rollins, brooke USDA 3 AFPI

PRIMARY 1 26 ~ SCI MCCARTHY

SEE SCI SUPPRESS ~ EXPERT // Fascism

SEE XO GLYPHO PHOSPHATE WAR BS // EMERGENCY

TPPF

ANTI-COMMIE

KUDLOW RFK2 VOUGHT DAN SIMMONS RUCKER

Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council during the first Trump administration, co-founded AFPI with Rollins. DUNN EMPOWER TEXAS

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SEE ACad suppress

FAIL PANDEMIC: MEASLES WHOOP COUGH EBOLA SCREW WORM

see DENIAL RED BLUE TEAM HAPPER

VOTER SUPPRESS ELECTION INTEGRITY CLETA BS ONLY CITS

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SEE CULT DEAR LEADER

see PJT 2025

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JUST HOW XIAN? SEE DUNN // vought fdn fr

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HAGEMAN

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RWW VID

Christian Nationalist Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins Says The Trump Administration Is 'Bringing The Light To A Very Dark World'

09/17/2026

byKyle Mantyla

Christian nationalist Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins sat down for an interview with right-wing broadcaster Erick Stakelbeck at the Republican midterm convention earlier this month, during which she bragged that she knows God is supporting the Trump administration because they are a "group of warriors" who are dedicated to "bringing the light to a very dark world."

After serving in various capacities during the first Trump administration, Rollins and other Trump insiders launched the America First Policy Institute, which has subsequently played a key role in staffing the second Trump administration. In her current capacity as Agriculture Secretary, Rollins has been leading right-wing Bible study sessions for members of Trump cabinet.DROLLINGER

"I believe so strongly that God was not done with our country, that we are the greatest country in the history of the world.," Rollins said. "So, building that organization [AFPI] to prepare for a second term of America First—whether it was President Trump or somebody else—is what we did. But now to be able to step up and meet the moment; I pray a lot that maybe we don't feel like Moses, frankly, in Exodus, maybe we don't feel like we're fully prepared for this moment, but that God's got us."

"Walking into the West Wing every morning, I could feel God was with us," she continued. "I felt just this peace. These jobs are hard. You're being shot at figuratively, and our president literally, 24-7. The mainstream media is so dark. Big business, big government, big agriculture, big all of it is against you and so walking in that first term and seeing all of those wins in the first term, [it was a sign] that God was with us."

"I held Bible studies in the first term, we prayed all the time," Rollins added. "We built the America First policy Institute on the biblical foundations of everything: It's biblical to want a secure border. It's biblical to put children first in their education.

It's biblical to put patients first in healthcare. It's biblical to fight back to the land of milk and honey in the Old Testament, to fight for our farmers and ranchers. And now to be here the second time and to see this extraordinary amount of winning that we've been able to do, none of it is possible without God. We are a group of warriors to our core. gathering once a week to have a cabinet Bible study and remind all of us what we're fighting for."

"I do use this platform," Rollins admitted. "I believe in making disciples of all the nations. I believe that God has blessed this country and so ensuring that we are using this and bringing the light to a very dark world, that's what this administration is about."

"I have been sued a couple of times for, they say, talking about Jesus too much, but I'll never stop talking about Jesus, " Rollins vowed, before claiming that America will be doomed if Republicans do not maintain control of government in the midterm elections.

"The stakes couldn't be higher," she warned. "It's an existential threat to the future of not just America, to the world. ... I have two daughters and two sons. I will hopefully someday have some grandchildren and they will not have an America that we have unless we're able to win at the ballot box. We can keep fighting every day, but if those socialists, those Democrat socialists who believe in bigger government, who don't believe in God, their religion is a radical climate agenda, wake up America. This is real and the darkness will overcome the light in this country if we're not successful at the ballot box today and in the future."

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Red state farmers left reeling after Trump 'demolished' key agency

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will not say where beef comes, argent ~ china toxic?

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Trump torn apart for passing the buck on manufacturing losses

an 8 26

rollins blames dem gnd for beef $

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DESMOG

Brooke Rollins

Rollins was an aide to Texas Governor Rick Perry before spending 15 years leading the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), which she left in early 2018 to become assistant to the president in the Office of American Innovation (OIA), based in the White House (some wonder what the OIA actually does).

During her time at TPPF, Rollins promoted the work of the organization’s Kathleen Hartnett White, a climate science denier and fossil fuel evangelist whose controversial nomination to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality was ultimately withdrawn.

In August 2018, Rollins appeared at the Heartland Institute’s energy conference alongside that think tank’s new president Tim Huelskamp.

At the conference, Rollins nodded as Huelskamp suggested American schoolchildren’s heads were being “filled with mush” about the dangers of CO2.

When asked if the inner-workings of the White House were as chaotic as some media had claimed, Rollins replied: “Is there chaos? Yes. But I would say it’s like the chaos of my home — having four children in five years.”

Home life was like a “goat rodeo,” she said, and working in the White House wasn’t “much different.”

While at TPPF, Rollins wrote that Trump should exit the Paris climate agreement.

What she’s actually doing in her role with OIA remains unclear, but the fact that she appeared at the America First Energy Conference, hosted by a climate science denying think tank, indicates she isn’t likely straying from her previous positions on climate and energy.

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BALLOTPEDIA

Brooke L. Rollins is the United States secretary of agriculture in President Donald Trump's (R) second administration. The Senate voted 72-28 to confirm her on February 13, 2025.^[1]

Rollins co-founded the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) in 2021 and was the president and CEO of the nonprofit group with a mission of advancing President Donald Trump's public policy agenda after his first term in office.^[2] Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council during the first Trump administration, co-founded AFPI with Rollins.^[2] She was also the head of Trump's Domestic Policy Council and an assistant to the president in the Office of American Innovation in Trump's first presidential term.^[3]

Rollins grew up in Glen Rose, Texas, 52 miles southwest of Fort Worth, and graduated from Glen Rose High School, where she was a member of the Texas FFA Association and served as a State Officer.^[2] She attended Texas A&M University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture Development and was the first female to serve as Student Body President.^[4]

Rollins graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law and spent several years as a litigator with Hughes & Luce, L.L.P., in Dallas, Texas, focusing primarily on complex commercial litigation. She also completed a federal judicial clerkship with the Honorable Barbara M.G. Lynn, a United States Federal District Judge in the Northern District of Texas.^[2] Rollins' mother, Helen Kerwin (R), won election to the Texas House of Representatives in 2024.

From 2003 to 2018, Rollins was the president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a public policy think tank which described its mission as "to promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas and the nation," and that conducted research on education, taxes, tort reform, deregulation, criminal justice, and health care policy.^[4] During her time leading the organization, the Dallas Morning News described the foundation as "advocates for small government and free markets."^[5] Rollins also served as Governor Rick Perry’s (R) deputy general counsel, and later as his policy director, managing state policy issues including education, transportation, natural resources, agriculture, criminal justice, economic development, health and human services, and insurance.^[6]

According to reporting from Politico, during the first Trump administration "Rollins allied herself with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was widely viewed as the leader of the White House’s more centrist and corporatist faction."^[6] After her nomination for secretary of Agriculture, Politico reported that "conservative-leaning agriculture groups... view Rollins as a potentially promising pick, but still a wildcard on traditional agriculture policy."^[7]

President Trump announced on November 23, 2024, that he had selected Rollins as his nominee for secretary of Agriculture in his second presidential term. In a statement, Trump said, "Brooke's commitment to support the American Farmer, defense of American Food Self-Sufficiency, and the restoration of Agriculture-dependent American Small Towns is second to none."^[8]

Biography

Raised in Glen Rose, Rollins graduated from Glen Rose High School, where she was an active member of the Texas FFA Association, serving as a State Officer. She attended Texas A&M University and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture Development. While at Texas A&M, Rollins was the first female to serve as Student Body President and was recognized as the top graduate based on academics, leadership, and service. Rollins was invited back to campus as the 2007 Aggie Muster speaker.

Rollins formerly worked as the president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit group with a mission of advancing former President Donald Trump's public policy agenda. Previously, Rollins was the head of Trump's Domestic Policy Council and an assistant to the president in the Office of American Innovation in Trump's first presidential term.^[9]

Rollins is the former president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a free market public policy think tank that has conducted research on education, taxes, tort reform, deregulation, criminal justice, and health care policy.^[10] Before joining the TPPF, Rollins served as Governor Rick Perry’s deputy general counsel, and later as his policy director. She managed the Governor’s Policy Division and all policy issues, including education, transportation, natural resources, agriculture, criminal justice, economic development, health and human services, and insurance.

Rollins is a member of the Texas Lyceum, the Texas Bar Association, and the Texas A&M Former Students Association.

Nomination for U.S. secretary of agriculture

Donald Trump's Cabinet (second term)	Donald Trump's Cabinet (second term)	Donald Trump's Cabinet (second term)
Candidate: Brooke Rollins	Candidate: Brooke Rollins	Candidate: Brooke Rollins
Position: Secretary of Agriculture	Position: Secretary of Agriculture	Position: Secretary of Agriculture
	Announced:	November 23, 2024
	Hearing:	January 23, 2025
	Committee:	Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
	Reported:	Favorable (23-0)
	Confirmed:	February 13, 2025
	Vote:	72-28

Trump announced on November 23, 2024, that he had selected Rollins as his nominee for secretary of Agriculture in his second presidential term. In a statement, Trump said, "Brooke's commitment to support the American Farmer, defense of American Food Self-Sufficiency, and the restoration of Agriculture-dependent American Small Towns is second to none."^[11]

The Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry held a confirmation hearing for Rollins on January 23, 2025.^[12] The Senate voted 72-28 to confirm Rollins on February 13, 2025, with all 53 Republicans and 19 Democrats voting in favor. Twenty-six Democrats and both Independents who caucus with Democrats voted against her confirmation.^[13] Click here to read more about the confirmation process.

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FAIL

AN 6 26

Flesh-eating parasite 'no longer contained in Texas' as Trump USDA deflects blame

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After graduating from Texas A&M, Rollins earned a law degree from the University of Texas. She served as Gov. Rick Perry’s policy director, then led the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a political policy think tank.

GLEN ROSE RODEO

Her major policy think-tank, the America First Policy Institute (which she co-founded and led), aligns closely with the conservative judiciary transformations championed by the Federalist Society. Additionally, key legal counsels she has appointed within the USDA, such as Tyler Clarkson, are known former leaders of Federalist Society chapters. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

MILLERCTR UVA?

When President Trump was reelected in 2024, he tapped Rollins to serve as Secretary of Agriculture. On February 13, 2025, the Senate confirmed Rollins as Secretary of Agriculture by a 72–28 vote. Later that day, she was sworn into office by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.

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BIBLE STUDY W KKKAROLINE

BROOKE ROLLINS SUED OVER EASTER LTR HE IS RISEN 5 26

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AN 5 26

President Donald Trump and his administration have openly preached for Christianity to shape national policy since he began his second term — yet the vast majority of Americans do not share this agenda.

“The religious right has been ascendant during the second presidency of Donald Trump, and they’ve harnessed his disdain for rules and norms to blur the lines between church and state,” reported Vox's Christian Paz on Thursday. “Inside the White House, the secretary of defense has framed the war in Iran and American military action abroad as sanctioned and guided by God. Outside the government, this alliance between church and state often skirts near the edge of outright idolatry. Conservative pastors are erecting golden statues of Trump (but insisting it does not mirror the infamous golden calf of the Old Testament). They’re extending their hands over the president in prayer after comparing him to Jesus and standing by him, with some mild criticism, after he cast himself as an AI-slop Messiah.”

Yet despite this open call for religion to dictate American policy, Paz reported that a recent survey by Pew Research Center reveals that most Americans do not want this to happen. A mere 10 percent identify as Christian nationalists, compared to 31 percent who oppose them and 59 percent who have no opinion. When it comes to the division between church and state, 13 percent want it weakened while 54 percent support it and 32 percent have no opinion.

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COM DR 5 26

‘4.3 Million Off SNAP and Counting!’ Trump Official Celebrates Mass Loss of Food Aid

“Kicking 4.3 million Americans off of SNAP is not a flex, it’s a failure,” said Democratic Rep. Shontel Brown.

Brad Reed

May 04, 2026

IFrame Content

US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on Saturday openly celebrated millions of people losing their food assistance, which experts say is a direct result of the Republicans’ 2025 budget law that slashed funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by $186 billion over a decade.

In a social media post pointing to preliminary data from her department, Rollins boasted that there were now “4.3 million off SNAP and counting!”

](https://www.commondreams.org/news/republicans-cut-food-aid)

Outrage Grows Over GOP Plan to Take Food Aid From Millions of Women and Children

“Under President Trump, Americans are getting back to work!” Rollins added. “Healthy employment numbers mean less reliance on government programs. Leaving benefits for those who truly need them. America is back in business!”

