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I was on the tractor tilling corn ground. I got a call from a college buddy. I answered. Kevin has always been wonderfully blunt. Before I could say hello, Kevin said, "Randy, why do farmers support Trump?"
I stumbled around that question for a couple minutes before we switched to talking about our wives and kids.
I don't have a good answer to Kevin's question. I don't even have a bad answer. A lot of us have burned up brain cells trying to understand the affection for Donald Trump.
We just completed the most expensive and loudest election in our history. For sure, the most expensive. "Loudest" is subjective.
There has been much analysis of what happened on Nov. 3. It was about affordability, tariffs, and immigration. Mostly it was about Trump, who has stood daily over our civic life like a colossus, blocking out the sun for a decade. He craves attention. He gets it.
Among the pleasures of living this many decades are seeing things come back around. Mark Twain reportedly said, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes."
Twain actually wrote, "History never repeats itself, but the kaleidoscopic combinations of the pictured present often seem to be constructed out of the broken fragments of antique legends." You see why we shorten it.
This election rhymes with 1974, the last time so many voters switched parties from one election to the next. In 1972, Richard Nixon won forty-nine states on his way to reelection to the White House.
By 1974, the sins of Watergate had been exposed. The Republican party was routed in those midterms. Two years later, Jimmy Carter caught that wave and would be elected president.
A couple of comparisons of then to now. Certainly, Nixon had ethical lapses. But he was intelligent, worldly, and clever. Trump is none of those things. Nixon hid his mocking and belittling of others behind closed doors. Trump doesn't.
Nixon was able to feel shame. He resigned in disgrace and spent the rest of his life trying to salvage his reputation. The Republican Party nationally took a thumping and turned to Gerald Ford who was a decent human being to guide them through the desert.
Here in Minnesota, the Republican Party changed its name to the "Independent Republicans" to separate themselves from the national party that had been embarrassed.
Donald Trump is incapable of shame. He has never admitted fault for anything and casts about for blame when anything isn't "perfect." The MAGA core is willing to ignore the horribly flawed human being Trump is for some political gain. It's quite different from shame.
I said to someone the day after the election, is it possible the "fever has broken?" By "fever" I mean the slovenly devotion to this man.
Another difference from 1974 to now. Then, we shared news sources. There were the major networks and everyone read daily newspapers. There was a notion that we could discern truth.
If this were 1974 Walter Cronkite would report on the $3 billion dollars that Trump has made in office, much of it tied to foreign nationals seeking favors. Cronkite would talk about the pardon mill Trump has created where criminals donate to Trump and receive pardons.
In 2026, we don't watch the 6 o'clock news together. People can be oblivious to all Trump's ill begotten gains. Or maybe they just don't care.
In places like Kansas, Mississippi, and Texas, thousands of 2024 red voters voted blue this time. Polls were pointing that direction. When the results came in, it was stunning.
Apparently western Minnesota didn't get the message. From New Ulm on west, two thirds of voters filled in whatever Republican ovals there were on the ballot. I was delusional enough to think having really strong candidates in our legislative elections might move the needle. Wrong.
Eric Osberg ran as good a campaign as can be run. He was everywhere and talked to everyone. Michelle Fischbach remains resolute in her support for Trump. She never wavered in her support for cruel immigration policies, high gas prices, cuts to food stamps and tax cuts for the wealthiest of us.
In the 2020 redistricting, western Brown County was moved to Fischbach's district. Losing that arch Republican side of Brown County cost Brad Finstad enough votes to beat Jake Johnson. Sorry Brad.
In Leavenworth Township, Peggy Flanagan received eighteen out of a 139 votes cast. Pam and I talked about trying to find those sixteen people who joined in electing the first Native American woman to the Senate. We thought of inviting them over coffee cake and fruit. They'd fit in our living room and kitchen.
Another phenomenon from Nov. 3, was the election of Democratic candidates who were open about their faith. Most notably were seminarian James Talarico in Texas and Pastor Adam Hamilton in Kansas. They talked about taking the words of Jesus literally. All that loving your neighbor stuff.
I've got close friends who have watched in dismay while fundamentalist evangelicals told us we had to vote for right-wing conservatives. That wing of Evangelicalism is united in opposing abortion and gay anything. Somehow that led to opposing anything the government does to feed the hungry or clothe the naked.
"Pro-life" is a worthy position to have. The elimination of USAID by this administration has already resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths from infectious diseases and malnutrition. That will multiply in the years ahead. You can look that up. Please do.
Historian and author Richard Rhodes calls this "public man-made death." If someone wants to square that with being "pro-life," go for it.
I admit to celebrating the election results with friends this last week. That sensation is not limited to our borders. On the tractor radio, I heard a group of Ukrainians who are hopeful our election might mean a reordering of American support for their beleaguered nation.
Trump's pivot toward Russia should embarrass all Americans. Around the globe, our allies see the election as a sliver of hope. For Trump's friends in Russia and China and North Korea, not so much.
-- Randy Krzmarzick farms on the home place west of Sleepy Eye, where he lives with his wife, Pam.