Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Gorsameth]

Every accusation is a confession.

[Edge-]

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/...JuFanTLQ%3D%3D

Trump to Unveil $12 Billion Bailout for Farmers
The financial aid comes as the agriculture sector grapples with the fallout from the president’s tariffs

nobody loves socialism more than republicans and farmeres!

ok look

donald ruined the agricultural sector for no reason

and taxpayers will bail out the people who voted for the guy who ruined their businesses for no reason

honestly i think we should strongly consider the reality that american farmers may largely be suffering generational brain damage that continues to be passed on

too many pesticides, maybe

[Kaleredar]

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/...JuFanTLQ%3D%3D



nobody loves socialism more than republicans and farmeres!

ok look

donald ruined the agricultural sector for no reason

and taxpayers will bail out the people who voted for the guy who ruined their businesses for no reason

honestly i think we should strongly consider the reality that american farmers may largely be suffering generational brain damage that continues to be passed on

too many pesticides, maybe

The other great thing is that because he’s not addressing any of the reasons the issues arose in the first place and that all of this came to a head in less than a single year there’s a great chance that they’ll need yet another bailout as the things he’s screwed up continue to not get better.

[Edge-]

The other great thing is that because he’s not addressing any of the reasons the issues arose in the first place and that all of this came to a head in less than a single year there’s a great chance that they’ll need yet another bailout as the things he’s screwed up continue to not get better.

i hope you like soy

american markets may be flooded with soy products we don't sell to china anymore

SOY BOYS UNITE, GET THAT PHYTOESTROGEN, GAL (yes i know that's not how it works)

[Milchshake]

MidWest's Welfare Kings did it again.

[Edge-]

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/08/g-s1-...rotest-lawsuit

Twelve FBI agents who were fired this year for taking a knee during racial justice protests in the heated summer of 2020 are suing the Bureau and its director, alleging unlawful retaliation.

The former special agents—who together have nearly 200 years of experience—once received awards for helping disrupt mass shootings, expose foreign spies and thwart cyber attacks.

But they say as elite federal law enforcement agents, they never received training on crowd control, nor did they have riot shields, gas masks, or helmets when they faced down volatile crowds in the streets of Washington, D.C., in June 2020.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington on Monday, described the small group of FBI agents as vastly outnumbered and literally backed against the wall of the National Archives building as unrest swept the country over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Court papers said they kneeled not to reflect a left-wing political point of view, but rather to de-escalate a situation that threatened to spin out of control.

"Mindful of the potentially catastrophic consequences, Plaintiffs knew that a split-second misjudgment by any of them could ignite an already-charged national climate and trigger further violence and unrest," said the lawsuit, filed by former Justice Department prosecutor Mary Dohrmann of the Washington Litigation Group.

more political retaliation by this administration against perceived political enemies or simply those with different political views

nobody hates law enforcement like the republican party, nobody

[Rasulis]

i hope you like soy

american markets may be flooded with soy products we don't sell to china anymore

SOY BOYS UNITE, GET THAT PHYTOESTROGEN, GAL (yes i know that's not how it works)

The only problem with that is that the human consumer is already pretty soyed out.



Also, soybeans for livestock feed are not fit for human consumption.

All Soy Is Not Created Equal

Like most farmers, Jennie Schmidt enjoys gazing over her fields, knowing the crops grown on her farm will contribute to America’s safe and abundant food supply. Unlike many farmers, however, the bulk of the soybeans harvested in from Schmidt’s fields are not bound for livestock feed. Many of her soybeans will be planted to farmers’ fields next season or will grace our dinner plates as Asian fare.

“The differences in growing soybeans for feed, seed or food are not significant while they’re growing,” Schmidt says. “The difference is more in the management practices and the details and tracking at harvest.”

Food-grade soybeans are higher in protein and require an even higher level of management to wind up as the tofu, soy milk or sprouts popular in our diets. A pristine field is of the utmost importance. “If pokeberry goes through the combine, it will stain the soybeans,” Schmidt says. “No one wants to eat purple tofu.”

