Brooke Rollins
Appearances
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Everyone says, are you exhausted? And it's a seven day a week, 20 hours a day. And for me, there are days where I'm tired. I mean, I think I got here to D.C. I was doing tours all day yesterday with Secretary Kennedy. The day before, I was in Ohio. I think that's right, yes. Two days before that, I was in North Dakota. Then I'm back here. It's literally a 5 a.m.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
to midnight, seven days a week effort. But it's just such a gift. I mean, who gets to do this? And at an inflection point in our country's history, this is, I feel like this is 1776 all over again. And I think about never, ever to compare myself to the founding fathers.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
But those guys were farmers and teachers and businessmen before they declared independence from the greatest power the world had ever known. And that was Great Britain. And the king. And so in many ways, I feel like our cabinet and this president has God's hand and that that's what we're called for as well.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
So while certainly we're working very hard and the 100 days has been extremely fast paced, I think that's why you see the joy in the work is because we're ready for it.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Food security is national security.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Yeah, well, and I think when you say, you know, does agriculture work well, I think you mean USDA. So the... The fact that we have an agency with 100 plus thousand employees, the largest budget item is food stamps, the SNAP program. There are so many different divisions and contracts. I mean, we are just getting started. We've already canceled almost $6 billion, $100,000, $200,000 at a time.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
That's a significant amount of contracts that we're canceling. We are reducing in force to make sure that we are as efficient, as effective, and as flexible as possible. absolutely needs a realignment, a reconstruction, and a significant reorganization. So that's what we are working through right now.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
The idea that USDA should be, you know, we've got other programs and those are important, like food stamps, although they need significant reform, but this agency should be about farmers and ranchers all day, every day, and our ag producers. And how do we, talking about the industry now, an industry that every year we lose more family farms,
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Every year, things get outsourced to other countries, including China and Brazil. Every year, it gets harder and harder for most of our farmers to make a living where they can support their family, pass their fourth, fifth, and sixth generation farmer ranch onto their sons or daughters, it's getting harder and harder.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
It's also getting harder and harder for new Americans, men or women, to get into the business of farming. It's almost impossible. There's not enough opportunity for capital to inject, to buy a new tractor, to buy the land, to figure out how to become part of this great historical legacy profession in American history.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
So we've got a lot of things, A, here at the department we need to really, really be refocused on, and we are. But also, there's some massive policy questions that we've got to think through. And then kind of the final big priority is these farmers don't want all these checks. I mean, they take them. It's the way they stay in the black and the way they keep farming.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
It's a national security issue because we lose more farms. We buy more food from overseas. That's not good for the country for a lot of reasons. But at the same time, they would like to be able to sell their product at a profit and not have to worry about the government at the end of the day.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
So these are all big policy questions that hopefully we expand markets, the president's realigning the entire world economy right now, putting America first. All of those things combined, I believe, will lead us into a new era of prosperity where we can hopefully solve for most of that.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Yes.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Yeah, that's been a pretty big priority of ours. And within the first hour of being sworn in on February 13th, 50 letters went out to all 50 governors in the country. And in those letters, we talked about SNAP. and innovation and send me your waivers because the way the program works, it moves through the states.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And so, and I love that anyway, like why would the federal government be telling everyone what to do? We want in the founders best vision of the 10th amendment to allow the states to build those programs. But within that was why are taxpayer dollars
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Why are taxpayer dollars, billions of taxpayer dollars, being spent on sugary drinks and junk food to go into our supplemental nutrition program for our food insecure populations, our lower income populations, when, to your point, the backside is an obesity and chronic disease epidemic unlike any developed country in the history of the world has ever seen.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
74% of our adolescents, our teenagers, would not pass the military readiness test of our United States military right now today. 75%. So again, talk about national security, talk about all of the things. This is a massive, massive challenge facing America.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And in the first administration, and healthcare was under my portfolio in domestic policy, as conservatives, we've long talked about how do we make America healthy again, but very much from a numbers perspective, right? The cost to the healthcare system At the back end of this, it's not just the taxpayers funding it at the front end with the junk food and the sugary drinks and the diabetes.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
I mean, it's really stunning what's happened just in the last couple of decades. But then on the back end, the cost to our healthcare system in treating those chronic diseases is going to bankrupt our country. It's almost bankrupting all the states right now through Medicaid. So how do we solve for that? And enter Bobby Kennedy.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And Bobby and I don't agree on everything, but we do agree on most things. And the opportunity, I was just with him yesterday touring some farms and talking about nutrition and agriculture all day. the opportunity for the agriculture lead and the health lead to work daily, hand in hand, to solve this together. You can't solve this through government regulation. You just can't.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
But you solve it through nutrition, through empowering your farmers, through getting good food into these programs versus the ultra-processed, et cetera, et cetera. We've all heard Bobby use these points. And he couldn't be more right. And listen, It's, again, talk about realigning the world economy with the president's vision of tariffs.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
