Fact-check: Last night's Republican presidential nomination acceptance speech

History in HD photo

This week Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Fiserv Forum played host to the Republican National Convention. The packed event highlighted the party's unilateral support for Former President Donald Trump, who took the stage last night and gave his nomination acceptance speech. Trump's speech was longer than most and filled with his past accomplishments and claims about President Joe Biden's poor performance.

CNN reporters fact-checked several points from Trump's acceptance speech, a few of which are highlighted below. For CNN's complete fact-check story, click here. The Rural Blog will run a CNN fact-check story after the Democratic National Convention in August.

Trump claimed that there is record inflation under President Joe Biden.
Facts First: "Trump’s claim is false. The current inflation rate, 3% in June 2024, is nowhere near the all-time record of 23.7%, set in 1920," reports Daniel Dale. "Trump could fairly say that the inflation rate hit a 40-year high in June 2022, when it was 9.1%, but it has since plummeted."

Trump claimed that the success of his trade deal with China resulted in China purchasing $50 billion in American goods.
Facts First: "The claim that China bought $50 billion worth of American products as a result of a trade deal is false," reports Katie Lobosco. "Trump is referring to what is known as the Phase One deal he struck with Beijing in December 2019. . . .While the deal required China to buy $50 billion worth of American agricultural products by the end of 2021 – Beijing did not live up to its commitment."

Trump claimed that U.S. gas prices were up 60%.
Facts First: "The average price of a regular gallon of gasoline nationwide is $3.51 as of Thursday, according to AAA," reports Bryan Mena. "That’s up about 47% from the day President Joe Biden was inaugurated when the average was $2.39 . . . ."

Trump claimed that Biden plans to quadruple U.S. taxes.
Facts First: "This is false," reports Daniel Dale. "The nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center think tank, which analyzed Biden’s never-implemented budget proposals for fiscal 2024, found this: 'His plan would raise average after-tax incomes for low-income households in 2024.' . . .The very biggest burden under the Biden plan would have been carried by the very richest households."

Trump stated that during his administration, the world was at peace.
Facts First: "Trump’s claim about world peace under his presidency is false. There were dozens of unresolved wars and armed conflicts when Trump left office in early 2021," Dale reports. "The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks armed conflict in countries around the world, said in a June email that it estimates there were active armed conflicts in 51 international states in 2020 and again active armed conflicts in 51 international states in 2021."

A Minnesota town goes 'green' for rural independence and to save residents money; 'It was never about climate.'

Wind turbines help Morris residents save money on
their electrical bills. (Photo by Bastian Pudill, Unsplash)

When economic vision was paired with resource conservation in Morris, Minn., the small town accidentally went "green." Its success serves as a model for other rural places.

Seen from a distance, the Morris landscape is dotted with wind turbines, which create "cheap electricity. . .providing energy to make carbon-neutral fertilizer. Cows graze next to solar panels that provide them with shade," reports Edward Humes of The Wall Street Journal. "A county-wide compost operation disposes of food and agricultural waste, electric buses take kids to school, the public library relies on geothermal heating and even a city-owned liquor store has rooftop solar panels."

The small Stevens County town boasts 5,206 citizens and skews Republican. In establishing their green mecca, Morris residents focused on "rural self-sufficiency. . . saving tax dollars and eliminating costly inefficiency and waste," Humes adds. "When Troy Goodnough, the director of sustainability at the local campus of the University of Minnesota, arrived more than 15 years ago and asked how he could help address those economic concerns, a partnership emerged that has made Morris one of the most sustainable farm towns in America — even though that was never the town’s goal."

Blaine Hill, the recently retired city manager, told Humes, "We never made it about climate. We just did it because it makes sense. And the more we did, the more we wanted to do.” Humes reports, "The result has been dubbed 'the Morris Model' by its participants: the town, the school district, Stevens County and the campus of 1,500 students. They are making their data and blueprints available to other communities interested in trying something similar."

Location of Stevens County
(Wikipedia map)

The town's model had the humblest of beginnings -- garbage. "For generations, farm and food waste had gone to the dump. In 2012, a group of students at the university launched a for-profit compost operation so successful that it soon expanded beyond the campus to accept drop-offs county-wide," Humes explains. "Eventually the students donated the whole operation to a grateful Stevens County. From the farmers’ perspective, those 'kids next door' helped them turn trash into cash."

