AUSTIN, Texas — Days before he goes on trial in the U.S. Senate for high crimes and misdemeanors, President Donald Trump came to Austin on Sunday to celebrate the administration’s breakthrough trade deals at the annual convention of the politically consequential American Farm Bureau Federation. Its 6 million member families are the backbone in ruby red rural America on which his ability to win a second term, following his almost certain Senate acquittal, hinges.

“And what do I get out of it?” Trump said as he reeled off his recent successes on trade policy. “I get impeached by these radical left lunatics.

“But that’s OK, the farmers are sticking with Trump,” the president said to a roar of approval.

Despite convulsive and sometimes difficult times during Trump’s tenure for many who make their livelihood in agriculture and have been caught in the throes of trade wars, the gathering of some 5,000 farmers and ranchers at the Austin Convention Center was undisputed Trump country, as are the places they hail from.

“You’re going to be hard-pressed to find a farmer that doesn’t (support Trump),” said Bill Sparrow, 86, who has a nursery business in Durham, N.C., and was at the convention with his wife, Daphine. The Sparrows both think Trump sometimes talks too much for his own good, but that he has delivered on his promises.

The event was not a campaign rally, but bore some resemblance to one. Albeit by Trump standards, it was relatively low-key, clocking in at under an hour and lacking the rhetorical flourishes and detours that often characterize his appearances.

Nonetheless, soon after taking the stage, Trump pulled from his suit pocket a Wall Street Journal report on a poll showing he had “83% of farmers’ and ranchers’ approval.”

“I want to know who are the 17%, who the hell are the 17%,” Trump said. “Anyone in here part of the 17%? Don’t raise your hand, it might be dangerous.”

The monthly poll cited by the Wall Street Journal came from the agricultural trade publication Farm Journal. Released Sunday, it found the highest level of support for Trump among farmers since he took office.

It was the third consecutive year Trump addressed the annual convention of the farm bureau. Putting aside that he is about to become only the third president in history to face an impeachment trial by the Senate —the first two were Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1999, both of whom were acquitted —the timing was propitious, following the best week yet of his administration for farmers.

On Wednesday, the president signed the initial phase of the U.S.-China trade deal. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, in introducing Trump, said it “will be a bonanza for American farmers, doubling the exports to China.”

“I’ve never seen a harder-working or thicker-skinned president in my lifetime,” Perdue said.

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate gave initial approval to USMCA — the U.S-Mexico-Canada Agreement — the long-awaited successor to the politically bruised and bloodied North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which Trump described as “one of the worst trade deals in history.”

“We did it, we did it,” Trump said of the trade deals. “You’ve got to buy a lot of land and got to get a lot bigger tractors now.

“Net farm income has gone up by more than $30 billion, an increase of nearly 50% in just three years and remember that the big stuff is yet to come,” Trump said. “We are winning for our farmers and we are winning like never before.”

“Back-to-back grand slams,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told the Austin American-Statesman after offering welcoming remarks at the convention’s Sunday morning session.

Miller said the impending impeachment trial would have no negative political consequences for Trump.

“Not in the circles I run in,” said Miller, who said Trump’s appearance at three straight farm bureau conventions was testimony to the crucial importance of rural voters.

But Texas Democratic Party Senior Rural Adviser Bill Brannon said, “Trump’s trade wars, broken promises, and economic policies have failed farmers, time and time again.”

“Texas farmers will be the reason why Trump loses Texas in 2020,” he said.

Air Force One arrived at Austin Bergstrom International Airport at 4:18 p.m. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick; Attorney General Ken Paxton; Texas U.S. Reps. Roger Williams, John Carter and Randy Weber, and state Sen. Dawn Buckingham were among a handful of greeters awaiting the president’s arrival. Gov. Greg Abbott is on an economic mission in Switzerland.

The motorcade arrived at the Convention Center amid small protests and counter-protests trading dueling chants of “lock him up” and “four more years.”

It was Trump’s 14th visit as president to Texas, a state he won by nine points in 2016 and is indispensable to winning a second term. He is a favorite to win again in 2020, but not so prohibitive a favorite that he can take anything for granted. Victory depends on maximizing turnout among rural voters who can serve as his firewall, as they were for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz when he eked out a victory against former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke in 2018, offsetting Democratic gains in the state’s fast-growing metro areas.

Paul Harrison, a Farm Bureau trustee from Jackson Township, Ohio, where he is the Seneca County treasurer, said the House impeachment vote and the Senate trial is “a joke,” that if anything will benefit Trump.

“I think all the press seems to be leaning against Trump like they did the last time, and they’re going to be shocked at the fact that Trump won again,” Harrison said.

Of Trump, he said, “he’s very quick to tell us what he’s done for us and we are very appreciative of what he has done.”

Rice farmers Bill and Myra McNeil from Lonoke County, Ark., a rural area outside of Little Rock, said that while they are Democrats, they don’t vote Democratic in national elections.

When it comes to Trump, Myra McNeil said, “You’re probably going to be hard-pressed to find tons of opposition in this crowd.”