Stop Laughing at American Farmers
They are not your enemy. They are workers like you, trapped by the same system.
Don’t Mock American Farmers. They Are the Same Class as Workers.
China’s decision to stop importing American soybeans has thrown many U.S. farmers into crisis. Videos mocking them have flooded the internet. For many people, this feels like payback. When Trump first took office, people warned farmers not to blindly support him, because their businesses would suffer. And they did. During his first term, the trade war with China led to mass bankruptcies. Some farmers even took their own lives.
Now it is happening again. And yet, over 70 percent of farmers still support Trump. No wonder many online are saying “FAFO” and laughing at their misfortune.
That reaction is understandable. If you were mocked back then, now you feel vindicated. But staying in that feeling does not help. In fact, it plays right into the hands of the ruling class.
The Politics Behind Soybeans
For years, U.S. soybean exports depended heavily on China, making up nearly two-thirds of total exports. When Trump launched his trade war, China turned to Brazil and Argentina. American farmers lost billions. Washington handed out short-term subsidies, but that only papered over the problem.
Here is the truth: farmers lost markets, while trading giants and food corporations made record profits. Capital did not suffer. Labor did. What is happening today is only the continuation of that same logic.
Farmers Are Not the Enemy
Why do farmers still support Trump after being burned once already? There are reasons. Rural areas live inside a closed media bubble dominated by right-wing narratives. Government subsidies cushioned the first blow, leading many to underestimate the long-term risks. Local identity and cultural politics keep them locked in.
But this does not make them enemies. Farmers, like workers, are laborers exploited by capital and politicians. Their suffering is not the result of stupidity. It is the result of manipulation and isolation.
If workers mock them now, they push them even further away. The real winners from that division are the oligarchs and politicians who profit from keeping people divided.
A Class Perspective
On the surface, farmers and workers look like separate groups. In class terms, they are not. Both are ordinary people at the mercy of capital.
It does not matter who sits in the White House. Farmers and workers never hold real power. One round, farmers were crushed by the soybean policy. In the next round, it will be factory workers losing jobs to tariffs or outsourcing. It is only a question of who gets hit first.
If workers and farmers remain divided, nothing changes. Only unity has the potential to challenge the system itself.
A Reminder on Unity
Workers, farmers, students – at the core, all are part of the same wage-earning class. Not “the bottom,” but the base of society. If divided, they have no leverage. The ruling class will not care. No policy will shift for a fragmented people.
But if the base unites, then power becomes real. That is why no group should be isolated. Everyone who can be united must be united. Because in the end, we all belong to the same class.
Conclusion
Today, American farmers are facing another crisis. Some laugh. Some shrug. But the real issue is not about their misfortune. It is whether we can see reality through a class lens.
Mockery will not solve anything. Unity is the only way forward. Only when workers, farmers, and students stand together will there be a chance at real, systemic change.
You're right. It's just hard to muster up empathy for people who voted for the racism; they liked the racism in Trump's campaign. They voted to hurt other people, especially marginalized communities. Now they realize that whiteness will not protect them, either. But will they band together with non-white communities for overwhelming collective change? That's never happened before in the history of the United States.
This is and always has been a class war- think of the civil war. Who needed enslaved people to run their plantations? And who actually fought on the battlefield? The aim is to keep us divided, regular folks fighting each other to take the focus off of the true offenders- those who would exploit regular, hardworking people and their labor. This is still the case. Any and all differences are exploited by the wealthy to keep us fighting each other. Race, religion, political orientation, sexual orientation etc etc. If we join to fight against them, regular working people become a threat. Unions have always been viewed as a threat for that reason. Don’t let their greed turn us against each other. The farmers are not the enemy.