Why Would a Midwestern Farmer Trust a Conman from New York City?

  Definition of a conman. (photo: Cambridge University Press)

 

Another definition of a conman.

 

Trump hires the very immigrants he rails about, as do many farmers who buy into his "us vs them" message 

Marc Ash / Reader Supported News 

10 October 24

Donald Trump's message is not fundamentally different than the message of any right-wing national populist in Europe and there are more than a few. It was Adolph Hitler's message, Benito Mussolini's, message and it was Francisco Franco's message. It is also the message of Viktor Orban, Marine Le Pen, Robert Fico and Bjoern Hoecke and Alice Weidel.

It is a simple message that is always effective and always a lie. They, the immigrants, the people who do not belong here and are not us are harming our country and your family and you. Playing the role of the scapegoat in Donald Trump's theater of accusation are the brown people who cross the US-Mexico border headed north to America. It should be noted that many of them are indigenous North Americans.

The rural farming communities of the Midwest are Trump country. They hear his message, they believe his message they feel his message in their hearts. It's us vs them, them vs us.

But a farm, even a family farm is a business. The crops must be harvested if they are to go to market and be sold. Who will harvest the crops? In these times the Midwestern farmer like the Southwestern farmer relies upon "the people who are ruining our country" to harvest the crops. As does Donald Trump as he foments hatred of the very same people.

Donald Trump's reliance on "the people who are ruining our country" is very well documented. His hotels, resorts and other hospitality businesses are largely staffed by the very people he vows to defend the country from in the name of white Americans. Which of course speaks to why people cross the border to begin with.

People cross the southern border primarily for 2 reasons. One it's safer in the US than it is in many places in the Western Hemisphere and that really is an important thing for those who come. But the most important reason is for jobs. The people who cross the border for work know that American businessmen will hire them.

Americans like Donald Trump and American farming companies and meat packing plants and the list goes on and on. They all want cheap labor and workers who will not complain too much about working conditions.

So the entire fear of the immigrants is kind of a Jedi mind trick and a conundrum at the same time, the people who are making the argument are hiring the very people who they rail about, as are the people who buy into the argument. What is left is a combination of xenophobia and a desire to preserve a class based servitude society.

Two peas in a very evil pod.  It's a very simple question for voters: aren't we better than this?