THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Dairy farms are a mainstay of Wisconsin, so much so that state agencies spend millions tying together the state and the product in their promotions. But ever since the Orange Fungus moved into the White House, with Wisconsin help, dairy farms have been taking a beating in the state.

Over the past two years, nearly 1,200 of the state’s dairy farms have stopped milking cows and so far this year, another 212 have disappeared, with many shifting production to beef or vegetables. The total number of herds in Wisconsin is now below 8,000 — about half as many as 15 years ago. In 2018, 49 Wisconsin farms filed for bankruptcy — the highest of any state in the country, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The fate of Wisconsin’s farmers is a high-stakes political predicament for Mr. Trump, who narrowly won the pivotal swing state in 2016 and hopes to keep it red in 2020. On Saturday, Mr. Trump will travel to Green Bay, Wis., for a campaign rally where he is expected to trumpet his trade policies, like the revised North American Free Trade Agreement, which is supposed to bolster American dairy exports to Canada.

But Mr. Trump’s trade approach has pushed many of Wisconsin’s already struggling dairy farmers to the edge. Milk prices have fallen nearly 40 percent over the past five years, the byproduct of economic and technological forces that have made milk easier to produce and state policies that ramped up production and sent prices tumbling.

That has coincided with Mr. Trump’s sweeping tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum, which were intended to help American manufacturers but have set off retaliatory tariffs from Mexico, Canada, Europe and China on American dairy products. Most painful for Wisconsin’s dairy farmers has been a 25 percent tariff that Mexico placed on American cheese, which is made with a significant volume of the state’s milk production.

Mr. Trump has insisted that any short-term pain from his trade war will pay off in the long run through improved access to foreign markets. And he has tried to mitigate the effect by providing federal aid to farmers whose products have been hurt by the trade war. But the crumbling of Wisconsin’s flagship dairy industry has some farmers questioning whether Mr. Trump’s promises will come true in time to save their farms.

“Low dairy prices have made it so hard for small farms to hang on,” said Josh Murray, 22, who is studying animal science and helping his family try to transition the farm to beef. While the Murrays received about $400 from Mr. Trump’s farm aid program, it was not enough to keep their milking operations afloat.

“In every aspect, it’s not worth it — it’s not worth the fight,” he said.

For many farmers who have been transitioning away from milk to other products, the trade wars have been the final straw. The warning signs have been flashing for a while, as milk prices declined precipitously in the last five years to below $17 per 100 pounds from almost $26. The rise of corporate farms and more efficient milking processes have led to an oversupply as consumption of milk has waned nationally.

So Donny is off on an Imperial progress to Wisconsin today to be seen and have his ego stroked. He hopes this will make farmers like him again. Hard to like someone who made you whole life disappear for a stupid idea that you don't understand.