Last month, the Environmental Working Group, a critic of agribusiness subsidies, reported that its analysis showed that in 2018 and 2019, more than half of the $23.2 billion in the Market Facilitation Program went to the richest 10% of farms. The program is meant to offset harm caused by the U.S.-China trade war initiated by Donald Trump.
This week, The Washington Post looked at another aspect of the relief funding and discovered 91% of those billions went to counties that supported Donald Trump in 2016, with just 9% going to counties that voted for Hillary Clinton. If there’s a surprise to be found in those figures, it’s that Clinton-favoring counties got even a nickel.
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Reporter Philip Bump writes:
What’s more, counties that flipped from blue to red in 2016 received an average of nearly $3 million more than ones that backed the Republican presidential candidate in both 2012 and 2016. Counties won by Clinton received an average of $5.7 million. Counties that voted Republican in 2012 and 2016 received an average of $8.4 million. Counties that flipped got an average of $11.1 million. [...]
It’s important to note that it is not necessarily the case that the money received in a county was then used solely within that county. The data is organized based on the location of the entity receiving the check, meaning that a large agricultural company located in a red county might actually be doling out its receipts to a broader range of places. But, again, Trump won rural areas by 27 points, and rural areas are, for obvious reasons, more likely to have farms.
Most of the money went to the Midwest, with a few rural counties in Washington, South Texas, and California getting some of it. Cass County, North Dakota, home to Fargo, got the most of any county—$88.2 million. On a per capita basis, the Market Facilitation Program provided the most to Steele County, North Dakota, at $15,600 per person. Overall, counties that voted for Clinton averaged $16.68 per person, while counties that voted for Trump received $157.83 per person. In those counties that flipped from voting for Democrats in previous elections to voting for Trump in 2016 the per person average was slightly more than $163.
Had Trump not launched his counterproductive trade war with China, no Market Facilitation Program would have been needed, and his regime wouldn’t have been able to play favorites passing out this relief like political largesse. One more of the many, many fixes that will be required of the Democrats come January.