You can’t reach people if you don’t approach them. One step one person at a time. Grassroots consists of if not outreach, transportation for outreach, financial assistance and most important word of mouth information of effort, I think 🤷‍♂️

There's $52B in the bill for farmers. Do the farmers see whats going on here? Republicans destroy their income then tax dollars are used to bail them out. Rinse & Repeat.

For those (farmers) that did vote for Trump, no more handouts in the form of subsidies. They need the full experience of what they voted for.

Dems aren’t taking the offensive on this bill or to defend and fund vital programs from Trump and future regimes. ‼️URGENT: DGA must build laws/processes across states via coalitions. 👉My team drafted proposals in Jan—politicians are scared to act. Need help pushing this. PM me for details.

Most rural people aren't even small farmers. I believe that this is right: U.S. has approx. 2 million farmers vs. E.U. with 9 million.

The more that they automate farms, the more that will be true. Of course, they want most of you dead, because you are highly unnecessary to their worldview. demodirge.substack.com/p/republican...

Farming supports rural economies both directly and indirectly.

In E WA most people live off the government, mostly D policies: Forest Service, BLM, Bonneville Power, jobs will local government meaning schools and the PO etc, or they are on welfare. One of the ironies of rural life is the claim that big government is bad.

Many won’t admit it but a lot of them literally have an anti corporate bias brewing in them as they can be some of the harshest critics of the local Wal Mart or Dollar General that replaced local businesses.

Most MAGAs on most issues are supportive of liberal/progressive ideas as long as they don't realize that the idea is liberal and oppose R ideas> They vote R because they equate Rness with being a good real American and equate Dness with being the Other

Hey, Democratic policymakers: urban residents can’t keep our homes because you keep jacking up our property-taxes every chance you get because you refuse to tax businesses or religious establishments fairly. My last property tax hike was 85%. No joke.

Wait til you see the homeowners insurance bill. I look at mine with gratitude because it has only doubled.

Fair point. Insurance is supposed to be a "highly regulated industry." Its pricing isn't being regulated at all. Throw it on the pile.

bsky.app/profile/more...

The dems have no leadership. Right thar's the problem.

This is true, however, rural economies generally rely upon agriculture, so regardless of how many people live in rural areas, most of the economy is agricultural-based anyway.

Not true. There are many rural areas across this country, they're not all the same.

Not a single bit of my rural Missouri is ag based. Northwest MO is more ag based. Not Southwest. I take that back….we are getting very ag based again because the Amish have bought up all of our land 🤷🏼‍♀️

I was born in Joplin, raised in Columbus. Still have family all over that area from Carthage to Asbury, all the way down to Noel. That whole area is very agriculture based. My dad repaired farm machinery all over that area, as did my grandpa before him.

And policies that reflect how farmers, also, aren't rural people? Sounds almost like a caste-system you're suggesting 🤔

And all rural farmers aren’t conservatives. Sincerely, a very liberal Wisconsin farmer

I think a lot of us forget about you guys!

what’s that mean?

When I knock rural doors, I talk about public schools, roads and bridges, hospitals, affordable daycare, and the post office. There is little daylight between a Democrat and a Republican out here which is why we need to contest every race.

I have relatives that fit this description, but don’t know how to swing them myself.

Convince them to turn off FOX would be a good start. Good Luck on that!

Ha! Yea well, this has been a contentious topic for many years. Sweet 91 year old lady turns manic if she’s deprived her “channel” for too long.

I am convinced that talking reason and sanity to the unreasonable and insane is a waste of time. So I simply walk away and go to my drawing board and draw.

But, but, ignoring rural voters is what the Democrat Party does best. That's more than likely why a map will look close to 90% red. But those clever people say, "land doesn't vote." No it doesn't, but the people that live there sure the fuck do. They need to stop ignoring their potential voters.

That sort of arrogance was a major failing in Hillary Clinton's campaign.

And, like it or not, Democrats need to focus on issues like healthcare, jobs, infrastructure, and safety. Discussions like LGBTQIA+ rights and pronouns just turnoff people who have no interest in having that discussion because the other things are much more important. Triage, people.

For folks running for office out west, you better know how to talk about water, land use, power infrastructure, and wildfire management. These things are incredibly complex, relevant far beyond agriculture, and are often the literal life and death issues people worry about.

