An interesting and tragic spin on the rural/farmer vote, out of Nebraska

Here is Dionne Searcey's New York Times story out of Henderson, Nebraska, population 991.  The story, headlined "He Already Saw the Election as Good vs. Evil. Then His Tractor Burned," features Jonathan Rempel, a fourth generation farmer.  The sub-head reflects a recurring theme from Trump's voters, that of the forgotten and un-appreciated:

In Nebraska, President Trump’s supporters hope he wins a second term, and that they get four more years of feeling like the country’s leader understands and defends them.

Here's an excerpt: 

[A] sense of Trumpian kinship permeates rural areas like Henderson ... with its two-block downtown, fiery red oak trees, silver grain elevators and artwork on the side of a building off Main Street that reads “some bigger, none better.”

It’s what made the phone call Mr. Rempel received about two weeks ago from fire officials as he and his wife were readying their children for school all the more shocking. His farm equipment was in flames. The combine, a tractor and two semitrailer trucks parked in a corn field south of town apparently had been set on fire.

“I said, ‘No, that’s not possible,’” Mr. Rempel, a fourth-generation farmer, recalled, describing his disbelief that his equipment had been destroyed and his corn harvest put in jeopardy.

I admit, I'm not sure this rural Trumpian kinship exists--indeed, if it did, would Mr. Rempel's equipment have been burned?   Well, to endorse the concept of a Trumpian kinship in rural America means one must place blame for the fire on outsiders.  The story continues:  

For his part, Mr. Rempel refuses to speculate about a motive, but here in Henderson, a certain fear is being whispered: The fire-starters are aligned with antifa, coming from the cities to attack their way of life.

“Whenever you see something on fire that was lit on purpose, or whenever you see a business destroyed, whenever you see somebody making a point through violence, it’s evil,” Mr. Rempel said. “And evil destroys.”

What a tragic representation of the stark divide in our nation at this moment.  

Here's a late August story by the Washington Post about Biden-Harris signs being stolen from homes in rural Pennsylvania.