Ag Secretary Aims At 'Small' Farmers
Unknowingly or not, Rollins' dismissive words received angry pushback
Sometimes, when we are driven to post a hot-take online, we give free-reign to our emotions and end up poorly-wording what we mean to convey. Goodness knows I have done this more times than I can enumerate, so I make every effort to give a little grace when someone else does the same.
However…
If you are the Secretary of a federal department in what is theoretically the most powerful administration on Earth, with dozens (if not hundreds) of staffers to check and vibe-check your posts beforehand? There is no excuse, and therefore no grace is offered.
With that noted, let me introduce you to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. She posted this gem on X, and it got the people talking…
Ignore the noise from the fake news media and the grifters trying to divide us.
I fully support President Trump’s America First immigration agenda as stated in his campaign, starting with strong border security and deportations of EVERY illegal alien. This agenda is essential to fixing a broken farm-labor economy and restoring integrity to the American workforce.
The President and I have consistently advanced a "Farmers First" approach, recognizing that American households depend upon a stable and LEGAL agricultural workforce. Severe disruptions to our food supply would harm Americans. It took us decades to get into this mess and we are prioritizing deportations in a way that will get us out.
This administration is undeniably focused on the America First agenda and my work at the Department of Agriculture is no different.
If the goal was to avoid division, this was not the best way to go about it.
Her post was in response to a steadily-growing number of Trump supporters who are irritated (a mild way to frame it) over a recent drop on his Truth Social page.
In it, the President says he is open to making exceptions for deportations when it comes to illegal immigrants who are employed in certain fields, especially those in farming ventures and hospitality businesses. He spoke of the burdens allegedly being felt by Ag enterprises, and is worried about potential cracks in the food-supply chain.
And when I say, “farming ventures,” I mean corporate, transnational, BigAg farming ventures. But we’ll get to that in a few moments.
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Where Secretary Rollins really dropped the proverbial ball was in her use of the derogatory word, ‘grifters’. To be fair, many of those on X (seldom a gauge of the real world) who complain about Trump's seemingly-altered course certainly are 'grifters'. However, in this case most who are upset are just regular Americans.
Americans who voted for President Trump and for his agenda - an agenda which included the deportation of every illegal immigrant. That is what he promised, after all, thus pushback should have been expected.
As such, dismissing a large group of your bosses’ supporters by suggesting they are nothing more than shysters pursuing grift? Not a good plan, especially since a few of those expressing outrage are actual farmers.
‘Small’ farmers. Carhartt-wearing farmers. Farmers who play by the rules, and only hire legal workers at fair wages.
And this is where the administration completely loses the plot. The Factory Farm Machine known as BigAg already has disproportionate advantages over the small farms. Examples of that include…
- Receiving an obscene chunk of the Ag subsidies the Federal government doles out each year, virtually guaranteeing smaller ventures have to sell their products at higher prices to break even, thus crippling them in the (phantom) free market.
- Access to a massive lobbying apparatus, one which keeps corrupt congressmen (and women - no need to be sexist) in BigAg’s pockets, assuring any legislation the DC swamp spits out will reinforce the might of the Machine over the man.
Then - to top it all off - they want to continue to feed this Machine with cheap, slave-wages labor, all while knowing that the smaller farmers will never engage in such practices. The playing field is NOT level - the scales are radically weighted to favor the favored.
Which brings us to an ugly truth: Allowing illegal ag-workers to bypass the legal consequences of being illegal has nothing to do with fighting organic inflation, nor maintaining food-supply chains, nor compassion for the workers themselves. It is all about filling the vaults of the Armani-suited ‘farmers,’ at the expense of those real, hard-working Carhartt farmers.
And speaking of the Armani crowd? Why should we even consider allowing them to keep their ill-gotten labor force? Not only are they paying out immoral wages, but they TOO are breaking immigration laws. Deporting illegal ‘immigrants’ is punishment enough for them, sure, but those Armani farmers should be spending time in Federal prisons… not wining-and-dining politicos in ritzy restaurants.
Oh, and while we are at it… let’s throw those politicos behind bars, too.
To be clear, this is SOP in DC. No matter which party is in charge, they all have their unique angles to attack local, natural living. The previous administration had several examples, including one where they used a faux endangered-species crisis to target locals in the rural Pacific Northwest. So whether the ‘grifters’ comment by Rollins was a bold “screw you” to the smaller farmers or a legitimate gaffe (though again, hard to believe), there is one good thing to come from it.
Indeed, it serves as a glaring reminder that it makes no difference who is pulling the proverbial strings. Living local is always going to be in the crosshairs, because that is the way the Davos Cabal (which includes the real string-pullers) wants it.
Agenda 2030. Anti-local… anti-Natural.
We can fight against it however, by striving to grow our own nourishments and - when need arises - shop local for everything we purchase, to the degree which we are able. Seeking out Farmer’s Markets and city / county fairs is also empowering, for the vendors who work them are oft locally-based, small-business owners.
It may not seem like much - and yes, due to those aforementioned price issues it can get expensive - but focusing on the ‘local’ really is the most powerful weapon we can wield.
Why, you may ask? Because while the Powers-That-Be will ignore our voices, our protests, and our votes… how we choose to spend our coin almost always gets their attention.
We should spend it wisely.
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Notes
-- In this piece, the word ‘farmers’ refers to those who grow crops AND raise livestock.
-- Special thanks to Nina Khosla, for her editing expertise.
-- Unless otherwise credited, all images were generated by the author via NightCafe, Grok 3 [X], or Substack’s AI Image Tool, with digital alterations when desired or needed.
-- Any memes created by the author will have a “The Stone Age” watermark attached; all other memes were snatched from various sources on the Internet.
For an in depth (and beautifully constructed) analysis of exactly how these scum are coming after rural farm communities, please read Elizabeth Nickson’s book “Eco-facists”. I highly recommend her weekly substack “Welcome to Absurdistan”.
Thank you for your heartfelt post. As a small rancher, we face the Beef Cartel that keeps our costs high and prices low. The FDA and USDA are not our friends. Buying local is always welcomed. I’ve watched Rollins tour the country giving speeches that get worse by the minute. Most ranches in my state are family owned. None of my neighbors hire illegals. If we need extra help, we all pitch in. Now we may have to sell to developers, which would crush my soul.