Posted on 02/18/2020 3:55:27 AM PST by Kaslin
WESTBY, Wisconsin -- Spend any time with people who supported presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016 and you quickly find out that the reasons they voted for Trump had very little to do with him.
It is likely one of the most misunderstood threads among this new conservative populist coalition. To get the real reasons for their support for Trump, you have to be where they are, have no preconceived ideas about who they are and have no prejudice for what you think their motivations are.
Tom Schaub, Ralph Petersheim, Donna Leum, Kris Amundson and Ben Klinkner are all sitting around a large conference table at the Westby Cooperative Creamery in this Vernon County town. There is a pot of coffee and an oversized box of doughnuts. The aroma that only bakery-fresh doughnuts can provide radiates throughout the room.
All four are dairy farmers. Schaub is president of the co-op. Petersheim has been recognized for his water and land conservation efforts by the county, earning him the Outstanding Conservation Farmer Award for his impeccable land efforts. Leum's family owns a 53-cow dairy, and both of her adult children are in different aspects of the dairy agriculture industry. Amundson's family produces 17,200 pounds of milk per cow each year for the cooperative. Klinkner is a sixth-generation farmer on his family's organic dairy farm.
They are all board members of a co-op that was formed over 117 years ago by local dairy farm families searching for a way to develop a sustainable market for their milk and dairy products in their creamery.
Individually, they are superhumans. Not only do they work the dawn-to-dusk hours required to bring you cheese, yogurt, milk, sour cream and any other dairy delight that fills refrigerators (cows are milked twice a day every day of the year); they are devoted conservationists of the soil and water, and are tireless volunteers dedicating countless hours to the 4-H club, local schools, their churches and the co-op board.
They all said their vote for Trump wasn't for him but rather for their communities.
It was an abstract and complicated decision that rarely makes sense to people who don't walk in their shoes, live in their ZIP code or understand how long establishments within both parties have let them down, their parents down, their grandparents down and their children down.
"People who don't know farmers or live near or in a farm community have little idea of why we feel so connected to our place," said Leum. "But they do seem to have strong opinions about who we are, and when they find out we supported Trump, they look at us as that dumb farmer who doesn't know any better."
"Well those dumb farmers, they're an electrician. They're a plumber. They are mechanics, scientists, conservationists. They take care of the crops that fill their cupboards, (who) love and care for the animals who provide dairy and meat for their feasts. They are also vets and engineers," she says with pride and a broad smile. "I mean, we have all these skills because you cannot keep calling repair people, so you do it yourself. So actually, I think we are pretty darn smart."
Overall, there are 68,700 farms in Wisconsin covering 14.4 million acres of land. They provide nearly $90 billion for the state economy every year and employ over 400,000 people statewide.
There are nearly 8,500 dairy farms in Wisconsin. Hundreds of them shuttered in 2019, continuing a 10-year trend the co-op board members said is largely based on a complex pricing system and fixed costs being spread over a wide swath of production.
"On the co-op level, we're given an advance price of what the milk is supposed to be for the month, so we base all of our prices on the products that we're making and selling," explained Schaub. "And then when the final price comes in, it can be a $2 difference."
"Well, that $2 difference. ... There's no way to make that up, so, then you have a loss for that month. Then, you string too many months like that in a row, and that's when things get rough," he said, adding that the eventual result could be bankruptcy.
All five farmers like President Trump's policies. His demeanor? Not so much. But they knew Trump would come through with better trade deals, which he did with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
Vernon County is one of the 23 counties that voted for then-President Barack Obama in 2012 and switched to Trump in 2016.
While many national outlets have parachuted into the Vernon Counties of the last presidential race to ask voters about Trump when the trade deal dragged on, when special counsel Robert Mueller's report was released and when Trump was impeached (and acquitted), few journalists ask voters how they got here in the first place. Furthermore, few members of the Republican and Democratic establishments who mock farmers behind closed doors (or openly on social media) have reflected meaningfully about why farmers picked Trump over their establishment candidates.
Despite moans from the chattering class saying there have been too many stories on Trump voters, farmers such as these have a story to tell about lives focused on faith, family and farming. Few who actually know them could argue they're not creating a profound benefit for the entire country.
AGREED!
Both you chowder heads need to realize it isn’t 1960 anymore. You old farts live in the past. I think unions suck too but having said that let me set you straight unions represent only 7% of American workers. Get a brain and quit acting like codgers.
Absolutely agree!
Zito is usually a dependable writer. What is this all about?
DO NOT DIMINISH PRESIDENT TRUMP’S PERSONAL APPEAL!!!
And I love his policies and leadership.
Seriously the choice was between Hillary or Trump. The Democrats gave us Trump and he has MAGA.
Read
The reason a lot of us support Trump.... he is the real thing. No put on. We have 2 very wealthy men ... one is with the people and one has that distance about him... can’t connect with the real people out here.... one walked with the construction men while building his wealth and the other sat in his office and carried out his business.
Trump has the ability ... the charisma...to connect with the people.. the other one has difficulty even knowing the people and how life is outside of his wealthy life...
Trump does not do it the ordinary way...and criticized for it... the difference in Trump’s Presidency and the past Presidencies...is striking and good for the country and good for everyone.
Stop listening to the media.. stop letting the hate group sell a Trump that does not exist... Look at who he is and what he has been accomplishing.... and..
