~~ recommended by newestbeginning ~~
Given all of the craziness going on in the Trumpenverse (bad faith negotiations and tariff war with Canada, naming a Navy Reportedly In Talks To Name New Ship After Trump Instead Of Black WWII Hero https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2026/08/21/navy-reportedly-in-talks-to-name-new-ship-after-trump-instead-of-black-wwii-hero/, Trump’s Micromanaging Warship Design Will Set the Navy Back by Decades
https://newrepHakeem Jeffries and Jared Kushner met privately in recent weeks at a New York location offered by a person described as a “mutual friend” of Kushner and Jeffries. The two “discussed potential areas of common ground.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/23/us/politics/jeffries-kushner-private-meeting.html?smid=tw-shareublic.com/article/214479/trump-navy-carrier-micromanaging-warship-design, Harpgate - with a "Fatal Attraction"esque bimbo with unfettered advisory access to the "preseident", Lindsay Graham's sister running for Senate but acknowledging she knows nothing about the job and isn't particularly interested in learning about it, and on and on...
— Jonathan Swift, 18th Century Irish Satirist
At the heart of MAGA is the cruelty and idiotic belief system of one man. He tells MAGA what it needs to follow and they blindly go along with it. To Hell with reason and logic. And it’s this cruelty and anti-intellectualism that I reject. So why am I quoting Swift? Well, from time to time, I think of all of us as that “true genius” surrounded by Trump and his minions.
Since the beginning of this second Trump Regime, what’s enraged me are the group I have often called The Enablers. People who on paper would seem to be a bulwark against this dunce and his movement. But instead, these enablers will say and do anything to be a part of this administration…American democracy, norms, and its people be damned. Honestly, who knew what was holding us back from absolute madness in the first Trump Administration was the decency of…Mike Pence and William Barr?
But worse than being bootlickers, many of these enablers are also fools. I’m not getting over my skis when I say we have a federal government being run by card-carrying members of the galactically stupid. I’ve written a few thousand words about the idiots in the Justice Department: The Fool of the North, i.e., the US Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Daniel Rosen and Pammy Jo with the Bad Hair. But today we focus on another member of these incompetent sycophants: Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Now I admit, I know little about farming with some knowledge coming from what my husband tells me when reminiscing about his college experience driving past cornfields on I-57 to his Big Ten school. And he grew up in the Chicago suburbs so he doesn’t know much about farming either. If Rollins wants to tell me she knows more about planting seasons, fertilizer, or seeds, sure, she’s got me there. But I do know a few things about Econ 101 and this wondrous thing called The Internet, and in this regard, I’m here to tell you what Rollins is shoveling stinks worse than manure. She may know how to plant things, but in cult service of Convicted Felon Donald Trump, Brooke wants to pretend like her alternate universe economics will never face scrutiny.
Sidenote: I’m often asked where I go to do research for my reporting. One of the main research tools I use is called Ground News. Ground News shows me how stories are being covered from different political perspectives, and it highlights “blindspots” where only left-wing or right-wing media is covering a story.
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What am I talking about? Beef. As in, where’s the American beef?
This past week, Trump announced the Regime would allow up to 300,000 METRIC TONS (which is about 661.4 MILLION POUNDS) of foreign ground beef, tariff-free into our country for the next 90 days. He refuses to say from which country this flood of mystery meat will be coming. He also refuses to say which American company has committed to selling this foreign beef “at 25 percent below current market prices."
Trump falsely claimed that he closed this black box of a deal because beef prices soared under Biden all while the American cattle herd “fell to its smallest size in modern history” on his watch. And Brooke Rollins jumped on that bullshit bandwagon and also blamed Biden for some nonexistent war on cattle. LIES.
Now, I hear you when you say, “Katie, there’s a thousand horrible things going on right now, so why are we talking about beef?” Because Dear Reader, Donald and Brooke are this week’s Exhibit A on why we must confront this administration on every lie. Put simply, we give no quarter to their gaslighting and lies of convenience.
So let’s take this nonsense apart, piece by piece. And a shout-out to Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast for doing a show almost a year ago about rising beef prices; as soon as I heard the story this week, I immediately re-listened to that episode to confirm that they’re all – no surprise – full of crap.
First, the herd. Yes, the U.S. cattle herd is at its smallest size in more than 50 years. But this isn’t about presidential politics. Instead, the culprits are simpler: years of drought, wildfire, and massive increases in feed, land, fuel, and veterinary costs. Over time, this reality has made it difficult to near impossible for independent ranchers in this country to operate successfully.
But that’s not all. As is the case in most industries, big corporations just hammer the little guy. In this instance, four companies control a significant percentage of U.S. beef processing capacity. This concentration allows these companies to set the price for what they will pay ranchers on one hand and what they charge grocery chains for meat on the other. Yes, the prices these processors pay ranchers is increasing. But if the ranchers’ input costs are also increasing, they’re still left treading water. Bottom-line: if you wanted to have an honest conversation about what ails the industry, processor consolidation and market transparency would be at the top of the list. But we all know that doesn’t happen in this era of corrupt big money politics.
Second, rising prices and the timing of this announcement. As we all know, Trump was elected a second time based on the fraudulent representation that he would lower prices on day one. And once he got into office? Well, the prices, they continued to rise. When it comes to beef, it’s important to remind everyone that Trump has already dipped his fat, ugly toes in the beef pond. In February, Trump signed a proclamation allowing for the importation of 80,000 metric tons of Argentine beef on favorable terms on the theory that it would lower prices for American families. At that time, the ranchers objected to this maneuver because importing more beef wouldn’t rebuild the American herd or address why ranchers were getting crushed in the first place. And we can’t forget the $20 BILLION Argentinian Great Beef Bailout of 2025. How did that help American farmers?
Several months later, the number has jumped from 80,000 metric tons to 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef. And why? This brings me to the 90-day clock. It doesn’t take an economist to tell you that this timing has nothing to do with market dynamics, but instead, the November midterms are – you guessed it – about 90 days away. So even though Trump will tell you he “loves” America’s cattle farmers, the fact of the matter is he will stick it to these folks if it means votes at the ballot box.
Third, let’s delve into prices some more, particularly the criminal dunces running this show. I’m stating the obvious when I say that Convicted Felon Donald Trump has spent his entire second term manufacturing supply shocks to the domestic economy on a routine basis. Since 2025, we have suffered Trump’s stupid tariff tantrum that raised costs on the inputs that ranchers and processors depend on. And now we have an unending, illegal, very expensive war with Iran that has rattled global markets and supply chains at exactly the moment market participants could least absorb it.
So we shouldn’t be surprised that the problem is metastasizing. “Blame Joe Biden”? That may be the Trump Regime’s favorite chorus to sing, but they can’t crap on the rug and blame the dog for it. Frankly, I’m surprised things haven’t unraveled more quickly. But that’s a testament to the resiliency of our economy in the face of these idiotic losers and their actions.
Justin Tupper, president of the United States Cattlemen’s Association declared, “You don’t put America first by putting U.S. cattle producers last.” Colin Woodall, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President, said that “flooding the market with government-subsidized, below-market beef is not the way to rebuild the American cattle herd.” While one agricultural industry insider said, “It’s going to just piss off farmers and ranchers.”
Cheaper beef – even if temporary – is a good thing. But, as is the case in all things Trump, he doesn’t get to set the house on fire and then demand credit for showing up with a thimble of water to try and put the fire out. I've got a beef with the corruption and the grift so I’m raising the steaks and demanding we cull the herd and get rid of Trump and the Republicans in November!
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