Actually, there are more medicaid recipients as a percentage of the population in rural America than in metropolitan America. However, the point is that no matter where you live, if you're on Medicaid, you are highly unlikely to be a good match for agricultural labor. That said, I don't want to make a definitive statement about people using Medicaid. There are probably people who would be a good fit. But they would be the exception rather than the rule. And when making broad policy statements, you generally don't want to do that around the exceptions.
Why didn’t I think of that? Hire disabled people to do my chores? This administration sinks to new lows every day. Obviously our current “leadership” has never set foot in rural Iowa or even cares to.
Just when I think the fight is pointless, they fuel my fire to keep fighting.
They're betting they will wear us out. Do as much damage as they can do while they can do it. I'm betting that people like us won't back down. We're going to find out who wins the bet. Glad to be in the fight together.
I couldn't agree more with your statement that no matter how "numb" we get to the daily insanity rarely does a day go by without a "holy shit" moment when I read the news. Sec of Agriculture Brooke Rollings idea of using Medicaid recipients to replace deported farm workers is the latest example. History reveals that the path we are on is very predictable.
1. Concentration Camps for "illegals"
2. Redefine "illegals" to include undesirables such as naturalized citizens or birthright citizens
3. Expand undesirables to include LGTBQ, people and political opponents.
4. Redefine Concentration Camps as Labor Camps.
Reich Minister Stephan Miller will explain that, after all why should tax payers support all these people living in luxury in the everglades when they can support agricultural worker needs. What we really need is Concentration Camps and Labor Camps in Iowa.
Totally get why you’re alarmed — proposals like Rollins’ are extreme. But I think it’s still possible to support stronger immigration enforcement without endorsing cruelty.
Trump struck that balance with the Big Beautiful Bill. I wrote about it in my latest essay, “Without Borders, There’s No Country.” Would be curious to hear your thoughts.
Yes you can support stronger border enforcement without cruelty, but the Trump administration and its supporters LOVE the cruelty part! So they are absolutely the wrong people to be in charge.
"I think it’s still possible to support stronger immigration enforcement without endorsing cruelty." I agree. But Trump and MAGA have already crossed a bridge too far to be part of those solutions. They have no credibility to be at the table in good faith for solving the challenges. It's clear we're going to have to rise up, take power back, and then invite people of good faith to work out the policies. You're welcome to your opinion, but you won't find a partner in me in negotiating with MAGA.
Mark, don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit? Oh, wait, we can find comments from leaders in the executive branch actually saying things that align with a lot of this list. No one can say they didn't know as they things unfold. Now is the time to be acting.
“Able bodied Medicaid Recipients” Try as I might, I can’t get my head around that oxymoron. 🤔
But knowing El Cerdo, he will probably try and turn it into some grotesque reality TV show. “Tonight, let’s watch and see who can pick more lettuce, the kid with cerebral palsy or the old man with Alzheimer’s. No fair wandering off.”
I can’t believe people are that callous and stupid.
It makes me wonder who is in charge of the cabinet members who are suppose to be in charge of agencies they head. If it's Stephen Miller who is in charge there's the callous and of course the Secretaries have stupid covered.
It will be interesting to see how they make all of the fields ADA accessible so they can get the hospital beds and wheelchairs into the fields. The Sec of AG is clueless on how US Agriculture actually works. The less affluent sector has always been the first to hurt the most.
Medicaid recipients are just a short step above immigrants to these people. This is capitalism at its "best." I've been saying for months they would fill farm jobs (and meatpacking jobs) with Medicaid work-requirement victims. Here we are. Remember when we had kids working in factories? Oh wait, that's now. So they've got 14-year-olds and desperate poor people flooding the labor force to keep wages and unionizing down, eliminate private healthcare costs (they've got their parents and Medicaid after all) and optimize profits using all-American labor. It's the playbook, folks. I'm attending Indivisible's 1 Million Rising training to figure out the next steps in the fight. Thank you Matt for continuing to raise these issues.
Especially after she sane-washes Rollins as doing a @great job”:
“Secretary Rollins has done a great job of just pointing out the need in agriculture for this outside labor — a lot of them being there year after year after year,” Reynolds said. “And it’s how we make things work. So it’s really important to the industry that we’re able to maintain that.”
Thanks for that link. Iowa Capital Dispatch is a great resource for Iowans. So Reynolds is complimenting Rollins for her commitment to agriculture almost exactly at the same time that Rollins is throwing farmers, ranchers, immigrants, Medicaid recipients, and rural communities all under the bus. Democrats need to start running against MAGA and tie all Republican candidates to that movement of callousness and stupidity (See the comment from Joe Vargas above). After all, it's not like we have to manufacture the connection of local Republican elected leaders and candidates to Trump. They are doing it for us.
