[...]Trump claimed at one point that this subsidy would come from the tariffs being paid by China on imported products but, as you likely know, those tariffs are also being paid largely by American consumers.
The subsidy program’s cost? $16 billion. The amount of increased costs borne by Americans through June of this year? That’s estimated at more than $22 billion.
So Trump is, in essence, taxing American consumers to pay $16 billion to farmers. The rationale for this is simple, as is the rationale for Trump bragging about handing that money over to farmers: 2020. Farmers almost necessarily live in more rural areas, places that are a stronghold of Trump’s support. Trump is reminding farmers and those who live near farmers that he’s delivering for them, no matter how at odds with his party’s past rhetoric.
You’ve probably already made this comparison in your head, but let’s do so explicitly. Trump’s administration wants to change food-stamp eligibility rules in order to save $15 billion over the long run and reduce food aid to 3.1 million people. At the same time, he celebrates spending $16 billion over the short run to bolster 3.4 million American farmers — who were hurting in part because of the tariffs that he himself imposed.
All of this is occurring in the shadow of the broad tax cuts he signed in 2017 that have contributed to what the White House itself expects to be a $1 trillion deficit this fiscal year.
Trump’s use of federal funds to send political messages is pretty explicit here. Poor people shouldn’t be poor in this economy and don’t need food stamps. Farmers do need assistance (thanks to Trump), and that assistance is worth bragging about.
If you’re curious, 39 percent of households receiving food stamps in 2016 were run by someone who is white. Well over 90 percent of farmers are white.
... ... ...