With an independent spirit as their guide, the town's practical efforts transformed waste into savings and produced a domino effect of residential participation. "By 2018, the Morris Model had 100 projects underway," Humes reports. "It set out to end the landfilling of waste by 2025 and to produce 80% of the county’s energy and reduce energy consumption by 30% by 2030. . . . The common thread in these projects is that they have been promoted as a way to cut waste and costs and to create local independence — which has helped them win support in states both red and blue."

Cases of bird flu in cattle and humans are on the rise; researchers disagree on vaccinations for farmworkers

Dairy cows or milk could infect humans
with bird flu. (Photo by A. Kipp, Unsplash)

As cases of bird flu increase in cattle, some experts believe the United States should follow Finland's example and offer vaccinations to workers who are likely to be exposed. "Veterinarians and researchers have taken note of Finland’s move to vaccinate farmworkers at risk of infection. They wonder why their government doesn’t do the same," report Amy Maxmen and Arthur Allen of KFF Health News.

Many farmworkers may handle infected birds or raw milk products, which could leave them vulnerable to catching the virus. Kay Russo, a livestock and poultry veterinarian in Fort Collins, Colorado, told KFF Health News, "Farmworkers, veterinarians, and producers are handling large volumes of milk that can contain high levels of bird flu virus. . . . If a vaccine seems to provide some immunity, I think it should be offered to them.”

Testing results from Colorado may support the move to vaccinate workers who could be in contact with cows, raw cow milk or chickens. Amy Maxmen of KFF Health News reports, "Five people who work at a poultry farm in northeastern Colorado have tested positive for the bird flu, the Colorado public health department reported July 14. (One of the cases awaits confirmation by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) This brings the known number of U.S. cases to nine."

Extreme heat may have played a role in the virus' spread in Colorado because farmworkers' protective gear, such as goggles and masks, makes the work even hotter. "Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, posted on X, 'You don’t send farm workers in to cull H5N1 infected birds without goggles and masks. Period,' Maxmen reports. "If it’s too hot to wear those protections, it’s too hot to cull. We need vaccines to be made available to farm workers. We have to stop gambling with peoples’ lives.'"

So far the CDC has remained reluctant to pursue bird flu vaccinations. "Some researchers side with the CDC recommending against vaccination for now," Maxmen and Allen write. "There’s no evidence that this year’s bird flu virus spreads between people or causes serious disease in humans. And it’s unclear how well the available vaccine would prevent either scenario. . . . In considering vaccines, the agency takes a cue from a 1976 outbreak of the swine flu."

So far, it has been difficult to gauge how many people have been infected with H5N1, but some researchers in Michigan are working on testing for it. "To understand whether cases are going undetected, researchers have sent the CDC blood samples from workers on dairy farms," Maxmen reports. 

What is "climate-smart" agriculture and how do we know if it works? Report authors call for a CSA framework.

U.S. farmers have their hands full amid increased production demands, climate change management and working to use fewer environmentally harmful practices. In response to those needs, a new agricultural strategy known as "climate-smart agriculture" has evolved; however, the concept lacks a prescribed model. In their article for the Prairie Research Institute, Olivia Messerges and Trent Ford "call for developing a consistent, widely applicable, and standardized framework to assess what makes a specific agricultural system or practice 'climate-smart' and analyzes agroforestry and prescribed grazing within said framework."

At this time, CSA is broadly defined with a three-pillar structure, which includes: increasing agricultural productivity, enhancing agricultural resilience and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Beyond those requirements, more specific guidance is needed. Messerges and Ford explain: "A standardized framework would also enable producers, policymakers and researchers to consistently compare the effectiveness, tradeoffs and implementation barriers of various CSA systems and practices. The framework will result in improved implementation of CSA goals, better policy development, and more informed decision-making processes on a national scale. . . . This article subsequently provides examples of such an assessment using examples of agroforestry and prescribed grazing systems, which are often referred to as 'climate-smart.'"

