.@paulkrugman asks, "What explains small-town America's sense of rage?"

The answer is pretty simple. Here's a thread.

https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1583555233372073984

.@paulkrugman points out that "rural America is heavily subsidized by urban America." and "Donald Trump sent $46 billion in aid to farmers."

Does he really think all rural people are farmers?

WAY more rural people work in the care economy and in manufacturing than in ag.

I just found all the GOP funded oppositional research on @JDVance1 and it's worse than I thought. Here are the highlights. First, here's the source. I dug through these docs to pull out the highlights on his failed non profit "Our Ohio Renewal". These oppo books where never meant to be made public and were created by a GOP super PAC. This research is from March 2021. rawstory.com/jd-vance-26572…

This is a must read from @ThePlumLineGS because it raises serious questions about who is really fighting for rural voters. @RuralOrganizing has done extensive research and polling on this so here's a quick thread with data. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… It's important to note that most rural people-nearly 90%-don't work in agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting and mining. More rural people work in education, healthcare, and retail than infrastructure and agriculture. census.gov/newsroom/blogs…

.@SenatorTester (a personal hero of mine) was quoted in the @nytimes saying

"There’s no doubt about it, he [Trump] has an appeal in rural America. I can’t figure it out, but there’s no denying it."

@RuralOrganizing spent a year researching this.

nytimes.com/2020/12/16/us/… This matrix pretty much sums it up for me. Notice the support for Trump's anti-corruption and anti-corporate rhetoric. Rural voters really connected with draining the swamp.

As a progressive who has spent years working on the rural vote, this is the graph that keeps me up at night. Only 34% of rural White voters think @JoeBiden cares about them. But, 59% of rural White voters think Donald Trump cares about them. This is why Democrats lose. It might be tempting to write rural White voters off as racist. Some definitely are. But 59% of rural Whites think the rise of white supremacists are a major threat to our country. (And don't forget that 1 in 5 rural voters are People of Color and not included in this data.)

The last thing #AmericanFarmers need right now is for more food processing plants to shut down. But that trend won't end until Trump truly recognizes the dignity of agricultural work and gives immigrant food and farm workers the respect they deserve and the protection they need. Our farmers are already on the brink. Dairy farmers are flushing their milk, corn producers are seeing closure of ethanol plants, livestock farmers are getting hit with the trade wars and coronavirus disruptions of export markets.

I've spent a decade working with rural immigrant communities across South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota. Everyone I know is telling me that the meat packing #COVID19 outbreaks in their communities are way worse than what's being reported locally and nationally. #Immigration The Trump Administration's response to protect the food system has been non-existent. There needs to be a national task force to keep food and farm workers safe and healthy so our food system can stay open. politico.com/news/2020/04/1…

I grew up in South Dakota calling this plant simply "John Morrell". Everyone in South Dakota knows this plant by its awful smell and the horrible stories we all hear about how workers there are treated. argusleader.com/story/news/202… But what I didn't know is that Morrell merged with AMK Corp. in the 1960s and operated as a subsidiary of another Corp. until Smithfield Foods bought it in 1995. In 2013, Smithfield was purchased by Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. for $4.72 billion. daytondailynews.com/business/owner…

For 10 years I’ve worked on progressive policies like immigration reform while living in rural or red states. Below is a thread to try and help progressives avoid repeating the same mistakes we’ve made in the past especially when it comes to the #electability argument. Obviously the Democratic brand is a liability in rural communities. @RuralOrganizing 2018 midterm polling showed that 68% of rural Americans consider themselves to be conservative or moderate. But that's only half of the picture. ruralorganizing.org/polling-brief-…