American farmers need a president who cares as much about their livelihood right now as he does about the fortunes of a political ally in a far-away country 11 days from now.

John Bartman was where he wanted to be on Oct. 14 – but not doing what he wanted to be doing – while sitting on the tractor his grandfather purchased in 1965, on the Illinois farm his family has worked for five generations.

Bartman wanted to be harvesting his soybeans – Illinois ranks first among American states in land dedicated to that crop – and selling them to China . Instead, he was using his phone to speak in a Zoom meeting arranged by the Democratic National Committee .

Bartman told the journalists on that call that his family has seen hard times come and go in farming. He recalled the American farm

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