In its simplest terms, agroforestry means farming with trees, and its use is divided into four methods including silvopasture, riparian forest buffers, forest farming and alley cropping. Each implementation practice comes with a complex set of positives, negatives and "we don't know yet" results. "Alley cropping can support soil stabilization, bioremediation, and biodiversity, which are important for climate change adaptation and emission reduction," Messerges and Ford note. "However, root competition with grain or horticulture crops may hinder production benefits. Riparian forest buffers are effective at helping farmers to become more resilient. . . but productivity and emission benefits are not well-known."

Prescribed grazing is another farming practice considered "climate-smart," but once again without a structure the term and use of grazing as a method that delivers on the three pillars is hard to measure. "In the context of the three-pillar framework, the CSA benefits of prescribed grazing are less clear than for agroforestry," Messerges and Ford report. "While prescribed grazing offers many benefits, there is substantial uncertainty in its effectiveness in achieving CSA objectives."

To read Messerges and Ford's full report, sources and descriptive graphs, click here.

Some solar companies are offering jaw-dropping rates for land leases; prices are a source of profit and concern

A solar company's 'pitch' letter to a farmland
owner. (Farm Journal)

The U.S. eastern corn belt is one of the most popular regions for solar energy companies to vie for land contracts. To convince farmers to negotiate leases, solar companies are offering increasingly high rental rates. Their high-dollar offers can add to land competition and local conflicts, reports Tyne Morgan of Farm Journal. "Todd Janzen, an agriculture lawyer based in Indiana, says solar leasing started in the Hoosier state five years ago. Today, such leasing is gaining traction and some controversy."

U.S. farmland is predicted to decrease in value by 2025, but solar energy leases may change that. "In Illinois, farmers are reporting eye-popping offers that are well above $1,500. One farmer near Morton, Ill., shared with U.S. Farm Report some information regarding an offer he received via an unsolicited letter," Morgan writes. "The company offered him a rate of $3,200 to $4,500 per acre. The company offered an additional $1,000 if the farmer signed a letter of intent, plus $3,000 more upon signing the cash lease."

Most sources say that current solar energy leases range from $500 to $4,000 per acre, which even with a 50-acre lease, is a chunk of money; however, the length of those leases may cause some family farmers to balk. Janzen told Morgan, "Farmers are used to one-, two-, maybe five-year cash rent leases, and these are for 20, 30 or even 40 years. So, they're really a generational decision that needs to be made.”

Despite potential monetary gains, solar contracts come with risks. Jazen told Morgan, “I think there's some risk on a personal level. These are becoming somewhat controversial at the county level. And so it can divide neighbors and counties, which is unfortunate, but it's also a reality.”

Reviving a native coastal hay could be the solution for farmers experiencing saltwater intrusions on their land

Salt hay is naturally weed-free and rot resistant.
(Graphic by Adam Dixon, Ambrook Research)

As saltwater intrusion occurs more frequently along U.S. coasts, regional farmers are losing part of their livelihoods to ground that is too salty for many traditional crops. In seeking out a solution, some farmers are working to bring back a native hay species that thrives in salt. "Farms at the low, marshy edges of the East Coast are rapidly losing ground as rising sea levels push salty water further into the fields, reports Kate Morgan of Ambrook Research. "American growers are beginning to see their own opportunities in reviving a historic salt hay industry."

Spartina patens -- more commonly known as "salt hay" -- was grown along U.S. coastal borders beginning during colonial times through the end of the 1900s. The perennial cordgrass hay can be "used for animal fodder, as a building insulator, packing material, or turned into paper," Morgan explains. "It’s incredibly easy to grow, but equally difficult to harvest. It performs best in marshy areas close to the water, which meant farmers had to cut it by hand, using horses and oxen to haul it out, or loading it onto rafts. By 1945, tractors had officially overtaken horsepower on American farms, and marshes and machinery don’t mix."

While farmers love a crop that is naturally weed-free, self-seeding and rot resistant, not being able to harvest it with modern equipment presents a challenge. Atlantic-coast farmer John Zander, whose Cohansey Meadows Farms has some significantly salty soil, has been experimenting with salt hay production methods. "His fields, planted just a bit further inland than the grasses might typically grow, are producing prolifically," Morgan writes. "He cuts, bales, and sells some for mulch, bedding, and fodder, and he hopes increased supply will help reinvigorate the various markets for salt hay. But his main goal is to sell transplants to other coastal farmers."

