Letter to the editor: Don't fry for me Argentina

First published in the Brunswick Beacon, 10.01.26

In 2024 Trump pledged: “I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One.” In 2025 Trump posted: “I AM THE AFFORDABILITY PRESIDENT.” But Trump’s unconstitutional tariffs and unprovoked Iran war made everything more expensive, burdening you with the highest August gasoline prices in history. 

Denying reality, Trump called affordability a "hoax" and a “con job.” Trump bragged: “This is the greatest we'll ever be!” Americans’ greatest fear is that he might be right.

Trump’s attempt to renege on a campaign pledge voters relied on destroyed his inflation approval rating — at 22%, it’s the worst of any president.

Eventually, Trump had to face facts. With prices up 24% on his watch, Trump suspended tariffs on imported ground beef — an admission that HIS tariffs raised YOUR prices! 

Asked where it’s coming from Trump replied: "I don't want to say.” Many suspected it was Argentina. Trump previously said: “Argentina’s fighting for its life” and that he wants to “help them survive” because “I happen to like the president of Argentina.” Eventually, Trump admitted: “It’s coming from Argentina.”

China rejected Argentine beef contaminated with chloramphenicol, banned because it causes fatal blood disorders. After Texas recalled Argentine beef, its Republican Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller asked: “How much got through we didn't know about?” adding: “When it's repackaged and mixed with our beef, it can be labeled as a product of the USA. We don't even know that it's from Argentina. That's lying to the American consumer.”

Trump’s Argentine bailout hurts America’s ranchers. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association warned against government intervention: “Flooding the market with government-subsidized, below-market beef is not the way to rebuild the American cattle herd.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) warned about “Dumping foreign beef in U.S. markets.” Massie called Trump’s intervention in America’s free market economy “Worse than socialism!”

Massie’s right. Trump’s meddling is much worse if he’s helping Argentine ranchers unload contaminated beef at the expense of American cattlemen — and your health.

Michael Rush 

Leland