It's also realigning how we look at food, how we as a federal government, to your point on SNAP and other food programs, we have 13 nutrition programs. Listen to this number. This is going to astound you. In America today, through USDA, this is not all the other agencies. This is just here at USDA. We spend $370 million a day on nutrition programs.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
So not just SNAP, but food banks and all of the other ones. That's just USDA. That is a stunning number. We've got to do better. And so that's a big part of it. So Secretary Kennedy and I are on this. We are so aligned. We've got the dietary guidelines we're doing right now.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
So yes, I grew up in a really small town in Texas. We were not farmers or ranchers per se in Texas. I grew up on a small farm. We raised animals, we baled hay, but my family, my mom's side of the family, my grandmother, they had a big row crop farm in Minnesota. So I spent every summer on that farm, corn, wheat, soy, pretty much everything you could consider and think of.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Well, I will. I will talk about it. I will also say that those that represent those industries, they are good people who are raising their families. And I do believe their talking point is freedom. Why should someone at the bottom of the socioeconomic level ladder not be able to buy the same things you and I could buy? Of course, my answer is, well, we're not using taxpayer dollars.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
That's a big difference. And we're not paying for it on the back end. But I understand. I understand where they would potentially be coming from. But the amount of money that is at stake is reflected in the amount of lobbyists that are out and about and certainly very much a part of the Washington, D.C. establishment. But it goes directly to why as difficult,
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And as challenging as these policy issues are for all of us in President Trump's cabinet, reflecting today on the 100th day celebration, it's also so different because none of us are of Washington. That was true in the first term, and that's why I felt so freed. I could just do what was right. He just said, go do what's right.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
But in the first term, we didn't really know yet how to do it, what we were doing, and who was on our side. That four-year pause in between term one and term two, it was the greatest gift. I mean, not only could we plan, but we also fully understood who was in it to save the country, what it was that we needed to do to get this done. And for me, this is so black and white.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And I've told everyone this. I don't need to listen and have 57 meetings with lobbyists representing the industry. This is black and white. taxpayer dollars be spent on sugary drinks and junk food that's making our kids sick? Absolutely not. Does that mean we shut them down? Does that mean? No, of course not. But it just means we realign and we spend the dollars where they need to be spent.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
We reform and hopefully we make America healthy again.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
That's exactly right. On both sides. I'm not casting aspersions.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
It's not. It's just... It is an entire industry that has been built around, this is the problem when the government gets too big. This is world history. Greece, Rome, Spain, France, every great world power has buckled under the weight of a government that hands out the largesse, that everyone's got their hand in the pot, and they buckle, and that's how they lose their place in the world.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And that is what, listen, I sincerely believe that without Donald Trump coming down that escalator, and listen, there were 17 guys and one girl, I think, running that, you know, in 15 when he did that. I was not the smart one that said, oh, there's the game changer. That's him. I was like, oh, I love that person, and I've known him forever. They're going to be so great.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
It's not going to be Donald Trump. But at that moment in American history, without that human being who is literally willing to swing for the kit fences every single day, 100 times a day for the American people, who owes no lobbyists not one thing, We were all hired with the idea that we owe not industry, not lobbyists one thing. Now we need to listen to their concerns.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
But every day, all day, we're called to do what's right. And I don't know that that's ever happened, at least in my lifetime, in governance, in federal governance.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
So that was my row crop, which has actually been very, very helpful because coming from Texas and being more of a cattle raiser and being in cattle more, which is what I meant in Texas, it's really great to have sort of both sides of the house and I'm very appreciative to that. But yes, grew up in a very small town. We didn't have much. I was raised by a single mom, but we did have the land.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Yeah, it's a great, this is, you're the first person to really dig down on this that I've talked to since I took the job. And it's an extremely insightful conversation. and thoughtful question that you raise because that's 100% true.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
My entire background is how to get government out of people's lives and how to get government, quote, handouts out of the private sector and how do we downsize significantly everything that the government stands for and how do we let the markets work? I think two things. I have become an absolute avid believer in President Trump's vision on putting America first.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
For years, I was, well, the cheaper goods from China are good for everybody. And they allow those at the bottom of the economic ladder to have a better quality of life. And this is the market at work. Now that I've seen it in the first term, but especially as the Agriculture Secretary, realizing how important Poorly, our products are treated on the world stage.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
The tariff, it's stunning to me that we let this go on for so long. The way Argentina treats our beef, the way China treats, the way Brazil treats our corn, I mean, the way the UK treats our pork. And that's just in my world. I haven't even really studied the automakers and others. There is no doubt that that realignment has to happen for America to continue to thrive and lead on the world stage.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
for another 250 years. That's the first thing. So really realigning my thinking after deep study and deep thought in his approach of America first, not free markets for the sake of free markets, but fair markets for the sake of America.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Right, with the goal of freer markets eventually. The second thing I will say, and more on the USDA side, is... Food security is national security. We have already lost tens of thousands of family farms in the last decade. If we continue on that trajectory, America will not be able to feed ourself.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Can you call me Brooke?