During their annual planning process, Schmidt carefully gauges the quality of her fields, designating those that are the best drained and highest quality for food-grade beans.

[Draco-Onis]

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/...JuFanTLQ%3D%3D



nobody loves socialism more than republicans and farmeres!

ok look

donald ruined the agricultural sector for no reason

and taxpayers will bail out the people who voted for the guy who ruined their businesses for no reason

honestly i think we should strongly consider the reality that american farmers may largely be suffering generational brain damage that continues to be passed on

too many pesticides, maybe

12 billion for American farmers vs 40 billion for Argentina, AMERICA FIRST /s

On a serious note this is a band aid without international business and immigrant labor farmers will continue going out of business.

[Resurgo]

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion:

I'm kinda at the point where I'm just like "F*ck those farmers". Why do they need that aid anyways? Why is everything too big to fail? Automakers, bankers, now farmers? Like, how poor can you be when you have acres and acres of farmland, all the equipment for that land doesn't come cheap, and when I go down to my local Ford dealer to see the price of just ONE regular old F-150 these days on the lot...

They made their bed, let them have the dignity of their choice

[Poopymonster]

Alina Habba officially "steps down" after federal court pushes her off the steps, deeming her unlawfully appointed.

Habba claims she'll still work as a senior advisor to Pam ̶Bi̶m̶b̶o̶ Bondi.

[Edge-]

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion:

I'm kinda at the point where I'm just like "F*ck those farmers". Why do they need that aid anyways? Why is everything too big to fail? Automakers, bankers, now farmers? Like, how poor can you be when you have acres and acres of farmland, all the equipment for that land doesn't come cheap, and when I go down to my local Ford dealer to see the price of just ONE regular old F-150 these days on the lot...

They made their bed, let them have the dignity of their choice

Note: This isn't remotely new. We've been bailing out farmers for decades now, not to mention the expansive subsidies and policy-related requirements like ethanol usage in gasoline etc. (IIRC on that one, at least).

This is just more obvious and galling.

Also, farmers work on thin margins generally (generally) for a variety of reasons, which makes them more vulnerable to big swings.

- - - Updated - - -

Alina Habba officially "steps down" after federal court pushes her off the steps, deeming her unlawfully appointed.

Habba claims she'll still work as a senior advisor to Pam ̶Bi̶m̶b̶o̶ Bondi.

big "you can't fire me, i quit!" energy

of course she gets another "conservative dei" job after, that's all this administration can do

[Resurgo]

Note: This isn't remotely new. We've been bailing out farmers for decades now, not to mention the expansive subsidies and policy-related requirements like ethanol usage in gasoline etc. (IIRC on that one, at least).

This is just more obvious and galling.

Also, farmers work on thin margins generally (generally) for a variety of reasons, which makes them more vulnerable to big swings.

- - - Updated - - -

No, I realize it's not new... I'm just that much more irritated that these are the very same people that would go around calling everyone else freeloaders but then turn around hat in hand because they voted in the very things that put them in the situation they're in right now.

[Poopymonster]

Note: This isn't remotely new. We've been bailing out farmers for decades now, not to mention the expansive subsidies and policy-related requirements like ethanol usage in gasoline etc. (IIRC on that one, at least).

This is just more obvious and galling.

Also, farmers work on thin margins generally (generally) for a variety of reasons, which makes them more vulnerable to big swings.

When offered retraining into other fields, they were all "We've farmed here for generations, we've owned this land since we killed peaceful brown people who lived here to take it. We tilled the soil with our very own organic farm equipment, some of it we even made ourselves. We've used loopholes on loans to cheaply upgrade our equipment. We've received subsidies to survive because we refused to change. We're self made, the American Dream."

[Breccia]

"I don't exist."

