'It's too little, too late.' Trump's push to give federal aid to crucial 2020 voting blocs undermine
Source: Washington Post
‘It’s too little, too late.’ Trump’s push to give federal aid to crucial 2020 voting blocs undermined by uneven execution
From farmers to seniors, Trump’s rush to direct money to skeptical voters may not overcome four years of chaotic policymaking
By Jeff Stein
10/9/2020, 11:44:47 a.m.
HOLMEN, WIS. — Randy Messelt thought little of President Trump’s recent trip to central Wisconsin to announce tens of billions of dollars in additional federal aid for farmers.
Messelt, 54, a lifelong Democrat, was one of the many Wisconsin farmers who helped tip the presidential election to Trump in 2016 because he felt Hillary Clinton and other Democrats had neglected the needs of rural America. But just one year into Trump’s administration, Messelt was ruined financially due to a long-running crisis in dairy country, exacerbated by the president’s international trade wars. His son, Timothy Messelt, 26, who planned to inherit the farm that had been passed down for five generations, killed himself as the family business collapsed and he went through a breakup.
“It’s too little, too late. It’s a joke. A joke. It’s a whole joke,” Messelt said of the president’s federal farm aid programs, looking up at an empty 150-foot barn that once housed 53 cattle. All but one of the four farms once adjacent to Messelt’s have closed, and he is not sure whom he will vote for this fall. He added of Trump’s most recent announcement: “I don’t care if it’s a Democrat or a Republican or whatever. What they do is they toss you a bone here or there so it looks like it’s hanging on, looks like the economy is doing fine. And then the bottom falls out."
In recent weeks, the president has with increasing urgency sought to unlock federal spending to shore up key voting blocs ahead of the 2020 presidential election. He has attempted to push billions in taxpayer money to farmers, seniors and other voters in swing states that could decide his political fate. This drive has only intensified since Trump left the hospital this week. He is now prodding Congress to send another round of $1,200 stimulus checks to millions of Americans, similar to the ones sent earlier this year with his name on them.
Presidents have traditionally sought to deliver material economic benefits to their constituents to win reelection, but Trump’s latest efforts to throw money at key electoral constituencies — with or without congressional approval — stand out as uniquely aggressive in the modern presidency, according to longtime budget experts.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/10/09/trump-federal-aid-farmers-election/
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