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Top Republican Admits Farmers Need Saving From Trump’s Tariffs

3 8
29.09.2025

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune admitted that American farmers will need a bailout from President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Speaking on NBC News Sunday, the top Republican said that farmers would need support in the face of markets that were “not open to some of our commodities,” referring to foreign tariffs on U.S. goods that had resulted in response to Trump’s sweeping tariffs on nearly every country in the world.

“As a consequence of that, we’ve got a big harvest coming in here in South Dakota, corn and soybeans, and no place to go with it. So, what the president has said is, ‘I’m gonna support and I’m gonna help our farmers,’” Thune said. “And so we are looking at—I’m a member of the [Agriculture Committee] and have been for some time—we are looking at potential solutions to make sure that we can help support farmers until some of those markets come back.”

“They are anxious, they want to see markets open up,” he noted.

Thune said that he believed Trump wanted to establish “reciprocity” with other countries—but it’s not clear that is even the president’s objective. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick previously said that the U.S. accepting a reciprocal zero-percent tariff deal with a country was “the silliest thing we could do.”

Meanwhile, foreign countries are reportedly already filling the gap left by missing American goods. For example, China, the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans, has not purchased any American soybeans since May, pivoting to suppliers in Latin America as Trump struggles to land an actual deal with Beijing.

Last week, Trump debuted his new plan to give farmers a cut of his “tariff money,” but recklessly mixed up “billions” and “millions” when talking about how much money would actually be available.

The state of Oregon is taking the president to court for sending the troops to its door.

One day after Donald Trump said he would issue the national guard to Portland, the Beaver State filed a 41-page legal complaint accusing the country’s leader of having “trampled” the U.S. Constitution by federalizing Portland’s law enforcement. The city of Portland also joined the lawsuit.

“Our nation’s founders recognized that military rule—particularly by a remote authority indifferent to local needs—was incompatible with liberty and democracy,” the lawsuit said. “Foundational principles of American law therefore limit the president’s authority to involve the military in domestic affairs.”

The lawsuit further condemned Trump’s “provocative and arbitrary actions,” which it argued legitimately threaten Portland’s peace by “inciting a public outcry.”

Rather than rely on data before commanding the National Guard across the country, Trump decided earlier this month to target Rose City after he claimed he witnessed its “destruction” when he “watched television.” On Saturday, he directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to “provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland” in order to defend ICE. He also supported their use of “full force.”

Hours later, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek publicly undercut the White House’s rhetoric, insisting there was no need to invite the military to solve the state’s problems.

“The president does not have the authority to deploy federal troops on state soil,” Kotek said. “There is no insurrection. There is no threat to national security, and there is no need for military troops in our major city.”

Kotek further emphasized that the National Guard’s needless deployment sullied their commitment to national defense, and that they would be a wasted resource in Portland.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said that Trump’s solution to the fictional threat of violence was unpresidential and would never serve to solve any legitimate problems facing communities across America.

“If you really wanted public safety, you wouldn’t threaten to send the United States military into any city,” Rayfield said in a video statement Sunday. “I know for a fact, from talking to cities across Oregon and across the country, that if you pick up the phone and ask, ‘What do you need? What could be helpful?’ the answer would not be the United States military.”

After failing to correctly read and understand a batch of documents, Republicans have revived an old conspiracy theory that the so-called “deep state” staged the January 6 insurrection.

The GOP-led House Select Subcommittee on January 6 announced on X Friday that the FBI had “finally” revealed that it deployed 276 agents to the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

A closer look at the document revealed that the agents were responding to the rioters, not inciting them. “This number includes agents that responded to the Capitol grounds as well as inside the Capitol, the pipe bombs, and the red truck that was believed to contain explosive devices as well as CDCs/ADCs.”

Crucially, Republicans have still provided no evidence that those working with law enforcement were involved in planning the deadly riot or instigating violence that day.

Not only is this not a bombshell—it’s not even new. The Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General already reported in December 2024 that the FBI had deployed agents to the Capitol as part of a review of its handling of the incident.

“After the Capitol had been breached on January 6 by rioters, and in response to a request from the USCP, the FBI deployed several hundred Special Agents and employees to........

© New Republic