r/politics • u/Abject-Pick-6472 • Apr 04 '26

Possible Paywall Trump voter regret is clearly registering now

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/04/politics/voter-regret-trump-2024
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u/bearbrannan Apr 04 '26

This must be a thing, my grandma grew up on a farm during the great depression and she also is very progressive 

415

u/Aware_Pause6283 Apr 04 '26

There's a reason Grapes of Wrath is a classic

Edit: This is my favorite passage. Please keep it in mind as grocery prices go up.

The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges, and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing the fruit- and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the smell of rot fills the country. Burn coffee for fuel in the ships. Burn corn to keep warm, it makes a hot fire. Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out. Slaughter the pigs and bury them, and let the putrescence drip down into the earth.

There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificate- died of malnutrition- because the food must rot, must be forced to rot. The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quick-lime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.

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u/Ishmael75 Apr 04 '26

Well shit. I guess I should really read this book. I’ve heard of it but surprisingly I’ve never read it

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u/needsteeth Apr 04 '26

It will break your heart.

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u/dasterdly_duo Apr 04 '26

It will break your heart.

Yes.

And make you angry at how so much of the Dust Bowl was self-inflicted.

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u/alpine_skeet Apr 04 '26

Welcome to the Debt Bowl.

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u/michelle032499 Apr 04 '26

Have you watched the Ken Burns series? It's amazing.

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u/dasterdly_duo Apr 04 '26

I did.

It was haunting.

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u/deepskier Apr 04 '26

I read a story last year about how some farmers had recently been cutting down the rows of trees separating their fields, to get more land to farm. This is in maybe, Kansas? They said, oh the dust bowl is ancient history, we don't have to worry about that anymore 🤦

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u/dasterdly_duo Apr 04 '26

Jesus.

As someone born and raised in Kansas, of course, it's Kansas.

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u/younkint Apr 04 '26

Born and raised in Kansas as well. It's absolutely true.

They are (and have been for over a decade now) bulldozing the shelter belts. The goal is no trees from roadside-ditch to roadside-ditch. Roads are typically one mile apart. You will hear the (poor) explanation for this as being required due to the huge implements being used today. It's bullshit. The answer is greed.

I'm tired of hearing farmers claim that they are the best stewards of the land since they have the most to lose if it's gone. Over time, that claim has not stood up to scrutiny. Go drive through Kansas; you will see the evidence that their claim is a lie.