In reality, the unemployment rate is currently higher than when President Donald Trump took office in February 2025 and there has been almost no growth in net employment since the president announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs just over a year ago.

The Associated Press on Monday published a fact check of Rollins’ claims about SNAP, finding that Republicans’ cuts to the program were far more likely responsible for the historic drops in enrollment than any purported improvement in the economy.

Caitlin Caspi, an associate professor at the University of Connecticut who studies food insecurity, told the AP that current job creation numbers are nowhere near strong enough to explain the massive number of Americans losing access to SNAP.

“We’re not seeing a linear kind of drop-off,” Caspi said. “We are not seeing, if you look at the unemployment rates, things that might be an indicator that a strong economy was driving this change. We don’t see, for example, a pattern of decline in unemployment that would match the pattern of decline in SNAP participation.”

Caspi’s analysis was echoed by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), which last week published an analysis finding that “economic conditions haven’t been improving as the number of people receiving SNAP has plummeted in recent months, representing the sharpest decline in decades.”

Instead, CBPP pointed the finger squarely at the GOP’s budget law as the biggest culprit behind the decline.

“The deep cuts to federal funding for SNAP are shifting significant new costs to states,” wrote CBPP, noting that the GOP law “also dramatically expands SNAP’s already harsh and ineffective provision taking away people’s benefits for not meeting the work requirement.”

Rollins’ claims about SNAP enrollment were also criticized by Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio), who expressed disgust that the administration is bragging about kicking people off food assistance during a time when the price of groceries has continued to rise thanks in part to Trump’s own policies.

“Better economy where?” Brown wrote on social media in response to Rollins. “You mean the one where Americans paid $300 more on their groceries to compensate for Trump’s tariffs? Kicking 4.3 million Americans off of SNAP is not a flex, it’s a failure. That’s why I’ve authored legislation to reverse the Trump SNAP cuts.”

AI? --> BROCCOLI CHICKEN TORTILLA

THX SOTU EGGS CHICKEN FRUIT AND ---- 2 26

ORWELL BIG BRO BANNERS COPIED

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ref 1 xo

Promoting the National Defense by Ensuring an Adequate Supply of Elemental Phosphorus and Glyphosate-Based Herbicides – The White House

PROMOTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE BY ENSURING AN ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF ELEMENTAL PHOSPHORUS AND GLYPHOSATE-BASED HERBICIDES

Executive Orders

February 18, 2026

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) (the “Act”), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered:

_Section_ 1. _Policy and Findings_. Elemental phosphorus is pervasive in defense supply chains and is therefore crucial to military readiness and national defense. It is a key input in smoke, illumination, and incendiary devices and is a critical component for manufacturing the semiconductors that are central to numerous defense technologies, such as radar, solar cells, sensors, and optoelectronics. It is also increasingly important in modern lithium-ion battery chemistries used in a multitude of weapon-system supply chains. For these and other reasons, on November 7, 2025, the Department of the Interior, acting pursuant to the Energy Act of 2020, designated phosphate as a critical mineral.

Elemental phosphorus is also a critical precursor element for the production of glyphosate-based herbicides, which play a critical role in maintaining America’s agricultural advantage by enabling farmers to efficiently and cost-effectively produce food and livestock feed. As the most widely used crop protection tools in United States agriculture, glyphosate-based herbicides are a cornerstone of this Nation’s agricultural productivity and rural economy, allowing United States farmers and ranchers to maintain high yields and low production costs while ensuring that healthy, affordable food options remain within reach for all American families.

There is no direct one-for-one chemical alternative to glyphosate-based herbicides. Lack of access to glyphosate-based herbicides would critically jeopardize agricultural productivity, adding pressure to the domestic food system, and may result in a transition of cropland to other uses due to low productivity. Given the profit margins growers currently face, any major restrictions in access to glyphosate-based herbicides would result in economic losses for growers and make it untenable for them to meet growing food and feed demands.

:{:{Ensuring an adequate supply of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides is thus crucial to the national security and defense, including food-supply security, which is essential to protecting the health and safety of Americans. Nonetheless, the United States’ ability to domestically produce those critical inputs is extremely limited. Indeed, there is only a single domestic producer of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides, and this producer does not meet our annual needs for those inputs. }:

For that reason, more than 6,000,000 kilograms of elemental phosphorus are imported from other countries annually. Future reduction or the cessation of domestic production of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides would gravely threaten American national security by disrupting, and requiring the further offshoring of, this Nation’s defense supply chain including by having a debilitating impact on domestic agricultural capabilities.}:

I accordingly find that, consistent with the Department of the Interior’s designation, elemental phosphorus is a scarce material that is critical to national defense and security. Our Nation’s inadequate elemental phosphorus production, which must sustain both defense manufacturing and our significant agricultural needs, and the threat of increased domestic scarcity leave us vulnerable to hostile foreign actors and pose an imminent threat to military readiness.

Consistent with these findings, I find that ensuring robust domestic elemental phosphorus mining and United States-based production of glyphosate-based herbicides is central to American economic and national security. Without immediate Federal action, the United States remains inadequately equipped and vulnerable. Accordingly, I hereby find, pursuant to section 101 of the Act, that domestic elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides meet the criteria specified in section 101(b) of the Act (50 U.S.C. 4511(b)).

:{_Sec_. _2_. _Ensuring an Adequate Supply of Elemental Phosphorus and Glyphosate-Based Herbicides_. (a)

Notwithstanding Executive Order 13603 of March 16, 2012 (National Defense Resources Preparedness), the authority of the President conferred by section 101 of the Act to require performance of contracts or orders (other than contracts of employment) to promote the national defense over performance of any other contracts or orders, to allocate materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense, and to implement the Act in subchapter III of chapter 55 of title 50, United States Code (50 U.S.C. 4554, 4555, 4556, 4559, 4560), is delegated to the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) with respect to ensuring a continued and adequate supply of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides.}:

(b) The Secretary shall use the authority under section 101 of the Act (50 U.S.C. 4511), in consultation with the Secretary of War, to determine the proper nationwide priorities and allocation of all the materials, services, and facilities necessary to ensure a continued and adequate supply of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides.

(c) The Secretary shall issue such orders and adopt and revise appropriate rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement this order.

(d) In exercising the authority delegated in this section, the Secretary shall take into account the President’s judgment that domestic production of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides is critical to the national defense. Accordingly, the Secretary shall ensure that any order, rule, or regulation issued under this section does not place the corporate viability of any domestic producer of elemental phosphorus or glyphosate-based herbicides at risk.

_Sec_. _3_. _Immunity_. This order confers all immunity provided for in section 707 of the Act (50 U.S.C. 4557). Additionally, domestic producers of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides are required to comply with this order, in accordance with the provisions of 7 C.F.R. part 789.

_Sec_. _4_. _General Provisions_. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

(d) The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of Agriculture.

DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,

February 18, 2026.

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afpi got 1m$ from trump save am pac

rick perry --> TPPF (trump coup war games fuckery?) her old WH boss pal of javanka

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CFACT co-sponsors 'Land and Liberty' gathering in Texas - National Today

National Today

The 'Land and Liberty Conference' held on February 13-14 in Fort Worth, Texas brought together around 150 property rights activists from across ...

CFACT co-sponsors 'Land and Liberty' gathering in Texas

Around 150 property rights leaders convened in Fort Worth to discuss strategies and listen to speakers like former Trump Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

Published on Feb. 16, 2026

Got story updates?Submit your updates here. ›

The 'Land and Liberty Conference' held on February 13-14 in Fort Worth, Texas brought together around 150 property rights activists from across the country. The event, co-sponsored by CFACT, featured panels, workshops, and Texas hospitality including barbecue and a rodeo. Speakers included former Trump Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Congressman Harriett Hageman, and Texas Agriculture Secretary Sid Miller.

Why it matters

The conference highlighted the growing movement of property rights advocates who are pushing back against what they see as an overreach of environmental regulations and a 'far-Left political agenda that is decidedly anti-human and anti-freedom.' The gathering aimed to reclaim the mantle of 'wise stewardship' of natural resources.

The details

The two-day conference covered topics such as energy security, financial exploitation of natural resources, reopening federal lands, and defending landowner rights. CFACT, a prominent co-sponsor, hosted a panel featuring its president Craig Rucker and communications director Marc Morano, as well as representatives from the Heartland Institute.

The 'Land and Liberty Conference' took place on February 13-14, 2026 in Fort Worth, Texas.
This was the third time in recent years the event has been held.

The players

CFACT

The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) is a nonprofit organization that promotes free market environmentalism and opposes what it sees as excessive environmental regulation.

Craig Rucker

The president of CFACT.

Marc Morano

The director of communications for CFACT.

Brooke Rollins

The former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under President Trump.

Harriett Hageman

A U.S. Congressman.

Sid Miller

The Texas Secretary of Agriculture.

Got photos?Submit your photos here. ›

What they’re saying

“The Green movement has undergone a transition, one that moved from wise conservation and stewardship of the land, a position held by everyone a 100 years ago, to one that now promotes a far-Left political agenda that is decidedly anti-human and anti-freedom. We need to reclaim the mantle of 'wise stewardship' and save the environmental movement from itself.”

— Craig Rucker, President, CFACT (CFACT.org)

“I can feel the momentum building since our first gathering in Lincoln, Nebraska. President Trump's influence is clearly energizing the movement. I can't wait for next year!”

— Marc Morano, Director of Communications, CFACT (CFACT.org)

What’s next

The organizers plan to host the 'Land and Liberty Conference' again next year, building on the momentum from this year's event.

The takeaway

The 'Land and Liberty Conference' highlights the growing influence of property rights advocates who are pushing back against what they view as excessive environmental regulations and a political agenda that is 'anti-human and anti-freedom.' The conference aimed to reclaim the mantle of 'wise stewardship' of natural resources.

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AN PP 1 26

The Trump administration is directing employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate foreign scientists who collaborate with the agency on research papers for evidence of “subversive or criminal activity.”

The new directive, part of a broader effort to increase scrutiny of research done with foreign partners, asks workers in the agency’s research arm to use Google to check the backgrounds of all foreign nationals collaborating with its scientists. The names of flagged scientists are being sent to national security experts at the agency, according to records reviewed by ProPublica.

At a meeting last month, USDA supervisors pushed back against the instructions, with one calling it “dystopic” and others expressing shock and confusion, according to an audio recording reviewed by ProPublica.

The USDA frequently collaborates with scientists based at universities in the U.S. and abroad. Some agency workers told ProPublica they were uncomfortable with the new requirement because they felt it could put those scientists in the crosshairs of the administration. Students and postdocs are particularly vulnerable as many are in the U.S. on temporary visas and green cards, the employees said.

Jennifer Jones, director for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called the directive a “throwback to McCarthyism” that could encourage scientists to avoid working with the “best and brightest” researchers from around the world.

“Asking scientists to spy on and report on their fellow co-authors” is a “classic hallmark of authoritarianism,” Jones said. The Union of Concerned Scientists is an organization that advocates for scientific integrity.

Jones, who hadn’t heard of the instructions until contacted by ProPublica, said she had never witnessed policies so extreme during prior administrations or in her former career as an academic scientist.

The new policy applies to pending scientific publications co-authored by employees in the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, which conducts research on crop yields, invasive species, plant genetics and other agricultural issues.

The USDA instructed employees to stop agency researchers from collaborating on or publishing papers with scientists from “countries of concern,” including China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela.

But the agency is also vetting scientists from nations not considered “countries of concern” before deciding whether USDA researchers can publish papers with them. Employees are including the names of foreign co-authors from nations such as Canada and Germany on lists shared with the department’s Office of Homeland Security, according to records reviewed by ProPublica. That office leads the USDA’s security initiatives and includes a division that works with federal intelligence agencies. The records don’t say what the office plans to do with the lists of names.

Asked about the changes, the USDA sent a statement noting that in his first term, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum designed to strengthen protections of U.S.-funded research across the federal government against foreign government interference. “USDA under the Biden Administration spent four years failing to implement this directive,” the statement said. The agency said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins last year rolled out “long-needed changes within USDA’s research enterprise, including a prohibition on authoring a publication with a foreign national from a country of concern.”

International research has been essential to the Agricultural Research Service’s work, according to a page of the USDA website last updated in 2024: “From learning how to mitigate diseases before they reach the United States, to testing models and crops in diverse growing conditions, to accessing resources not available in the United States, cooperation with international partners provides solutions to current and future agricultural challenges.”

Still, the U.S. government has long been worried about agricultural researchers acting as spies, sometimes with good reason. In 2016, the Chinese scientist Mo Hailong was sentenced to three years in prison for conspiring to steal patented corn seeds. And in 2022, Xiang Haitao, admitted to stealing a trade secret from Monsanto.

