy! In general, I’d rather educate than denigrate, and in this instance, why on earth alienate future voters for a better tomorrow? Thank you for speaking up.
We have tried to educate them for the past 50 years and it hasn't worked. You know what will work, the same thing that keeps a child from putting his hand in the flame a second time. They need to experience the pain they have brought on themselves.
Thank you! 👍🏼
If possible. If only.
Yeah, you sort of have a point there. But in order to get them to listen, we have to somehow convince them to stop watching - and believing - Faux Newspeak, and start paying more attention to reality as it really is.
My hope is that when Musk/Trump’s fascist actions begin to permeate into their own lives, the writing on the wall will begin to show itself to them…
Not as fast as I’d like, but it will happen, just like to those farmers who now have a clue, a huge debt, and all sorts of agricultural that they can no longer sell‼️
Well maybe it's time for all the Nebraskan and other States farmers to drive their biggest tractors to DC, MarALardo, Bedminster Golf Course, and Tesla dealerships, jam absolutely everything up around the White house and Supreme Court and actually do SOMETHING.
it won't because the problems they cause are never their fault nor are they held accountable. And when you have 74+ million long con victims in your cult, it's easy to convince them that you're right and anyone that opposes you is wrong.
It's a move directly from Hitler's playbook
I hope you are right- it is really hard to believe they listened to this demented, cruel man for a decade and then decided he is their man, that they will ever do an about-face. It is so depressing to see the non hardcore MAGA voters claim, like these farmers, that they voted for fascism because it would lower prices, knowing full well that they were voting for hate, for cruelty, and for deportations. I hope you are correct that they might change their stripes and join the take-down, but the fact that they saw what we saw, and didn't think it was a barrier to voting for Trump does not bode well.
They will never change even if it hurts them; they’ll just lower the bar or say the pain will turn into wealth from those ‘generous’ billionaires. Some MAGAts said they voted for him because of family values. WTF kind of family values does a rap!st have? Are you kidding me? So stupid.
Trump is nothing if not a gifted con artist!
Voted for lower prices? Never thinking that their crops would be also included in that ? Lower selling price for their farms. Lower prices for their farm equipment, trying to save the family farm? And the price of eggs? That shouldn't be any consideration for farmers... They should have their own chickens...
I Agee, berating them won’t work. But I don’t know what will. Trump ruined the soybean industry in his first grift-o-rama and had to come up with programs to bail out the farmers. China, then the primary purchaser of US soybeans, decided to shop elsewhere after that. Soybeans have never fully come back from that, and these yahoos go out and vote for him again. So how are we to kindly reason with them? They don’t even believe in their own experiences or that of their neighbors!
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
“I put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger. Why do I have a bullet in my brain?”
Must be the Democrat’s fault.
It’s still so much easier for them to still blame the democrats for everything. I’m just wondering where all their “personal responsibility” is now?
They have no personal responsibility. It’s always someone else’s fault. That’s the #1 thing that is wrong with them.
If only the Republicans had written a plan about everything they wanted to do once they returned Trump to office. If only they released it in its entirety so everyone could see and read for themselves. Maybe these folks would have known better? Or maybe not…
See and READ it for themselves .Stop it before I piss myself laughing 😂😂😂😂
I am sorry, no apologies for people who voted for Trump 2.0. By last year everyone knew that voting for him, whatever the reason they picked, came with white supremacy agenda, so it became the question of voter’s own moral sense. They all knew you cannot pick and choose certain policies, if you vote for him, you vote for the whole package.
I get the schadenfreude; I really do.
I'm a Canadian and, as a Canadian, I have to apologize for entering a clearly US centric thread. We apologize, it's what we do when we walk into someone else's business. As a side note, when someone threatens our sovereignty, we don't apologize; that's a gloves off bare knuckle hockey fight. But I digress.
My concern here is the emotion that surrounds this. These are your neighbours. They do feed you. They do hard work that many of you (and myself) do not choose to do. They have a culture they were born into and perform a service that gets crapped on by nature, business, and the government all the time. I know that I wouldn't want to experience that, but they have chosen it, and are people in your country, and you do actually need each other.
I get that they "chose" drumpf, but how much of a choice was it really? The amount of political manipulation that takes place is truly staggering. Drumpf set up a, largely, false divide, and lied to everyone like a con man does. People are taken in by con men all the time. And, generally, we can scoff at them from a position of safety, but that's not this. We're all in the same boat here. If these people are at fault, how much at fault are they when you account for such unprecedented manipulation over many, many years? 50%? 25%? 10%?