There’s little daylight everywhere if people would all be honest for 5 minutes!

Rural hospitals are going to close down if the Medicaid and Medicare cuts go through. Schools gonna close down if the Department of Education goes away. It's the rural Post Offices that go away when the Postal Service budget gets cut. So why do so many of them vote Republican?😞

TN already refused Medicaid expansion and shuttered our rural hospitals. I can testify to what it is like to live without rural healthcare. But the locals think our large nonprofit hospital system shuttered those little hospitals to drive patients to the city. This is what they believe.

Absolutely. I think the major reason that red Kentucky has a Democratic governor is cos @govandybeshear.bsky.social knows this. He is always working for the people of Kentucky and, despite their efforts & much to their chagrin, the GOP supermajority legislature can’t quite reel him in.

YES.

Growing up in Indiana I learned a conservative Democrat is a Republican. A liberal Democrat is a Communist.

😂

Local politics is bread and butter stuff. Folks here in Delco want schools that work and taxes that don't break their backs and they want someone committed to making that happen. They don't care about the party label otherwise.

You are such a hero for relentlessly fighting for a better (democratic) USA. For the voices unheard. Chapeau! You have my utmost admiration!!

Yaaasss

If rural people want Dems to make policy to help them then they should stop voting for Republicans who literally do not give a fuck about them unless they're rich white male Christians. In that order.

You are right on target! We hate being left out when infrastructure is funded and the basic services needed. Like you said, roads, hospital, post office and school funding.

Trump bankrupted over 12,000 farmers in 2017 and 2018. Republicans must believe those bankrupted farmers will just write it off and start over. They are gone for good. Trump is bankrupting them again. Democrats need to message that.

Decades to build the Chinese market for mid-west grown soy and Trump destroyed it in the blink of an eye. China buys it now from Brazil and the market isn't coming back to the US. Trump bought farmers off with subsidies.

The truth came out about the 2019(?) farmer bailouts, 90% of it went to the top three AG conglomerates.

They will likely buy out bankrupt farmers, which may be part of the plan. Tariffs on Canadian potash for fertilizer is already killing them. There was an item the other day about an irate MAGA farmer whose prices went sky high. He buys as part of a coop and he's locked into a contract.

I have seen some articles of these farmers screaming and crying. It's as if they were in a coma six years ago.

Democrats in general need to respect rural areas and do a better job of providing infrastructure and key services.

The party continues to rely on consultants who do the minimum as far as research.

And who have never ventured outside of the New York/DC bubble.

They should be, though! We need to stop letting our farmlands be bought out and turned into monocultures.

What are they now a days? Service industry? Few manufacturing jobs here and there? Home Health Care? Lot of elderly people living in rural America.

Like anywhere else, it's a mix and depends on which rural area we're speaking about.

I'm thinking about my hometown in Western KY. Still a lot of farms but way less independents these days. Couple factories, lots of fast food, banks, gas stations and of course Wal-Mart.

In my county of 47,200, the greatest number are working for the state, county, town, village, schools, 3 colleges. ~18000* employed, ~900 farm workers. Many truck drivers. Many travel ~32-65 miles to work in the nearest urban area, often in construction. 20% over 65. 13% disabled. >15% in poverty.

Most of the factory jobs that existed in my childhood/youth are gone. They were union and allowed decent lives. People seem much more desperate today. Tends to fill them with resentment and hate that gets directed at those seen as "others": city folk, POC, etc.

There's a lot of that in my hometown which is really a county more or less than a town so much. Same with lots of people working outside of the rural area as to larger cities are within 40 min drives. I'd say the largest employer is the Poultry Processing Plant. Lots of drug abuse in the area.

Worked probation until 2016. Opiates hit hard, including fentanyl. Meth became big, easy to make. Deaths of despair common. Big fundamentalist population does not help. Our largest village is 5000. Most villages <1000. Medicaid cuts will hit hard: 30.4% of the county's population on Medicaid

Yea Meth is huge in KY, lots of arrests and people going through the system to be turned out again in a few years and start the process all over again. Hard enough to get a job before but with a record it's almost impossible. Just had a friend go in for 5 because of Meth.

If ICE hits here the dairy farmers will be up shite creek. Also, this is what will happen to many rural towns: www.npr.org/sections/sho...

