The unlikely cause bringing liberals and conservatives together

It turns out no one likes seeing pigs locked in tiny cages.

“This is demonic stuff.”

“It’s downright abusive.”

“That sounds like torture to me.”

It causes “physical problems and psychological anguish.”

These are quotes describing the pork industry’s standard practice of confining pregnant pigs in tiny crates, called gestation crates, which are so small that the pigs can’t even turn around. Millions of pigs in the US are locked in these crates at any given time, and they’re in them for virtually their entire lives.

Those damning quotes, however, weren’t uttered by animal rights activists, but, rather, by pundits and politicians from across the political spectrum. In order: far-right commentator Mike Cernovich, Fox News host Tomi Lahren, liberal New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, and Reps. Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX).

These are just a few of a surprisingly bipartisan collection of politicos who’ve come to vocally oppose gestation crates, which have long been a hidden farming practice but are now at the center of a high-level fight in Congress. At issue, specifically, is a piece of legislation called the Save Our Bacon Act that would invalidate state laws that ban the crates.

American voters support animal welfare — and MAGA is seizing on it

For decades, the meat industry has been able to reliably depend on congressional Republicans going to bat for its interests. But the fight over gestation crates now shows that previously solid support may be crumbling at the edges. Taken together, the building opposition to gestation crates demonstrates how animal welfare — often considered a largely liberal concern — has become increasingly bipartisan.

The Save Our Bacon Act, briefly explained

Although congressional Republicans have traditionally voted in line with industry, that isn’t the case with the general public, who tend to vote in favor of animal welfare issues when they’re on the ballot.

In the early 2000s, voters in purple Florida and deep-red Arizona approved ballot measures to ban the use of gestation crates. Some prominent conservatives stuck their neck out on the issue, too. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the hard-right conservative, was a spokesperson for the Arizona proposition, while Matthew Scully — a senior speechwriter for President George W. Bush — published the book........

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