At what point do you think people would be ready to take a breath and realize that you now have a shared, and massive challenge?
The people of the US are a great people. The people are far more powerful than their leaders. But if they take too long indulging in schadenfreude, they will deepen the divide between them and their true power will never be realized.
Again, I apologize for wading in and I'm sure it seems like I'm passing judgment, but that's not remotely my intent. What you've read (and thank you for reading) is genuine concern for the state of the world, and the recognition that the continued divide is what drumpf and his cronies want. A divided country cannot make the change that needs to be made.
Were in this together. Canadians and Americans alike. Sometimes the hardest battle to fight is the one where we come together with whom we may disagree to find common ground. You have that common ground now, and you're all (well, most all) great and generous people when we strip away these superficial issues that all mask the same core desires.
#ElbowsUp!
The situation in Nebraska highlights the concept of policy feedback: the consequences of public policy shape political behavior and attitudes—but not always in the way constituents anticipate.
In this case, the alignment of rural agricultural voters with political platforms advocating deregulation, reduced immigration, and decreased federal spending has resulted in policies that, paradoxically, undermine the very economic structures these voters depend on.
While it is tempting to interpret the current agricultural crisis as a failure of governance, it is more accurately described as a reflection of democratic accountability and the often-contradictory nature of voter preferences. The expectation that government will “get out of the way” while continuing to provide stabilizing subsidies and labor support is logically inconsistent and politically unsustainable.
While I agree that empathy remains a critical component of democratic discourse, effective governance also requires responsibility, foresight, and a willingness to reckon with the outcomes of one’s choices. For Nebraska farmers, that reckoning has arrived.
Agreed. And in a more general sense, we need to (Canadians included) move away from politics entirely and focus on governance. We have conflated the two to the point of absurdity. When we can have some empathy, and we realize that this is not a zero sum game, we can focus on collective governance instead of this ridiculous politicking that's taking place. That's where the planning and foresight will start t to happen IMO.
The job of the government is to put a plan into place that can last generations, not just until the next election cycle.
Empathy and governance, not psychopathy and politics.
Hey there fellow Canadian.
I am a Mexican and I vow to not purchase anything grown in Trumpland AKA rural America until the Orange Guy leaves the White House.
I will not buy anything Nebraska grown. I have plenty of choices coming from Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay or even Europe.
And none of the above countries have declared a war against México. Or aga
Sorry Nebraskans, this is not personal, this is a war your own President started with its two closest neighbors.
We also have to factor in a problem that dems have not really done much about- these rural red areas do not hear directly from Democrats unless it is an election cycle. The rest of the messaging comes from Repubs year round, all day every day. When we say Dems have communication issues, this should be the top of the list.
The Civil War was called “brother against brother” and there are people that would gladly fight again to have the right to own slaves return. They don’t seem to care about humanity.
I was born and raised in Nebraska and I left as soon as I could because I hated it there so much. I hated the belligerent, bigoted, ignorant culture. The homophobia in particular hit me personally. I consider the place to be a version of Hell. All of this is to say that I'm willing to bet I hate Nebraskans more than you do.
That being said, I can't get aboard the victim-blaming sentiment of this piece. Like most US Americans, Nebraskans really don't know what they're voting for or against in terms of substantive policy. For the majority of voters it's really just vibes. I see this just as much among Democratic voters. (I've never voted R for president, but haven't voted D since 1992.) Look at the horrific things Bill Clinton did: "ending welfare as we know it," putting the prison-industrial complex on steroids, deregulating finance and media, NAFTA. He utterly betrayed his base in ways we're still living with, and D voters just keep going back for more.
I guess I'm saying I don't see how the undeniable ignorance of Nebraskans is a distinguishing feature. Seems pretty typical to me.
If you didn’t vote Democratic in this election then you are equally guilty as those Nebraskans that you hate for bringing this regime upon us.
Because of the Electoral College, an individual's vote for president only matters in a handful of states, the "swing states." I have never lived in one of those. In 2024 I voted Green in NM, which was guaranteed blue. So no, you're just incorrect.
And I don't hate those Nebraskans for bringing this regime on us. I hate them for being the belligerent ignorant people they are. I hate the Democrats for bringing this regime on us because that's where the real fault lays.
Americans voted for a lying felon who launched a coup against our democracy. Must be Biden’s fault? Really?
It boils down to being Joe Biden’s fault for not bowing out of running for re-election from the start, but certainly after his disastrous debate performance. Then the Dems could have had a proper primary to choose a candidate.
People resented having Kamala Harris shoved down their throats and many sat it out, giving us trump and his destruction.