Yes and when those other cuts into Medicaid and Medicare hit it will be like another wave of bad news.

I used to try to explain this to my neighbors, but all I get in response is "litter boxes in the local school", homeless beggars driving Bentleys. I've given up.

You can't compete with the propaganda they are getting either from RW TV or Facebook targeted posts. I've tried as well and you can see them sway but then they just double down. Even now, after all the things that are happening I bet a lot won't be swayed

One of our defunct industries saw some revival from the clean energy investments. Don't know what happens with the destruction of that federal investment. Rural areas will be hit the hardest by these fascist regime's policies.

Which is kind of crazy seeing that is probably their strongest voting bloc but Trump isn't worried about elections anymore. I wonder if the GOP isn't either the way they are slash and burning.

It occurs to me that if nothing else they are convinced that with all our data being rounded up by DOGE twats, and use of AI, they will be able to so precisely target voters that they can swing elections. Not at all sure this is not what happened in 2024. Why they want states not to regulate AI?

*employed includes those claiming self-employment.

It very much does depend on the state and region. In our rural county here most people are service workers, or factory workers.

We are service workers, healthcare, and teaching.

We do have some healthcare, the biopharma space is more expanding in our urban areas.

When I was growing up in rural Indiana, the people in my community made their living from farming, but also as shop owners, teachers, doctors, factory workers, bankers, waitresses, hair stylists, county/city officials, etc. But, most people had that strong farmer’s work ethic.

I'm a Montana Democrat and our candidates are always terrible. All of this faux populism. I call it "political cosplay" when politicians run ads showing them fishing/hunting/shooting/riding horses. Yes lots of Montanans do, but its cosplaying a stereotype for votes. We need real people running.

I will also add that there is a disconnect. Politics is a money game. If you have money in MT, you probably are not a real Montanan. If you are a real Montanan, you probably don't have much money. So we end up with weird out of touch people with money, or broke hopefuls who can't win.

But like what are they doing out there if not farming?

True, but rural people living in my hometown area are still friends and family of farmers. How policies impact farmers matters to them, too.

Here we go. There’s no excuse for not being informed if you want the information.

They are too busy ignoring us - and just continuing to act like this shit is all normal… I am a huge believer in the party but my god they have lost the plot!

I'm confused about your specific complaints. I live in a town in Central IL where half the town is Rep'd by D-Eric Sorensen. The rest of us are stuck with R-LaHood. Sorensen is WAY more in tune with people's every day lives. LaHood is interested in photo ops and following Dear Leader's orders.

Amen!

Yes, the shift away from family farms happened a long time ago here, too.

I'm not a farmer even though my last name is McDonald.

I wrote a letter to the Chico Enterprise Record, which is Almond country, saying California should convert 1 million acres of almonds to houses and industry. Locals think farmland is sacred but it produces very little economic growth and most of the money goes to the farmers.

Rural people seem pretty stupid from my perspective.

I like your enthusiasm for rural voters. As a former rural voter, I'm trying to figure out what policies would break thru the red wall of rural areas. Biden did infrastructure, broadband, and pump up other rural programs. Democrats lost the rural vote worse. What policies would change this?

True. I grew up in rural Iowa, but not on a farm.

Hey, Republican policy makers: most rural people aren’t farmers. I grew up in a small Iowa rural town... politicians no matter what their political party don't understand this paradigm... anyone that thinks they do is just naive...

Hey @slotkin.senate.gov @peters.senate.gov Rural high speed internet would be a good start

Yes. 1) Abolish the electoral College 2) Apportion the Senate based on Population not by state Recognize that 83% of Americans live in Urban areas, and that rural areas have held them hostage for far too long. That'd make for good policy

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Farm and ranch families comprise less than 2% of the U.S. population

Democratic policy makers? lol They just want to keep their big donors happy. They won’t do shit. GOP-lite.

🙄 The inflation reduction act exists.

In fact, proportionally, there are fewer "farmers" than ever before, due to corporate farms takeovers and mechanization of farming. www.ers.usda.gov/data-product...

Most people in the cities aren't CEOs? 🤷

Not sure that the Democratic Party thinks everyone in the city is a CEO, but they definitely think everyone in rural America is a farmer. Ask me how I know.

