Trump's Card

[San Bernardhinault]

I think Trump's tariffs combined with the terrible weather in the Plains and Prairie states might completely fuck him with farmers. He keeps trying to bribe them with billions in bailouts, but they don't really want that. They want to sell their produce. They couldn't last year because of the trade war, so many of them filled up their silos with corn and soy which is utterly useless after floods got to the bottom of them, meaning that there's mould on the reserved crop and it's now just gone. The farmers being unable to sow this year is all the more galling because last year everything went right and they had a bumper crop they couldn't sell.

Now, the actual number of farmers in the US is very, very low. Even in states like Iowa, far more people work in other industries. (And, lots of people who work in farming these days are hispanic immigrants). But there's a massive romantic connection between the Plains states residents and the idea of farming, and if the farmers hurt everybody feels that something in fundamentally wrong.

That's why Trump has to bring in this $16bn bribe, of course, but it might not be enough. All farmers take government welfare all the time, but when its welfare that only needs to happen because of Trump's mismanagement, when farmers would have actually been able to make a juicy profit under normal circumstances, I think that will not go down well.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

]Now, the actual number of farmers in the US is very, very low. Even in states like Iowa, far more people work in other industries. (And, lots of people who work in farming these days are hispanic immigrants). But there's a massive romantic connection between the Plains states residents and the idea of farming, and if the farmers hurt everybody feels that something in fundamentally wrong.

A friend of mine spent about four or five months driving combines and trucks in the mid west a couple of years ago. Basically Agriculture in the US is largely composed of massive farms who hire contractors who move pretty much up and down the US in a straight line. The way he described it, it seemed that agriculture in the US had moved very far from the world of little house on the prairie alright.

[ursus arctos]

That pattern us repeating itself all over, especially for cereals

Australia, Africa, Canada and Ukraine are some other examples.that.I have come across.

[Amor de Cosmos]

That pattern us repeating itself all over, especially for cereals

Australia, Africa, Canada and Ukraine are some other examples.that.I have come across.

Too true. We're surrounded by farmland, and it's become increasingly common for wealthy buyers to build "farmhouses" like the one below. They are not subject to residential zoning restrictions and they lease out the productive land to contract farmers.

[San Bernardhinault]

Holy crap! That is unbelievably hideous.

[Amor de Cosmos]

It's pretty typical. And of course farmland is flat, so you can see them for miles.

[Ginger Yellow]

Top story on Bloomberg at the moment:

Boris Johnson Hasn't Been Invited to Meet So Far: Trump Update

Christ this week is going to be insufferable.

[ursus arctos]

Just the best people

https://twitter.com/DevlinBarrett/status/1135628798106509312

[Diable Rouge]

Paul Embery sounds as though he'd have been an appeaser in the Thirties:

http://twitter.com/PaulEmbery/status/1135786259887132673

[Ginger Yellow]

I thought middle class Londoners were all supposed to hate Corbyn because of Brexit.

[ursus arctos]

Ignorance is not the exclusive preserve of reactionaries

[URL="https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1135888723697160192?s=21"]https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1135888723697160192[/URL]

[Flynnie]

Paul Embery sounds as though he'd have been an appeaser in the Thirties:

http://twitter.com/PaulEmbery/status/1135786259887132673

Find someone who loves you as much as Spiked contributors love horrible political takes.

[Nocturnal Submission]

[wingco]

"Hundreds" at the demo, apparently. Copious coverage from the Beeb. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-485...rump-in-london

[Gangster Octopus]

That's Fake News apparently...

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

^was in town and had to cut through the crowds on the way to Euston, just after I took that I nearly literally bumped into Shirley Williams.

[MsD]

Trump says the NHS is "on the table".

My anger is raging, but I'm glad he's come out and said this.

[ursus arctos]

It is always interesting when he says the quiet bit out loud.

[Satchmo Distel]

Nasty Cuba policy: Cruise ships banned as of tomorrow

https://www.apnews.com/67c721daee8143d4a2e6ee8c401bf215

[laverte]

Our city is making Trump feel at home: building a huge fence to keep the dignitaries out of sight of locals, and peppering the esplanade with flags proudly promoting BAE Systems, our locally sourced arms manufacturer and wholly appropriate sponsor of the commemorations. Otherwise it feels a bit like wartime, with roads and pavements barricaded seemingly at random, and swarms of police in high-viz jackets (presumably to spook Macron) standing around, observing. Loose paving stones have been replaced, railings repainted, rough sleepers hassled out of the way, and the huge heap of earth that has lain on the footpath for six months has finally been removed. Last night as the helicopters circled some sort of rehearsal was under way on the main stage: words flashing on a huge screen, and a Blair-like voiceover playing to the parched empty common, cutting through the wind, of such crisp clarity that it felt proper uncanny.
It'll be over soon.

[ursus arctos]

It is becoming difficult to keep all of these dystopian serials straight

[laverte]

The rather low-key protest outside the townhall was disrupted by a gang of local fash, carrying a Pompey football flag, singing 'We love you Donald', and shouting 'Scum' at the assembled anti-racist campaigners, children of holocaust survivors, etc. They quickly dashed into the Wetherspoons pub, from where they continued to glare at the demonstrators while trying to provoke the police. A more entertaining interruption came from the bells of the guildhall, giving temporary respite from an especially dull speaker from Stop the War who had been droning on without notes for far too long.

The episode did provide a reminder of how central to white nationalism in England is the mythology of world war two, particularly as a big screen was simultaneously showing the official ceremony on the common, which was also pretty much a gathering of white people. The BBC's feed reported how "world leaders addressed the veterans", a pithy summary of everything that was wrong about the spectacle.

[ursus arctos]

Meanwhile, who had "tariffs on products from Mexico" as the issue the GOP Senate would rebel over?

https://twitter.com/carlquintanilla/status/1136271075082457088

[San Bernardhinault]

I'd have thought "Something that seriously disrupts the profits of myself and my donors" would be the only thing that would cause the GOP Senate to grow a pair.