Joe Biden, in his demented hubris gave us this shit show. And anyone who thought that America was ready to elect a woman , much less one of color. Strategic miscalculation and stupidity by the Dems brought us to this.
Sorry, not buying it. Don't blame Biden, blame the voters (and non-voters).
I blame Biden and the Democratic operatives who hid his dementia from the public 500%. Biden told us he would run as a one term president, so he should have graciously bowed out and allowed a primary that could have given us a chance at a real race. Biden will not be remembered well.
If you want to talk about dementia in the White House you have to start with Trump. He is nothing more than a useful idiot, a sock puppet for his cabal.
I get this but did the meat packing industry speak up at all?
Good question! I don't know.
In California, Big Ag has been asking the Trump administration to exempt them from the ICE raids though because they know they depend on the migrant labor.
I would guess that the industry doesn't mind individual farmers going out of business because they can consolidate more.
Vance is an investor in a company that aids Big Ag companies to buy distressed farm properties.
Gonna be a bumper crop of those this year thanks to the man they voted to be President.
Now why am I not surprised?
That is totally a detail I did not know
Most definitely
If nothing else, all these policies pushing small business owners of all stripes to the brink and beyond, as well as make it unaffordable for average people, sets the stage for big companies to buy everything, farms, homes and businesses in a fire sale. Then we start creeping back towards serfdom.
You’re right, I have seen a lot of this blind following of people like the Clintons on the left, mostly from “coastal elites” professionals who have NO CLUE what is going on in rural America and don’t care how NAFTA etc damaged farmers and workers because they literally don’t know anyone outside their own socioeconomic bubble. And I’ve given up trying to get them to care (my grandparents farmed in IA and I grew up in the Midwest). People in AR (i lived there nearly a decade) HATE the Clintons and Dems in general because of what neoliberalism has done to them. Vibes aren’t enough, no matter who you vote for…people have GOT to read the fine print and do proper research or they will get screwed. I don’t have sympathy for people who vote to actively harm me and take away my rights and then shoot themselves in the foot. Hopefully they will learn a lesson from the experience but I’m not holding my breath.
Yeah I also resent people who vote to take away peoples' rights, I'm right there with you. I had a good friend from college who voted Trump in 2016 because he's a businessman who felt he would do better under a Republican administration. He told me and other friends that he wasn't in favor of the anti-woman, anti-gay, etc., stuff, but it's like dude, that's what you're voting for too. It was disappointing.
I fled Nebraska to live in liberal cities like Minneapolis, Boston and Portland and I enjoyed those places in the '90s and early 2000s. But the last decade and a half I've been in rural areas because I work in farming and like the great outdoors. But since 2016 the atmosphere has been getting steadily spookier. I worry more now about "looking straight" than I used to, that's for sure, and that's a bummer.
I hear you. I’ve lived all over the country and overseas, most recently I moved to a blue state to be closer to my elderly Mom and to get my YA daughter and myself out of a place where we have fewer rights than a corpse. I grew up in a rural area, love the outdoors and am not a big city person but I’m not going to TX or any other red state ever again. Enough is enough.
I helped a friend at a festival south of Lincoln last fall. Lots of people of different stripes attended including gay couples holding hands. My thought was absent the humidity, i could live here.
I'm glad you enjoyed your time there. I've heard that it's better than it was, at least in Lincoln and Omaha, and I'll find out for myself when it's time for me to go back to help out my folks, but in the meantime, there's many other places I'd rather be, which I'm sure you understand.
Say what you want about NAFTA, but the agreement did not cause the steep plunge in agriculture prices during the five decades before it took effect. You know, the postwar period. Yet NAFTA is the villain according to Steve Bannon and Donald Trump, who as president enacted new tariffs. (What a great idea!) According to an Economic Research Service report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on April 23, 2019, crop prices did rise 41% between 1970 and 1990. Still, in relative terms, they shrank compared to the 116% increase in the price of consumer goods over the same period. The main problem in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, etc. has been the destruction inflicted on the rural economy by large-scale capitalism in recent years by corporate agriculture. Corporate consolidation and large factory farms gobbling up small family farms are the problem. And they're the ones squealing the loudest when it comes to the lost immigrant workforce. Just don't throw in the small family farmers with these big corporate ag giants. In 2018, the four largest meatpacking firms controlled 85% of the beef market. The four largest hog processors controlled 70% of the pork market. Four companies held 85% of the corn seed market. In the U.S., the number of large farms over 1,000 acres, doubled between 1978 and 2017. In 1949, 53% of rural Americans lived on farms, but now only 6% due. So you see, the problem isn't neoliberalism, it's a free market economy that has encouraged unbridled growth in agriculture.