Former Trump personal lawyer Alina Habba resigns as acting US attorney for New Jersey

- - - Updated - - -

Habba claims she'll still work as a senior advisor to Pam ̶Bi̶m̶b̶o̶ Bondi.

Makes sense, nobody has any oversight over advisors, and she can still blow Trump under the table in exchange for Twitter followers.

[Rasulis]

Note: This isn't remotely new. We've been bailing out farmers for decades now, not to mention the expansive subsidies and policy-related requirements like ethanol usage in gasoline etc. (IIRC on that one, at least).

This is just more obvious and galling.

Also, farmers work on thin margins generally (generally) for a variety of reasons, which makes them more vulnerable to big swings.

- - - Updated - - -



big "you can't fire me, i quit!" energy

of course she gets another "conservative dei" job after, that's all this administration can do

It's worth noting that corn, soybean, cotton, wheat and hay received 70% of US agriculture subsidy.

[Breccia]

nobody loves socialism more than republicans and farmeres!

$12 billion? I thought tariffs were raising forty dodecatrillion dollars every week?

Okay no really, once again Trump is promising he'll think about maybe sending a check eventually. But what's $12 billion going to do (except, of course, create headlines)?

The literal majority of farms lost money in 2025 (or they will, unless these promised checks immediately materialize in mailboxes)

Farm bankruptcies are far higher in 2025 than 2024. 56% higher, which is far more than the rise 2018->2019, which was 24% and also fueled by Trump's tariffs.

And it's worse in some sectors. Here's an article from the American Soy Growers:

Rising input costs for farmers has been an issue the Trump administration has made a policy priority as it advances through its first year – and with good reason. Soybean producers are staring down the barrel of a third year of negative market returns.

Soybean growers find themselves in a precarious position as the 2025 harvest season wraps up. When harvest began in September 2025, November futures prices were between 25% - 30% lower than at the same point in 2022. The lower revenue levels limit the amount of liquid assets farmers have available to pay off 2025 expenses this fall.

It’s not just the revenue side of the income statement where soybean farmers are being squeezed. Farmers are facing elevated prices for land, machinery, seeds, pesticides and fertilizers. According to USDA, farm production expenses are expected to reach $467.4 billion for 2025 – a $12 billion increase over 2024.

It's phrased in a way that doesn't make Trump look bad, of course, but when you point out 2024->2025 you have no choice. Fortune magazine was more direct in April, yes, the April that was seven months ago.

Trade groups have warned that retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural exports could harm the prices of corn, soybeans, cotton, and other crops. The price of soybeans sank more than 3% Friday and are down almost 17% since a year ago. Roughly 60% of soybeans, meal, and soy oil produced in the U.S. are exported.

“We hope there will be a bailout,” Barry Evans, a sorghum and cotton farmer in Texas who sits on the board of directors for a sorghum grain trade group, told The Wall Street Journal. “If we don’t get something, it will be quite a disaster.”

The farming industry relies on exports for more than 20% of its annual income, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

In 2024, the U.S. exported $176 billion in agricultural products, with 47% going to three countries: Mexico (17.2%), Canada (16.1%), and China (14%). According to the USDA, soybeans, livestock products, tree nuts, fruits, vegetables, grains, and feeds are among the top U.S. exports.

Tariffs in Trump’s first term triggered retaliation that caused a reduction of more than $27 billion in agricultural exports, according to USDA. The government gave farmers $23 billion in economic aid to help offset the loss.

Now, that $27 billion loss compared to $23 billion in socialist handouts is basically even. 2025 doesn't have official records yet (and, as they'd come from Trump, we won't have them then, either) but the most commonly-cited number I see online is $44 billion. Production expenses went up $12 billion, possibly the source of Trump's number, but that has nothing to do with lost sales due to retaliation for tariffs or high prices (remember beef and eggs?) Meaning, Trump is going from paying nearly 100 percent to roughly 33.3333 (repeating of course) percent.