National security questions have also been raised about recent increases in foreign ownership of agricultural land. In 2022, Congress allocated money for a center to educate U.S. researchers about how to safeguard their data in international collaborations.

Since Trump took office last year, foreign researchers have faced increased obstacles. In March, a French researcher traveling to a conference was denied entry to the U.S. after a search of his phone at the airport turned up messages critical of Trump. The National Institutes of Health blocked researchers from China, Russia and other “countries of concern” from accessing various biomedical databases last spring. And in August, the Department of Homeland Security proposed shortening the length of time foreign students could remain in the country.

But the latest USDA instructions represent a significant escalation, casting suspicion on all researchers from outside the U.S. and asking agency staff to vet the foreign nationals they collaborate with. It’s unclear if employees at other federal agencies have been given similar directions.

The new USDA policy was announced internally in November and followed a July memo from Rollins that highlighted the national security risks of working with scientists who are not U.S. citizens.

“Foreign competitors benefit from USDA-funded projects, receiving loans that support overseas businesses, and grants that enable foreign competitors to undermine U.S. economic and strategic interests,” Rollins wrote in the memo. “Preventing this is the responsibility of every USDA employee.” The memo called for the department to “place America First” by taking a number of steps, including scrutinizing and making lists of the agency’s arrangements to work with foreign researchers and prohibiting USDA employees from participating in foreign programs to recruit scientists, “malign or otherwise.”

Rollins, a lawyer who studied agricultural development, co-founded the pro-Trump America First Policy Institute before being tapped to head the agency.

There have long been restrictions on collaborating with researchers from certain countries, such as Iran and China. But these new instructions create blanket bans on working with scientists from “countries of concern.”

In a late November email to staff members of the Agricultural Research Service at one area office, a research leader instructed managers to immediately stop all research with scientists who come from — or collaborate with institutions in — “countries of concern.”

The email also instructed employees to reject papers with foreign authors if they deal with “sensitive subjects” such as “diversity” or “climate change.” National security concerns were listed as another cause for rejection, with USDA research service employees instructed to ask if a foreigner could use the research against American farmers.

In the audio recording of the December meeting, some employees expressed alarm about the instructions to investigate their fellow scientists. The “part of figuring out if they are foreign … by Googling is very dystopic,” said one person at the meeting, which involved leadership from the Agricultural Research Service.

Faced with questions about how to ascertain the citizenship of a co-author, another person at the meeting said researchers should do their best with a Google search, then put the name on the list “and let Homeland Security do their behind the scenes search.”

Rollins’ July memo specifies that, within 60 days of receiving a list of “current arrangements” that involve foreign people or entities, the USDA’s Office of Homeland Security along with its offices of Chief Scientist and General Counsel should decide which arrangements to terminate. The USDA laid off 70 employees from “countries of concern” last summer as a result of the policy change laid out in the memo, NPR reported.

The USDA and Department of Homeland Security declined to answer questions about what happens to the foreign researchers flagged by the staff beyond potentially having their research papers rejected.

The documents also suggested new guidance would be issued on Jan. 1, but the USDA employees ProPublica interviewed said that the vetting work was continuing and that they had not received any written updates. The staff spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk publicly.

Scientists are often evaluated based on their output of new scientific research. Delaying or denying publication of pending papers could derail a researcher’s career. Over the past 40 years, the number of international collaborations among scientists has increased across the board, according to Caroline Wagner, an emeritus professor of public policy at the Ohio State University. “The more elite the researcher, the more likely they’re working at the international level,” said Wagner, who has spent more than 25 years researching international collaboration in science and technology.

The changes in how the USDA is approaching collaboration with foreign researchers, she said, “will certainly reduce the novelty, the innovative nature of science and decrease these flows of knowledge that have been extremely productive for science over the last years.”

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AN 11 25

CNN anchor Pamela Brown had a difficult time keeping Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on track and answering questions on a Thursday interview with “The Situation Room.”

One point of contention was whether the Trump administration could indeed move federal money to fund SNAP food for low-income and impoverished families for a year, as ordered by a Rhode Island judge.

“I’m just reading through the court filings, the judge also said … that there was money available in another funding pots like the one that was used for $750 million transferred to WIC,” Brown told Rollins. “… This judge said you didn't do that. You didn't use that. You could have to fully fund SNAP, and you fought it all the way to the Supreme Court.”

“Okay, let's talk about that,” said Rollins. “That judge in Rhode Island is the largest Democrat donor—”

Brown attempted to pull her back to the question but Rollins insisted “Well, it's important.”

“This was a radical left judge who decided that we could take money — listen, there was a ‘No Kings’ rally, but then, all of a sudden, a radical left judge in Rhode Island, of all places, says, ‘oh no, but please make yourself king and find that money out of the clear blue sky and redirect it into the SNAP program.'"

“But there was $23 billion in Section 32 for the child nutrition program. And so this judge says that $4 billion could have been moved from that Section 32 fund to fully fund SNAP. Is that accurate facts?”

“No, that is not facts,” said Rollins. “That money is congressionally authorized. If we had used that money, it would have taken food out of the mouths of school children that came from an entirely different pot of money, non-congressionally authorized.”

“I just want to go back on this because in reading through the court cases ... the government did admit to the judge, and this was, I believe, the judge in Boston, that, yes, it could have dipped into this child nutrition fund that was an available option. This fund, again, had $23 billion in it, right? And even if you took out $4 billion to fully fund SNAP, that pot of money would still feed children through next year," Brown explained.

“Are we serious right now?” demanded Rollins. “Are we really talking about moving billions of dollars from one pot to another to feed children through next year, when the Democrats 15 different times voted not to?”

“I understand you want to keep it on Democrats, but what about the children that are hungry now because they didn't get the full SNAP?” Brown asked.

“Well, they should understand that the Democrats are the ones that are keeping — they even admitted it. ‘This is our greatest leverage point. If planes fall out of the sky, that may be what it takes.’ It was one thing after another, Pamela … I mean, for you to try to put this back on ‘this court said that and this left-leaning judge said that, and you guys, you guys should move this.’ It's completely a false narrative.”

“That's why I'm asking you,” said Brown. “These are just the facts. These are in court cases. This is what the USDA has previously said from the 2019 shutdown.”

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omg an 10 25

CNN Capitol Hill reporter Sarah Ferris reported on Xthat U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins will not commit to releasing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds if ordered to do so by a Boston judge overseeing a case against them

Boston's U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani is currently overseeing a legal case involving the government shutdown and SNAP, with the Trump administration arguing that it lacks the authority to use an emergency fund to pay for November SNAP benefits, potentially affecting 42 million Americans.

Talwani expressed skepticism toward the administration's argument during a hearing on Thursday, emphasizing her interpretation of congressional intent to protect people during emergencies. According to the*Washington Post, Talwani indicated she is likely to intervene to ensure food aid continues by ordering the U.S. Department of Agriculture to utilize the available $5.5 billion contingency fund.

Talwani stated that if the government can't cover the full cost, it must find an "equitable way of reducing benefits" rather than suspending them entirely.

Ferris said that CNN senior Capitol Hill producer Ellis Kim asked Rollins "if she will agree to release funds if ordered to do so by Talwani, to which Rollins replied, “We're looking at all the options.”

IFrame Content

Aaron Blake, CNN's senior political reporter shared the news on X, saying, "I have a really hard time believing they would resist such an order. Feels like a great way to lose the political battle here."

Daily Kos reporter Emily Singer noted the move would mean the Trump administration is "[fighting] to make sure people aren't fed."

Bulwark MSNBC managing editor Sam Stein explained his understanding of the "administration's position" on the potential ruling.

The Trump administration is arguing "they legally can't release the funds[,] but if a judge tells them that they legally can release the funds they won't necessarily release the funds," Stein wrote on X.

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an 7 25

One day after appearing in front of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to tell reporters there will be “no amnesty” for undocumented farm workers while insisting adults on Medicaid could replace them, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins faced sharp criticism for having no “concrete” plan to meet what she declared is the Trump administration’s goal of an entirely “legal” U.S. farm worker workforce.

“It sounds like you don’t yet have a concrete proposal to deal with farmers who rely on undocumented workers, am I right?” a Fox News Business host asked (video below).

“Well, no, we are working on it. We’re working on a concrete proposal,” Secretary Rollins insisted.

“You’re working on it but that’s not a concrete proposal,” the host sharply charged.

IFrame Content

“Well, no, the president has been very, very clear. We need to make sure that the food supply is safe,” Rollins said, before insisting that “ultimately, we have to move toward a 100% legal workforce, and that’s what this president stands for, and that’s what we’re doing.”

“The mass deportations will continue, but the president has been very clear that we have to make sure we’re not compromising our food supply at the same time,” Rollins said before declaring that “Congress has to fix it,” and U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer “is on it.”

“The border has to be secure and there will be no amnesty,” Rollins added, before the host again pointed out the administration has no plan yet.

“It’s not easy, but I don’t think it’s fair to say there is a concrete proposal when you’re still working out details to try to deal with the needs of farmers who need a lot of these undocumented workers and at the same time not providing an amnesty.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

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2025

tool of ppl: Project 2025

MEX FLY BEF

'Flying blind': A livestock-killing pest is set to make a comeback — thanks to Trump - Alternet.org

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AN 525

A massive banner of President Donald Trump is now hanging from the outside of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s building in Washington, D.C., opposite a banner of President Abraham Lincoln. Several critics are suggesting the hanging is fascist or authoritarian, with some saying it is giving off North Korea vibes.

“Looming down from the pillared front of the neo-classical facade is an enormous, brooding picture of President Donald Trump, adapted from his official presidential portrait,” The Independent reported. “The picture of Trump is reminiscent of portraits of leaders hanging from public buildings, often seen in dictatorships, monarchies, and in descriptions in George Orwell’s 1984 of ‘Big Brother.'”

Progressive nonprofit People For the American Way posted a photo of the USDA building with the Trump banner, also saying it is “echoing authoritarian dictatorships.”

“This is deeply fascist,” observed Democracy advocate, Army combat vet, and podcaster Fred Wellman.

IFrame Content

“Trump is spending $92 million on a birthday military parade and plastering his face on the sides of government buildings. Washington, DC is becoming Pyongyang, North Korea,” podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen noted.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins posted photos of the banners being installed, while suggesting that President Trump’s policies have been good for farmers — a controversial opinion given his tariff and trade wars, and program cuts.

The Bulwark’s Tim Miller wrote: “Its interesting that these freedom loving MAGA alpha males want to institute this deeply creepy 3rd world culture where we have a national daddy that must be obeyed.”

Political analyst Rachel Bitecofer warned Trump is “going to go full Putin.”

“Welcome to North America’s North Korea!” exclaimed Russell Drew, a self-described amateur historian and political junkie.

See the social media posts above or at this link.

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NOTE USDA HAS SCREWED AA FARMERS

rww

04/09/2025

Kyle Mantyla

Religious right anti-choice activist Alveda King has been appointed Senior Advisor on Faith and Community Outreach at the Department of Agriculture.

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susan collins fixed in march?

In a quick reversal, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has restored funding to the University of Maine System after pausing it on Monday.

On Wednesday evening, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, announced that USDA funding for UMS programs had resumed after she had consulted with the Trump administration.

“This USDA funding is critically important not only to the University of Maine, but to our farmers and loggers, as well as to the many people who work in Maine’s agriculture, aquaculture, and forestry industries,” Collins said in a statement.

UMS leaders learned of the funding restoration from Collins. System Chancellor Dannel Malloy and University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy said in a joint statement late Wednesday that the shutoff was an “unnecessary distraction from our essential education, research and extension activities.”

Altogether, UMS has $63 million in active USDA grants — most of which goes to the flagship University of Maine campus in Orono, the system said. Of that, about $35 million is left to be paid out. The funding helps finance a wide array of programs, including agricultural research, the youth agricultural engagement program 4-H, and plant and tick disease testing.

The funding freeze came weeks after a tense public exchange between President Donald Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat. Trump threatened Mills on Feb. 21 with pulling all federal funding to the state if it did not comply with his executive order barring transgender women from K-12 and college sports teams aligning with their gender identity.

The day after the exchange, USDA announced a compliance review of the University of Maine under Title IX, which bars sex-based discrimination at federally funded education institutions. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also announced a civil rights investigation into the state on Feb. 21, finding just four days later that its education department had violated Title IX.

UMS said it heard nothing from USDA between Feb. 26 and March 10, when the system learned via a forwarded email that USDA had temporarily cut off all funding.

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UMS maintains that it is “fully compliant” with all state and federal laws as well as with updated NCAA rules. The college sports association changed its rules to adhere to Trump’s executive order the day after it was signed.

“At no point since USDA announced its Title IX compliance review on Feb. 22 has that Department, or any other party, alleged any violation by Maine’s public universities of Title IX or any other federal or state law,” UMS said in a release Wednesday.

