Farmers Are Really Mad At The White House
August 15, 2019
In an interview yesterday, Trump campaign national press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that farmers trust Trump “for good reason” and they “understand the long game.” That’s not what we’re hearing. Farmers are suffering, and Trump and his administration continue to make it worse.
This week, Trump trashed American wheat. He said the wheat we export is “not a good deal, and they don’t even want our wheat.”
Trump: “They send thousands and thousands — millions — of cars. We send them wheat. Wheat. That’s not a good deal. And they don’t even want our wheat.”
Trump said that Japan only buys our wheat “to make us feel good.”
Trump: “They do it because they want us to at least feel that we’re okay. You know, they do it to make us feel good.”
If that wasn’t enough, Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue mocked struggling farmers. He made a horrible joke, saying the farmers “whine.”
Huffington Post: “At a Farmfest listening session with farmers in Minnesota, Perdue hit back at the complaints with his joke: ‘What do you call two farmers in a basement? A whine cellar.’”
Trump’s top economic advisor Peter Navarro upset farmers by falsely claiming an aid package was solving all their problems.
Inside Trade: “Agriculture organization leaders this week denounced White House trade adviser Peter Navarro’s claim that the Trump administration’s trade aid package is making farmers ‘whole.’”
It’s no wonder farmers are mad at the White House.
National Association Of Wheat Growers: “Mr. President, Japan is the #1 market for US wheat exports on average. They don’t buy our wheat because ‘they want us to feel okay.’ They buy it because it’s the highest quality wheat in the world. That’s not fake news.”
Minnesota Farmers Union President: “It was very insensitive. It took everyone by surprise. He doesn’t understand what farmers are dealing with, and he’s the head of the Department of Agriculture. He’s supposed to be working for farmers.”