The Clintons and “Neo-liberal” Democrats are NOT the Left. They are Republican-lite. They are wolf in sheep’s clothing. Apologies to wolves. Their greatest crime is fooling working people in blue states into believing they care about them. They are the benevolent slave masters who are less obviously cruel but keep you enslaved nevertheless. Republicans are the cruel masters that beat you and work you to death.
True, but they are perceived as “the left” by a lot of people who have fallen under the MAGA/Fox News cult. It’s time for a change in the Democratic party to become a real labor party.
Uh, never a big fan of Clinton , but comparing him to 47 is a no go.
Bill Clinton didn't run on "ending welfare as we know it". Quite the contrary, he was the one who was supposedly on our side. Remember that town hall style debate he had with King Bush I and Ross Perot? King Bush said "I >feel< your pain" - and of course the media rightfully pounded him for the hypocrisy. Clinton otoh talked about >helping< the poor and middle class.
Crushing welfare wasn't even his idea, a GOP controlled congress pushed it on his desk, and he disgustingly signed it. Even if the GOP had a filibuster proof majority, he should have vetoed it out of principle, but obviously the principle just wasn't there.
As you point out yourself, he utterly betrayed his base. As for D voters going back for more, who else did we have to vote for? Perot?
People being too stupid to do actual research and understand what their vote means garners no sympathy from me. Considering their cool president is directly threatening my nation's sovereignty, i will watch with glee while he burns their way of life to the ground. Hopefully they'll see sense and start baying for his head before he can do real damage to the rest of the world.
Agree with you. People need all the support we can get, including disillusioned MAGA voters. Do not push them away. Get them involved. The democrats are not saving anyone either.
Very well said.
And it's crazy that for a second I thought you were accurately describing where I live in Texas, the Berchtesgaden of the GOP
I don't want small farmers to lose their land and go out of business. I love and support family farms. Will farmers rise up against the pastors, radio and TV stations, and corrupt Republicans that manipulated them? I don't know. Their suffering gives me no joy, no solace. People laughing at the shock and misery befalling America's family farms suggests resentments and sadism.
Big Ag doesn’t much care about small family farms except maybe to gobble them up. I thought this piece was directed at Big Ag, in particular. I may have misread.
I care about the future of small family farms. But I also care about clean air and water, climate change, cancer research, USAID, the arts, and a whole host of other things being gutted by this administration. I don’t take pleasure in anyone’s misfortune, but it’s hard to feel too sorry for people who voted for this. Trump didn’t become an evil force overnight… many of us could see it from a mile away.
See it and smell it. From more than a mile. The stench of corruption rot permeates the atmosphere around him for miles.
Same. Thanks. ✨💙💫
It’s all intentional. Their master plan is to destroy small farms so that hedge funds and other corporate predators can buy up all of America’s farm country and control food production. Abolishing USAID which paid farmers for their crops, cutting Medicaid, Medicare, the VA, social security, immigrant labor. Once the overlords own all the farmland, they can work the land with the immigrant prison labor force they are amassing. Maybe true, maybe not. We’re seeing stuff now we never would have believed.
I don’t think so. I think it is ‘how does it feel when it’s you’ sentiment. Frankly farmers/ranchers have gotten a lot of benefits that taxpayers do not.
The answer to your question is no. They will simply blame "the libs", just like those same pastors, radio and TV stations and corrupt Republicans tell them to. There's no end to the manipulation.
Oh, wait, it gets even better. The Orange Scourge wants to strip down the NOAA and NWS right along with it. Good luck with that. We're right at the start of tornado season, and Nebraska is close to the bullseye (the dubious honor of Oklahoma). You're not gonna hear any sirens this year - just a sudden loud roar before your trailer is smashed to pieces, if the baseball sized hail doesn't finish the job first. Congratulations.
Thank you for a great piece. You nailed it. Too late to cry over something the farming community pushed. The same goes for Vets who overwhelmingly voted more than 70% to support trump. Now they are in a state of shock too. Hard to have sympathy at all.
I’ve noticed the Trump flags aren’t so prevalent in the country these days, not like before. However, I don’t think they’ve had a change of heart about the guy. Once they start getting their subsidies, the flags will be back out.
What makes you think they're going to start getting their subsidies? Trump/Musk cut them all. And they're not done yet. With a little luck, Musk will swing that idiotic chainsaw right into his own skull.
It's almost as if the Traitor is trying to bring 1930s Soviet Union conditions to American farmers. Ukraine remembers those days