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April 2, 2025

off bs

(WASHINGTON, D.C., April 2, 2025) — Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins fulfilled the promise of Title IX in pausing federal funds for certain Maine educational programs. Secretary Rollins sent a letter (PDF, 612 KB) to Maine Governor Janet Mills announcing the pause and an ongoing review of federal funding that the state of Maine receives from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This comes after Maine’s continual refusal to provide equal opportunity to women and girls in educational programs, in direct violation of Title IX.

“In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX which protects female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males,” Secretary Rollins wrote in the letter.

“In addition, USDA has launched a full review of grants awarded by the Biden Administration to the Maine Department of Education. Many of these grants appear to be wasteful, redundant, or otherwise against the priorities of the Trump Administration. USDA will not stand for the Biden Administration’s bloated bureaucracy and will instead focus on a Department that is farmer-first and without a leftist social agenda,” Secretary Rollins continued.

The effort by USDA supports President Donald J. Trump’s leadership in ensuring that taxpayer dollars are not spent on programs that violate federal law. USDA supports the recent actions of the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in enforcing Title IX. USDA will pause and, where appropriate, terminate certain nonessential funding in Maine if these Title IX violations are not resolved to the satisfaction of the Federal Government. This pause does not impact federal feeding programs or direct assistance to citizens; if a child was fed today, they will be fed tomorrow.

Related:

Secretary Rollins Sends Letter Challenging Governor Newsom’s Use of USDA Funding on Programs to Implement Radical Transgender Ideology, Violating Parental Rights

University of Maine System Chooses Sanity: Complies with President Trump’s Policy of Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

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judge orders USDA to restore Maine school meal funding

By Quinn D'Alessio on April 21, 2025

A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) must return essential school meal funding to the state of Maine, after the agency froze the money on April 2 in response to Maine’s policy allowing transgender girls to compete in girls’ sports. The decision, issued April 11 by U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock, grants the state a temporary restraining order. That means federal funding will flow again to support school meal programs for thousands of children, as well as food assistance for low-income families, childcare centers and people with disabilities across the state.

The USDA had halted the funding earlier this month on April 2, citing alleged violations of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education. The agency claimed Maine’s inclusive sports policy went against that law.

Judge Woodcock then ruled that the USDA didn’t follow proper procedures when it froze the funds: specifically that it gave no formal warning or chance for the state to respond. The judge however did not rule on whether Maine’s policy is legal under Title IX, only that the USDA couldn’t skip due process.

Funding may be temporarily safe, but at the core of this conflict is a battle over how Title IX applies to transgender students.

Under the Biden Administration, Title IX guidance was expanded to include gender identity as a protected category. But after the 2024 election, the USDA — now operating under the Trump Administration — has shifted back toward a narrower definition of sex as biological sex assigned at birth. Maine’s policy, which allows students to participate in school sports according to their gender identity, directly conflicts with this new stance.

The USDA’s decision to freeze funding was one of the first major actions taken under this rollback. Maine was given a clear message: change your policy or lose your funding.

In response, Attorney General Aaron Frey sued the federal government, saying the USDA’s actions were politically motivated and dangerously punitive. Governor Janet Mills has also stood firm, arguing that Maine’s policy reflects the state’s commitment to fairness and inclusion — and that it’s legally sound.

To better understand what this case means for students, The Maine Campus met with Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine. Brewer emphasized that this decision is an early one, and that the situation could change quickly.

“What happens after the temporary restraining order expires? That depends on what happens at the next administrative and/or judicial steps. There are so many different possible outcomes that it really is difficult to answer this question,” said Brewer.

Even though the court ordered the USDA to restore funding for now, Brewer said the broader legal battle over Title IX and transgender rights is just beginning.

“This is a very early step in what will almost certainly be a very long process to determine first the interpretation and eventually the enforcement of Title IX in terms of gender identity,” he said.

So far, Maine leaders have given no sign that they’ll back off their current policies. Brewer said that’s unlikely to change unless the U.S. Supreme Court forces the issue. He was then asked if Maine is likely to adjust any policies to avoid future conflict with the federal government.

“Likely not at this point,” said Brewer. “If the U.S. Supreme Court tells Maine it has to do so, this would be a different story.”

While the lawsuit plays out in the courts, public support could influence how state and federal leaders respond. If students are concerned about the potential loss of funding or want to support policies that protect LGBTQ+ rights, Brewer says speaking up is important.

“Students should contact their Members of Congress to advocate that funding be protected,” he said.

The funding freeze, even if temporary, raised serious concerns across Maine. Without that federal funding, school nutrition programs might have had to cut back or shut down, leaving many students and families without regular access to meals. Now that the funding is restored those fears have eased, at least temporarily.

“The one thing students can likely be sure of is continued conflict and uncertainty,” said Brewer.

Published in Campus & Community News, News, On Campus and Politics

Most Popular

Trump first threatened to withhold federal funding from Maine on Feb. 21 at a National Governors Association event. He was caught on camera in a dispute with Governor Janet Mills and argued that the state must comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools, and his recent executive order that bars trans women from competing in women’s sports.

“You better do it because you’re not going to get federal funding,” Trump said.

To which Mills replied, “We’re going to follow the law, sir. We’ll see you in court.” [he said i am the law?]

But now, the Pine Tree State is feeling the repercussions well before a case has even been filed.

According to the USDA order, “the pause will remain in effect until further notice” until all “actions related to prospective Title VI or Title IX violations” are evaluated.

The reference to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a shift from the USDA’s other public statements about its investigation into the University of Maine system, which focused on Title IX.

“We’re still assessing the total amount of active awards across the System impacted,” Warren added in a later email.

Dannel Malloy, chancellor of the system, said in an interview with the Press Herald that the notice from the USDA was “disappointing.”

“The letter that we got didn’t give a reason,” Malloy said. “‘We’re going to hurt kids because somebody didn’t like what somebody else said …’ Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

This is the second time in the past week that the Trump administration has pulled funding from a higher education institution for doing something that doesn’t align with the president’s priorities and policies. Columbia University, a Manhattan-based Ivy League institution, was the first to be hit, losing $400 million Friday as a result of “continued inaction” in response to claims of antisemitism on campus.

Editors' Picks

As was the case with Columbia, observers have been expecting some sort of punishment for Maine, though it was unclear how the penalty would be doled out or to what extent. The USDA launched a Title IX compliance review within 24 hours of the White House dispute, citing “indications” that the state was “disregarding” Trump’s order.

“President Trump has made it abundantly clear,” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement, “taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars will not support institutions that discriminate against women.”

In a written response to the USDA on Feb. 26, the system said it confirmed its athletic programs were in compliance with relevant state and federal laws. The system did not receive any further communication from the USDA between filing that response and receiving notice of the $100 million funding cut.

That said, lawmakers, policy experts and Maine higher ed officials were frustrated but not surprised by the announcement.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree, a Maine Democrat, called the USDA’s actions “vindictive” and said she was “appalled” by the informal email, which shared no findings to support the funding freeze and offered no opportunity for any recourse.

“Let’s be clear about what this latest funding freeze will do: It will hurt farmers and rural Mainers, it will halt critically needed research innovation, and it will slash educational opportunities for students throughout Maine,” Pingree said. “Once again, it appears as though this administration is targeting our state for retribution—all because our elected officials are standing up for the rule of law.”

Agricultural experts say that funding pulled by the agency could compromise research on biofuels, vegetables, animal health, renewable fuels and more.

“If all of their funding was removed from USDA, that would have a really big impact on farmers on the ground here,” Sarah Alexander, executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, told Reuters.

To Mills, even before the USDA announced its cuts, the issue is more than just a policy debate about transgender rights or a funding issue that will impact local farming—it’s about the health of America’s democracy.

“In America, the president is neither a king nor a dictator, as much as this one tries to act like it,” the governor said in a written statement shortly after her initial exchange with Trump. “I imagine that the outcome of this politically directed investigation is all but predetermined,” she added, “but do not be misled: This is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a president can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation. I believe he cannot.”

Governance Executive Leadership

Harvard Resists Trump’s Demands

University leaders said the administration's demands are an attack on its independence.

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RWW

03/10/2025

Peter Montgomery

Capitol Ministries, a group that runs weekly right-wing Bible studies for members of Congress and did the same for Cabinet members during the first Trump administration, has announced the return of the “White House Cabinet Bible Study.”

According to a March 6 announcement, the first Bible study of the new administration took place early on the morning of President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting and included some governors participating by Zoom.

Capitol Ministries “disciples” public officials with its founder Ralph Drollinger’s very conservative interpretation of scripture and his belief that the Bible mandates support for right-wing economic, social, environmental, immigration, and criminal justice policies. He teaches that the government’s primary job is to “quell evil” and punish sin and teaches that entitlement programs lack “any basis of biblical authority.” Drollinger believes that elections are “first and foremost a spiritual battle.”

According to Drollinger, God only hears and acts on prayers from Christians; prayers of those who “passively or actively reject the Son of God,” he has written, “are worthless and go unheard.”

Drollinger shows little respect or tolerance for Christians who disagree with his interpretation of the Bible. He has suggested that Christian leaders who support marriage equality are “Satan’s pawns.” As Right Wing Watch has reported previously:

He has called the “social Gospel” that motivates millions of liberal American Christians “a perversion of scripture” and “not Christianity whatsoever!” He has called Catholicism “one of the primary false religions of the world.” He urges public officials not to take part in “syncretistic” events like the National Prayer Breakfast, arguing that by participating in events that combine different forms of belief, attendees invite God’s wrath rather than his blessing.

In one Bible study, Drollinger offered Christian lawmakers an explanation for why their “unregenerate” non-Christian colleagues “do not seem to get your biblical argument.” It’s because, Drollinger wrote, “they are spiritually incapable of getting it.” Not only that, “The longer a person rejects Christ, the greater his depravity becomes.”

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, former head of the America First Policy Institute, and OMB Director Russell Vought, former head of the Center for Renewing America, are sponsoring Drollinger’s Bible study.

Rollins is closely aligned with Tim Dunn, who Texas Monthly has called “the billionaire bully who wants to turn Texas into a Christian theocracy.” Under Rollins’ leadership, AFPI called its MAGA policy agenda a plan for “restoring a nation under God.” Capitol Ministries’ 2023 annual report includes an endorsement from Rollins in which she wrote that “our Founding Fathers established this great nation by God’s instructions and designed our country’s government based on biblical principles.” She wrote that Capitol Ministries gives her “the strength I need to endure the righteous fight for the soul of this nation.”

Vought has embraced Christian nationalism, and his Center for Renewing America listed Christian nationalism as one of its priorities for the new Trump administration.

Drollinger insists that he is not a Christian nationalist, theocrat, or dominionist because he does not want the church institutionally controlling the government, teaching that the two institutions have different God-ordained roles. He does want public officials to embrace and govern according to his definition of biblical Christianity, hire only “righteous” people to work for them, and refuse to support policies that “compromise biblical absolutes.” In “Oaks in Office,” his handbook for public officials, Drollinger wrote that “the critical and preeminent duty of the Church in an institutionally separated society” is “to evangelize and disciple—to Christianize—the leaders of the State and its citizenry.”

After beginning his work with legislators in California, Drollinger started his congressional Bible studies in 2010. When some of his congressional students joined the first Trump administration, he began holding Bible studies for members of the Cabinet, later expanding to other administration officials. He claimed in 2018 that Trump sent him handwritten notes praising his written studies.

In 2023 Drollinger launched weekly Zoom-based Bible studies with sitting and former governors. Drollinger produces written Bible studies (some translated into multiple languages) that form the basis for in-person gatherings and a weekly radio program that launched on the Salem radio network last year.

Drollinger’s global ambitions extend well beyond Congress and the White House. During the first Trump administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo opened doors to help Drollinger take his model to foreign capitals. A 2024 year-end letter from Drollinger boasted that Capitol Ministries held five global training conferences last year in Kathmandu, Nepal; Cape Town, South Africa; Bogota, Colombia; Brussels, Belgium; and Hebron, Kentucky. Its goal is to “plant and develop” ministries in 200 national capitals.

Capitol Ministries is also seeking, with the help of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, to recruit men – and only men – to lead Bible studies for elected officials in every state capital and every one of the more than 4,000 local government jurisdictions in the U.S.

During Trump’s first term, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and former Rep. Michele Bachmann helped raise money for Capitol Ministries. Two former members of Congress, Tom Price of Georgia and Trent Franks of Arizona, currently serve on its board of directors.

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===

nyt

Senate Confirms Brooke Rollins as Agriculture Secretary

In a rare show of bipartisan support for a Trump cabinet nominee, Ms. Rollins sailed through the confirmation process and will now lead the agency responsible for securing the nation’s food supply.

