While scrolling through the r/LeopardsAteMyFace subreddit — a space where users often share posts from Trump voters now expressing regret — I came across several stories about farmers in Arkansas facing a deepening crisis.
On Tuesday, hundreds of farmers from across the state gathered before state representatives to voice their concerns and plead for help amid collapsing markets, surging input costs, and the pressure of tariffs. Many described the situation as desperate, with one farmer admitting, “I have never been as worried as I am now about whether or not my kids and grandkids will be able to carry on.”
Another farmer offered a heartfelt prayer that struck a chord with the crowd: “Farmers, in my opinion, dear Lord, they’re closer to you than anyone else on this earth because we deal with your earth every day. Dear Lord, we’re hurting, dear Lord. We can’t help what’s happened to us. We need help, dear Lord.”
One attendee called the tariffs the “ice cream on the cake of a perfect storm,” explaining the impossible bind farmers now face. “In the short term, they have no choice but to mail us a check. I don’t know a farmer that likes the check program. Nobody wants to take the taxpayer dollars, but nobody wants to go broke; nobody wants to lose everything. Long term, we have to have options, markets, and places to sell our product.”
Others described an even bleaker outlook, with one farmer saying, “This time last year, the rice price was about 40 percent higher than it is now. Inputs costs have gone up, fertilizer has gone up, commodity prices have gotten worse. So, after a horrible year last year where most farmers in Arkansas, Delta, lost money, this year is going to be worse … We have to have ad hoc payments right now to make it through this year.”
Reddit users showed little sympathy, pointing out how solidly Arkansas voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 election — giving him 64.2% of the vote, compared to 33.6% for Kamala Harris and 1.1% for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“Welfare queens,” one user, u/Civil_Exchange1271, commented dryly.
Another, u/Chippopotanuse, added, “Yup. They live off the backs of tax dollars paid by hard-working liberals in blue states. And then they vote Republicans into power who make everyone’s lives worse. And then they beg for more money.”
User u/AdAnxious8842 wrote, “Wait ‘til they find out about the potential closures of rural hospitals and cutbacks on food stamps and anything else that supports the poor and working poor. This is a perfect LeopardsAteMyFace post because these people still believe Trump cares about them. He got their vote, and just like any conman that gets your money, he doesn’t need you anymore.”
u/crackdup summed it up bluntly: “American farmer: socialism for me, late-stage capitalism for thee.”
Another user chimed in, “This is a perfect example of why the Dems are cooked if they don’t change their playbook. They keep trying to appeal with reason. Here’s a constituency that is literally in danger of losing their entire livelihoods due directly to Republican policies, and still they’re afraid to go against the party or say anything bad. To them, these bad things are just things that are happening, totally unrelated to who they keep voting into power.
How do you even counter that? How do you possibly convince someone who’s in so deep they’re willing to throw away their own life? Traditional messaging won’t work at all on someone like that — you can’t counter zealotry with logic.” — u/somedaveg
As the comments continued to roll in, one user mocked the hypocrisy: “Pick thyselves up by thee bootstraps, sayeth the Lord.” — u/Ordinary_Amoeba6812
Another noted the irony, “Yet they lose their fucking minds about student loan forgiveness.” — u/DropKnowledge69
“Yeah, god forbid anyone else get help from the government,” added u/estedavis.
And finally, u/SlytherinPrefect7 closed the thread with biting sarcasm: “‘Mr. Trump, I need to see the fruit of your love.’ Talking to him like he’s a biblical figure or something.”
Responses were included from Reddit threads here and here.