Please tell me, how you know? I am curious. As someone who grew up on rural Michigan, my father was an autoworker in Toledo, OH. Wouldn't policies that affect those same workers, affect the rural folks who work there? Or does that require their brain dead Republican reps to do something?

I mean, they talk about all those issues? Kamala had a lot of ideas for programs to help and she discussed them. And the gop talks about shredding them?

She may have discussed those ideas, but the media sure didn't show it when she did.

Send your people to the rural areas.

True dat. Some are ranchers.

Yep

Excellent point!

The fact that we’re having to talk about manufacturing coming back, where only a few states were hurt by that Whatever concerns of the swing states end up being the main talking point I wonder if you ever see anything besides a right leaning TV station on in a public space

I have a feeling these voters know more about hunter’s laptop than they do about Biden’s exhaustive and well crafted bills to try to extend Wi-Fi and bring back high-tech manufacturing, giving relief to people that wanna go up the ladder economically Something tells me few in those areas knows

Also, there are rural people even in highly populated blue states.

In California, 57 of the 58 counties have rural populations (the outlier being San Francisco county).

Yuuuuup. New York comes to mind.

Absolutely. Think Stefanik and Tenney. They run on border control, crime, inflation, and anti gun control, some of which are state issues, not federal. The Democrats run on schools, health care, broad band, and equity. In many areas the Democrats’ mojo is weak. The message doesn’t get through.

I’m naive to upstate NY needs but I would assume running on border control and crime aren’t exactly upstate issues.

One of the crime issues is cashless bail, which is state, not federal. Many (most?) people believe it’s too easy for violent offenders to go free. I know it’s always being debated, but I don’t know its current status.

Before anyone charged with a crime can make bail a risk assessment is required to determine the danger the accused poses to the community and their risk of flight. No one deemed a danger to the community or a flight risk should be eligible for any bail, let alone cashless bail.

Cashless bail, when managed appropriately and applied fairly, is a great tool for addressing systemic inequities in the criminal justice system.

Every so often there is a news report of a person out on cashless bail who commits another crime, sometimes a violent crime. The right-wingers make a big fuss and get people to believe the left-wingers are too soft on crime. Some compromises may be in order, but the idea doesn’t need to be scrapped.

Or, we could remind those people that every now and then people released on cash bail commit violent crimes, too. I’m having a hard time understanding why our starting point is always compromise when it comes to equity, human rights, civil liberties, etc.

Border control is an issue in upstate NY. People literally walk across the border from Canada and most that do aren't Canadians either. Don't know the crime stats though.

Source, please. Highly doubt anyone with 2 brain cells wants to leave Canada to come to Nazi America.

What makes you think they were Canadian? People from all over the world come to the USA illegally via the northern border. During trump's 1st term the most illegal immigrants in the USA were Canadians and Chinese who overstayed visas. apnews.com/article/immi... youtu.be/mXdu8gkNLTk?...

Sheriffs. Nuf said. Not reliable source. Majority of sheriffs are maga.

Disagree. Not all of them are racist assholes. Santenello is MAGA biased now but his earlier ride along videos are eye opening. From what I've read and seen, the immigration problem is complicated with no easy solutions. Economics are at the bottom of all of it.

I didn’t. Seems to me if one makes it to Canada, that’s the best to try and do asylum in.

If they make it to Canada why didn't they just stay there? It's better than the USA! Here is a report from Biden's DHS on asylum seekers and how many actually qualified. ohss.dhs.gov/sites/defaul...

This is interesting. I didn’t think migrants traveled all the way to Canada to cross our border. Going to have to look that up. We do have an issue with people over staying their visas.

I've read about it in other reliable sources. As for Santenello, he started out fairly unbiased but lately has seemed to favor talking to MAGAts more and more. He did bother to go to both borders, most people only think of the southern border when they think about illegal immigration.

Very rural and gorgeous

I'm one in Connecticut. We've been rural dwellers everywhere we've lived, even in Alaska for a time.

Yes! I’m in rural Colorado. Our politicians need to recognize that liberals aren’t just on the front range.

Northern CA is also filled with MAGA up near the OR border. This is typical of many states in the USA, urban areas are Dem and rural areas are GOP and many are hard core MAGA. This isn't news.