Brooke Rollins was confirmed by the Senate by a 72-to-28 vote, including 19 Democrats in support.Credit...Tom Brenner for The New York Times

Linda Qiu

Reporting from Washington

Feb. 13, 2025

The Senate confirmed Brooke L. Rollins on Thursday to lead the Agriculture Department, putting her in charge of an agency responsible for promoting and regulating the nation’s food supply.

The final vote was 72 to 28, including 19 Democrats in support. Throughout the confirmation process, Ms. Rollins garnered noticeably more bipartisan support than some of President Trump’s other cabinet picks, with the Senate agriculture committee voting unanimously to advance her nomination.

On social media afterward, Ms. Rollins said it would be a privilege to help Mr. Trump “advance his agenda,” adding that it included foremost “the men and women of American agriculture.”

“Fighting on their behalf each and every day will be the honor of my lifetime,” she added.

Elements of Mr. Trump’s agenda are almost certain to reverberate across the agriculture sector. Plans for mass deportation may cut into a key source of the agricultural sector’s labor supply. Producers could be caught up in a trade war if countries targeted by Mr. Trump’s tariffs respond in kind. And farmers and agribusinesses across the country have described frustration and confusion as the administration’s freezes on grants and other funding have left many of them scrambling.

In her confirmation hearing last month, Ms. Rollins pledged to support farmers and ranchers if they were affected by retaliatory tariffs, and said she agreed with Mr. Trump’s immigration plans.

Ms. Rollins, a lawyer who has overseen two influential conservative think tanks and served as Mr. Trump’s domestic policy adviser during his first administration, will lead an agency with a sprawling portfolio. The Agriculture Department supports farms, inspects slaughterhouses, administers nutrition programs like food stamps and school lunches, manages national forests and supports rural development.

Among the priorities Ms. Rollins listed for her first days on the job were ensuring swift delivery of economic aid to farmers hurt by recent natural disasters and working with state governments and agricultural commissioners to combat bird flu. The disease is ravaging poultry farms across the country and causing egg prices to spike.

Ms. Rollins may also work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was confirmed as health secretary on Thursday and whom Mr. Trump has given wide latitude to influence food policy, in part to deliver on the president’s vow to “make America healthy again.” She has called Mr. Kennedy a friend and, in her confirmation hearing, shared his concerns over the proliferation of ultra-processed foods in school meals.

A number of influential farm groups and businesses welcomed Ms. Rollins’s confirmation, even as they alluded to the various challenges farmers and ranchers face.

“Farm and ranch families are looking for a champion and a voice as they continue to face economic headwinds, labor challenges and uncertainty over the rural impacts of Washington’s current policy debates,” Zippy Duvall, the president of the Farm Bureau, an advocacy group, said in a statement. “Ms. Rollins will need to hit the ground running to ensure the administration understands the challenges farmers and ranchers are facing.”

Linda Qiu is a reporter who specializes in fact-checking statements made by politicians and public figures. She has been reporting and fact-checking public figures for nearly a decade. More about Linda Qiu

See more on: U.S. Politics, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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politico

Agriculture Department employees have been ordered to delete landing pages discussing climate change across agency websites and document climate change references for further review, according to an internal email obtained by POLITICO.

The directive from USDA’s office of communications, whose authenticity was validated by three people, could affect information across dozens of programs including climate-smart agriculture initiatives, USDA climate hubs and Forest Service information regarding wildfires, the frequency and severity of which scientists have linked to hotter, drier conditions fueled by climate change. And it is reminiscent of moves made during the first Trump administration to remove references to climate change from federal government websites.

The email sent Thursday afternoon calls on website managers to “Identify and archive or unpublish any landing pages focused on climate change” and “Identify all web content related to climate change and document it in a spreadsheet” for the office to review. It set a Friday deadline for handing over titles, links and “your recommendation on how the content should be handled.”

The action comes as funds for clean energy and agriculture programs remain in limbo amid a federal spending review ordered by the Office of Management and Budget. The Trump administration has pushed to halt and reverse spending from the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which provided billions of dollars for wildfire management, clean energy investments and credits to store carbon dioxide that benefit rural communities USDA serves.

A spokesperson for USDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the first Trump administration, officials buried government-funded research that showed the impacts of climate change on American farmers, including issues like volatile weather and increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In 2019, USDA also refused to release a multiagency plan to help farmers respond and adapt to a changing climate.

As of Friday, some landing pages remained active, such as for USDA Climate Hubs, a cross-agency effort to address and adapt to climate change. Others already appeared mothballed, like a page on USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities.

Extreme weather events just in the last few years have devastated the entire peach crop in Georgia, flooded farms in North Carolina and a disease called citrus greening — made worse by climate change — has led to sharp declines in Florida’s famed citrus crop. Smoke from wildfires in the West have ruined fields of grapes, and drought has forced ranchers to shrink their cattle herds.

The USDA instructions also come as California recovers from wildfires that could amount to the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, which scientists said climate change exacerbated. The U.S. Forest Service is the primary federal agency for preparing for and mitigating wildfires.

Under former President Joe Biden’s Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, USDA spent $3.1 billion on the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, working with private food companies, nonprofits and universities to research ways for farmers to reduce their carbon footprint, develop more resilient crops and restore land. But Trump’s executive order targeting climate spending in the IRA forced officials at USDA to temporarily pause funding disbursements through the program.

Under the IRA, Congress directed USDA to pay billions of dollars to farmers for conservation practices, including some that address climate change. But Trump’s Day 1 executive order aims to halt agency payments for major climate, energy and infrastructure projects — and could jeopardize billions in payments as farmers prepare for planting season.

---

DESMOG 1 25 NO lNX GRF

America First Policy Institute (AFPI)

Background

The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) is a nonprofit group (501(c)(3)1) founded in 2021 by two senior advisors to Donald Trump to promote Donald Trump‘s ongoing policy agenda following his departure from office.2The AFPI argues for expanded fossil fuel production by “removing undue regulatory constraints”3 and criticizes the Paris Agreement, describing it as “lopsided” and “unenforceable.”4

It counts among its staff individuals who have expressed doubt about the causes and severity of climate change, including Heritage Foundation senior visiting fellow Stephen Moore,5 who once described global warming as “one of the greatest propaganda campaigns in world history,”6 among others.7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

White House domestic policy adviser Brooke Rollins and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow initially developed AFPI.15 Rollins and Kudlow had worked together in early 2020 to create a second-term policy agenda for the Trump administration. When Trump lost the election, they continued to work together to develop the AFPI.16 According to the New York Times, they approached Timothy Dunn, an American billionaire and CEO of an oil and gas company, who Rollins had worked with at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Dunn and two other Texas Public Policy Foundation directors, Cody Campbell and Tim Lyles, subsequently registered the AFPI in April 2021.17 Kudlow consulted Donald Trump in the development phase for the AFPI and described him as “very enthusiastic” about the concept.18

After the AFPI’s launch in April 2021, Rollins became the president and CEO, Kudlow vice chair,19 and Tim Dunn, a board member.20 Linda McMahon, a member of Trump’s Cabinet as the administrator of the Small Business Administration, joined as chair, along with various other individuals affiliated with Trump.21

The AFPI has an “advocacy arm,” America First Works.“22 America First Works is a 501(c)(4) organization, which means that it can engage in some partisan politics.23 The AFPI itself, by contrast, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which by law should be nonpartisan.24 The AFPI also has an affiliation with America First Action, a super PAC dedicated to supporting federal candidates who back the policy agenda of Donald Trump.25 26

2025 Transition Plans...

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an 10 24

If former President Donald Trump wins the November election, who he would put in charge of his White House is down to a small handful of names. And a new report details how there's already a bitter fight brewing over the position.

The Daily Beast recently reported that candidates competing to be the ex-president's next White House chief of staff are in a "knife fight" to gain favor with Trump and undercut their rivals. According to the Beast's Sean Craig, some of the top choices include Brooke Rollins — who was Trump's Domestic Policy Council acting director during his first administration — as well as his current campaign senior advisor, Susie Wiles. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) is also rumored to be in consideration.

"The MAGA world around his campaign is swirling with chatter about three key figures that could be his chief of staff." Craig wrote, noting that unnamed Trumpworld sources are sniping at each of the three as they jockey for position.

Trump has previously complimented Rollins, saying that he likes how she's "tall" and has "the look." But she's relatively inexperienced, and only became the acting head of the trump White House's Domestic Policy Council during his last year in office. She went on to help launch the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), which rivals say could actually hurt her bid given AFPI's position on tariffs is opposite of what the former president has called for.}:

Under Rollins' leadership, AFPI was also hacked on multiple occasions, and at least one of these security breaches were reportedly carried out by Chinese operatives. This is reportedly already being used as ammunition to undermine her bid for the top job in a second Trump administration.

“The knife-fighting is underway,” one unnamed "Trump World confidant" told Politico. “Someone’s like, ‘Oh, she wants to be chief of staff? Well, she can’t even stop her own organization from getting hacked.’”

The Beast reported that Wiles is credited with "professionalizing" Trump's 2024 bid for the White House, and the chief of staff job would be hers "if she wants it." However, her critics have pointed out that she has little practical experience in D.C. outside of the 1970s and 1980s, when she was a Republican operative.

Wiles has, however, dealt with a "power struggle" earlier this year when Trump brought on his one-time 2016 campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, back into the fold. And she may not have the stomach to contend with the chief of staff job after running a nationwide presidential campaign for more than a year.

Surprisingly, Kevin McCarthy may be a strong contender to be chief of staff. As a previous House speaker, he's uniquely familiar with the legislative process and knows how to get legislation passed through Congress. But his true motivation may be to get back at the eight Republicans who voted with all Democrats to strip him of the gavel in October of 2023.

"He wants to hold to account those who pushed him out," an unnamed California-based Republican operative told Politico.

:{*:{Click here to read the Beast's report in its entirety (subscription required).}:

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/trump-linked-think-tank-scrambling/

tom b raw an 11 22

According to an examination of its most recent tax filings, a think tank stocked with former Donald Trump White House advisors and supporters is falling way short of reaching its financial goals and bills are starting to pile up, reports the Daily Beast.

As Roger Sollenberger of the Beast is reporting, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) was created to establish policies for a 2024 Trump presidency as well as plan to quickly staff a new Trump administration that can hit the ground running.

However, with the former president now struggling to maintain support in light of a disastrous midterm election that was blamed in part on him, AFPI is facing a cash crunch.

"Formed last year by a cadre of Trump administration officials and known informally as a 'White House in waiting,' initially announced a first-year operating budget of $20 million. But according to its 2021 tax statement, the group raised less than three-quarters of that amount, reporting about $14.9 million in total contributions," Sollenberger wrote before adding, "That may sound like a decent haul, but more than $10 million of that amount came from 10 anonymous donors, with the largest single source giving $3 million. (AFPI is not required to make the names of its contributors public.) Trump donors accounted for $1 million, in the form of a transfer last June from his Save America leadership PAC."

"The filing also reveals about $10.8 million in expenses. Around $4.4 million went to costs associated with sustaining its sprawling staff—[Brooke] Rollins raked in about $417,000 in salary, more than double the second-highest paid official. The second-largest single line item was $2 million to a vague “other program expenses.” AFPI also dropped a little more than $600,000 on lobbying, and the group shelled out more than $2 million combined for fundraising and events," the report continued.

The report notes that the staff of AFPI is loaded with Trump hangers-on including former White House adviserKellyanne Conway, "former acting head of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf,former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, former Small Business Administration chief Linda McMahon, former director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow and former Trump spiritual adviser Paula White-Cain."

Sollenberger adds "the news of AFPI’s shortfall comes as Trump himself struggled to gin up small-dollar donor support in the months ahead of his 2024 announcement. And if the former president can’t consolidate power within MAGA world, this White House in waiting may have to wait a little longer."

You can read more here.

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haas foia

John Eastman (including but not limited to, from the email address

jeastman@claremont.org or jeastman@chapman.edu), or anyone

communicating on behalf of Constitutional Counsel Group (@ccg1776.com)

24. Anyone communicating on behalf of theAmerica First Policy Institute,

including Brooke Rollins, Chad Wolf, or anyone communicating from an

email address ending in @americafirstpolicy.com

25. Anyone communicating on behalf of America First Legal, including Stephen

Miller, Gene Hamilton, Russ Vought, or anyone communicating from an

email address ending in @aflegal.org

---

ginni cnp open ltr;

The Honorable Brooke Rollins

President and CEO

America First Policy Institute (AFPI)

We ask that the GOP conference meet immediately to vote on stripping Reps. Cheney and Kinzinger from their membership in the GOP conference. We further inform you that conservative leaders are launching a nationwide movement to add citizens’ voices to this effort.