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And the minute you become unable to feed yourself is the minute you lose all power on the world stage. The minute you have to rely on China or Brazil or Argentina to feed your people, you're done. And what has happened over the last number of years is China's been buying up a lot of our farmland in America. A lot of our major meatpackers, et cetera, are now owned by foreign ownership.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And, you know, it's not all, I'm not going to cast dispersions on everybody, but at the end of the day, we have to make sure that our agriculture industry is here in this country, that we are feeding ourselves, and that we're relying on ourselves. And so all of the programs that you just outlined are part of that effort. We lose our farmers and our ranchers, we lose America.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And on that land, we raised our animals. Again, we built our hay. I barrel raced every Friday night. I grew up in 4-H and FFA, went to Texas A&M on an agriculture scholarship, studied soil science and meats and feeds and feeding and really dove way into agriculture.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Not just the diligence and the hard work and the discipline and what that means, righteous, I believe the most righteous of all professions means. The beginning of our country was fought by farmers, but also we lose it from a national security perspective. And when that happens, we lose everything.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
That's right.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Exactly, no one wants a handout.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Hundreds of farmers.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
The first three things on that. The first is that they are almost to a farmer. They are so supportive of President Trump, even understanding that this current, again, trade renegotiation, it hurts. And they're not going to be able to survive that long, but they know that the president has their back. So that's been really encouraging to me. Now, I have made a huge effort
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
to get out into the country, to meet the farmers, to continue to shake hands and say, we're with you. But in the long run, this is gonna be so good for our agriculture industry, this renegotiation, these opening up markets. Under Joe Biden, we lost $50 billion in trade. We went from a $0 trade deficit with Trump one to a $50 billion trade deficit with Biden.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And that's $50 billion almost directly out of our farmers' pockets. So the short term, but that the president is with them. But secondly, to your point, there are tremendous headwinds, whether it is the trade renegotiation, whether it is row crops especially being in the thinnest margins they've ever had in their lifetimes. And then we export so many of those row crops.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
That's almost a double whammy. The president's vision of a, you know, basically a disruptive restructure of the American economy includes the shipbuilding. And so for, again, a lot of the exporters that need that extra fee on top of that is just one more. And again, the Jameson Greer and the team has been great.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
They've been solving for that and ensuring that ag is at the table and that every day and every decision they're making, they're doing that. But I think ultimately, and this has been a big part of what I've been talking to the that we're opening up those new markets.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And whether it's India or Japan or South Korea or Brazil or Peru or the UK, I am going to all of those countries in the next few months. And this is just me on behalf of agriculture. This isn't our trade crew, our commerce secretary. I mean, it's just me. But I feel so blessed
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Knowing I would go to law school, I really had a heart for understanding policy and the people, but thought I would really stay in ag for the rest of my life and Obviously, sometimes the path diverts and changes, but even over the 20 years since I last worked 100% in agriculture, which was for Rick Perry when he was first governor, then quickly moved into all the policy.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
bullish on the idea that if we are, we're on Trump time, we deploy Trump time, which is going as fast as you can, as hard as you can, for as long as you can around the world, we're going to open up so many new markets for our farmers. And then we solve for the labor issue, which you brought up, which is a really big issue.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Now, I think sometimes the Californians tend to inflate that because- What are you trying to say? Yeah, I know. They think a little bit differently about this.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Yeah, well, and there's no doubt.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And I'll put a little note, a little cross the T on what you just said, and that is I'm a Texan, and our South Texas, the citrus farmers down there, think about in Mexico, for some of them, half a mile away they can see it, right across the border, now through the wall, they can see it, and it's $2 an hour. Those farmers are paying $2 an hour over there.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
You come across on our side, and with everything that we're required to do and pay, it's $20 to $23 an hour. How do you compete? You're growing the same crops. You can't. And so that's what we really have to focus on. Our dairy farmers, you know, the visa programs don't work for them. It's not a seasonal deal. Those cows have to be milked 365 days a year. They can't find people to milk the cows.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
So the president, not in today's cabinet meeting, but in the last one a couple weeks ago, brought this up himself. And he said, and he and I talked about it in the first term. We've talked about it since then. He understands that there is a massive labor challenge for our farmers and our ranchers, especially our farmers in this country, but our ranchers as well.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And he himself said that those who are not here legally, they need to go back, they need to self-deport, but that we will ensure that there's some sort of program in place that will help make sure that our farmers on this side have the labor necessary. that they need. Now, the details of that are being worked out. I can't really talk much about it.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
But the fact that the president himself is focused on that should give our farmers a lot of encouragement that help literally, figuratively, and metaphorically is on the way.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
That's exactly right. That is, at this point, You couldn't, it's, you know, I love Elon and love Doge and they've been such a good partner in helping us get rid of the $500,000 grant to study transgender menstruation cycles in men and, you know, what the mice are going to do under a, blah, blah, the craziness. He's been wonderful. But agriculture in many ways is different.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
You can't come in here and gut the crop insurance program. You will lose thousands of farmers. And guess who swoops in and picks up their land and their operation? The Chinese. You just can't do it. Now, my goal and my fervent prayer is that in four years from now, we will have moved. We will have opened up the markets.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
But I've always stayed very much in touch and involved in ag and always really worked in ag policy, but as part of a much broader portfolio until this job. But no, listen, the USDA is the people's department. That was what President Lincoln's vision was.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
We'll have reached this new era of prosperity for our farmers and our ranchers. And in so doing, this should be the goal of every government program. that we're able to roll a lot of that back and out and that we don't need it as much.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Taxpayer dollars will be spent on sugary drinks and junk food that's making our kids sick. Absolutely not. Does that mean we shut them down? No, of course not. Part of that was having 300 executive orders drafted. We did it all very quietly. No one really knew it was happening. We're not here for the people to serve us like some monarchy. We're here to serve the people.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Exactly. Yes, that's the goal. The same with the food stamps. I mean, talk about 80% of the USDA budget is food stamps. Our goal needs to be moving people into a life of work filled with dignity where they don't need those programs anymore versus the last administration trying to get as many people into those programs as possible.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Our goal is to move them off of programs because they have a good, well-paying job and they don't need that anymore.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Exactly. No one wants a handout. I think that's what a lot of people don't understand. So effectuating on that is really important.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Yeah. And it's like all my dreams have come true. You know, I'll never forget when the president came down the escalator in 2015, and he was talking about, for every one new regulation, we're gonna get rid of two. And I thought, are you kidding me? For the first time? Are we making deregulation fun and sexy? Like, I've been talking about this in Texas, and no one wanted to talk about it, right?