For those who keep voting for the same people, remember that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Agree Jess..I live in rural southern Ga., and, yes we have some big farms...but, most people just work a regular job

And in our area, many of the rural residents who aren't farmers take up agricultural land to build their obnoxious home to "get away from the city". Then their bestie build next door. Before long it's just another "community" demanding services they had...in the city.

Is it because they own more land than others and operate ig as businesses, I wonder.

Dyingofwhiteness.com

So sad that you have to say this to the DNC, they need to seriously look at employment records and get with the times. Agriculture makes up less and less of the heartland economy every decade. That's gotta be in their stats somewhere.

They’re all liars, obviously. Musk and the GOP (who assures us that able-bodied men on Medicaid are all fraudsters) know the real truth! What about fake 120 year old people who are wrongly collecting Musk’s defense contact money and Bezos’ tax credits! Will nobody care for the poor billionaires?! /s

I hear that farmers and farming are the bedrock of our local rural economy but the three biggest employers are a nearby hospital, the public school districts, and county/town governments. 80% or more are paid or subsidized by a unit of government or program.

Rural Progressive here (yes we exist. We’re even a same-sex parent family). USPS, road maintenance, public school funding INCLUDING school bus schedules that don’t have 5 year olds on the bus for 2 hours because of a lack of drivers, property tax control so we don’t get taxed out of our homes.

Some specifically state and local issues there, so do stress the importance of voting in every election!

Definitely. I actually live in a small (population) state so local politics is the bread and butter here. We’re lucky enough that our reps and senators even at the state level are regular neighbors with kids in the local schools and accessible.

This one way they stay kosher with corporation. I left both parties because neither represents my views accurately or improves my life progressively

I need glasses

Gee? Wasn’t that what farm aid was about? Not agribusiness aid

Yeah I live out in the middle of nowhere, quite literally farmland, in an unincorporated community. I do not farm.

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼❣️❣️

Here’s the problem. The party got so elite, they don’t know. Operatives are definitely children of the elite donors.

Most people don't like supporting genocide either. Democrats aren't gonna stop supporting that any time soon

Haven't you heard the "moderate" leadership thinks the party needs to become MAGA Lite?

👋🏽👋🏽👋🏽

Access to healthcare, broadband and USPS a great place to start.

I get so sick of my representative in the most rural area of PA only visiting & talking about farms, whole milk, farm equipment manufacturers. He is ignoring lack of mental health treatment, education funding, hospitals shutting their doors & small businesses.

And Farms are businesses, with their own economic realities. If you haven't met a farmer since Old McDonald, you might understand that.

Most rural people aren’t farmers *anymore* because of concerted corporate efforts to take family farms, just like they’ve done with funeral homes, pharmacies, veterinary care, and many other businesses that were family owned. The problem is capitalism that cannibalizes the economy.

👆

Absolutely true but can tell you that many of the non-farming populace are very tightly aligned and intertwined with rural cultural and political views. I’ve lived my entire life in rural America. They will vote for candidates who are diametrically opposed to policies that would benefit themselves.

The point is that there’s non-ag policy that has specific rural impacts.

My mom lives about 20 minutes outside of town but can’t get good internet and has to pay for Starlink. The ISPs got paid to run fiber up and down the main road but won’t go up the side road to her house. Just bundle this stuff in a clear message like, “$1 trillion for rural communities.”

Seems like increased tax credits for kids, and tax cuts for the middle class offset by taxes on the rich would be easy. Bonus points for going after monopolies that cause the cost of everything to go up.

So tired of being told we don’t listen to the rural areas, when have they EVER listened to us?!?

And “rural” isn’t just the non-coasts.

Absolutely! Most people live in rural areas because it's cheaper! Rent is cheaper. Houses are cheaper. Yes you have to drive, but it's still cheaper to do so! Until these farmers get hit in the pocket they will not change their mindset away from Republicans. It's Coming!

The Inflation Reduction Act and the Chips & Science Act steered a LOT of money to red states.

Back to basics,My lord!

Did the Republican policy reflect the difference? All those farms are being wiped out by Republican's policies.

And a majority of farm land in the world is owned by corporations, that get massive tax breaks and subsidies that small farmers don’t get. This is to slowly kill and independent food and water supply*

Am curious, how would rural be defined? 1. Not in a town or city limits? 2. Not in subdivision? 3. Population density less than x per sq mile? 3. Or is it a state of mind?

