Trump's tariffs are beginning to hit Mid-West America, the home of MAGA. As Fortune magazine has reported:
Caleb Ragland, a Kentucky farmer and president of the American Soybean Association, is warning of an agricultural crisis as China has placed zero soybean orders for the upcoming harvest. It's a departure from typical patterns, where 25% of the U.S. crop goes to China. With prices 40% below three-year highs and production costs rising, hundreds of thousands of farmers face losses unless there's a trade resolution between the two countries.
That's a perfect storm, and much of it is of Trump's creation.
For how long can a President survive when they have declared war on their own people?
And no one can say that this was not a predictable outcome. I predicted it.
The question is, will the MAGA accept the destruction of their livelihoods as a price worth paying for tariffs only intended to benefit the very richest of Americans, or will they make clear that this is an unacceptable consequence? Sometime soon, we might begin to find out. Doing so will provide important lessons for how to manage fascism here in the UK.
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I heard a very sad report of the number of farmers committing suicide over this. They know no help is coming and they probably know they voted for this. The despair and underlying shame must be overwhelming.
Noted and agreed.
Trump said he would stop wars, create millions of jobs and rid the nation of a ‘deep state’. He did the exact opposite. He is wrecking the economy, created a junta style of governance while raring to attack Venezuela. He recently boasted about bringing Trillions of dollars into the US, which one would imagine, would alleviate any economic suffering on the part of individuals and businesses alike. He has reset the US back to 1890s ways of thinking and has state troops mustered on the outskirts of Chicago as I type. What could possibly go wrong?. The UK must waken up because there are some very dark forces funding the far right.
Expect Trump to use tariff collected money to subsidise farmers. He did something similar the last time he and China faced up, with China sourcing soya from elsewhere.
100% subsidy?
Trump is a showman. If, as in 2020, he sends out 130 million cheques with his name on, and a flowery letter with his signature at the bottom, it will play very well with the MAGA crowd – (that’s “good television”). He’s already hinting that he’ll do that. If it nowhere nearly covers the losses of the farmers, so what? He’s going to count votes: how many farmers vs how many urban MAGA voters? It would outshine media reports of bankrupt farmers (which is not “good television”). In any case I have no doubt that pressure will be brought to bear on the media to underplay negative results of tariffs.
Time for a strategic stockpile?
Can’t remember the exact sum. $15+bn, comes to mind.
I’m afraid that if you are that filled with hate, who gets hurt does not matter, as long as someone is getting hurt – anyone in fact. That is the sort of satisfaction that Neo-liberalism brings you in the end.
The U.S. elite has delivered what the UK would have delivered if they had not kicked us out – an Establishment who rule by self replication, indifferent to democracy, dug in like ticks, selling their dreams as obtainable to everyone else, and the population falling for it whilst keeping them poor.
American democracy has failed. Having said that, it still might surprise us yet. But that is a bit of long shot.
1. Will Trump bail out farmers?
Summary: to do so, he would have to raid the funds from some other programs. Congress is running full tilt at a budget impasse that might lead to a government shutdown. Even if the regime bails out farmers, the program will be short lived and will not solve the related problems. His program will not achieve is vision.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/05/trump-farmers-agriculture-tariffs-trade-deportation/
2. How long can this regime last?
Prediction market Kalshi showed the start of an event contract named “Trump out as President this year?” on Saturday. At peak levels, bettors put a 10% chance on Trump leaving office before the year’s end; as of Tuesday late afternoon it was at 6%. What that meant: If someone purchases 100 contracts on the “yes” side of the equation, and is proven right, they would see a $94 profit. That’s beating inflation. Farmers take note.
3. Has U.S. Democracy failed?
Not so long as there is breath in me.
Thank you.
I’ve been a devotee of yours Richard for a long time now, particularly keen on your Taxing Wealth report, with your nuanced approach to getting redistributive taxation from the rich, and your great lessons from your MMT reports showing how even top politicians and journalists ( especially BBC ) fail to grasp it, or deliberately fear adopting anything outside establishment ( ruling class) orthodoxy ( 100% protection of the wealthy’s wealth ) because of the absolute stranglehold ( backed by army, police and church ) the 3 dozen, or so, super-rich family dynasties have over global and national finance ( see latest Oxfam research ). All seemingly impregnable, unless a massive multi-billion ‘earthlings’, popular progressive-parties uprising, fighting with enormous clout against climate and ecological catastrophe and/or nuclear bomb strewn world war three, resolves the whole thing in favour of life over extinction. Sadly it looks like the ‘stranglehold’ wins? Good that I’m 85 this month !
BUT, , , could Brazil’s COP30 in November, possibly produce a miracle which could stop this fast-accelerating, self-created, suicidal, sixth extinction of all life ( 80-90%? ) on Planet Earth and . . . reverse all our multitude of greed-ridden, habitual hate or war driven, life-destruction behaviours ?? IS THERE ANY SMALL GRAIN OF HOPE LEFT ? What say you ?
I have to hope.
What alternative is there?
Perhaps if western leaders had taken action years ago to defend their industries against neoliberal policies we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in now.
Trump is trying to correct what has been going wrong over the past several decades and there will be short term pain, but in the end it is the right thing to do.
You are employed in Sheffield, a city almost destroyed by cheap steel imports.
Although nowhere near as serious as farmer’s committing suicide, the absurdness of the idea that tariffs will force people to buy American products is shown in the wool community. As with the UK very little yarn is manufactured in the US. US knitters used to love importing from Wool warehouse a British online company, yarns they cannot source in the US. With the introduction of tariffs Wool Warehouse has ceased sending orders to the US. And of course US shops are also faced with similar difficulties trying to import what is not produced in the US, which like the UK is only niche more expensive yarns. So a large number of US women can no longer buy yarn and are not happy about this. In typical US fashion many are blaming the UK retailer not their own government and many were probably Trump voters. But they can no longer buy something that is not manufactured in the US and they wouldn’t have the workforce or machinery to change this.
Thanks