'Catastrophe': Trump economy kills 1 in 3 jobs in deep-red Nebraska town

Residents of Lexington, Nebraska are panicking after the town's largest employer announced it would be shutting down operations early next year.

MS NOW reported Friday from Lexington — the seat of Dawson County, Nebraska, which Trump easily carried with more than 74 percent of the vote last year. Meatpacking company Tyson employs 3,200 people in Lexington, though they will all be out of a job come January 20th, when the plant is shutting down.

"Have youever been in a place where youcan just feel the pain and theanxiety? That's what it feelslike being here in Lexington, Nebraska," MS NOW reporter Rosa Flores said. "... People havedescribed to me what'shappening here by using thewords 'catastrophe,' 'crisis,' thefeeling of being 'collateraldamage,' 'hurt,' 'anxiety,' 'agony.'"

Local business owners told Flores that sales started to plummet the moment Tyson announced it was closing the plant. Many business owners are immigrants who made the money to launch their businesses by working at the Tyson plant.

"There's anotherbusiness here to my left, downthe street. That woman saysthat people have gone into herstore sobbing," Flores said. "Her salesimmediately dropped 10 to 20 percentright after the announcement."

Reuters reported earlier this month that Tyson was closing the Lexington plant due to cattle supplies hitting a 75-year low in 2025. A small supply of cattle increases production costs for hamburgers and steaks. Cattle ranchers have seen dwindling herds due to drought reducing the supply of land capable of feeding cattle.

Nebraska U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn, who is running against Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) next year as an independent, accused Tyson of manipulating the market by shuttering the plant. He asserted that Tyson was "destroying five percent of America’s beef processing capacity" given how much cattle gets processed annually at the Lexington plant.

Watch the segment below:

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