www.forbes.com

The Trump administration gave more taxpayer dollars to farmers harmed by the administration's trade policies than the federal government spends each year building ships for the Navy or maintaining America's nuclear arsenal, according to a new report. A National Foundation for American Policy analysis concluded the spending on farmers was also higher than the annual budgets of several government agencies. "The amount of money raises questions about the strategy of imposing tariffs and permitting the use of taxpayer money to shield policymakers from the consequences of their actions," according to the analysis.

Here's trump buying votes to the tune of 28 billion:

To shore up political support from farmers, Donald Trump approved increasing amounts of government aid to farmers harmed by the trade policies that the Trump administration itself initiated. Trump was open about the purpose of the payments. "I sometimes see where these horrible dishonest reporters will say that oh jeez, the farmers are upset,'" he told attendees of an Illinois farmer show in August 2019. "Well, they can't be too upset, because I gave them $12 billion and I gave them $16 billion this year. . . . I hope you like me even better than you did in '16."