The Farmers Doubters

On Wednesday, over on the Bluesky social media site, I wrote --

"And now, they've started going after farm workers here in California. Honestly, who do they think will replace them, willing to spend all day in the fields, paid little, to pick food????!!

"I hope that's a question Trump and all MAGOP officials are asked."

And the, yesterday morning, just hours later, Trump himself addressed the issue, because clearly farmers are (of course!) up-in-arms and his administration is hearing from them. Because it's a Really Big Deal.  

How big a deal?

Only about two years ago, so it shouldn't be too hard MAGOPs pushing for the arrest and deportation of farmhands, they tried doing this in Florida.  And the fury that erupted from farm owners was so terrified and strong -- from just the mere suggestion of the law being passed, which from the suggestion alone kept so many farm workers from showing up and reports that some were already moving other nearby states with farms, putting Florida's economy at risk -- that it was quickly rescinded.

And Trump's response to questions was basically 'who cares?' -- offering no solution on who will replace farmhands if they're either arrested or just stop showing up from fear.

"Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace," he wrote on his protective social media site.  Notable is that he acknowledges that the workers are not only "very good" and "longtime," but are -- importantly -- "almost impossible to replace."

This is such a losing cause for Trump that his only effort is to try to blame it on (of course) President Biden, as he adds, "In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs."  The utterly ludicrous implication being that it was only until Joe Biden became President in 2020 that migrant Mexican workers apparently first worked as farmhands!  (Never mind that as far back as 1936, almost 100 years ago, John Steinbeck wrote a series of articles, The Harvest Gypsies, commissioned by the San Francisco News, about migrant workers in California's Central Valley whose very first sentence was, "The history of California's importation and treatment of foreign labor is a disgraceful picture of greed and cruelty."  But sure, according to Trump, this is all on President Biden...

Yet, as "almost impossible to replace" as Trump himself admits, he still sees these longtime, irreplaceable workers as a delusional threat to the United States.  As he proclaims, "We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!"  Note that he doesn't say what changes, which is pure Trump.  At least on the good side he doesn't add his tradition, "...in two weeks."  Good because it's not getting resolved in two weeks.  "Almost impossible to replace" longtime, very good workers are not getting replaced.

If you doubt that Trump has an answer to this, or even has a "concept of an plan" (as -- lest we forget -- he once idiotically said about replacing the Affordable Care Act, a mere concept which has never yet been revealed), you're on the right track.

This is the very real "unintended consequence" of acting tough without any awareness of what you're actually doing.  Mexican-born farmhands, working in hot fields all day, picking fruit and vegetables for low wages, are not keeping American citizens from rushing to apply for those jobs.  They're keeping food on American tables.  And food on tables around the world, as surpluses get exported. Picking vegetables all day, every day is not a job on any American's Wish List of career choice -- even as just a summer job for students who want to earn some pocket money.  It's not likely a career choice for the people doing it.  Picking fruits and vegetables has pretty much always been done out of necessity and desperation, and the only, last option to make a better life for one's family.

And regardless of what one's position is on immigration and deportation, if Trump's efforts against migrants expand beyond what is already creating major protests across the country and spill over to farmworkers, the impact on Americans, the dinner table, and the U.S. economy will be massively negative.

It's also worth noting that the highly-respected Quinnipiac poll released its latest results on Wednesday.  It showed Trump's approval had already cratered below the 40-point line.  His approval sat at 38% and disapproval was 54%.  And this before prices start rising even more after his tariffs finally kick in.  But perhaps much worse for Trump, he was minus 11-points on what has long been his signature issue, immigration, one of the few topics that he was previously treading water just barely in the positive range.  But not now.  And this is before national protests on immigration spread further over the abusive deployment of ICE, the National Guard and U.S. Marines.  And before farmworkers (for whatever reason) stop showing up in the fields.