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Even Republicans, like, oh, you know, we can never get rid of, once government's there, we just have to make it better. And Donald Trump 10 years ago started talking about it, made it a thing. The first year of Trump won for every one new regulation, 22 win. The next year it was 17, the next year 13, I think, and then by the end, because it got a little bit harder to find them.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
But still, it wasn't two to one. Our average was like 10 to one in the first Trump administration. Well, then you add on Elon Musk.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
and his team of geniuses who normally would never even think about being in government, not that they wouldn't want to, but they wouldn't even begin to know how, you combine that with this idea that we're returning power to the people, we're downsizing government, we are not in charge, we're not here for the people to serve us like some monarchy, we're here to serve the people.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And that's a fundamental shift in the way we're thinking in the federal government, and then to add Elon on. So actually right after our cabinet meeting, maybe even right before a couple hours ago, I guess the news reports were saying, oh, he's headed back to do his business. I pulled him aside and I said, I hope this isn't true. This country needs you and your team forever.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And to see now the states begin to add their own doges. This is how we save America. This is how we protect the country.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Exactly. And hopefully, we make it so powerful and get the people so involved that even the Democrats can't roll it back, that this is the long-term plan for the country.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
The American founding had four key agencies, of course, the Attorney General, Justice, State, and Defense, which was the Department of War at the time, but Defense. And that was really the beginning of our country were those four. Interior was added a couple decades later, and then agriculture.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Well, I am encouraged that the Biden team couldn't get it done. I mean, they worked. And it's important. I know a lot of people are hating it, and they should, because it does become a Christmas tree of sorts. But the reference prices, which is what our farmers are paid on, have not been changed since the last farm bill, which was at the beginning of Trump 1.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
So Debbie Stabenow, who's now gone, was the lead Democrat in the Senate. The Senate was leading. Of course, Joe Biden, that team was sort of MIA. We've got a different team on the ground now.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And one of the very first conversations I had with Amy Klobuchar, who took Debbie Stabenow's place as the lead Democrat, of course, now we're running the Senate, it's a little bit different, is how do we get this done? But realizing that the SNAP program, which is what the Democrats are always trying to put more money into, that grew 40% under the Joe Biden term, 40%.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
40%, the program that was already this gigantic, huge amounts of waste and fraud and abuse, it's now even more. And they did that on purpose, right? They knew it would be hard for us to roll that back. I'm underscoring your point that this is not gonna be easy. That the farmer part of the farm bill is 15 percent, one five. The food stamp part of the farm bill is 85 percent.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
So I have been thinking about this, already having conversations and strategy sessions on both sides of the aisle, frankly. We've got to get this done for our farmers. And even, you know, Senator Klobuchar's credit and other Senate Democrats on the Ag Committee, they care as much about the farmer in their states as I believe most of the Republicans do. It's a
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Ag is the number one industry in almost every state. And so trying to find that middle ground, but ensuring that we're bringing real reform to the SNAP program, but that we're most importantly supporting our farmers and our ranchers will continue to be the driver. As in all things, I think Donald Trump is the game changer here, and I think he's going to help us get this done.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
That was sort of the cadence of building a new government and creating some sort of self-governing structure that you want the power to remain with the people. But certainly, as America moved from a frontier republic into, as we know, the world's greatest economic superpower— certainly you needed some kind of governing structure.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Well, let me say this. I have not dug into this yet, the amount that I need to. But having said that, I do believe that the innovation and the drive for better should never be stifled. And I sincerely believe that there is hopefully room for everyone, especially as this emerging
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Market is happening and I also believe that at the end of the day the American consumer when most of them when having to decide between Real American beef and something that's not that they're gonna choose the real American beef So I at least in my you know nominal knowledge at this point without digging in I just believe so strongly in our in our ranchers and our farmers and what they produce and what it means to the average American in
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
family, I'm the mom of four, and how I feed my family. But I don't think we ever want to get in the way of stifling innovation, especially as it relates to something that could eventually be such a game changer.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Oh, thank you. It's an honor to do it. Thank you. Thank you.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And so Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s believed sincerely that the majority of Americans then were rural, they were agriculture related, and that they needed representation here in Washington. So the People's Department was formed and this building was built in the early 1900s, 1920s, and here we are today. Now through the years, as you mentioned, It has grown and grown and grown.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
I do believe it became a bit of a catch all in some ways. You know, we run the food stamp program, the SNAP program, the Supplemental Nutrition Program. We run the forests, of course, Forest Service is under, forestry is under USDA. So that's tens of thousands of firefighters as an example. And of course, all of the farming and agriculture related
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
from rural development loans, to farm loans, to crop insurance, and then, of course, moving all of the economic relief, et cetera, that sometimes is often needed.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
I am still getting my arms around two months in exactly everything that we're working on here, but in President Trump's greatest vision and in his bold leadership, one of my top priorities is how we realign the USDA around its original purpose which was serving the people and especially the farmers and ranchers. So really looking forward to continuing that work.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
