Trump's Ag Secretary Uses His New Taxpayer-Funded "Farm" Podcast to Suck Up to Trump

Source: Mother Jones



What do you call a white guy babbling platitudes? If you thought “a podcast,” have I got a new audio product for you! Sonny Perdue, former bumbling governor of Georgia and current bumbling secretary of the US Department of Agriculture under President Donald Trump, has launched The Sonnyside of the Farm. The podcast’s literally corny USDA landing page promises that Perdue will hold forth with guests on “issues facing America’s farmers, ranchers, producers and foresters today.”

From that description, you might expect to hear about Trump’s trade war with China, which has tanked soybean prices and inspired the administration to deliver $28 billion (and counting) in cash handouts to farmers, more than double the total price tag for the previous administration’s auto industry bailout. Or about the fury of corn growers at the administration’s recent ethanol policies. Or maybe even the climate chaos that has roiled farmers from the Midwest to the Southeast this year.

But in Sonnyside‘s maiden voyage, dropped a week after the House of Representatives announced an impeachment inquiry against Trump, the secretary mostly dispenses with the ag talk. His first guest is neither a farmer, a rancher, a producer, nor a forester. Rather, she is Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a career political operative now openly contemplating a run for Arkansas governor, best known for her stint as Trump’s extremely loyal press secretary. Perdue and Sanders chatted in Little Rock, and it’s worth a listen:

They open with a bit of mutual admiration. Sanders: “The president is so lucky to have you out there fighting for him.” Perdue: “I don’t think anybody fought harder than you did, and everyone admires the service you gave to the administration and the president.” After that, Perdue turns his flattery onto Sanders’ father, Trump loyalist and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, whom Perdue describes as his “good friend,” a “man of the people,” and a “wonderful communicator for our values and our way of life.”

Read more: https://www.motherjones.com/food/2019/10/trumps-ag-secretary-uses-his-new-taxpayer-funded-farm-podcast-to-suck-up-to-trump/