Over the last two decades, I have been regularly attending media events and product launches held by agriculture equipment manufacturers, most of them in the United States.
Several weeks ago, I received an invitation to yet another one, in California. The event coincided with the World Ag Expo, a major farm show in Tulare, which meant there was an opportunity to cover several new product launches at one time.
Travel plans were made, booked and expensed. Then the convicted felon occupying the Oval Office began spouting his intention to make Canada a U.S. state.
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That rightfully irked most of us across this country and a widespread boycott movement shaped up, which for many included cancelling planned trips to the U.S.
So the question was, do I attend this machinery event, which promised to provide a lot of interesting information to pass on to you, our readers, or do I join the boycott and stay home.
The companies holding the events were caught in the crossfire of political events as much as I was.
After a lot of consideration, I decided to carry on and go, albeit reluctantly.
Aside from covering the planned events, the U.S. trip provided a firsthand look at public sentiment around the new administration, at least in the locations I visited.
One thing was clearly evident. A good deal of the general public there is either quite comfortable or blissfully ignorant of the mayhem roiling their federal government agencies and angering foreign nations.
Walking the grounds at that California farm show revealed that many show goers seemed quite happy with their recent choice for president. The Trump signs and branded clothing worn by visitors were hard to miss. I’ve never seen those things displayed in that way for any other president.
Despite some widespread protests, recent polls put public support for his actions as high as 47 per cent.
During the morning opening of the show ground gate on the day of my visit, the national anthem was played over the public address system, and everyone was asked to remove his or her hats and stand at attention as it played. That’s a common thing at U.S. shows.
After the anthem finished, I heard a loud “Trump” shouted out, followed by an “Elon.”
Elon Musk, of course, is acting as a key agent of chaos on behalf of the Oval Office.
Given all of this was taking place in one of the most Democratic-leaning states in the country, it’s unlikely the Republican Party and president will feel pressure to change their ways anytime soon.
In the future, the decision about whether or not to travel to the U.S. as a journalist will likely not be just a matter of making a symbolic protest. It may eventually no longer be possible.
The conservative Project 2025 manifesto, whose aims the administration has been vigorously pursuing, calls for rescinding the current regulation allowing foreign journalists to travel there and report on events for their own media.
Instead, it advocates requiring them to have a J-1 visa. Given how the administration has targeted anyone within that country who it considers an adversary, it isn’t a stretch to imagine that any visa-granting process would begin with a Google search of any writer’s published works. Would they grant a visa to anyone who has criticized the administration?
The Associated Press lost its White House Press Corp privileges simply because of its policy to continue calling the Gulf of Mexico by its actual name, not Gulf of America as the president has decreed.
There are now several actions underway in the U.S. to intimidate other media networks there who have been critical of the president, some dubbed ominously as “investigations.”
Speaking at a conservative convention in 2017, the USA Today quoted Trump as saying, “a few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are.”
It has since become a familiar refrain of his, and apparently now a principle underlying official policy.