I was in the first Trump administration. I think I was the only ag major in the building. And I was doing a lot of different hats. I was working with Jared Kushner in the Office of American Innovation, and then was doing all the strategy, so kind of the big picture You know, for the president and the policy, especially on the domestic side, eventually ran the domestic policy team.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Eventually, towards the end, took on Kellyanne Conway's team and some other portfolios. So really, over the course of those three years in Trump won. How did you end up in Trump won? Well, that is a really crazy long story. I, for my entire policy, my heart is in public policy.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
I have just, I first thought I may end up at seminary and be a pastor, a youth pastor, and that was really where I felt very called after college, but then realized that if I lean into public policy, And I didn't know what that meant. I didn't even know what a think tank was, but that I could perhaps change more and help more people going that route than if I just worked at a church.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And so I really kind of learned Got excited about that idea, and I was a big, firm litigator for a couple of years after law school. Did a clerkship, a federal clerkship for a judge in Dallas in the Northern District. And then got a call from Rick Perry, also another... big-time Texas Aggie, ag major from an ag background, a rural town, and he'd just become governor.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And in Texas, George W. Bush had just become president. They had the old hanging chad. You know, think the election integrity issues are new to today. They are not new to today. This goes way back. But Rick Perry became governor. He was lieutenant governor. And he called me, and I was sitting, billing my every six minutes, the billable hour for this big law firm in Dallas. Loved the firm.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Didn't love the work. And he said, why don't you come join my new team down here in Austin? I was 28 years old. I'd only been out of law school for a couple of years. And he made me his deputy general counsel. Sort of shocking to everybody, but I'd known him. I met him when I was 15 as a future farmer of America. And he believed in me.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And so that was really how the pivot, as I was trying to figure out what was next, how I really leaned into public policy and And I found in the governor's office, it was a great experience. I only did it for two years at the very beginning of his administration, Rick Perry's. that you could make such a difference.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
But what I realized was that there was no one at that moment in Texas governance that was lobbying for freedom and for liberty and for God and for family, that all of those people that would come see me every day wanted something, even in Texas, looking for a specific law or wanting a little bit more taxpayer money.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And I wasn't even 30 yet, so I was sort of new to all of it, but I was put in a pretty a pretty highly responsible area. And it was so instructive to me. So anyway, long story short, I ended up planning to sort of step away from any sort of official work. And my husband and I were ready to start a family.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And I was going to do that for 20 years and then perhaps think about reentering the workforce, again, having no idea what that even meant. But I got a call from Wendy Graham, who was then Senator Phil Graham's wife, chair of this organization I had never heard of called the Texas Public Policy Foundation. And only had a couple of employees based in San Antonio.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
I was the governor's policy director at the time. I went from being deputy general counsel to taking on all the policy for Rick Perry. And she said, would you like to come do this? I didn't have any kids at the time. Well, you know, I could do it for a year or two.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And I didn't even know what a think tank was, but I did know that based on my experience in Rick Perry's office, I'm not an academic, I'm an ag major from Texas A&M, but that if there were significant efforts to build a policy apparatus, I couldn't have articulated this 20 years ago, but I can now into what my instinct was.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
if there were a significant policy apparatus or apparatuses, I guess, that were strategic and intentional and that didn't have clients that weren't paid to advocate for certain things, we only advocated for what was right, that it could change everything in Texas, everything. I'd just been the policy director. I had no one telling me what the right thing to do was.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
I just had the industry and lobby in my ear. And so I thought, well, yeah, let me go do this Texas public policy thing for a year or two, and that'll be fun. And then I'll really step away once my kids start coming, hopefully. And I looked up 15 years later with four kids, Luke, Jake, Anna, and Lily. I was doing the flexible work before it was a thing. My board at TPPF was wonderful.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Went from two employees to about 120. Became, I believe, the most effective public policy organization in the country. Moved Texas because I had been in the sausage making. So I knew Wasn't, again, wasn't an academic, which at the time most think tanks were run by. But I understood innately how to stop bad things and how to move good things. And that was really the bottom line.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And how to hire really, really good people. So I got a call from Jared Kushner, whom I had never met. I had been on the president candidate Donald Trump's economic team. Got a call when he was running against Hillary Clinton. Would you help us just build out our economic tax plan, deregulation plan, et cetera? And I said, of course, but I run a nonpartisan think tank.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And I'm always happy to help because obviously I think we thought Donald Trump was going to be more conservative than Hillary, but no one really knew, right? He'd been a Democrat very early, not very long ago.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And I said, but yes, if anyone calls and helps, I want them to understand the Texas model, what we did in cutting taxes and deregulating and the job growth that happened and how it helped poor people the most, going back to my original idea of going to seminary. And so he won. I was on that economic team. I was not interested in coming to D.C. or the White House. I told the team that.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
They said, what would you like to do? You were on the team when a lot of people weren't. And I said, no, no, no, I'm going to stay in Texas and help. Then I got a call from my now very good friend, but then at the time didn't know him, Jared Kushner, who said, whatever you're doing, this is about six months into term, year one of term one. What is that thing y'all are doing in Texas?
