I had a great call yesterday about the kind of data, stories and experts the local media needs for a story. And then how the local GOP politicians dismiss the story. We discussed how fear of retaliation from the Trump admin and MAGA on social media keeps everyone quiet.
I talked about how I had lined up some experts to talk about how the USAID cuts hurt people in foreign countries, and how how they hurt the farmers in the Midwest.
Having the experts and data is one thing, but most farmers wouldn’t know that the money for food aid they got from USAID is not very coming back.
I asked WHO are the subcontractors who bought the food to sell to USAID? Will they talk? Why not? Fear of retaliation.
I had wanted to develop local stories people can use on TV. But Big Ag won’t talk publicly. They cut deals to stay “whole” while smaller farmers just know if the money comes in or it doesn’t.
I had wanted the USAID cuts to Food Aid to be a big story, but it was drowned out by new stories. I saw how local politicians got a list of talking points about bad USAID programs (20 million for a Sesame Street program for Iraq!) I saw that they have the data about the food aid cuts from USAID.
I know that BIG agribusiness was (and is) afraid to talk to the press about the impact of DOGE cuts to food aid. For example, Conagra. (NYSE: CAG) won’t talk about the impact of cuts because it is a public company and that would be considered “guidance.” Massive cuts in government funding is called a “material event*” and can move the stock price. They are very careful about what they publicly say, so they make private calls to cut deals.
I might have been able to get a local TV or newspaper to talk to an agribusiness analyst to explain what happened, but it’s not a good “these poor farmers” story. The story needs to be “Live, Local and LATE BREAKING” like after a Town Hall or a protest.
Local TV and papers might be able to follow that USAID food aid money isn’t coming back. They could say, that the take down of USAID means America stops feeding kids around the world. When they TV station talks to the local GOP politician, they point to all the Waste Fraud and Abuse (Sesame Street for Iraq kids!” and the need to cut the deficit. What do you want them to do? Tax the rich?
Will kids in other countries die? Yes, but that’s far away and months from now. If you ask experts they will say sure, eventually the bags of rice or wheat will return. but they’ll say some NGO, or more likely China will have their name on the grain.
Do the local farmers care? Maybe, but maybe not. The media doesn’t want to go into the moral issues of food used a weapon or a support. Is America’s loss of soft power around the globe a concern of midwestern farmers? Maybe, but they can be silenced if they get their money. Does it matter who it is from? Is SOMEONE being fed using their food? Great.
A lot of farmers don’t want to be “political,” if by political if means speaking out against Trump. However, if some outsider billionaire and a bunch of hacker kids are cutting their funding, they can complain. They can even shout at their local politician to complain.
Does big AG care? Yes, especially if it impacts their quarterly earnings. To make up for that they will make calls behind the scenes to pressure the State Department, the Agricultural secretary, and the President.
The big AG lobbyist MIGHT call their local GOP politician to let them know how this is hurting them, their REAL constituents, who donate money to their campaign. But they won’t talk bad about them to the local media after a Town Hall.
Why are big corporations afraid to talk about actions that will hurt their bottom line? We have seen what happened when Amazon spoke out publicly. So this is what might be happening now behind the scenes.
Big men, strong men call Trump with tears in they eyes,
“Please sir, give us an exception on tariffs for our crops! If you can’t do that because, as we all know China pays them, could you do like last time and give us money? We don’t want to be like Jeff Bezos and talk to the media about tariffs. We totally support your tariffs, and your Trump coins. Also, a bunch of our friends are having dinner with you next week, right before our quarterly earnings announcements. You’ll be able to spot them since they will be wearing “Trump was right about everything” hats.”
When creating stories about the harm that DOGE is doing, we need to prepare for the world of fear of retaliation that even the most powerful experience.
What the powerful won’t tell you is that they NEED they protests against DOGE and Musk to be the face of how it will hurt them. Right now they are existing in a world of extortion and political pay offs. The media need the faces of the small business people and farmers to tell a story. The media needs whistleblowers to reveal what is happening inside.
Right now, if I wanted to reveal stories about the harm DOGE is doing, I’d figure out a way to put BIG AG and their lobbyists in the picture. Show the media what they are saying behind the scenes. Let THEM take the heat from Trump, not some Midwest farmer. I’d reveal who the big investors who call Lutnick and Bessent are, and what they are saying to them, so that they will get heat from Trump on Truth Social. I’d let the Murdock owned Wall Street Journal, break another story about why Trump is failing, so that they get called “the failing WSJ” and are kicked out of the White House press briefings, not the AP and Reuters.
Elon Musk sees money spent on food as wasteful. He thinks empathy for others makes us weak.
He can’t see the power of caring for others and feeding kids. But Tim Walz could.
Musk and the DOGE boys will never feel this joy.
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