ENJOY THE JOURNEY... Trump is the best think to happen to our United States of America!
Is Trump a true conservative in the sense of the word? Does he project a fatherly figure in the manner of Dwight Eisenhower? Does he have the easy-going grace of Bush-41 or Bush-43?
A big fat resounding “NO!” to any of these things.
And. I. Do. Not. Care.
Donald J. Trump is unique, a primal force of nature, and a phenomenon of almost Biblical proportions. A billionaire with the common touch, he recognizes the common problems of having to do too much with too little, but more importantly, he proceeds to SOLVE those problems, not by throwing money at it, but at making it possible for more of us to rise to the point where the problems fade into insignificance.
Laissez les bons temps rouler,
Line workers who pay union dues to democrats and live mostly hand to mouth even at 65k/year.
vs
Farmers who are business owners, who pay property taxes, feed a nation and have free cashflow to make targeted campaign donations. The family farm not ran as a hobby clears at least 200k / year or soon becomes a hobby farm. Hobby farmers have jobs across the spectrum, typically mamangers or technicans and have tens of thousands in farm income or they lease their owned land for a smaller more stable income.
Farmers have more political clout for a reason. They also have a ton more to protect than a line job.
That's why I voted for Trump. He just wasn't another faceless "face" that central casting picked out to play the role of president for the next four years.
Trump has got his rough edges but I don't care. I'd rather have him as an effective president, flawed as he is, instead of a flawless president who doesn't get anything done.
For a president, I don't want phony looks anymore. I want real action.
Unless the demoCLOWNS go along with it too, it is just more worthless, wishful thinking.
Oh BS. The TANGIBLE wealth of the nation is created in factories, which we need to bring back here, not on farms. Farming and fishing together account for a tiny .8% of GDP which begets the question of why is so much political capital invested in so few. All farming cloud end and it wouldn't even cause much a recession. Imported ag products would instantly make up the short fall. I am not saying I want that but what I said is still true.
What I am trying to do is point out the Republican hypocrisy of lamenting the "plight" of the farmer while turning a blind eye to middle America and the loss of the true economic engine of the economy which is manufacturing.
Seriously, these people are led by Satan, whether they realize it, or not. I suspect most don't, but I'm pretty sure the leaders do. Either way, they must be defeated, and Trump is the man for the hour.
WWG1WGA
Where We Go 1, We Go All
Think about it, all of us are important and a silly retort that some are more important than all of us belies an interesting facet of your self expressed perspective on others
Very interesting indeed
Except for Trump, the GOP has and continues to treat workers as second class citizens. On the one hand you see GOP sponsored subsidies and tax breaks for farmers and on the other hand off shoring an no protective tariffs for workers which out number farmers 20:1 maybe 30:1. Do you see the political disconnect with middle America?
The wheat is being sifted from the chaff...
The GOP itself must be rid of those who are in name only a member and understand what it stands for...
The constitution says the form of Government is Republican, and it defines the behaviors and nature of that model
Note we are NOT a Democracy and for good reason, they all have fallen
They are known, and they will expose themselves and be discarded to the dustbin of history
Sic Semper Tyrranis - Death to Tyrants
You are missing the point.
The price of milk & other dairy products against the former trade structure with Canada was shaky at bests, and was AGAINST the American farmer.
Not knowing how much they are going to earn from month to month with a herd of dairy cows that need daily attention & somewhat fixed costs is a daily gamble.
This kind of interview of American voters needs to have more exposure.
You are the one throwing our entire economy under the bus when you throw our agricultural sector under the bus. Read my earlier post again. None of the things you advocate for (And please note that I do not disagree with that advocation) matter a hill of beans if we are starving. We MUST provide our own food.
You lost your credibility when you threw the farmers under the bus. How can we trust someone who says they want to bring our manufacturing home but wants our food to all be imported?
Now if you misspoke in your earlier post, please fix it.
The 20% GDP workers would not last long without the .8%
FARMERS feeding them & their families.
You have tunnel vision, IMO.
I am sorry you FEEL that is true, but John it is not. Ag commodities are traded world wide.
We MUST provide our own food.
Grain comes form all over the world, same as beef. Quit trying to protect farmers from global competition unless you are willing to protect manufacturing and blue color workers with the same zeal. Hypocrite.
How can we trust someone who says they want to bring our manufacturing home but wants our food to all be imported?
I want it all here but we have to be consistent or end up alienating 120 million wage earners. Wage earners do not like legal immigration and like really high protective tariffs. The GOP being in love with things like the H-1B visa is a real party killer also.
Post Trump the GOP either broadens its base or we as a nation succumbs to socialism.
The incompetent GOP has had 30 yeas to convince us globalism ( expect for agriculture ) is great thing. When nobody but a tiny minority bought this failed and dangerous experiment with many Americans livelihoods they seem to have doubled down fighting Trump and MAGA. Dear GOP wise the f up.
Grain comes form all over the world, same as beef. Quit trying to protect farmers from global competition unless you are willing to protect manufacturing and blue color workers with the same zeal.
The quote from the woman who described all the skills and intelligence farmers possess refutes very directly the common trope that Trump voters are dumb, and Bloomberg's disgraceful characterization last week that farmers have such negligible skills that anyone could do it. Conclusion: vote for Trump.
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