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
You know, criminal justice reform, deregulation, tax cuts. I mean, whatever, all of the great things you've done, that's sort of, can you come just talk to me about how you did it? And so I flew up to D.C. and flew up again and flew up again. And he started saying, we really need you in the White House. We want you to build something very similar to what you built in Texas, a
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
this relentless, super strategic, very intentional policy apparatus that could move things. And I said no. And then I said no again. And then I said no again. And then my family and I finally said yes. And so that's how I ended up in the last white house.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Well, it's a much bigger and more interesting story than that, I think. So the final year of term one, I took it upon myself. I sort of anointed myself as the person that would ensure that when President Trump won the second term on November 3rd of 2020, that we would be ready, unlike we were not in the first term.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And so I spent the year with Larry Kudlow, who ran the National Economic Council, Robert O'Brien, who ran National Security Council, and I was domestic policy at that point, and really drove an effort to put together an agenda in the teams that would be ready for that second term.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
And so when that didn't happen, and everyone else was discouraged, no one would hire Trump people, it was a very dark time. January 6th happened. In November of 2020, I realized that what I had been blessed to build in Texas what the Trump first White House asked me to help do within the West Wing, that that's what I needed to do on the national scale.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Never, never thinking for a second at that moment that President Trump was gonna run again, but the whole idea that we had just had four incredible years, that we had a team of people in the cabinet, Trump won, senior staff, Trump won, that finally not only knew how to talk about conservative issues, but knew how to govern. from a free market, America first perspective, and that couldn't be lost.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
If we lost that team, if we lost that thinking, if we lost that know-how, I didn't know if we'd ever get it back. And the Democrats are really good. The left is really good at government. We, our side is really good at raising families and building business. And so this happens every time that we're put into government.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
We have a team of people that have the best intentions, but we lose years because we don't know how to run a bureaucracy, how to deconstruct it and how to reconstruct it.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Yes, exactly, because that's it. It's the timeframe. So we launched the America First Policy Institute, and quietly in early February of 21, publicly in April, almost exactly four years ago today, in April of 21, I had nine former Trump cabinet members from Trump One, 50 former White House senior staff. Many were volunteers at the beginning.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
First 100 days. Yesterday was the 100th day of President Trump. I'm like 70 days. Right. But on President Trump yesterday, but today we celebrated together at the cabinet meeting. And we're about, I'm going back over to the White House right after we finish to do more celebrating.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Eventually, I could raise enough money to get everyone on payroll. But when the president won in November, AFPI and then our sister C4, we launched America First Works. It was a $90 million operation in just a couple of years. And I think fundamentally transformed the landscape.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Part of it, part of it, not all, part of it was getting ready for a second America first term, whether that was Donald Trump or whomever. And part of that was having 300 executive orders drafted, having 196 agency plans ready. And we did it all very quietly. No, we didn't talk about it in the press. No one really knew it was happening.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
So that then translated to seven of our team are now on the cabinet.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture | All-In DC
Dozens and dozens and dozens are in the White House and along with our other partners that in those dark days of early 21, you know, from Stephen Miller, there were just so many of us that were kind of, you know, in solidarity in those early days, not knowing that we would be back, but if given the opportunity, we would answer the call again.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-27-2025 2PM EDT
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a letter Saturday that she will restrict the importation of certain Mexican livestock because of an outbreak of what's called the New World Screwworm. The U.S. border closure would start Wednesday unless Mexico limits the outbreak of the parasite and lifts, quote, burdensome custom duties, end quote, on U.S. equipment.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-27-2025 2PM EDT
Before the screwworm outbreak, Mexico was the largest supplier of cattle to the U.S., This comes amid a global trade war launched by President Trump. Rollins told CNN that Trump has 100 countries with trade deals knocking on the door.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-27-2025 2PM EDT
Rollins also said Trump is prepared to bail farmers out amid the ongoing trade war. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2147 - HUGE: The Washington Post SURRENDERS…To Reality!
So just this morning, we announced the plan to, first of all, attack the avian flu and how we pull it back out of our poultry producers. But secondly, how we bring the cost of eggs down. So that plan has five parts. The first part is a biosecurity part. And what that means is that How do we lock our poultry barns down? How do we ensure that our egg laying chickens aren't getting this disease?
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2147 - HUGE: The Washington Post SURRENDERS…To Reality!
Secondly, we're going to work to move much more quickly on repopulating the 160 million birds that have been culled in just the last few months. Third is a deregulation effort that is ensuring that the rules that have been layered on our producers, our egg producers over the last really four years that we begin to peel those back. The fourth is we're looking to import eggs in the short term.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2147 - HUGE: The Washington Post SURRENDERS…To Reality!
This is just on the cost piece. And then the final more long term is putting significant funds into vaccine and therapeutic research.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
I think the silver lining in all of this is how do we in our backyards, we've got chickens in our backyard, how do we solve for something like this? And people are sort of looking around thinking, wow, well, maybe I could get a chicken in my backyard. And it's awesome. I agree. Yeah, I think everyone who isn't a farmer right now wants to be. So you're in the right department, Brooke.
The Bulwark Podcast
James Carville and Michael Weiss: The Whole Country Could Go Under
If you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine. That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
Oh, Charlie Kirk, I mean, really, what a joy on so many levels. I know we have gotten to talk quite a bit off of the camera and off of your show, but this is the first time I've been back on the show, and I'm just so grateful to do it. But thank you so much. It's the honor of a lifetime.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
Well, it's funny, you know, all of the talk in Washington and certainly the amazing State of the Union, which was unbelievable. I'm sure you've spent a lot of time on your show talking about it. Oh, yeah. And it's what's happening with Ukraine, what's happening with America across the world, what's happening at the border.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
I mean, what's really happening across all of government with Elon and Doge has just been... Astounding. It's another revolution. But at the end of the day, if the single mom who lives in Detroit, Michigan, can't go to the grocery store and afford a carton of eggs, then the world's not right, right? I mean, it's that sort of...
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
pocketbook issue and that as we, Charlie, you and I have long battled together to take the American dream to every corner of our country. These are really, real significant issues. I don't have my chart here with me, but if I did, and by the way, President Trump loves this chart, but it shows that for 40 years, the price of eggs was pretty static. It was right around $1.50, $2 a dozen.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
Then under Obama, it went up, not surprisingly, because of overregulation and higher taxes, et cetera. The cost of input went up, but not significantly, you know, maybe from $1.52 to $2.53. Then under Trump, without anything intentional, but just because less government, lower regulations, everyone did better, the prices went back down. But then under Biden...