Zander noticed his salt hay crops had added benefits. He told Morgan: “The root mass is just so dense and thick. It just really grips on. I think if we can get some of that into places where we’re having erosion problems, it might be pretty beneficial to some of these coastal farms and towns.” 

An Oregon Democrat won working-class votes in a 'red' U.S. House district; she wants more 'normal people' to be elected

Gluesenkamp Perez would like more 'normal people' elected
into Congress. (Marie Gluesenkamp Perez press photo)

As Democrats look for ways to regain footing with working-class voters, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat from a previously red district in Oregon, is a living example of changes her party may need to embrace if it wants to gain votes from people who "work for a living," writes Jason Zengerle for The New York Times. "Before she was elected to Congress, in 2022, Gluesenkamp Perez ran an auto-repair shop with her husband; her professional and personal acquaintances still largely consist of people who work in the trades — construction, carpentry, woodworking."

Gluesenkamp Perez doesn't think or act like many other politicians. Zengerle explains, "She hired her legislative director, in part, because the woman drove a Toyota Camry with 200,000 miles on it. 'That says a lot,' Gluesenkamp Perez explains. But what really sets her apart is the way she thinks about the federal government itself — which she believes is woefully out of touch with the needs of working-class Americans."

She has given voice to issues that reflect the needs of those who voted her into office. "While her opponent [Joe Kent] asserted that the 2020 election was stolen and that Dr. Anthony Fauci belonged in prison, she focused on the concerns of the community she knew," Zengerle adds. "Her biggest issue was pushing for 'right to repair' laws, which mandate that consumers have access to repair tools for everything from their smartphones and home medical devices to their cars and tractors." Gluesenkamp Perez told Zengerle: “We’re more and more surrounded by these black boxes that we have no influence over. I think it’s the American ethos that we know how to fix [expletive].”

While working-class connections got her into Congress, Gluesenkamp Perez found it hard to connect with her fellow politicians. "One of the few friendships she did strike up was with Jared Golden, a third-term Democratic representative from Maine," Zengerle writes. Golden's history included becoming leader of the Blue Dog Coalition when only seven members remained. "As the head of the Blue Dogs, he recruited Gluesenkamp Perez and Mary Peltola, who represents Alaska’s lone House district, to be his co-chairs. . . .The new Blue Dogs wanted to make it possible for more people like themselves ('normal people,' Gluesenkamp Perez calls them), from more districts like theirs, to get elected to Congress."

But standing up and speaking her mind has yet to have the legislative impact Gluesenkamp Perez wants. "The signature bills she has introduced or supported — table saws, right to repair, one to expand Pell grants to cover skills training at community colleges — are stuck in legislative purgatory," Zengerle explains. Her "biggest problem at the moment is Joe Kent, who is running again. This time, of course, Trump will also be on the ballot, which means Gluesenkamp Perez will need a good number of ticket-splitting voters to stay in office."

Some say she can't win re-election. To that end, she said: “All of the eggheads and all of the economists and all of the statisticians said we couldn’t do what we did. But you all showed up, and you believed it. Nobody saved us but us.”

Closing rural labor and delivery units poses problems for women, babies and rural population growth

Addie Comegys travels 45 minutes for her prenatal visits. 
(Photo by Tony Leys, KFF Health News)

As rural women have fewer babies, hospitals that once served more remote locations have closed their labor and delivery units, which leaves rural pregnant women facing maternity care deserts, reports Tony Leys of KFF Health News. In many areas, women leaving or not wanting to relocate to smaller towns with limited obstetric care has contributed to rural population loss.

Rural areas surrounding Oskaloosa, Iowa, population 11,558, illustrate how obstetric care has become long-distance care for some pregnant women. "At least 41 Iowa hospitals have shuttered their labor and delivery units since 2000," Leys writes. "Those facilities, representing about a third of Iowa hospitals, are located mostly in rural areas where birth numbers have plummeted."

