Here & Now

Trump Visits Wisconsin to Tout His Agriculture Tax Breaks

Frederica Freyberg:
A new national Marquette Law School poll has Donald Trump’s overall approval rating continuing to decline, now down to 38%. The survey shows approval of his handling of the economy at 30% and 19% for how Trump is handling the spike in gas prices. Set against this sentiment heading into the midterms, President Trump visited western Wisconsin today to rally support for his ag policies and to lend a campaign boost to state Republicans running in November.

Donald Trump:
We’re at a point we’re going to come out of Iran very quickly, and it’s going to be very strong one way or the other, whether it’s a piece of paper or the very tough way. Okay. The very tough way is maybe the easier way, but we’re going to come out and your fertilizer prices are going to go way down, just like they were four months ago. Your fertilizer is down, your energy is down, your oil, your gas is all coming way down. And frankly, I thought it would go much higher than it did. I thought, frankly, that gasoline would be much higher. … Every day my administration is fighting to protect and defend the jobs and livelihood of our great farmers. I love our farmers, our growers, agricultural producers, ranchers, from coast to coast. … And I just see that dairy exports have surged nearly $1.2 billion under our leadership. And just and this is with a conflict going on.

Frederica Freyberg:
For their part, upon Trump’s visit, Wisconsin Democrats called the president’s farm policy and the war in Iran a disastrous agenda for farmers across the state.

Tammy Baldwin:
This president has launched us into an illegal, an entirely unnecessary war in Iran. This war that no one wanted has tragically taken the lives of 13 service members. It’s taken the president’s time and focus and has taken money out of the pockets of our farmers. Because of this war, diesel prices hit record highs in Wisconsin last month, up 80% from the year before, and global fertilizer prices have jumped 50% in recent months. Farmers are paying more for their inputs and getting less for their outputs because President Trump and my Republican colleagues in the Congress and their policies. For many farmers, this means an impossible choice: sell at a loss or pay to store crops and hope that prices improve in the future.