The Honorable Edwin Meese III}nl}Attorney General{nl}President Ronald Reagan (1985-1988)|The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell{nl}Chairman, Conservative Action Project (CAP){nl}Chairman, Constitutional Congress, Inc.|

The Honorable Bob McEwen (R-OH) U.S. House Committee on Rules Former Member	The Honorable Matt Schlapp Chairman American Conservative Union (ACU)
The Honorable Jim DeMint Chairman, Conservative Partnership Institute Member, US Senate (SC 2005-2013)	Ed Corrigan Vice Chairman, Conservative Action Project President & CEO, Conservative Partnership Institute
Jenny Beth Martin Chairman Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund	The Honorable Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II Chairman Election Transparency Initiative
David N. Bossie President Citizens United	The Honorable Tony Perkins President Family Research Council
The Honorable David McIntosh President Club for Growth	Scott T. Parkinson VP for Government Affairs Club for Growth
Rachel A. Bovard Senior Director of Policy Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI)	The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr. Chief Domestic Advisor President Ronald Reagan (1987-1988)
L. Brent Bozell III Founder and President Media Research Center	Alfred S. Regnery President Republic Book Publishers
Lisa B. Nelson odd no affil?	Cleta Mitchell, Esq.
David Bozell President ForAmerica	Noah Wall Executive Vice President FreedomWorks
Chad Connelly Founder and President Faith Wins	Terry Schilling President American Principles Project
William L. Walton The Bill Walton Show Resolute Protector Foundation	The Honorable Brooke Rollins President and CEO America First Policy Institute (AFPI)
The Honorable Russ Vought Director Office of Management and Budget (2020-2021)	Wesley Denton Chief Operating Officer Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI)
Ginni Thomas President Liberty Consulting	Lori Roman President ACRU Action Fund
The Honorable Gary L. Bauer President American Values	The Honorable Briscoe Cain State Representative Texas House of Representatives
Elaine Donnelly President Center for Military Readiness	Craig Shirley Reagan Biographer Presidential Historian
Alan M. Gottlieb Chairman Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms	Gary A. Hofmeister Businessman Business Owner
The Honorable George K. Rasley Jr. Managing Editor ConservativeHQ.com	Seton Motley President Less Government
H. Preston Hawkins Chairman The Association for Community Education, Inc.	Richard Manning President Americans for Limited Government
Jeremy Cerone Member Council for National Policy	Robert K. Fischer Meeting Coordinator Conservatives of Faith
William Shaker CEO Washington Marketing Group	Paavo Ensio Chairman Universal Minerals Group
Richard D Hayes Partner Hayes, Berry, White & Vanzant, LLP	Joan Holt Lindsey President Lindsey Communications
Allen J. Hebert Chairman American-Chinese Fellowship of Houston	The Honorable Mary Vought Executive Director Senate Conservatives Fund
Clare Lopez Founder/President Lopez Liberty LLC	Sheryl Kaufman Board of Directors Americans for Limited Government
Dr. Allen Unruh Founder National Abstinence Clearinghouse	Amapola Hansberger President Legal Immigrants for America
The Honorable Morton C. Blackwell President The Leadership Institute	Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin (Ret.) Executive Vice President Family Research Council
Brandon Zehm Owner Zehm & Associates	Dr. Richard Rounsavelle Trustee MRC
Jenna L. Ellis, Esq.:{ Chair Election Integrity Alliance}:	Wendy Borcherdt Retired Political Volunteer Board Member, Hoover Institution
Jessie Jane Duff Gunnery Sergeant, US Marine Corps (ret) Ambassador, America First Policy Institute (AFPI)	Ralph A. Rebandt II Gubernatorial Candidate Ralph Rebandt for Governor
The Honorable Peter J. Thomas Chairman Conservative Caucus	Melvin Adams President Noah Webster Educational Foundation
Sandy Rios Director of Governmental Affairs American Family Association	Terrence Scanlon Former Chairman and Commissioner U.S. Consumer Product Safety Comn.
The Honorable Mike Hill Former Member Florida State Representative

The Honorable Bob McEwen (R-OH)

U.S. House Committee on Rules

Former Member

The Honorable Matt Schlapp

Chairman

American Conservative Union (ACU)

The Honorable Jim DeMint

Chairman, Conservative Partnership Institute

Member, US Senate (SC 2005-2013)

Ed Corrigan

Vice Chairman, Conservative Action Project

President & CEO, Conservative Partnership Institute

Jenny Beth Martin

Chairman

Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund

The Honorable Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II

Chairman

Election Transparency Initiative

David N. Bossie

President

Citizens United

The Honorable Tony Perkins

President

Family Research Council

The Honorable David McIntosh

President

Club for Growth

Scott T. Parkinson

VP for Government Affairs

Club for Growth

Rachel A. Bovard

Senior Director of Policy

Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI)

The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.

Chief Domestic Advisor

President Ronald Reagan (1987-1988)

L. Brent Bozell III

Founder and President

Media Research Center

Alfred S. Regnery

President

Republic Book Publishers

Lisa B. Nelson odd no affil?

Cleta Mitchell, Esq.

David Bozell

President

ForAmerica

Noah Wall

Executive Vice President

FreedomWorks

Chad Connelly

Founder and President

Faith Wins

Terry Schilling

President

American Principles Project

William L. Walton

The Bill Walton Show

Resolute Protector Foundation

The Honorable Brooke Rollins

President and CEO

America First Policy Institute (AFPI)

The Honorable Russ Vought

Director

Office of Management and Budget (2020-2021)

Wesley Denton

Chief Operating Officer

Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI)

Ginni Thomas

President

Liberty Consulting

Lori Roman

President

ACRU Action Fund

The Honorable Gary L. Bauer

President

American Values

The Honorable Briscoe Cain

State Representative

Texas House of Representatives

Elaine Donnelly

President

Center for Military Readiness

Craig Shirley

Reagan Biographer

Presidential Historian

Alan M. Gottlieb

Chairman

Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Gary A. Hofmeister

Businessman

Business Owner

The Honorable George K. Rasley Jr.

Managing Editor

ConservativeHQ.com

Seton Motley

President

Less Government

H. Preston Hawkins

Chairman

The Association for Community Education, Inc.

Richard Manning

President

Americans for Limited Government

Jeremy Cerone

Member

Council for National Policy

Robert K. Fischer

Meeting Coordinator

Conservatives of Faith

William Shaker

CEO

Washington Marketing Group

Paavo Ensio

Chairman

Universal Minerals Group

Richard D Hayes

Partner

Hayes, Berry, White & Vanzant, LLP

Joan Holt Lindsey

President

Lindsey Communications

Allen J. Hebert

Chairman

American-Chinese Fellowship of Houston

The Honorable Mary Vought

Executive Director

Senate Conservatives Fund

Clare Lopez

Founder/President

Lopez Liberty LLC

Sheryl Kaufman

Board of Directors

Americans for Limited Government

Dr. Allen Unruh

Founder

National Abstinence Clearinghouse

Amapola Hansberger

President

Legal Immigrants for America

The Honorable Morton C. Blackwell

President

The Leadership Institute

Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin (Ret.)

Executive Vice President

Family Research Council

Brandon Zehm

Owner

Zehm & Associates

Dr. Richard Rounsavelle

Trustee

MRC

Jenna L. Ellis, Esq.:{

Chair

Election Integrity Alliance}:

Wendy Borcherdt

Retired Political Volunteer

Board Member, Hoover Institution

Jessie Jane Duff

Gunnery Sergeant, US Marine Corps (ret)

Ambassador, America First Policy Institute (AFPI)

Ralph A. Rebandt II

Gubernatorial Candidate

Ralph Rebandt for Governor

The Honorable Peter J. Thomas

Chairman

Conservative Caucus

Melvin Adams

President

Noah Webster Educational Foundation

Sandy Rios

Director of Governmental Affairs

American Family Association

Terrence Scanlon

Former Chairman and Commissioner

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Comn.

The Honorable Mike Hill

Former Member

Florida State Representative

:{All organizations listed for IDENTIFICATION purposes only.

Signatures updated: 12/21/21.}:

ref F&WW on api 2 face:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/in-shift-key-climate-denialist-group-heartland-institute-pivots-to-policy/

NOVEMBER 2, 2018

Katie Worth

Few entities have worked harder to instill doubt in American minds about the science of climate change than the Heartland Institute.

The self-styled “action tank” has published dozens of books and other media amplifying the voices of those who reject the scientific consensus on climate change. Last year, the libertarian organization mailed instructional materials questioning whether global warming is real to science teachers across the nation.

Now, the group is declaring itself victorious in its crusade to convince Americans that climate science is debatable — despite the broad scientific agreement that it is not — and says it is instead pursuing economic and moral arguments to advance policies that bolster domestic fossil fuel production.

“It took a while, but we think we’ve won the battle — Al Gore was wrong,” said Heartland president and CEO Tim Huelskamp, a former Republican Congressman. “Now we’re focusing on implementation.”

The pivot comes at a paradoxical moment: There has never been more evidence that humans are altering the climate; nor has Heartland’s message to the contrary ever enjoyed a more sympathetic ear in the White House. President Donald Trump has in the past described climate change as a “hoax;” last month, days after the United Nations released a report warning that climate change may have catastrophic impact as soon as 2030, Trump said he wasn’t convinced “that it’s man-made.” Trump’s transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency wasled by a close Heartland associate. Emails obtained by Freedom of Information Act lawsuits revealed that under Trump, EPA officials have corresponded with Heartland leaders, in some cases to drum up support for policies and events. Trump’sdecision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, his proposal to roll back car fuel economy standards and his plan to support old coal-powered plants are all policies that Heartland has advocated.

Heartland anticipated this bonanza. At the climate conference the organization hosted in Washington, D.C. just weeks after Trump’s inauguration in 2017, the mood was jubilant: “This is a wonderful time to be a global warming realist,” : said :(style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline"/maxresdefault.jpg) Heartland’s then-President Joseph Bast as he kicked off the meeting, using the term the organization uses to describe the movement.}:

In that same speech, Bast — who has since semi-retired — hinted at a change in strategy: “The scientific debate is essentially over,” he : said :(style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline"/maxresdefault.jpg). “What remains to be done is the political battle.”}:

Naomi Oreskes, a Harvard University professor who examined Heartland and its allies in her book Merchants of Doubt, said there may be anotherreason for the pivot: They may have calculated that the science argument is not as effective as it used to be. “Organizations like Heartland are very effective at shifting tactics in response to whatever is happening in that moment,” she said. “If we were to have an unusually cold spell for three years, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them pick up the science again.”

Since its founding in 1984, Chicago-based Heartland has worked on an array of free-market causes. But the organization, historically backed by the fossil fuel industry, is best known for nurturing the idea that climate science is up for debate.

In 2008, Heartland began hosting what it called “International Conferences on Climate Change,” which gathered the world’s most prominent climate contrarians under one roof. The arguments made there against prevailing climate science were diverse and often conflicting: Some speakers denied the Earth’s atmosphere was changing; others said the Earth was actually cooling; others said it was warming for entirely natural reasons; still others accepted that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was causing the planet to warm, but argued the ensuing changes were good for life on Earth.

Heartland hosted 12 such conferences in 10 years, even as the organization faced setbacks: As its leaders decried global warming a “hoax,” the planet endured year after year of record-breaking global temperatures, and most climate scientists became unwilling to debate with Heartland and its allies, worrying that doing so legitimized their message. Heartland faced widespread criticism in 2012, when it sponsored a billboard showing the “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski along with the words, “I still believe in global warming. Do you?”

But the message Heartland has promoted reflects the view of many people in America: In 2008, just 47 percent of Americans agreed there was solid evidence that the Earth was warming due to human causes, according to a Pew study; as of 2016, that percentage had not much budged.

Heartland has not hosted a climate change conference since the weeks after Trump’s election. Instead, in November 2017, the organization held an “America First Energy Conference,” named after and championing the president’s energy policy, and coinciding with the U.N’s annual climate talks. It opened with a video message from then-administrator of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, and featured two mid-level Trump administration officials.

In August, it held a second of these conferences in New Orleans. The conference website stated that 300 to 400 people were expected to attend, but most of the day it had an audience of 100 or fewer. Despite the modest attendance, the conference featured three Trump political appointees: Joe Balash, assistant secretary for land and minerals management at Department of Interior; Jason Funes, special assistant in DOI’s Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs; and Brooke Rollins, who serves as the assistant to the president for strategic innovations and leads the White House Office of American Innovation.

“Despite what the anti-fossil fuel hypocritessay, the everyday American in this country loves fossil fuels,” Funes : told :(style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline"/maxresdefault.jpg) conference attendees. “Under President Trump and Secretary [Ryan] Zinke, the literal war on American fossil fuels is now over and becoming energy dominant is a true reality.”}:

Many other panelists were regulars from Heartland’s climate conferences. One of the day’s panels took direct aim at climate science; others were framed around policy, legal challenges, economic arguments, or moral ones.

