NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/CLARKSVILLENOW) – Connecting with rural Americans, President Donald Trump has hailed his tax overhaul as a victory for family farmers and pitched his vision to expand access to broadband internet.

Trump cast internet access as a cornerstone of economic development in the nation’s heartland.

Trump spoke Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, at the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation, calling farm country “God’s country.” He was the first president in a quarter-century to address the federation’s convention.

The presidential visit came as a White House report proposed ways to stimulate a segment of the national economy that has lagged behind others. His Southern swing also included a stop in Atlanta for the national college football championship game.

Among those joining Trump at the farm bureau convention was Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

Trump says tax cuts and the doubling of the threshold for the estate tax will help farmers.

He says “most family farms will be spared” now from the “deeply unfair estate tax,” adding that the GOP law will help farmers “keep your farms in the family.”

The president is also generating applause with his calls for the American flag and the national anthem to be “respected.”

Tennessee Republican officials stood by Trump on stage and much of the party’s congressional delegation rode Air Force One into Nashville for his speech.

Sen. Bob Corker and Rep. Diane Black showed the range of Republicans who traveled with Trump and stood by him for executive order signings at the convention.

Corker said last year’s public spat with Trump is old, and people don’t realize how often they interact.

Black, a Republican candidate for governor, said she’s proud of working with Trump on the budget and tax reform.
Three of the four other leading Republican gubernatorial candidates attended: ex-state Sen. Mae Beavers, state House Speaker Beth Harwell and businessman Bill Lee. Businessman Randy Boyd couldn’t attend due to prior commitments.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.