Trump dismisses farmers’ concerns over trade war as his agriculture secretary insults them

https://thinkprogress.org/as-trumps-trade-war-undermines-american-farmers-his-agriculture-secretary-mocks-them-for-whining-1cc57272a1bc/?fbclid=IwAR1Gh2LmrSToOA4SabMbGWiGd5bmb7UiXkZudtOnPZxdFp3HtznF3_hSG6Y
"President Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to pursue trade wars with China has increased America’s trade deficit and harmed American farmers who rely on exports to earn a living. As the president continued to lie this week about how his policies have hurt those farmers, his cabinet secretary responsible for overseeing farming came under fire for calling them a bunch of whiners. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, who previously admitted that U.S. growers were paying the price for the administration’s trade policies and were “one of the casualties there of the trade disruption,” insulted them last week at a Farmfest event in Minnesota. “I had a farmer tell me this in Pennsylvania,” Perdue told the audience at a listening session hosted by House Agriculture Committee Chair Collin Peterson (D-MN). “He said ‘What do you call two farmers in a basement?’ I said ‘I don’t know, what do you call them?’ He said ‘A whine cellar.'” That attempt at humor was reportedly met with some laughter but also booing. Despite the dire effects of his ongoing trade war, Trump has touted his repeated tariff threats against countries like China as beneficial to the country."