I always learn new words when reading your column. "Dipshittery" is a terrific description of much of what is happening in the Trump administration. I would like to add that my jaw dropped when I heard the Sec of Ag talk about replacing farm workers with Medicaid recipients. It reminded me of the kind of things my friends and I would have talked about when we were 12 and clueless. Then again, I don't think that even at 12 we would have been heartless enough to refer to flood victims as "losers." There is no bottom to MAGA. Every time we think they’ve gone as low as they can, they keep digging. It reminds me of what a pundit said back in the first Trump administration: "The cruelty is the point."
Matt makes important points. The staffing of high level federal jobs with ICO (ideologically committed and obedient) hacks is leading to chaos with what surely must be a high probability of disastrous outcomes. Noam's highly imaginative idea of replacing immigrant workers with Medicaid recipients seems unattached to any common-sense concept of reality. Her imagined technological 'utopia" of most agricultural work being replaced by automation would have real adverse implications for rural communities. Thank's Matt, for calling on us to actively resist in the face of neo-fascism, American style, being rapidly implemented by the Trump administration aided and abetted by their Republican cheerleaders in Congress and a far-right, activist majority in the Supreme Court.
For readers who don't know Gil. He's spent his career researching and organizing rural communities and people. Thanks for weighing in and for all you do for food, farming, ranching, and rural people everywhere.
Lunacy by elected and appointed officials has become the new normal. The Supreme Court continues to overturn Right versus Wrong. It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world.
I remember the first time I read Animal Farm and I thought, it's a good story but how could people fall into this? It's so transparent. And here we are!
I too was dumbfounded when I heard the remarks from the woman who is the head of USDA but knows nothing about the labor force needed on farms. This is worse than our senator who told us we’re all gonna die.
We need to continue to rise up and resist this language and show some humanness towards each other.
Who are these people who are in these positions of such power who seem like they couldn't mow their own lawn if they had to? Or shop for groceries? Or support a loved one on a trip to the emergency room? All the things that ordinary people do every day. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Thank you for all you do Denise to help people understand agriculture, rural life, leadership, and basic humanity.
Tremendous column, Matt! Thank you.
That means a lot from someone who has made a career writing about rural America and agriculture. Thank you for all you've done and continue to do!
No one seemed to point out the obvious fact that the Medicaid recipients probably aren't located where the need is for the farm labor.
Actually, there are more medicaid recipients as a percentage of the population in rural America than in metropolitan America. However, the point is that no matter where you live, if you're on Medicaid, you are highly unlikely to be a good match for agricultural labor. That said, I don't want to make a definitive statement about people using Medicaid. There are probably people who would be a good fit. But they would be the exception rather than the rule. And when making broad policy statements, you generally don't want to do that around the exceptions.
https://open.substack.com/pub/sharonlawrence/p/news-to-know-trump-20-633?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=a5esd
I have a running series on my Substank tracking Trump 2.0 actions.
https://open.substack.com/pub/sharonlawrence/p/climate-environment-and-emergency-b30?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=a5esd
I live in flash flood alley so I'm covering the flood related issues extensively on my substack.
Yes!
Why didn’t I think of that? Hire disabled people to do my chores? This administration sinks to new lows every day. Obviously our current “leadership” has never set foot in rural Iowa or even cares to.
Just when I think the fight is pointless, they fuel my fire to keep fighting.
They're betting they will wear us out. Do as much damage as they can do while they can do it. I'm betting that people like us won't back down. We're going to find out who wins the bet. Glad to be in the fight together.
I couldn't agree more with your statement that no matter how "numb" we get to the daily insanity rarely does a day go by without a "holy shit" moment when I read the news. Sec of Agriculture Brooke Rollings idea of using Medicaid recipients to replace deported farm workers is the latest example. History reveals that the path we are on is very predictable.
1. Concentration Camps for "illegals"
2. Redefine "illegals" to include undesirables such as naturalized citizens or birthright citizens
3. Expand undesirables to include LGTBQ, people and political opponents.
4. Redefine Concentration Camps as Labor Camps.
Reich Minister Stephan Miller will explain that, after all why should tax payers support all these people living in luxury in the everglades when they can support agricultural worker needs. What we really need is Concentration Camps and Labor Camps in Iowa.
God help us all.
Totally get why you’re alarmed — proposals like Rollins’ are extreme. But I think it’s still possible to support stronger immigration enforcement without endorsing cruelty.
Trump struck that balance with the Big Beautiful Bill. I wrote about it in my latest essay, “Without Borders, There’s No Country.” Would be curious to hear your thoughts.
Yes you can support stronger border enforcement without cruelty, but the Trump administration and its supporters LOVE the cruelty part! So they are absolutely the wrong people to be in charge.
"I think it’s still possible to support stronger immigration enforcement without endorsing cruelty." I agree. But Trump and MAGA have already crossed a bridge too far to be part of those solutions. They have no credibility to be at the table in good faith for solving the challenges. It's clear we're going to have to rise up, take power back, and then invite people of good faith to work out the policies. You're welcome to your opinion, but you won't find a partner in me in negotiating with MAGA.