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
they skyrocketed 230% higher than what they were under Trump 1. And there's reasons for that, over-regulation, et cetera. But the avian bird flu, which is a virus that these chickens have gotten, is a huge reason. The Biden team basically depopulated about 150 million chickens egg-laying hens last year, which is the protocol.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
We're looking at the protocol now to see how to tweak it so that hopefully we don't have to do that moving forward. But we did.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
We rolled out a five-point plan about a week ago, includes deregulation, includes repopulation much more quickly, includes importing eggs from other countries for the short term, and then for the long term, figuring out how to solve for these viruses that are basically annihilating significant populations in our poultry industry.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
That's exactly right. Now, alongside the Biden crazy inflation, crazy overregulation, crazy spending, right? I mean, the bird flu has certainly been a massive driver in that, but it isn't just that. And, you know, as much as we would love to get the price of eggs down to $2 by tomorrow, although I think we're making some good strides, I've seen some recent numbers that
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
This is going to take a little while. It's going to take a little while to figure out how to solve for the flu. It's going to take a little while to get the deregulation, such as Prop 12 in California and line speeds and other things back to normal before they were in Trump 1. And frankly, just bring the cost of goods down across the country. But we're making incredible strides.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
I'm so proud of this president. He has just been such a, I mean, we all know this, right? Such a warrior for everything that we care about. And my role now becomes, you know, the farmers, the ranchers, the ag community, bringing prosperity back to rural America and getting the price of those eggs down. That's at least what he's told me.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
Well, it is. And when I got the call on November 23rd from President Trump, it was a Saturday before Thanksgiving. My husband and my four kids and I were driving to Auburn, Alabama for the Texas A&M-Auburn football game and very unexpectedly had a conversation that, I mean, really kind of changed everything.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
Although I will eventually go back and join you, Charlie, out in the trenches doing the great work outside. I mean, yeah, that's where my heart is. But but but it is a it really is. It's a privilege. It's a blessing. But it's a big job. I mean, people assume, to your point, it's corn and soybeans and some beef.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
But it's also the food stamp program, which is a massive bureaucratic nightmare of a beast where we're not even really getting food. the food to the people who really need it most. And when we are, it includes Cokes and candy and all kinds of bad stuff. So there's massive amount of work that we need to do there. It also includes the Forest Service. So we've got the largest firefighting unit
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
Anywhere in the country of any size of government is the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. We've got almost 30,000 firefighters in our community. So yesterday I was in North Carolina.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
They've got some fires that have popped up that are a little bit scary, looking at the damage of Hurricane Helene, but also understanding what we need to do and the resources that are necessary to ensure we don't have another fire like what happened in California, that all the different components are are working well together. You name it.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
I think USDA was the first agency, the first cabinet position created after the founding of the country. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson created defense and state and attorney general, etc. They waited almost 100 years, and then Abraham Lincoln created the Department of Agriculture. And then it was a little while longer before the other ones came along.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
And so I think it became a little bit of the dumping ground for all the things that didn't have a place in a federal agency. But that's part of the great role. And I welcome it and I thrive with it. How do we realign the United States Department of Agriculture?
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
How do we set a model for not just the federal government, but around the country on how you realign, how you reduce in force, how you become more effective and more efficient with much less money? And that's what we in our very small team right now, we're still trying to get people in the door today. But that's what we're doing every day.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
Well, there's no doubt. I've been now to six or seven different states. I've only been in for about two and a half weeks, I guess three weeks, and been to, gosh, a bunch of states, talked to a bunch of farmers, almost 200, I think, from around the country, had a lot of them come to Washington. It's really important to me that I get outside the noise of Washington and outside the kind
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
the associations, et cetera, not that they don't play a very good role, but I want to talk to the farmers directly. And in so doing, the number one issue for them is the uncertainty that tariffs and the potential trade renegotiations, what that means for our ag community. And listen, Charlie, in 100 years, I'm not sure that the ag community, that our farmers and ranchers have been
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
operating at more of a razor-thin margin than they are today. I mean, it is not a good place to be. Our exports, we have a trade deficit of $49 billion in ag, thanks to Joe Biden. It was zero when we left President Trump's first term. That is real money taken out of the pockets of our farmers. But the number one thing they're concerned about is trade.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
And so yesterday, the president, who I have been talking to, and he These are his people, right? We are his people. And he knows that the rural communities and the ag communities have been with him since the moment he came down that escalator. It took other people a lot longer to get on board.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
In early 21, when others were running for the hills and not supporting President Trump, this community was, and he knows that. So he mentioned the State of the Union a few times on Tuesday night. Farmers, I'm with you. I love you. Yesterday, I talked to him multiples of times as they were finalizing at least a 30-day deal to exempt farmers
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
Ag products under USMCA going to Canada or Mexico, which is a huge relief, even if short-term. They exempted fertilizer, also called potash, from Canada under a different kind of line. But at the end of the day, the president is hyper-focused on delivering for the American people He was elected on tariffs being part of that toolkit in order to bring prosperity back to America.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
But I am so confident that he is also an everyday thinking about the real world effects on the backbone of this country and in rural America, which are our farmers.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
So at the end of the day, I think what's really important, and I'm assuming most of the people watching you today, Charlie, and are fans of yours probably also watched the president on Tuesday night. This isn't easy, right? Revolution is never easy. And there are really hard decisions to be made.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
And there are days that, my goodness, the concept of how you get this massive beast of the federal government that has gotten too big under both the Democrats and Republicans, right? Democrats and Republicans. How do you take it back to where it is meant to be? How do you return the power to the people?