Addie Comegys, who lives in southern Iowa and is expecting a baby in August, has spent part of her summer driving "45 minutes each way for prenatal checkups at Oskaloosa's hospital," Leys writes. "Oskaloosa's hospital has kept its labor and delivery unit open, partly by pulling in patients from 14 other counties." Not every smaller hospital has that geographical benefit.

For women who don't have reliable transportation or flexible work schedules, longer travel to see an obstetric provider becomes a barrier to care. Declining births have accelerated the problem. "Katy Kozhimannil, a University of Minnesota health policy professor who studies rural issues, said declining birth numbers and obstetric unit closures can create a vicious cycle," Leys reports. "Fewer babies being born in a region can lead a birthing unit to shutter. Then the loss of such a unit can discourage young people from moving to the area, driving birth numbers even lower."

Despite delivering far fewer babies, some rural hospitals have kept their units open, but that choice has posed care challenges. "A study published in JAMA in 2023 found that women were more likely to suffer serious complications if they gave birth in rural hospitals that handled 110 or fewer births a year," Leys writes. "The authors said they didn't support closing low-volume units because that could lead more women to have complications related to traveling for care. Instead, they recommended improving training and coordination among rural health providers."

Flooding, broken dams and Hurricane Beryl damage prompt discussions on how rural places can protect themselves

Tornadoes can rip across farmland and homes
in rural places. (Photo by N. Noonan Unsplash)

Extreme weather is often associated with flooded, wind-flattened or burned-to-the-ground homes and businesses. Rural areas have an added exposure to big losses that other areas don't have -- crops, animals and farm equipment can be damaged or annihilated during weather events.

Given those significant exposures, rural areas need to work on building or replacing support mechanisms and buckle down on wild weather preparedness, reports Chris Clayton of Progressive Farmer. "Rural America is learning the hard way that more investment is needed to protect rural infrastructure from catastrophic storms. . . . That includes Iowa, which is now coping with catastrophic damage in the northwestern part of the state following two April tornadoes that also ripped through communities." More recently, Vermont's Winooski River flooded roads, train tracks and homes after Hurricane Beryl's extreme rains filled it to bursting.

Kevin Paap, a commissioner for Blue Earth County, Minnesota, "testified at last week's U.S. Senate hearing for the National Association of Counties. Paap's county was on the national news during last month's flooding as the 100-year-old Rapidan Dam failed," Clayton explains. "Recovery is harder for small towns that don't have the funds for cost-share or even to write grants to help receive aid dollars, said Ted Brady, executive director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. Most towns simply don't have the professional staff to help recover quickly."

In Iowa, flooding completely submerged some crops, and other farms were ravaged by tornadoes. Government officials "rolled out a series of new disaster programs -- including a low-interest loan program for farmers -- as communities grapple with at least 2,000 destroyed homes and another 3,000 damaged," Clayton explains. "In some towns, nearly every single downtown business was wiped out, along with an estimated $130 million in damaged public infrastructure to the state."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is changing some of its requirements to prevent extreme weather damage. "FEMA announced that public infrastructure rebuilt with FEMA money will have to be built to be more resilient from flooding," Clayton reports. "In the Senate hearing, Paap and others called for a more rapid response to help rural areas." Town mayors are calling for more financial flexibility "to ensure communities can spend disaster money in ways that will help mitigate long-term flood risks."

Flora & Fauna: Delightful fireflies may decline; a donkey's tale; cats chose people; still time to plant; reuniting horses

Fireflies can make an evening forest magical.
(Photo by Tony Phan, Unsplash)

One of the most beguiling insects in the United States very well might be the firefly. Bright, blinking and full of light, the males put on a show hoping to win a mate. For humans, the creatures' harmless nature and luminous joy make them irresistibly charming. But their existence is threatened. "Researchers found that climate change is among the most serious threats to firefly populations in the United States," reports Kiley Bense for Inside Climate News. Darin McNeil, the study’s lead investigator, told Bense, "What we were really surprised to find is it’s also long-term weather patterns, like averages and things that are expected to change with climate change, that are actually the number one drivers of firefly populations." Bense adds, "As some places become hotter and drier, their firefly populations could disappear."