That depends entirely on who you are talking to. I would use your second 3. It has more to do with where the nearest major services and stores are. I live in a town of about 2000 in a resort area of 5 times that in the summer. However, most grants have decided we aren't rural, we are hinterlands.

And our major economies are tourism and agriculture. Yeah, we harvest trees. It's disconcerting when the laws are made for soy growers and they act like they will help loggers.

Understand! we are in the NC mts, outside a semi-touristy town 20 minutes from the national park. We live “up the holler”, have goats, donkeys, roosters around us, need 4WD min. to climb our drive & live up in the trees. You’d never know we are 1.5 miles from Walmart, Lowe’s, gas, school, bank. 😜

btw, my wife and i discussed it, while we feel wonderfully rural at our house, we didn’t consider ourselves and the house rural. Too conveniently located. 🙃

Yes and treat us with the same importance as blue states

Many rural communities are gateways to national parks - which are taking incredible hits from DOGE/ Drumpf. They NEED tourists & health services. They are ready to listen to Dems IF they present the right message- support for workers, safe foreign travel, lower prices, green policies, & healthcare.

are they?

Depends on how the Dems frame the message. They’re pretty hit and miss.

Dems don't get to frame the message at all. The media does, and the media is owned by Republicans.

Mainstream media are owned by corporations, and their audiences are shrinking. Dems are perfectly capable of using alternative platforms to present their messages. They’re still too wedded to the past to understand that, let alone take advantage of it. This is part of their communication misfires.

Republicans own all those platforms too (including this one), except for the Fediverse/Mastodon, which they have not been able to buy (They tried).

Democrats spent big on social media advertising, but didn't have nearly as much reach as the Republicans' social media campaigns. That isn't because Democrats don't "understand" social media, it is because the Republicans OWN it.

I’m not talking about ads. I’m talking about online interviews, podcasts, videos of appearances/speeches. There are ample opportunities to be heard. Dems need to use TikTok, Instagram, Substack, etc., instead of scoffing at them. That’s where folks get their news these days, not CNN or the NYT.

We are going to need to get good a messaging on our own. We need to learn to make accurate handouts and'zines and memoize our facts to be ready to speak truth. I get so flustered, but I'm still trying every chance I get. We can't wait on most Dems, it's on us. They've mostly checked out (Schumer)

Well, to be fair, they are becoming ready to listen. There has been a shift from nearly universal "proud to be MAGA" to "I didn't vote for this." Normally, every room in our gateway town is reserved for international summer visitation. But not this year -and it will kill off many small businesses.

Ok. I just gotta ask one thing. If they get all these things, would they be ok with social rights as well? Just curiosity speaking here because people like to say oh with economics taken care of, then social justice is easily remedied.

Would my deep red rural community accept LGBTQ rights? Trans rights? and gun legislation? Hard no for most. But, it's a poor community that survives on Medicaid, SNAP, HUD housing, free school lunches, and Head Start -and it's now worried they will really suffer. Dem ideas are starting to sound OK

They might be ok now, but they always revert back. It’s happened time and time again. Like those parents who lost kids to measles but are still anti vac

I've lived here for 43 years. There used to be an Aryan Nation compound -which was eventually closed down by local protest. Slowly, the pendulum swings closer to the center. It's ten steps forward; nine steps back. There will be a good-sized local protest in our town on 6-14 -no bussing needed.

And that model has driven us back to where we are. People excuse criminality and pardon criminals with our votes because, and this is what I’ve seen, wokeness and that dumb stuff.

As a resident of a red state, in an area where there is a very rural community of small towns that form the gateway to the Great Smoky Mtns., Dollywood, etc., I agree with and can confirm everything you’ve posted here.

But that’s my point. I don’t want to hear anybody claim the fixing the economy is going to make these people be ok with civil rights. If you want a strong and united country you need economic AND social Populism. If even say Law populism as well

Farmers have an outsized influence on politics because they can attend meetings 50 miles away at 10 o’clock on Tuesday morning. The rest of us have to be on the job.

A gentle reminder on who brought the rural farms and small towns electricity, and who fought against that project and its funding. Democrats can once again lead the modernization of America. But we can't do it if we aren't elected, one side makes promises, and one makes the future happen today.

