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Trump faceoff with China exposes GOP weakness in rural US

Rogue Valley

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Trump faceoff with China exposes GOP weakness in rural US

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April 6, 2018

Gary Bailey is certain China is trying to rattle Donald Trump voters with its threat to slap tariffs on soybeans and other agriculture staples grown in rural America. The wheat farmer in eastern Washington, a state that exports $4 billion a year in farm products, is also certain of the result. "It's a strategy that's working," he said. If farmers are worried, so are Republican politicians, who depended on small-town America to hand them control of Congress and know how quickly those voters could take it away. Just seven months before the 2018 midterm elections, Trump's faceoff with China over trade has exposed an unexpected political vulnerability in what was supposed to be the Republican Party's strongest region: rural America. The clash with China poses a direct threat to the economies in both red and blue states, from California's central valley to eastern Washington through Minnesota's plains and across Missouri and Indiana and into Ohio. They are regions in which the GOP's quest to retain its House and Senate majorities this fall is tied directly to Republican voters' views about their pocketbooks and Trump's job performance. The signs of fear and frustration about both are easy to find. The soybean industry, perhaps more than any other, illustrates the potential harm to Republican candidates in the fall.

Soy production is concentrated in the Midwest. Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Indiana and Missouri account for over half of all soy produced in the United States. And more than 60 percent of U.S. soy exports have been sent to mainland China in recent years. Trump won 89 percent of America's counties that produce soy, according to an Associated Press analysis of Agriculture Department and election data. In those counties, on average, two out of three voters supported Trump in 2016. Many Republican candidates who represent rural areas Trump won in 2016 are being forced to choose between his trade policies and community interests. Vulnerable Republicans are walking a tightrope. In California's central valley, Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has avoided the issue altogether in recent days. His opponent, Democrat and longtime family farmer Michael Eggman, said Trump's trade policies would shatter his community. The district is home to Blue Diamond Almonds, among smaller nut producers, who send much of their product to China and suddenly face the prospect of 15 percent tariffs. "We all know how hard it is to make ends meet as a small family farmer, and Trump is not making it easier," Eggman said. "Jeff Denham, who claims to be a local farmer, hasn't said one word about it. Where's the outrage?"

How many demographic sectors do Trump and the GOP believe they can alienate and still remain in office 2018/2020? Pickings are getting slim. The religious right, the alt right, steelworkers, and miners.
 
Trump faceoff with China exposes GOP weakness in rural US

84324985.jpg




How many demographic sectors do Trump and the GOP believe they can alienate and still remain in office 2018/2020? Pickings are getting slim. The religious right, the alt right, steelworkers, and miners.

I think the biggest mistake trump made here is in discussing "a little pain" in terms of stock market performance. He probably lost a fair amount of the farm belt with that one or at least has angered them after having filled them with anxiety. Their losses here could be far worse than a few stock market points and he did not even mention them...likely red district, trump voters almost to a man.
 
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Trump faceoff with China exposes GOP weakness in rural US

84324985.jpg




How many demographic sectors do Trump and the GOP believe they can alienate and still remain in office 2018/2020? Pickings are getting slim. The religious right, the alt right, steelworkers, and miners.

More importantly it drives home how weak America is already, which most folks have no understanding of, because so many are willful and ignorant, especially the leaders.

Let us at least attempt to correctly prioritize, MKay?
 
More importantly it drives home how weak America is already, which most folks have no understanding of, because so many are willful and ignorant, especially the leaders.

Let us at least attempt to correctly prioritize, MKay?

The world catching up is not a weakness among Americans. It just goes to show how easy we've had it for over a 100 years.
 
The world catching up is not a weakness among Americans. It just goes to show how easy we've had it for over a 100 years.

False, the Easy did not start till after we won WW2, Washington started its decline right around 1957 and never stopped but almost no one ever cared, and now we are very well ****ed.

This was never preordained, this is what we decided to do.





EDIT: You can see why I have no time for those who claim that Washington as it is is Trump's fault....The decline started in 1957, and it has been completely corrupt and very non functioning for a very long time...Hell, these assholes did the Iraq Debacle almost two decades ago Washington was so broken then....and it is a lot worse now.......BUT where were all the complaints about this before Trump?
 
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False, the Easy did not start till after we won WW2, Washington started its decline right around 1957 and never stopped but almost no one ever cared, and now we are very well ****ed.

This was never preordained, this is what we decided to do.





EDIT: You can see why I have no time for those who claim that Washington as it is is Trump's fault....The decline started in 1957, and it has been completely corrupt and very non functioning for a very long time...Hell, these assholes did the Iraq Debacle almost two decades ago Washington was so broken then....and it is a lot worse now.......BUT where were all the complaints about this before Trump?


Who is it that says Washington as it is is Trump's fault?

Washington is a sickness which gave us Trump.

Like a metastasized cancer.

People have been complaining about it for as long as I can remember. It took a heckuva lot of dissatisfaction for people to jump out of the frying pan we were in, into the fire that we're in now.
 
False, the Easy did not start till after we won WW2, Washington started its decline right around 1957 and never stopped but almost no one ever cared, and now we are very well ****ed.

This was never preordained, this is what we decided to do.





EDIT: You can see why I have no time for those who claim that Washington as it is is Trump's fault....The decline started in 1957, and it has been completely corrupt and very non functioning for a very long time...Hell, these assholes did the Iraq Debacle almost two decades ago Washington was so broken then....and it is a lot worse now.......BUT where were all the complaints about this before Trump?

The problems started long before 1957. We were just protected by two large oceans which few enemies could cross easily is all.
 
Who is it that says Washington as it is is Trump's fault?

Washington is a sickness which gave us Trump.

Like a metastasized cancer.

People have been complaining about it for as long as I can remember. It took a heckuva lot of dissatisfaction for people to jump out of the frying pan we were in, into the fire that we're in now.


Nope, Trump is the Chemo,.....and it is not working as well as hoped.....because this cancer is bad one.
 
The problems started long before 1957. We were just protected by two large oceans which few enemies could cross easily is all.

There are always problems, but I am now pretty sure that Washington has been in decline since around 1957, which is a very long time for the rot to set it.
 
There are always problems, but I am now pretty sure that Washington has been in decline since around 1957, which is a very long time for the rot to set it.

lol...you are aware that Washington actually tried to avoid WW2, right? "Washington" has been a mess since day one. 3/5 of a person ring a bell?
 
lol...you are aware that Washington actually tried to avoid WW2, right? "Washington" has been a mess since day one. 3/5 of a person ring a bell?

I know all about it, you are confusing doing the job to your tastes with working. Your ancestors were under no obligation to agree with you.
 
Nope, Trump is the Chemo,.....and it is not working as well as hoped.....because this cancer is bad one.

Trump is the hazardous waste.
 
I know all about it, you are confusing doing the job to your tastes with working. Your ancestors were under no obligation to agree with you.

You're kidding, right? They're doing more now than they ever did--that's one of the great laments of the Right.
 
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