Rural Support For Donald Trump Is Economic Suicide

 

During his campaign Donald Trump made many promises. He said he was going to bring prices down. He said he was going to brings jobs back to America. The voters in rural America believed him, and gave him their support.

Their support allowed him to score a very slim victory. About 62% of rural voters chose Trump. And they made up a significant 44% of his total vote. Without the support of rural voters, Trump would have been defeated.

But the policies that Trump have pursued since moving back into the White House are not helping those rural voters. In fact, they are making life much more difficult for them.

His tariffs Are increasing prices.

Inflation continues to rise in this country. And Trump is making sure they will continue to rise in the future. That's because he has placed tariffs on almost every country in the world. Every country is subject to a 10% tariff, and some have an even higher tariff. Since the U.S. imports much of what is on store shelves, this means prices for those goods will rise by at least 10% and more for some goods. This is bad news for those already struggling with inflation (which is everyone but the rich).

Farmers are going to be hurt.

The farming community had not fully recovered from the tariff mistakes of his first term - and now he has imposed much broader tariffs. One of the biggest market for U.S. farm products is China, but because Trump has put a 145% tariff on them China has retaliated by cutting off the buying of U.S. farm products. They have cancelled the orders they had, and they are increasing their buying from other countries (especially in South America). Trump has also cut almost all foreign aid by USAID. Much of that aid was food provided by American farmers. This double whammy by Trump could put many family farmers out of business.

The poor will suffer.

It is not known by many, but rural areas in this country have a lot of poverty. In fact, in many rural areas the percentage of poverty is higher than in urban areas. The rural poor will not only be hurt by rising inflation (much of it due to tariffs), but will see less help from the government as Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress cut government social programs. They are cutting these programs so they can give big tax breaks to the rich.

Healthcare is going to suffer.

Because of the significant poverty in rural areas, the number of people (especially children) on Medicaid is high. And Medicaid is high on the list of budget cuts. Both the Congress and Trump have proposed bills that could mean as much as $800 million in cuts to Medicaid. That would not just affect the poor and working classes. Many rural hospitals are barely hanging on, and they need the money Medicaid provides them. A serious cut to Medicaid will likely cause many rural hospitals to go out of business - forcing rural inhabitants to travel many miles to get to the nearest city hospital. That would make life harder for those in every economic bracket.

Older residents will suffer.

Trump has allowed Elon Musk and his DOGE team to do serious damage to the Social Security system. Offices have been closed and staff has been cut. This will make it much more difficult for retirees to get Social Security and/or make needed changes to their Social Security accounts. And if not rectified, could even interfere in payments in the future.

Rural voters put their faith in Donald Trump. But he has betrayed them. While increasing his own wealth, and that of his rich buddies, his policies will devastate the people in rural America.