Give Trump a chance to implement plans

I think many of us are holding our breath to see if the many moves President Donald Trump is taking will help or hurt farmers and ranchers.

At this point we need to keep our powder dry, and let this process play out. If I am wrong, I will be the first to admit it.

But I firmly believe that our representatives in Congress railing against Trump’s plan to reform our federal government and save taxpayers money are going to regret it when they come up for reelection. Instead of being defensive they may want to do the people’s bidding.

And the press, who seem apoplectic over Trump’s actions, are going to eventually come to the realization that the American people are smarter than they think they are. When reading articles or hearing reports from the mainstream media pay close attention to who they are quoting and how many of those people are unnamed for some reason or another. If media sources are to be taken seriously, reporters need to tell readers their names and tell them why they are commenting.

We all know there is waste and fraud in the federal government and it is clear that members of Congress over the years have not been interested in fixing it. Now that Trump is forcing the issue those members are either going to admit it or fight it to the death.

I believe when Trump was running for his second term in office — unlike his opponent who was busy courting celebrities — he was talking and listening to the public and what he heard has forced him to do whatever he can to address the issues he heard about in those conversations.

Yes, we are all concerned about the potential fallout from tariffs, but Trump is also vowing to address waste and fraud associated with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and some Republicans in the House and Senate have introduced bill to move the Food for Peace international food assistance program from the U.S. Agency for International Development to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is supported by several ag groups. This would include buying farm goods from the U.S. rather than from foreign countries because whatever the agency needs it can be produced by our farmers and ranchers.

We have to think back at the policies of the previous administration that wanted to create a world of small farmers (not that small farmers aren’t important but we need large farms as well to feed the world), thought it would be good idea to replace real meat with lab-created meat and insect protein sources (remember Meat Out Day), took and attempted to take millions of acres out of farming and ranching activities, which is still occurring after he has left office. I know his administration has done some good but I think they were far more worried about climate change (think of the money wasted on studying cow farts) and used it to undermine farmer and rancher efforts.

I think America is reeling right now because we have a president in charge of the country working 24/7. As we all know, the previous president wasn’t really in charge and he spent every weekend at the beach.

We need to give Trump a chance to make his changes, which I’m sure he has been planning since he left office, and trust that he won’t abandon U.S. farmers and ranchers. And, based on his work ethic, he will not be accept any excuses as to why there is not a new farm bill.

Remember, the waste and fraud didn’t happen overnight and it will take time to get it fixed.