And adding to that, this article from October suggested a $10 billion handout. Two months ago. Trump didn't, you know, DO SOMETHING! even when it was his own idea. So even what little he's considering is yet another empty promise. If it materializes, which I think the House desperate for 2026 results will do then Trump will take credit for, if it does materialize it's not help enough for those who sold or folded.

Or suicides, which rose last time Trump did this. This can't be a surprise? Trump has proven he likes killing people.

Trump isn't doing this because he wants to help farmers. Trump isn't doing this at all. He had since April and did nothing, and still hasn't. Congress will, probably, and Trump will sign it if they do. But it's not enough, not soon enough, and most importantly a desperate bid to change that Trump willfully increased losses of American farmers in 2025, in public, on purpose.

It also won't change that Trump raped children.

[Endus]

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion:

I'm kinda at the point where I'm just like "F*ck those farmers". Why do they need that aid anyways? Why is everything too big to fail? Automakers, bankers, now farmers? Like, how poor can you be when you have acres and acres of farmland, all the equipment for that land doesn't come cheap, and when I go down to my local Ford dealer to see the price of just ONE regular old F-150 these days on the lot...

They made their bed, let them have the dignity of their choice

It boils down to balancing a few things, primarily supporting internal food production so you don't have to import everything and keeping food prices low for citizens. If farmers have to get by on their own, they'd have to raise prices, and that'll mean higher prices at grocery stores (and even lower relative prices for imports, unless they're tariffed.)

It's all a balancing act, though there's a lot of the USA's approach that could be condemned, like paying farmers to leave fields fallow or boosting specific crops like corn and soy that have led to market imbalances that have contributed to a lot of other issues, like natural sugars being replaced by high-fructose corn syrups because the overproduction has made that shit cheap to produce.

It's one thing to know that a farm generally represents millions of dollars in sunk value in the land, the materials (seed/fertilizer/pesticide/etc), the equipment, and the staff required to handle it all. It's another to realize that they're often operating on razor-thin margins that keep them barely afloat. The high sunk value only matters for farmers who want to stop being farmers and sell all that to someone else; it's not something they're really able to utilize for self-enrichment. Which is why nobody thinks farmers are generally rich, wealthy people.

[Gabriel]

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion:

I'm kinda at the point where I'm just like "F*ck those farmers". Why do they need that aid anyways? Why is everything too big to fail? Automakers, bankers, now farmers? Like, how poor can you be when you have acres and acres of farmland, all the equipment for that land doesn't come cheap, and when I go down to my local Ford dealer to see the price of just ONE regular old F-150 these days on the lot...

They made their bed, let them have the dignity of their choice

Farmers are probably the only industry worth bailing out tbf

[Breccia]

Trump broke his promise to protect a lifeline for 71 million Americans

Yep, FOX News *ding* doesn't care for it when Trump attacks Social Security.

For Social Security it has been a miserable year.

After President Donald Trump unleashed Elon Musk and DOGE on the Social Security Administration, the agency lost more staff in a shorter period of time than ever before in its 90-year history. Fortunately, public outcry and pushback from congressional Democrats saved Social Security from a 50% cut to staffing and the closure of scores of field offices as Trump and his administration had announced back in March. So, somehow, those dedicated workers remaining at the Social Security Administration have still managed to keep the agency running — without missing a single monthly benefit payment.

There are not many public or private insurers in the world who can claim to never have missed a monthly benefit payment in 90 years.

This is good news for 71 million Americans — many of whom depend on their earned benefit every month as a lifeline.

First of all, no, it isn't. "Trump tried to damage it and failed" is not good news. That's Trump being incompetent. The fact that he tried is good news. Leaving things 100% alone would not have been good news, that would be the status quo. FOX News isn't lying (they have eight hundred million reasons not to) but even in an article critical of Trump, one citing evidence mind you, this is an error, and they know it - more on that later.

Second of all, this is where the "good news" ends. Even FOX news can only lie for so long. Time to start bolding for emphasis.