According to Oreskes, the economic argument — that climate change is too expensive to fix — have been part of Heartland’s arsenal for years. But the moral argument — the idea that regulating fossil fuels will create “energy poverty” by increasing energy prices so much that people with low incomes can’t afford it — is newer. Oreskes said it’s “one of the most pernicious arguments they’ve ever made.”

“A central truth about climate change is that those of us who have benefited the most from using fossil fuels will suffer the least, while poor people, who have hardly benefited, will bear the brunt of climate change,” she said.

In December, Heartland plans to be in Katowice, Poland during the U.N.’s next major climate conference, where it will release its book “Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels.” The book is the fifth volume Heartland has edited and published by the “Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change” (NIPCC) – a moniker derived from the name of the U.N.’s scientific body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The previous four volumes, published between 2009 and 2014, were all attempts to contradict the climate science reported by the U.N. However, according to talking points that Heartland released earlier this month and distributed to state and federal policymakers, this fifth volume barely touches on climate science. Instead, it focuses on a cost-benefit analysis of reducing fossil fuel usage. The summary concludes that “nearly all the impacts of fossil fuel use on human well-being are net positive.”

Heartland’s support for the fossil fuel industry has not been reciprocated, of late. Heartland once received financial support from ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute and Alpha Natural Resources, among others, but those and other donations from the industry have largely dried up; Heartland’s website says most of its funding today comes from individual donors and foundations. In August’s conference on the energy sector, just one person employed by that sector spoke: Joe Leimkuhler, vice president of drilling of Louisiana-based deepwater exploration company LLOG Exploration.

Heartland’s president Huelskampblamed the lack of participation on companies not wanting to jeopardize government contracts, or backtrack on their efforts to promote an environmentally friendly image.

“All these folks continue to think Hillary Clinton still runs things,” Huelskamp said. “So we’re not here promoting individual companies, we’re promoting free markets.”

Heartland has also lost organizational allies: The program from its March 2008 climate conference boasted 52 co-sponsors from more than 20 countries, nearly all organizations promoting free-market initiatives. That number dwindled over the years, and the program from its 2017 conference listed only 10 co-sponsors, two of which were international. Heartland spokesman Jim Lakely said the decline was due to a policy that co-sponsors must financially support the conference to be listed. “It is no reflection at all on the view of our allies or friends,” he said.

Heartland’s strident policies on climate change may have strained a relationship with one of its most powerful remaining allies: the American Legislative Exchange Council, an influential organization that unites private interests and conservative politicians to craft legislative proposals. Heartland has long been an instrumental member of ALEC, helping draft model legislation on climate change. But its proposals have alienated some of ALEC’s large corporate members. In 2014, eBay, Facebook, Yelp, Microsoft and Google all left the organization; then-Google chairman Eric Schmidt said the company was leaving because ALEC was “just literally lying” about climate change. The exodus has continued: This December, ExxonMobil took issue with a climate resolution that Heartland had backed in an ALEC meeting. The company chose to step away from ALEC in June.

Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Wisc.), who attends ALEC meetings and then writes about them, said that at a meeting in August, an ALEC task force only barely passed a Heartland-backed proposal to rewrite fuel economy standards. “It almost went down, because there were 10 or 11 private industry people voting against it,” she said. “I’d never seen that before.”

“Heartland is being rebuffed again and again and again,” says Kert Davies, founder of the Climate Investigations Center, which monitors organizations that delay action on climate change. “A lot of companies cannot be caught dead supporting the extremist climate denial rhetoric that Heartland proffers.”

Heartland’s James Taylor dismissed rumors of tension between the two libertarian institutions.

“We have the warmest of relationships with ALEC,” he said. “A rift between us is wishful thinking on behalf of the environmental left.”

When asked about tensions between the organizations, ALEC’s chief marketing officer and executive vice president of external relations and strategic partnerships Bill Meierling said in a statement that “differing perspectives generate substantive debate that results in stronger, better policy models.”

Heartland’s leaders say its new strategy has nothing to do with making itself more palatable to funders or allies, and that they are not abandoning their efforts on science — for example, they are working to publish a new book on climate change aimed at science teachers and their students.

“We’ve convinced the people who matter that there’s profound uncertainty in the science,” said Bast. “So the next step is energy policy.”

—Nicole Einbinder contributed reporting.

Katie Worth is a GroundTruth Fellow and a 2018 O’Brien Fellow in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University’s Diederich College of Communication. Katie Worth, Former Reporter, FRONTLINE

---

https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060713373

The proposed White House panel that would conduct an "adversarial" review of climate science is dead for now, as President Trump grapples with negative perceptions of his environmental record at the outset of his reelection campaign.

The monthslong push from within the National Security Council to review established science on climate change divided White House advisers and generated sharp opposition from researchers across the country. The effort, led by a physicist overseeing technology issues at the NSC, William Happer, stalled indefinitely amid internal disagreements within the White House, according to two sources.

"It's been totally stymied by the forces of darkness within the administration, but also by the looming election campaign," said Myron Ebell, a senior fellow at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute who led the EPA transition team under Trump.

Happer has consulted conservative groups that attack climate science in an attempt to recruit members for the proposed panel. He's spoken with policy analysts at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Heartland Institute and CO2 Coalition, a group Happer founded and that claims that the world would be better off with higher levels of carbon dioxide emissions. The theories promoted by those groups are rejected by NASA, NOAA and the world's top science academies.

Happer initially wanted Trump to issue an executive order to create the "Presidential Committee on Climate Security." He wanted the panel to review assertions within the National Climate Assessment related to risks from climate change on national security. Happer briefed Trump on climate science at least twice (Climatewire, June 24).

The idea to create the panel has caused strife within the White House. Among its critics are deputy chief of staff Chris Liddell; Kevin Hassett, the outgoing chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council; and Kelvin Droegemeier, the president's science adviser. Thosesupporting the plan include Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and Brooke Rollins, assistant to Trump in the Office of American Innovation.

An official at NSC disputed the characterization that the panel was dead, even while confirming that it had been indefinitely delayed. The plan has suffered several downgrades over the months. It was initially proposed as a rapid response team of climate science critics who would challenge government publications on human-caused warming. Recent discussions have centered on the idea of forcing government climate scientists to participate in a debate with critics of their work who deny that humans are causing widespread changes on Earth (Climatewire, June 6). Most recently, the plan was diminished to creating dueling white papers that would elevate climate denialism to the level of consensus science.

Those in talks to participate as critics of mainstream science include John Christy of the University of Alabama, Huntsville, and Judith Curry, former head of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech. A potential leader of the exercise was Paul Robinson, a former Department of Energy official who oversaw talks about nuclear weapons tests with the Soviet Union, but who is not trained in climate science.

Trump supporters who want the administration to be more aggressive in its rejection of climate science were frustrated that the climate review panel had been sidelined. Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute sees it as a sign that the Trump campaign is sensitive to Democratic attacks on climate change.

"The reelect campaign has been completely taken over by the usual cast of Republican establishment consultants who are primarily concerned with making very large amounts of money on the campaign," Ebell said.

---

https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/10/02/climate-science-deniers-trump-admin-happer-wehrum-rollins-wynn-simmons

readfearn

here are five folks spearheading the United States government who think that when it comes to climate change, they know better than all of the world’s main scientific institutions.

There’s Donald Trump himself, of course, who famously tweeted that climate change was a hoax invented by the Chinese, and said that a cold snap in the weather overturns a century or more of scientific inquiry.

Then there’s energy secretary Rick Perry, whose fuzzy logic on the science sees him unconvinced that CO2 is the key driver of climate change.

Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior, is similarly confused and non-committal about the impacts of burning fossil fuels, as is former coal-lobbyist-turned-EPA head Andrew Wheeler. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson said in 2015 that climate change was “irrelevant,” that temperatures were driven by natural cycles and, since then, hasavoided questions about the role of human activity in climate change.

OK, so there are more than five (with Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, and Jeff Sessions among those who have denied the science in the past), but these five are well positioned to influence the energy and climate policies of the nation.

Wheeler, for example, is driving through cuts to national efficiency standards for motor vehicles and is relaxing pollution rules on coal power plants. Zinke and Perry are aggresively promoting fossil fuel growth with Trump as the climate-wrecker-in-chief. Carson heads an agency that has a role in promoting (or not) climate change adaptation and resilience for homes and properties, particularly after natural disasters.

Remembering not only do these five reject the advice of the world’s major science academies, but also the expertise of the scientists working in their own government agencies.

But while these five might be relative household names with their views well reported, DeSmog presents five lesser-known climate science deniers inside the administration who are also in positions to gut federal action on climate and promote fossil fuel-friendly policies, backed by their own convictions that climate change just isn't much of a problem.

Will Happer

Will Happer, emeritus professor from Princeton University, was once in the running as Trump’s science advisor but has now been appointed to the National Security Council, specializing in emerging technologies.

After news of Happer’s appointment became public, Science, republishing E&E News, characterized the 79-year-old physicist as a “vocal critic of mainstream climate science.”

But Happer is more than a mere critic — he has acted as an enabler and activist against action on climate change for well over a decade.

For years, Happer was chairman at the George Marshall Institute and then, when that was shuttered, he founded the CO2Coalition with former Exxon director, the late Roger Cohen. Both groups took fringe positions on the science of climate change, with Happer claiming that adding more fossil fuel emissions into the atmosphere will be good for humans.

In 2015, Happer was caught in a sting by Greenpeace when he offered to write a report on the “benefits” of CO2 for a fake oil client and then hide the funding, which would be directed to the CO2 Coalition. Since then, that group has received funding from the foundation of Trump backer and hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer.

In December 2016, Happer attended a conference organized by conspiracy theorist G. Edward Griffin. Now he’s on the National Security Council.

Late in 2017, the Trump administration nixed climate change from a list of global threats to the U.S. in the National Security Strategy.

It's safe to say Happer won't be leading any pushes to add it back in.

Bill Wehrum

Bill Wehrum is the U.S. government’s most senior official on air pollution, as the assistant administrator in the Office of Air and Radiation at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Wehrum is a long-serving lawyer for the coal industry, as well as petrochemical and petroleum industry groups (such as Koch Industries).

Wehrum’s office is also tasked with looking at regulations to tackle power plant pollution and climate change and recently proposed the Affordable Clean Energy rule as a replacement for Obama's Clean Power Plan.

But as the New York Times reported, Wehrum has been delivering big time for his former fossil fuel industry clients by proposing the new rule, which EPA's own analysis shows would increase premature deaths from pollution.

One former EPA director, Bruce Buckheit, told the New York Times: “They basically found the most aggressive and knowledgeable fox and said, ‘Here are the keys to the hen-house.'”

Over a decade earlier, Wehrum was in the same position at EPA as he is now and back then argued against granting California a Clean Air Act waiver to set more stringent pollution standards for vehicles.

Back in power at the EPA, he ran the agency's midterm review of auto emissions standards, which this year recommended rolling back the stricter standards proposed by the Obama administration.

Under question during his confirmation hearings, Wehrum claimed that CO2 emissions as a main driver of climate change, which the government’s own scientists confirm, was to him an “open question." [vid]

Brooke Rollins

Rollins was an aide to Texas Governor Rick Perry before spending 15 years leading the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), which she left in early 2018 to become assistant to the president in the Office of American Innovation (OIA), based in the White House (some wonder what the OIA actually does).

During her time at TPPF, Rollins promoted the work of the organization’s Kathleen Hartnett White, a climate science denierand fossil fuel evangelist whose controversial nomination to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality was ultimately withdrawn.

In August 2018, Rollins appeared at the Heartland Institute’s energy conference alongside that think tank’s new president Tim Huelskamp.

At the conference, Rollins nodded as Huelskamp suggested American schoolchildren’s heads were being “filled with mush” about the dangers of CO2.

Home life was like a “goat rodeo,” she said, and working in the White House wasn’t “much different.”

While at TPPF, Rollins wrote that Trump should exit the Paris climate agreement.

What she's actually doing in her role with OIA remains unclear, but the fact that she appeared at the America First Energy Conference, hosted by a climate science denying think tank, indicates she isn't likely straying from her previous positions on climate and energy.

Todd Wynn

Todd Wynn is director of the Interior Department’s Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs after spending years in pro-fossil fuel industry think tanks, many with Koch network connections.

On Wynn’s CV is his time working at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the corporate bill mill where he led that group’s energy task force.

In that position, he fought against state renewable energy mandates and federal regulation of fracking fluids.

Lisa Graves, co-director of DocumentedInvestigations.org, has described Wynn as an “aggressive fossil fuel insider.”

In his new position with the Department of the Interior, Wynn is responsible for “strengthen[ing] relationships between state and local partners and external stakeholders” with Secretary Zinke's office, which, by the looks of it, has already been quite cozy with fossil fuel stakeholders.

An investigation by HuffPost alleged Wynn may have violated an ethics pledge by continuing to liaise with former associates while in his new job.

