VOA Special Report

How Brash is Too Brash?

Donald Trump earned admirers on the campaign trail with his bold promises - build a wall, improve trade deals, make America great again. But some, including in Annawan, Illinois, find the brash sloganeering isn’t working out so well when it comes from a head of state.

Transcript:

I’ve actually farmed since I was 12. It’s more or less a family farm. We’re on three generations now. We raise corn and soybeans.

China’s a big market of our soybeans. [Trump] starts slapping tariffs on different things and other countries are going to retaliate. They’re going to do the same thing.

I think [immigration] should be controlled somewhat, but I think building a wall and stuff like that is just getting a little ridiculous. Mexico buys a lot of stuff from the U.S., especially a lot of grain and corn. And what they’re going to do is they’re going to make Mexico mad and they’re going to go buy it somewhere else.

One thing we’ve got to realize is America isn’t the only store in town. These countries can go other places.

Oh sure I’m concerned. I mean, if President Trump would throw his Twitter account away and start getting on the stick here, we might get things straightened out. But if he keeps shooting his mouth off to these foreign countries, it’s hard telling what’s going to happen.

—Dean Verbeck, Corn Farmer

Annawan, Illinois