A former GOP county chairman and Ohio farmer said Monday he wouldn’t vote for President Trump again even if the president walked on water.
Chris Gibbs, the former chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party, told CNBC that he feels “dubious” about the Trump administration’s announced agricultural buys from China amounting to $40 billion to $50 billion amid the heated trade war between Washington and Beijing that experts say has hit farmers particularly hard.
{mosads}”He could come up with this $50 billion, he could walk across my pond and not get wet, and I’m still not going to vote for him because, you know, at the end of the day my name is Chris Gibbs, it’s not Judas, and I’m not going to sell my political moorings for 30 pieces of silver,” Gibbs said.
The soybean and corn farmer voted for Trump in 2016 but said he’s “out” when it comes to supporting Trump this time around.
The president announced Friday that China and the U.S. had agreed on a “phase one deal,” in which China would commit to purchasing billions of dollars in agricultural products.
“I don’t believe it until [the crops are] on the boat. This is deja vu all over again,” Gibbs said, referring to the president’s previous announcements that Mexico and the European Union would purchase large amounts of agriculture products.
“He’s done that before. Somebody has to speak truth to power a little bit,” Gibbs said. “And I hate to be a downer on this all the time, but somebody has to be practical.”