SEEDS OF DOUBT

Two-Time Trump Voter Exposes Brutal Reality

The self-described “hardcore Republican” farmer said he’s suffered more under the president than under any other.

Donald Trump, 80, promised to save farmers, but one of them no longer buys it.

Fate Sparrow is a self-described “hardcore Republican” from Georgia. He voted for Trump twice. On Thursday, MS NOW aired an interview between Sparrow and correspondent Nnamdi Egwuonwu, with Sparrow admitting that life on his farm has only gotten harder since Trump took office for the second time.

“The whole time he was preaching, we’re going to help the farmers, we’re going to help the farmers, help the farmers,” Sparrow said.

“And out of any president that I can remember, I’ve hurt more under him than I have under any other president.”

He described what’s crushing his operation: the costs.

“Fuel prices, beef prices, I mean, he’s just, he’s cutting our throat,” he said, pointing to the rising costs of his operation.

The interview aired Thursday on MS NOW’s On the Line, hosted by Alicia Menendez.

While introducing the clip, Menendez said that Sparrow is a party loyalist, referring to himself as a “hardcore Republican.”

Sparrow didn’t completely write Trump off in the Thursday interview, telling Egwuonwu that parts of Trump’s agenda still appeal to him.

“You know, I hate to bash Trump because there’s some stuff I like that he’s doing, but a lot of it,” he said, looking visibly perturbed, “I really don’t.

Egwuonwu responded,

“You voted for him.”

“I did. I voted for him twice,” Sparrow replied.

“How do you feel about that decision now?” Egwuonwu asked, looking curious.

“I won’t vote for him again,” he said. “If he could run again, it wouldn’t be him.”

The Constitution’s 22nd Amendment bars Trump, 80, from seeking a third term. The president has nonetheless repeatedly toyed with the idea.

It turns out, Sparrow isn’t alone in rural America. Diesel prices have climbed roughly 60 percent from where they were a year ago, NPR reported this week. Growers blame the war with Iran.

To soften the blow, Trump signed an executive order earlier this month, letting farmers run tax-exempt dyed diesel in their truck, normally reserved for off-road machinery.

One South Dakota soybean grower told NPR the gesture made it seem like “farmers are getting bought off.”

Ranchers have a different gripe. When the administration announced plans in August to import 300,000 metric tons of duty-free foreign beef to lower grocery prices, cattle prices immediately tumbled, according to the BBC. The announcement came just before fall, when most ranchers sell their calves. Tariffs have also sent steel prices soaring, making even fencing expensive.

“It just felt like a betrayal,” Nebraska rancher Yvette Mannon, 63, a Trump voter, told the BBC.

The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.

Other Trump voters are similarly expressing their displeasure with the president. One Iowa voter told MS NOW last month that she regretted her vote, saying Trump “tells you one thing and does just the opposite.”

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Briana CharlesReporter

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