“Wynn has been a rising star in the influential network of fossil fuel-funded think tanks that push policies and produce pseudoscientific research to muddle the debate on climate change,” the HuffPost report detailed.

Wynn has himself questioned the role that fossil fuel emissions have on warming the planet, suggesting in 2010 that it was “absolutely ridiculous” to claim CO2 was driving climate change.

Daniel Simmons

Who better to lead the Trump administration's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy than a man who once asked for that same office to be closed while barracking for fossil fuels? Daniel Simmons is just that guy.

As reported by DeSmog and others, Simmons spent years working for so-called “free market think tanks,” including the Institute for Energy Research, before joining the Trump transition team and then securing the nomination for the role, located in the Department of Energy.

Simmons has a history of working at organizations that attack programs aimed at encouraging the development of clean energy industries like solar and wind power. But in 2015, the American Energy Alliance (AEA), where he was working, attacked the office Simmons now heads, writing disapprovingly that its role was to “promote and subsidize 'clean energy' as determined by government bureaucrats.”

The office, AEA wrote, “aims to control multiple sectors of the economy, from energy production and transmission to manufacturing and construction.” Cutting the office entirely could “save” the administration more than $9 billion. Simmons himself has claimed that the costs of the Paris climate agreement target of keeping global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius would be greater than any benefits.

Perfect man for the job? In the Trump administration, the answer is yes.

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wikifluff

beauty queen?

Brooke Leslie Rollins is an American lawyer who currently serves as assistant to President Donald Trump in the Office of American Innovation. Prior to assuming her current role, Rollins was president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an Austin-based free-market think tank, from 2003 through 2018.^[1][2] During her tenure at TPPF, the think tank grew from having a staff of 3 to a staff of 100.^[3]^

Rollins previously served as deputy general counsel, ethics advisor, and policy director to Texas Governor Rick Perry.^[4] She is an advocate of criminal justice reform.^[5]^

:{Early life and education

She was raised in Glen Rose, Texas and attended Texas A&M University, where she graduated cum laude with a B.S. in agricultural development in 1994. She was named the top graduate of her class based on a combination criteria of academics, leadership, and service.^[4] While at Texas A&M, Rollins was the first female to be elected student body president. She also served as the speaker pro tempore of the Student Senate, the chair of the Texas A&M Judicial Court, as a Fish Camp counselor, and was Cotton Bowl Classic Queen.^[4]^

After graduating from A&M, Rollins attended the University of Texas School of Law, from which she graduated with honors. She then worked for several years at Hughes & Luce, LLP in Dallas and clerked under U.S. Federal District Court judge Barbara M.G. Lynn.^[2]^

Accolades[

In 2007, she became the first female speaker at the College Station Aggie Muster, which honors deceased Texas A&M former students.^[4] In 2011, Texas Monthly named Rollins one of the 25 most powerful Texans.^[6]^

Office of American Innovation[

In February 2018, Rollins replaced Reed Cordish as assistant to President Trump in the Office of American Innovation.^[7]^

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NOLA 818 huffpo

...Craig Richardson, executive director of E&E Legal, a conservative legal group that repeatedly sued the Obama administration's regulatory agencies, said he now sees his group as "trying to be a supportive arm of this new administration." But he lamented what he and others called "virtue signaling" by corporations "jumping on climate change."

Richardson complained about ExxonMobil leaving the conservative advocacy group, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), over a clash on climate policy. (Last year, Heartland wanted ALEC to approve a resolution calling on the EPA to withdraw the endangerment finding. Exxon was among several corporations and utilities that convinced ALEC to shelve a vote on the resolution.)

Heartland co-founder Joseph Bast provoked laughter by recounting carmaker GM's response to the Trump administration proposal unveiled last week to freeze fuel economy standards. Quoting the vision statement of GM CEO Mary Barra—that the company is working toward a future of "zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion"—Bast said: "That is impossible, and it's absolutely ludicrous. Zero of each of those things mean zero cars. It means zero respect for people's personal choices of transportation. It would mean a devastating impact on the economy."

"Big companies," Bast said, "are willing to throw their customers under the bus when it comes to appearing to be green or when it comes to appeasing an administration," a reference to carmakers' deal with the Obama administration that led to the fuel economy standards. The auto companies now want the rules weakened, though not as aggressively as Trump has proposed.

Heartland has received funding in the past from Exxon and other fossil fuel interests. The group is not required to disclose its funders. Conservative hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, who helped bankroll Trump's campaign, is known to be a donor, according to Mercer Family Foundation tax returns.

Peter Ferrara, Heartland's senior fellow for legal affairs, told the conference that his group opted not to intervene in the climate lawsuit that San Francisco and Oakland filed against Exxon and other oil companies because of the risk that it would be forced to disclose its donors. Instead, Heartland laid out its arguments against mainstream climate science on its website and in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. The oil companies' victory in that case would be a "valuable precedent," he said. Others in attendance criticized the oil giants for not opposing, in their legal arguments, the science that global warming is human-caused.

'Hearts and Minds of Americans'

The highest Trump administration official to appear at the conclave was Brooke Rollins, the former CEO and president of the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation. Rollins serves in the White House as assistant to the president in the Office of American Innovation. Heartland President Tim Huelskamp, a former Kansas Congress member who chaired the Tea Party caucus, asked her if Trump would take on the endangerment finding and other "golden calves of the left." Rollins offered no answer, but urged the group to keep pushing.

"We know the research of CO2 being a pollutant is just not valid," Rollins said. "And yet it's time to really continue research, and continue making that argument, and continue changing the hearts and minds of Americans."

Jay Lehr, the Heartland Institute's science director, noted the "major role" that Heartland played in urging Trump to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.

Lehr asked Rollins if Trump would stay the course. "People keep thinking he could still back down," he said.

"All of my experience has proven out that when this president says he believes in something, then there is no one more bold or courageous or fearless," Rollins said. "Does that mean I can say today he will never change his mind? No. But it does go to the question of how important organizations like Heartland and Texas Public Policy Foundation are."

PUBLISHED UNDER:

CLIMATE DENIAL

POLITICS

DONALD TRUMP

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A senior Trump administration adviser on government-to- government and technology initiatives is stepping down, the latest of more than a dozen top officials to depart the White House in little more than a year.

Reed S. Cordish is leaving his post as assistant to the president in the Office of American Innovation, where he is being replaced by Brooke L. Rollins, the White House said this week.

Rollins is a former aide to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, from his time as Texas governor. She joins the White House from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank that advocates for criminal justice reform and free enterprise.

Cordish, 43, a close friend of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, played a central role in shaping the administration’s infrastructure plan with the aim of passing it this spring.

He said in an interview that he never planned to remain with the administration more than a year and that his role forging infrastructure and workforce policy was complete. He plans to return to his family’s Maryland real estate company.

“We did consensus-building and crafted legislative principles on initiatives like workforce and infrastructure, which are being transmitted to Congress this month,” he said.

Cordish served on President Trump’s transition committee and, although he had no government experience, he oversaw a wide breadth of White House projects involving subjects such as science, technology, engineering and math education and issues within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The infrastructure plan aims to stimulate $1.5 trillion in spending on roads, bridges, waterways and other public works projects. Critics say the plan does not have a viable funding source and that Trump’s proposed budget would cut more federal infrastructure spending than the plan adds, an assertion budget officials dispute.

Cordish also served as a conduit to private-sector leaders and helped shape memorandums signed by Trump aimed at emphasizing computer science education and expanding apprenticeships. He said during his time in the White House he spoke with more than 300 chief executives from companies of all sizes about their difficulty finding necessary workers in a tight labor market.

“When we first came into office we did not come in with the idea that workforce was going to be a high priority of the administration,” he said. “The workforce initiative really came out of those conversations. What they kept saying is it’s great you’re going to do tax reform, but we can’t find workers with the skills that match available jobs.”

After working with Internet giants such as Facebook and Google, Cordish said tech firms collectively committed in September to providing more than $300 million to computer science education programs.

Cordish said he also helped facilitate an agreement for electronics maker Foxconn to build a planned $10 billion factory in southeastern Wisconsin, where the company will receive $3 billion in state incentives.

Some economists have pilloried the deal as a taxpayer-funded corporate giveaway. Federal and local officials have defended the subsidies as worth the 10,000 jobs Foxconn says it will create.

Kushner issued a statement saying Cordish had been “invaluable” to the administration and praising Rollins.

“Reed and I have been working closely with Brooke Rollins in her role as president and CEO of Texas Public Policy Foundation on Prison Reform, and she is well prepared to continue executing on our key initiatives,” Kushner said.

Rollins will begin near the end of the month, according to the White House.

Texas Public Policy Foundation head Brooke Rollins to join White House

https://www.texastribune.org/2018/02/16/tppf-head-brooke-rollins-join-white-house/

Feb 16, 2018 - Brooke Rollins, the CEO and president of the Texas Public Policy ... Rollins, who has led the Austin-based conservative think tank for 15 years, is taking a job in the White House Office ofAmerican Innovation — which is led by Jared ... was then the Texas governor and now serves as U.S.energy secretary.

Brooke Rollins - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooke_Rollins

Brooke Leslie Rollins is an American lawyer who currently serves as assistant to President Donald Trump in the Office of American Innovation. Prior to assuming her current role, Rollins was presidentand CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, ... "Texas Public Policy Foundation head Brooke Rollinsto join White House".

:{Trump tech adviser:(style="font-family:Merriweather"):}: Reed Cordish is leaving the White House - The ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/...white-house/.../2895303c-0870-11e8-8777-2a059f1...

Feb 16, 2018 - Brooke Rollins, a former aide to Rick Perry, will take over the role. ... and Reed S. Cordish,assistant to President Trump, attend a meeting with CEOs of ... leaving his post as assistant to thepresident in the Office of American Innovation, ... She joins the White House from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, ...

Trump adds Texas think tank leader to White House innovation team ...

https://www.dallasnews.com › News › Politics

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TPPF Statement on Brooke Leslie Rollins Joining the White House ...

https://www.texaspolicy.com/.../tppf-statement-on-brooke-leslie-rollins-joining-the-wh...

:{:(style="border-color:#006621;;border-style:solid;border-width:5px 4px 0px;width:0px;height:0px;margin-left:3px;top:7.5px;margin-top:-4px;position:absolute;left:0px"):}:

White House adviser, a Kushner friend, leaving White House - CNN.com

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/16/politics/reed...american-innovation/index.html

Feb 16, 2018 - A top White House adviser in the Office of American Innovation and longtime ... a former aide to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, the White House confirmed on Friday. ... CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank. ... with Brooke Rollins in her role as President & CEO of Texas Public ...

Trump chooses ex-perry aide for innovation post - PressReader

https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-dallas-morning-news/.../281646780612488

Feb 17, 2018 - WASHINGTON — Brooke Rollins, a former aide to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, will fill a recentWhite House vacancy as assistant to the president in the Office of American ... Rollins is president andCEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, ... The Office of American Innovation, created by Trump last March, ...

Texas think tank expands policy shop to Washington - News - Amarillo ...

www.amarillo.com/news/texas.../texas-think-tank-expands-policy-shop-washington

:{:(style="border-color:#006621;;border-style:solid;border-width:5px 4px 0px;width:0px;height:0px;margin-left:3px;top:7.5px;margin-top:-4px;position:absolute;left:0px"):}:

Think tank in the 'king of the red states' assumes power in Trump's ...

https://thinkprogress.org/texas-right-wing-think-tank-tppf-perry-cruz-trump-washingt...

:{:(style="border-color:#006621;;border-style:solid;border-width:5px 4px 0px;width:0px;height:0px;margin-left:3px;top:7.5px;margin-top:-4px;position:absolute;left:0px"):}:

Senior tech aide to President Trump, Reed Cordish, is leaving White ...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/senior-tech-aide-president-trump-220400269.html

Feb 16, 2018 - Reed Cordish, who had been involved in a wide range of policy initiatives, ... Senior techaide to President Trump, Reed Cordish, is leaving White House ... range of policy initiatives as head of the Office of American Innovation, ... Kushner said Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy ...

rollins, brooke USDA 3 AFPI

Brooke Rollins

Biography

Nomination for U.S. secretary of agriculture

‘4.3 Million Off SNAP and Counting!’ Trump Official Celebrates Mass Loss of Food Aid

“Kicking 4.3 million Americans off of SNAP is not a flex, it’s a failure,” said Democratic Rep. Shontel Brown.

PROMOTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE BY ENSURING AN ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF ELEMENTAL PHOSPHORUS AND GLYPHOSATE-BASED HERBICIDES

February 18, 2026

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The details

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Will Happer

Bill Wehrum

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:{Early life and education

Accolades[

Office of American Innovation[

'Hearts and Minds of Americans'

:{Trump tech adviser:(style="font-family:Merriweather"):}: Reed Cordish is leaving the White House - The ...