Folks who voted for President Donald Trump probably did not think they were making a choice to have more expensive cherries — or none at all — but that is just one of many rude awakenings facing those who put the con man back into the Oval Office.
Thanks to the Trump administration’s extreme hard line on undocumented immigrants, Washington cherry growers are desperate to find pickers. Those who usually do the picking are largely migrants who are staying away from the job for fear that ICE will show up and nab them. So, the cherry crop may rot on the trees.
Chances are high that the people who own those orchards, like farmers across the country, were also Trump voters, since rural Americans lean heavily Republican. They knew Trump was talking about mass deportations; did they not think he would be coming after the workers who bring in their crops?
A lot of Trump voters figured what Trump really meant to do was tighten up the border and go after criminals who are in the country illegally. It turns out the vast majority of immigrants are just hardworking people who do all the unappealing but economically vital jobs that U.S. citizens shun. As a result, the president cannot achieve his dream (or nightmare) of deporting millions of so-called illegals without rounding up noncitizens who are law-abiding, taxpaying members of our communities.
And then there are the allegedly smart businessmen, including several Silicon Valley titans, who backed Trump to get a tax cut and deregulation, but who have, instead, gotten economic chaos, thanks to Trump’s weird devotion to tariffs. Surprise again!
Plus, there are the isolationist right wingers like Tucker Carlson who believed Trump when he said he was going to stay out of foreign conflicts. It turns out Trump is dazzled by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s unrepentant bellicosity in Gaza and Iran, so, instead of chasing after a Nobel Peace Prize, the president decided to attack Iran with bunker busting bombs.
From my observations of Trump supporters over the last decade, starting with a Trump campaign rally in Phoenix in 2015, I would say most of them see in Trump what they want to see, not the person he really is — an erratic, narcissistic entertainer who follows his own strange whims and forgets any promises he has made as soon as he gets distracted by the newest shiny object.
If we all somehow survive the next four years, can we please follow the advice of the Who and make sure “we don’t get fooled again?”
See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey
View other syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons
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