"Soybeans, Tariffs, and MAGA’s Bitter Harvest"

This 34% retaliatory tariff by China isn’t just a number. It’s a death sentence for a huge chunk of American agriculture. It's about time for MAGA to admit they have been played!

So here we are again, watching the flames of Donald Trump’s economic ineptitude engulf the very people who handed him the matches and begged him to light the fire.

China just slapped a massive 34% reciprocal tariff on American soybeans; a commodity that, for those of you keeping score at home, already needed a defibrillator before this latest self-inflicted wound. Soybeans are rural America’s cash cow; or, more accurately, their only damn cow. And now that cow is being led to the slaughterhouse in the name of MAGA economics.

You’d think by now Trump’s base; especially the farmers, you remember, the ones with the MAGA flags flapping off their rusted-out F-150s like a cult signal; would’ve learned. But learning requires admitting you’ve been conned. And that might require them to peel off their red “lobotomy-covering” MAGA hats, toss them into the manure pile, and face a very painful truth: Donald Trump doesn’t give a shit about them.

Let’s be clear; this 34% tariff isn’t just a number. It’s a death sentence for a huge chunk of American agriculture. China is the number one importer of soybeans globally. That’s not speculation, that’s fact. Josh Gackle, chairman of the American Soybean Association, said it best: China has been a reliable partner for American farmers. Reliable, until now. Until Trump decided to flex his economic muscles; which, like his bone spurs, are entirely imaginary.

This retaliatory move from China isn’t surprising. It’s what happens when you treat international trade like a zero-sum game of Monopoly, where Trump gets the Boardwalk, and everyone else, especially the poor, gets bankruptcy court.

And who gets hurt the most? Not the Mar-a-Lago crowd lounging under gold-plated umbrellas while sipping on overpriced cocktails named after dictators. Not the billionaires in Trump’s revolving-door cabinet, who’ll just short the agricultural market, then scoop up foreclosed farms for pennies on the dollar. No, the pain lands squarely on the backs of rural and low-income Americans; the very people who cheered the loudest for the man now kicking them in the groin.

The soy farmer in Iowa? The trucker in Ohio? The small-town grocer in Kansas? They’re all going to feel it. When soybean prices crater and exports dry up, it’s not just the farmers who suffer; it’s the whole damn AGRA ecosystem. Equipment suppliers, seed companies, processing plants, rural banks. The fallout will be nuclear, and unlike Trump’s “nuclear” classified documents, this one’s real.

But let’s talk about the real betrayal here. Trump promised; hell, he swore to take care of America’s farmers. Remember those rallies? The snake oil sales pitches disguised as policy speeches? “I’ll fight for our farmers like no one else!” he roared. “Trade wars are easy to win!” he blustered. Well, guess what? The scoreboard says otherwise. China just pulled a LeBron James on us while Trump’s still stuck in a pick-up game at Mar-a-Lago with Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani.

Here’s the uncomfortable part MAGA nation doesn’t want to hear: You were sold a lie. Again. You were the useful idiots in this con. You put the flags on your barns, painted “TRUMP 2024” on your hay bales, wore the red hats like they were sacred relics, and turned every legitimate critique of his policies into some kind of deep state attack.

But here’s reality knocking: You’re getting screwed. Not gently. Not slowly. Brutally. Repeatedly. And for what? So that a billionaire who’s never worked a day in a field can keep pretending he’s “one of you”? The only soil Trump’s ever touched was the soil he imported for his golf course.

You’ve been loyal. Painfully loyal. But loyalty to a man who sees you as nothing more than a photo op is not patriotism. It’s masochism.

So maybe it’s time to ask: Have you taken down those Trump flags yet? Or are they still blowing in the wind like some twisted banner of economic despair? Have you scraped the MAGA stickers off your tailgates, or are they now just peeling reminders of a con that keeps costing you everything? Have you thrown those hats in the garbage yet; or are you still wearing them to church while praying for a crop that won’t sell?

Because while you’re struggling to pay for seeds and fuel, Trump’s golf buddies are figuring out how to buy up your farmland during the fire sale. And when they do, don’t expect any thanks for your “service.”

Look, I get it. It’s hard to admit you got played. I’ve been there. I was Trump’s right-hand man, his fixer, his loyal soldier. No, his most loyal soldier. I believed the bullshit too. Until I didn’t. And, it’s about time you, and other Americans extricate yourself from the cult as well.

But now, here we are. Soybeans are just the latest casualty in a long, sad war of ego, lies, and MAGA delusion. The question is; how many more punches to the gut will it take before rural America finally stands up and says, “Fuck this…We have had enough”?

Because trust me, the man with the golden toilet isn’t coming to save you. He never was.

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