It's funny how they do they, isn't is. Guess what... 46% of the public is single! But "families" and "farmers" are the ones who get the shout out from every politician on the campaign trail!

Farmers are bought and paid for by the GOP. But most other rural residents should be voting Democratic, if they would only learn the difference between parties.

Most multi-generational family farms have been crushed and snatched up at auction.

That's what happened in MT. Tester's ads were mostly focused on rural farmers and ranchers.

Yes, many of us are lazy introverts.

Stop with the left centric, urban B.S. policy !!! Did not work last election. So try it again ???

Rural is wildly cost ineffective

No, but a lot of them sorta identify as farmers. A few backyard chickens. Shops at tractor supply. Talks about "real Americans" and looks down on anything regarding cities. While working at the Dollar General and getting food stamps.

Rural American communities need jobs that aren’t private prisons, Amazon warehouses, or serving the military industrial complex.

You don’t live in the big city? What kind of farmer are you?

I live in rural WA state. All you need is a goat, and a few chickens, and few acres of land and you're a farmer. But most of them have 9-5 jobs.

That’s not a farmer. 😝

Most poor people are rural too, but poor rural communities only get maybe 20% of federal economic and community development investments at best. Appalachia, cotton belt, the Delta, the border region, and Indian reservations -- I worked for communities in all of them.

Absolutely! I live in a rural area and I don't even plant roses. I don't grow anything.

I'm in a rural part of Michigan's Thumb. I'm not a farmer... I could kill a cactus.

The bastard in the office at a literally putting farmers out of business and you asking what dems are doing come on man the repubclans have all the power and about to give them 30 bill to bail out the farms because the felon has no clue what he’s doing

The way the Trump regime is going, most rural people are about to become farmers.

Momma and I planted a big enough garden that I will be able to can and preserve for the winter which I learned to do as a stay at home farmers wife. Guess something good came from that horrible time in my life. 0/10 do not recommend. But I’m glad I have the knowledge now.

Democratic strategists and policymakers need to use the same tools as their opponents, or better. That means looking at every action in terms of its outcome: either a successful customer conversion event, or not.

But, they will be if Trump has his way.

And not all “red state” people live rurally. Omaha has over a million people in it yet people still come here expecting to see cows downtown. Nope. We’re a whole ass city guys 🙄

Hey, rural people, please read: www.usda.gov/about-usda/n... But despite this and other primarily red state benefitting programs from Biden, rural Americans continually give policy makers the impression that they are gullible numbskulls who don't realize what they've been getting from Democrats.

We need policies, that can’t be erased with an EO.

Who do you think is in power right now?

We have them... Clean air & water for us & our children. Public school support. Rural hospital support. Rural internet. Investment in infrastructure. Taking care of the disabled & elderly. And so on...

I would love to see a 10-20 year plan from the national party that would send resources for GOTV efforts and candidate cultivation to rural areas throughout the country. Also an investment into Latino media. What’s the long term plan, Democrats?

Biological and mechanical technology advances mean that land that used to be farmed by a dozen families is now farmed by one, which has meant the gradual disappearance of the former farming communities and the towns, businesses, schools, churches they once supported.

Democrats hear the word “Rural” and get twitchy.

Well, as I recall, the infrastructure bill had a lot of money in there for rural areas. Let’s just admit we’re dealing with a bunch of stupid uneducated people that will vote against their own interest because they want to inflict pain on liberals. Let me know when that changes.

Not all rural people are uneducated, stupid, or Maga. Generalizations, like this one, are rarely true.

You’d have a hard time, convincing me that it’s not true in this case. However, I suggest the smart ones get out there and start talking to these people. Make sure they understand they did this to themselves. I will keep pointing the finger until they wake up.

They are out there and speaking up. I have seen the protests, town halls, and social media work done by many.

Well, I guess we’ll see in the next election if they woke up. I have a feeling things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. I hope I’m wrong.

I'm sure it will get worse. Maybe we all have to suffer for them to get it. I wish it wasn't so, but it is.

My biggest fear is them using the trans issue in 2026 to take over blue State governors. That is the issue that put Trump over the top in swing states. I heard the commercials were nonstop during the World Series.