Mark, don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit? Oh, wait, we can find comments from leaders in the executive branch actually saying things that align with a lot of this list. No one can say they didn't know as they things unfold. Now is the time to be acting.
“Able bodied Medicaid Recipients” Try as I might, I can’t get my head around that oxymoron. 🤔
But knowing El Cerdo, he will probably try and turn it into some grotesque reality TV show. “Tonight, let’s watch and see who can pick more lettuce, the kid with cerebral palsy or the old man with Alzheimer’s. No fair wandering off.”
I can’t believe people are that callous and stupid.
It makes me wonder who is in charge of the cabinet members who are suppose to be in charge of agencies they head. If it's Stephen Miller who is in charge there's the callous and of course the Secretaries have stupid covered.
It will be interesting to see how they make all of the fields ADA accessible so they can get the hospital beds and wheelchairs into the fields. The Sec of AG is clueless on how US Agriculture actually works. The less affluent sector has always been the first to hurt the most.
This makes me reconsider that the other really important point here is that Sec Rollins has no clue what Medicaid is. God help us.
Medicaid recipients are just a short step above immigrants to these people. This is capitalism at its "best." I've been saying for months they would fill farm jobs (and meatpacking jobs) with Medicaid work-requirement victims. Here we are. Remember when we had kids working in factories? Oh wait, that's now. So they've got 14-year-olds and desperate poor people flooding the labor force to keep wages and unionizing down, eliminate private healthcare costs (they've got their parents and Medicaid after all) and optimize profits using all-American labor. It's the playbook, folks. I'm attending Indivisible's 1 Million Rising training to figure out the next steps in the fight. Thank you Matt for continuing to raise these issues.
Thanks Suzan for being in the fight and in the streets and especially on the tip of the spear going after elected officials.
I am sitting here wondering if Kim and her Iowa friends having “input” into this craziness will make things better or worse:
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/07/08/reynolds-seeks-to-join-discussions-on-trumps-plan-for-undocumented-ag-workers/
Especially after she sane-washes Rollins as doing a @great job”:
“Secretary Rollins has done a great job of just pointing out the need in agriculture for this outside labor — a lot of them being there year after year after year,” Reynolds said. “And it’s how we make things work. So it’s really important to the industry that we’re able to maintain that.”
Thanks for that link. Iowa Capital Dispatch is a great resource for Iowans. So Reynolds is complimenting Rollins for her commitment to agriculture almost exactly at the same time that Rollins is throwing farmers, ranchers, immigrants, Medicaid recipients, and rural communities all under the bus. Democrats need to start running against MAGA and tie all Republican candidates to that movement of callousness and stupidity (See the comment from Joe Vargas above). After all, it's not like we have to manufacture the connection of local Republican elected leaders and candidates to Trump. They are doing it for us.
I always learn new words when reading your column. "Dipshittery" is a terrific description of much of what is happening in the Trump administration. I would like to add that my jaw dropped when I heard the Sec of Ag talk about replacing farm workers with Medicaid recipients. It reminded me of the kind of things my friends and I would have talked about when we were 12 and clueless. Then again, I don't think that even at 12 we would have been heartless enough to refer to flood victims as "losers." There is no bottom to MAGA. Every time we think they’ve gone as low as they can, they keep digging. It reminds me of what a pundit said back in the first Trump administration: "The cruelty is the point."
I wonder if my ACA plan will cover treatment for TMJ that I'm getting from the continuous jaw dropping?
Matt makes important points. The staffing of high level federal jobs with ICO (ideologically committed and obedient) hacks is leading to chaos with what surely must be a high probability of disastrous outcomes. Noam's highly imaginative idea of replacing immigrant workers with Medicaid recipients seems unattached to any common-sense concept of reality. Her imagined technological 'utopia" of most agricultural work being replaced by automation would have real adverse implications for rural communities. Thank's Matt, for calling on us to actively resist in the face of neo-fascism, American style, being rapidly implemented by the Trump administration aided and abetted by their Republican cheerleaders in Congress and a far-right, activist majority in the Supreme Court.
For readers who don't know Gil. He's spent his career researching and organizing rural communities and people. Thanks for weighing in and for all you do for food, farming, ranching, and rural people everywhere.
Lunacy by elected and appointed officials has become the new normal. The Supreme Court continues to overturn Right versus Wrong. It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world.
I remember the first time I read Animal Farm and I thought, it's a good story but how could people fall into this? It's so transparent. And here we are!
I too was dumbfounded when I heard the remarks from the woman who is the head of USDA but knows nothing about the labor force needed on farms. This is worse than our senator who told us we’re all gonna die.
We need to continue to rise up and resist this language and show some humanness towards each other.
Who are these people who are in these positions of such power who seem like they couldn't mow their own lawn if they had to? Or shop for groceries? Or support a loved one on a trip to the emergency room? All the things that ordinary people do every day. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Thank you for all you do Denise to help people understand agriculture, rural life, leadership, and basic humanity.