But we are not out of the woods yet. The agency has been gutted. Enormous damage has been done to customer service and to the agency’s ability to process claims.

Just as many are demanding that Trump’s deep cuts to healthcare be restored, so too must Trump’s deep cuts to Social Security be restored, as the two are inextricably linked. Sixty-four million Medicare recipients will see a reduction in their Social Security benefits in 2026 due to Trump’s Medicare price hikes that will cut into their Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), making life more expensive for seniors. This is the greatest erosion of the Social Security COLA in nearly a decade, and the first time that Medicare premiums exceeded $200 per month.

With the Social Security Administration’s staffing now reduced to a 60-year low and baby boomers swelling the number of active beneficiaries to an all-time high, the agency is struggling badly, and the American people are paying the price. Wait times to get to a person in a field office or to talk to a person on the 1-800 line have become longer and longer.

As the Trump administration claims that things have never been better, millions of Americans are having a very different experience. In fact, more people today now die waiting in line for their initial disability determination than at any time since President Dwight Eisenhower signed the disability portion of the act into law in 1956. Even just recently, Trump and DOGE risked 300 million Americans’ personal data from the Social Security Administration. They have robbed Americans of customer service and peace of mind.

Conditions have grown so bad – Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, has called for Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano’s resignation. It proves to be a telling illustration of the deep concern experts have for the damage done to the agency.

None of this had to happen. It was made to happen.

I told you they knew it.

As a candidate, Trump vowed all through the campaign that he would protect Social Security. Instead, he wrecked the program’s customer service, took a chainsaw to its functions and maligned its reputation with false claims of waste, fraud and abuse.

Yeah. Remember DOGE? Trump is hoping you don't. It did nothing but cost time, money, and services, leading to worse results for higher taxes. (Tariffs are taxes)

But again, all Trump has is lies. He sure doesn't have any solutions to the problems he himself caused. Besides handing back a small portion of what he personally stole from farmers, discussed earlier:

He's pledging to look into affordability, despite labeling it as a Democrat hoax.

FOX News reports *ding* that Trump expects inflation to "roll down strongly" based on, near as I can tell, canceling the PPI report for October entirely, mixing it with November, and posting it in January - and I'm just going to say, right now, that it will be completely bogus numbers. They numbers, if they eventually release any at all, will be false.

Trump knows things are bad and is lying about it, and his lies are getting more transparent than oxygen. "Farms are doing great, by the way here's $12 billion because farms aren't doing great". "Inflation is fine, and you know this because I'm not telling you anything else". "Welcome to Social Security, our remaining three operators are bigly busy, please stay on the line or die of old age".

Trump is a danger to this country. He knows it. And he has nothing to offer for it.

[Paranoid Android]

Jeezus eff our government.

So on Trump's $12 billion aid, which is bs hypocrisy of course.

So he is drawing this money from the USDA? Damn they have $12 billion slush fund? I mean Trump withdrew $28 billion in his first term..

I'm just taking this from Politico article I linked above.

Officials have been weighing using tariff revenue, USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation fund and other alternative methods to alleviate farmers’ financial stress. There’s precedent: Trump tapped USDA’s internal fund to dole out $28 billion worth of bailouts during his first-term trade war with China.

The administration was expected to announce some form of support for farmers Tuesday, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously teased, but that was put on pause due to ongoing shutdown negotiations. Still, some of the people familiar expect that Trump could go rogue and announce next steps on bailouts this week.

Again, holy shit how this one person can just shift funds around and allocate however he wants. The best is floating that tariff funds would be used, which again "how can you appropriate this" and why should farmers just get money from tariffs when technically they are exporting their product? I know logic people.

Any plans to use tariff revenue or refill USDA’s internal fund, which has seen its borrowing capability severely depleted over the years, would require congressional approval and likely kick off a partisan fight during already dire spending conversations.

You think? I guess they might attempt to pass a bill. Probably can pass cause Democrats would vote for it. I know my Senator would when these people don't vote for them and again their President created this mess.