Once upon a time, Diesel the Donkey ran away from home and joined an elk herd in Northern California. He had always longed to live free. "Diesel’s story has made headlines for years. It first did so in 2019, when he ran away from Terrie and her husband, Dave, who after months of searching for their new pet, gave him up for dead," reports Jonathan Edwards of The Washington Post. "Five years later, a video of Diesel roving the California wilderness as a fully enmeshed member of an elk herd [surfaced]. . . . The video, taken by a hunter, shows Diesel turning, trotting and running with his more graceful-looking herd mates." Some of us are born to be wild. Watch the video here.

Driscoll's has worked for years to breed the
perfect berries. (Photo by Maksim Shutov, Unsplash)

Sumptuous and sweet -- it's hard to resist the delights of fresh berries. From the lush decadence of strawberries and cream to the perky freshness of a juicy blueberry in a warm muffin, America's berries have never tasted so good, reports Ben Cohen of The Wall Street Journal. "Driscoll’s had to figure out how to breed, produce and sell its most flavorful strawberries and raspberries. . . . [It's] is now selling those ultraflavorful strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries under a fitting label: "Sweetest Batch." . . . They’re expensive and available only in limited quantities. . . but Americans are stretching their berry budgets to buy them."

Why cats decided to befriend humans isn't clear.
Maybe it's the beds. (Photo by K.S. Matheson, Unsplash)

In terms of evolution, people didn't choose to hang out with other people. Instead, survival mandated that humans stay together in groups. That's not true for felines. Solitary and smart, cats decided to live among people, "domesticate themselves," and even fine-tune their meows to communicate with humans, writes Grace Carroll for The Conversation, a journalist platform for academics. "Originally, cats were solitary creatures. Most of their social behavior was restricted to mother-kitten interactions. Outside of this relationship, cats rarely meow at each other. . . . However, as cats began to live alongside humans, these vocalizations took on new meanings. . . . Over time, cats have evolved to use vocal signals that resonate with our nurturing instincts."

In the American West, many wild mustang herds are rounded up each year to be divided and sold at auction. Clare Staples is working through her sanctuary to return horses to their long-lost herds, reports Cathy Free of The Washington Post. "Staples began purchasing the horses and working to reunite as many of them as possible with members of their original herds at her 9,000-acre ranch in Bend, Ore. She also rescued wild donkeys from kill pens and took in horses that had been relinquished to other animal rescue agencies."

Carrots can be grown the in the spring and fall.
(Photo by Julian Hochgesang, Unsplash)

It may be mid-July, but there's still time to grow your own produce or herbs. "It is never too late to start a garden," writes Nicole Burke, owner of the Gardenary. "Don't believe me? I'll explain. First, let's talk about what your first frost date means (and doesn't mean) because most of us have the completely wrong idea about the 'end' of gardening season. . . . You can absolutely continue to garden after your first frost date in the fall or winter and then begin to plant before your last frost date in the late winter or spring. The only thing your first frost date tells you is when your warm season ends and your cool season begins." Hoping to plant this month or in the fall? Click here.

'On the Front Porch' discussion on July 22 takes a look at the limits of government-sponsored support

The next 'On the Front Porch' conversation will be on July 22 at 4 p.m. E.T. Event hosts Tony Pipa and Brent Orrell will be joined by Kevin Kosar, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, who wrote the foreword for the new edition of Edward C. Banfield’s Government Project, which was first published in 1951.

Register here.

Banfield’s book explores the history and ultimate failure of Casa Grande Valley Farms, a 1937 New Deal farming cooperative established in Pinal County, Arizona, which aimed to help some of the poorest people in the country.

In his forward for the book, Kosar writes, "For five years, the farm succeeded. The revenues from the sale of its crops gave the Casa Grande settlers material comfort and wealth far beyond what they had ever possessed. But in the farm’s seventh year of operation, the inhabitants shuttered it and walked away with hardly anything, to the shock and dismay of the government officials overseeing it."

The discussion will center on what went wrong at Casa Grande and examine the complexities and challenges of government-sponsored social and economic development programs, especially in the context of rural America.

Registrants can submit pre-event questions to: Hunter.Dixon@aei.org

Previous On the Front Porch conversations can be found here.