So, if they’re stupid and uneducated we just sit back and eat popcorn while they die? Blue MAGA

Maybe just a few of them. I’m kidding but they do need to personally feel the pain they are inflicting before it gets real to them. People will die from this regardless of political affiliation but we knew that and that’s why we voted against it.

I live right smack dab in the middle of bright rural red Missouri. I live and see this stuff every day. People have been dying here, regardless of political affiliation, for decades 🤷🏼‍♀️ Missouri is a clusterfuck. We vote progressive policies and republican politicians. We must fix our state.

Then get out there and talk to your neighbors and make sure they understand that they voted for this and they need to wake up. There’s nothing I can do for them. California is going to feel this impact harder than any state because we are the largest state by GDP.

Why would you assume that I haven’t been out here beating on doors and talking with people? I 100% support California keeping all their federal taxes and focus on the state because it would be better for you.

I don’t have to shit on rural America to recognize that Blue states are going to feel a major hurt and they should support themselves first, the rest of the country second.

Don’t take everything on social media personally. More often than not I’m commenting for the readers. If you are out there talking to your neighbors, why don’t you share stories of what was successful and what wasn’t. Pointing out the truth is not shitting on rural people. Tough love!

You’re not listening. That’s the problem.

I’m listening! I’ve watched interviews with these people. They don’t care how many people they hurt, that is the point. They know they will lose the government handouts they’ve been getting but hurting Liberals is more important than their own welfare. Maybe you should start listening to them.

You’ve “watched interviews with these people”? I live amongst “these people,” and have done so all my life. You’re making assumptions that you’ve picked up from other sources. Also, you’re stereotyping a number of communities that might otherwise be reachable. That’s never helpful.

My roommate is from rural Louisiana. He was the one who told me they lived to hurt liberals. He moved away from there, but maintains contact with them on FB. It certainly explains them voting against their best interest.

I live in a rural county in NC, the most political corrupt state in the US. I live in a 55 &over community, most of the voting republicans are as dumb & uneducated. A high school diploma is a rare thing here. Such stupid reasoning to vote Republican since most of them are on some kind of welfare.

It’s not like they’ve given us a choice. They did this to themselves and they did it to us.

👍

I'd like to see policies that encourage more farming... albeit, of produce... like... you know... FOOD. For humans. Would have to pay good wages for hard work, of course, but that should have been the case anyhow.

Yeah but you also need fox news to be quiet. It's 24/7 in those living rooms.

I e. Nice thought but reality ...

But farmers provide the bread that feeds the circuses.

And us. Countries aren't taking what we grow.. and dump is tarriffing the fuck out of everything else. Healthcare, gone, SNAP. gutted. Grocery stores EMPTY and anyone who isn't at least a millionaire will either die of hunger (while they watch) or become Mad Max style.

Hey! There should be at least a few MODERATE late night talk shows out here in the sticks! Or at least truthful ones. There are three radio stations that start playing the GQP talking points all night long... Lies, smears, and ridiculous conald love.

@kenmartin.bsky.social ⬆️⬆️⬆️

Yeah, there are also coal miners.

The only way to beat them is treat them the way the world is treating the United States. We need to shun them in public, avoid them in private, push back in EVERY ARENA and make denying them a voice ever again our goal. I don't want to cross the isle for lowlife woman-hating racist fucked-up NAZIS!

Are you referring to the rural voters or the politicians?

Maybe, we can reach a few “leaning Nazi” voters, but I live where people dress in Nazi uniforms without irony. Most Trumpers NEED to be made outcast.

That was done before. They were driven underground. Obviously, it did not work. Got any new ideas?

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Yeah, sadly, I am not convinced that they actually figured that out yet. And it's frustrating.

Infrastructure is still needed, we need FEMA, rural internet and a revamp of the FAA/air traf.controllers fixes to Rep "fixes." My red state is worried about keeping NPS and BLM land intact and local USPS. Trump is ruining tourism/sm business. We need rural health access. Medicaid funds hospitals.

bUt wHeN i waS bOrN in 1927, tHeY aLl weRe! AnD mY minD is nO loNgeR plasTic eNoUgh tO appReHend thAt faCt! @democrats.org #pelosi

As far as I know, most rural people are in families that were put out of the farming business by the giant monocrops and CAFOs. Furthermore, 86 47.