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
How do you implement our founders' vision of self-governance when things have just gotten so out of control in Washington? And while, Charlie, you and I are both very much pathological optimists, I don't even know that you or I could have imagined the world that we're in right now in the best way, right? We've got... Elon Musk, who is just doing such a phenomenal job. We have a cabinet.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
We're like family, and we're all working together. We've all now known each other and worked together for years at this point. So it isn't like we're in our silos anymore. This is a team effort to save America. So as I'm going to the Hill, and part of my message has been, Charlie, When you're in a revolution and you are significantly reducing the size of government, nothing will be perfect.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
It will be imperfect. There will be mistakes made, but this sort of shaking up the whole system and almost restarting it in a way, There's not going to be another opportunity, I believe, perhaps in our lifetimes to do exactly what we're doing now.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
So even as I'm talking to our friends on the Hill, but even this morning, I talked to a Democrat senator, and I won't say who it was, but we had a very collegial conversation about what our goals are, what we're trying to do at USDA, the importance of returning voters. And realigning the agency.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
And for the most part, even those on the other side of the aisle understand that President Trump won with a mandate and winning a popular vote and winning all the swing states. And that's now what we're working to effectuate. So I have gotten nothing but mostly general support. positive feedback, even from those on the other side who understand what it is we're trying to do.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
And for the most part, doing it with the best, well, for our sake, we are doing it with the best of intentions. But even those on the other side, I think for the most part, recognize that while they are not in power, they may not make these decisions, but they realize this is what the American people have asked for.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
No, Brooke. Brooke forever.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
Thank you, Charlie.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Did Gavin Newsom Start A Dem Civil War? + The ActBlue Implosion
Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
The Headlines
U.S. Economy Under Stress, and a Behind-the-Scenes Look at DOGE
Talking to three or four countries right now about getting between 70 and 100 million eggs into the country in the next month or two, which of course will help with supply and demand.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Trump Admin Defends Gang Deportations, TX Teen Fatally Stabbed, Zuck Moves Near Trump: AM Update 4/4
He said, if they're violating federal law, Brooke, we should not be sending them federal taxpayer dollars. And I said, sir, you're 100 percent right. And he said, well, go fix it. So that's what we did at USDA. Yesterday, the letter we sent to Governor Mills said immediately we are freezing the funds. This is not just a threat that's empty.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Trump Admin Defends Gang Deportations, TX Teen Fatally Stabbed, Zuck Moves Near Trump: AM Update 4/4
This is what the Trump administration does, and this is who we are. We are here to fight for American people, the American values, an American dream, and our American girls and women every single day. So those are the steps we're taking at USDA to effectuate his vision.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Fox News in Panic Mode as Trump Plunges Markets
So I believe that you won't see a significant increase or maybe even an increase in the price of eggs in the coming weeks that we feel pretty confident in where that is.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Fox News in Panic Mode as Trump Plunges Markets
now well true but what i will say is this we have been working on the egg issue obviously since we started a couple months ago we released a big bold plan on a how to combat the avian flu b how to deregulate under biden's crazy over regulations out of here out of usda that caused the prices to go up even aside from the avian flu we saw those prices significantly decline but while that's happening we also put forward massive repopulation
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Fox News in Panic Mode as Trump Plunges Markets
So as those egg layers were wiped out, repopulating more quickly. So we'll see the market react to that. Will those eggs be tariffed coming in from Turkey or South Korea, wherever they are? Yes, they will. But the market in America is already adjusting.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Fed Up Dems Smack Down Trump for Total Failure
For example, President Trump laid out with a giant graphic of all the countries where tariffs were going to be, what he called reciprocal tariffs, were going to be imposed. And you're imposing a 10% tariff on the herd in McDonald Islands. The herd in McDonald Islands have zero human inhabitants. They have zero exports. They have zero imports. They do have a lot of penguins.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Fed Up Dems Smack Down Trump for Total Failure
Why are you putting import tariffs on islands that are entirely populated by penguins?
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Fox News Crashes Hard on Live TV as Trump Tanks Fast
And his tools in that tool basket of how to truly bring our economy back after the malaise of the Biden years, but it's gonna be a little bit bumpy. It will be imperfect. I mean, if it was easy and you could do it overnight, then it would happen with a snap of a fingers, but that's not it. And I think what's really telling
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Fox News Crashes Hard on Live TV as Trump Tanks Fast
is the president is so focused on not the short term, which as we all know, in politics, everyone's always worried about the short term. He truly wants to fix America so that we have the American dream for everyone in a way that we lost in the last four years. And until Trump won, we'd lost for a long, long time. So this is really the reality where we are today.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Fox News Crashes Hard on Live TV as Trump Tanks Fast
But I think Kevin's vision that it's going to be a little bumpy for a few weeks. But once we move into second quarter, we'll see a turnaround through deregulation, through lower taxes, through less government, through a focus on private enterprise and free markets versus a focus on bigger, bigger, bigger government spending, which is what we had in the last administration.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Trump Says 'Shut Up About Eggs' as He Golfs on Saturday
I think the silver lining in all of this is how do we in our backyards, we've got chickens in our backyard, how do we solve for something like this? And people are sort of looking around thinking, wow, well, maybe I could get a chicken in my backyard. And it's awesome. I agree with you.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Trump Holds Awful Presser on Friday
As I'm going to the Hill, and part of my message has been, Charlie, When you're in a revolution and you are significantly reducing the size of government, nothing will be perfect. It will be imperfect. There will be mistakes made.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Trump Holds Awful Presser on Friday
But this sort of shaking up the whole system and almost restarting it in a way, there's not going to be another opportunity, I believe, perhaps in our lifetimes to do exactly what we're doing now.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 4/11/25
Sir, first, we are, I would say, more than friends. We've all become family. And I think that what you have assembled in your vision is a turning point and an inflection point in American history. And so just being a part of that is the greatest honor. So thank you for that.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 4/11/25
And again, just the relationships here and the honor and respect we have for each other is a reflection of you and your leadership. So I just wanted to say that first. Okay. Are we in a Krispy Kreme?
WSJ What’s News
Microsoft Urges Trump to Loosen Export Rules on AI Chips
We're talking to three or four countries right now about getting between 70 and 100 million eggs into the country in the next month or two, which of course will help with supply and demand.