John Thune praises tariffs as he admits farmers have ‘big harvest’ with ‘no place to go’
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) praised President Donald Trump's tariffs even as he admitted that farmers in his state had a "big harvest" with "no place to go."
During a Sunday interview on Meet the Press, host Kristen Welker told Thune that Trump had recently stated he would assist farmers hurt by the tariff policy.
"Why should American taxpayers bail out farmers who are hurting because of the president's tariff policies?" Welker wondered.
"Well, look, I think that the farmers, and I represent a lot of them, and they want nothing more than open markets," Thune replied. "There are markets right now that aren't open to some of our commodities."
"As a consequence of that, we've got a big harvest coming in here in South Dakota, corn and soybeans, and no place to go with it," he continued. "So what the President has said is, I'm going to support and I'm going to help our farmers."
"We're looking at potential solutions to make sure that we can help support farmers until some of those markets come back."
Thune, however, said he supported Trump using tariffs to achieve "reciprocity with countries that have been taking advantage of us for a long time."
"I think a lot of our farmers support that," the senator claimed. "But at the end of the day, our farmers are probably going to need some financial assistance this year."
MSNBC analyst Tim Miller argued that American taxpayers would be on the hook for Trump's refusal to roll back tariffs.
"Working Americans have to pay an extra sales tax on goods at Wal-Mart and then have that tax revenue used to bail out the farmers?" Miller wrote on X. "If Fox covered this like they did the bank bailouts this policy would have 15% approval."
‘He just dynamites it’: Alarm sounded over Trump’s ‘smoking gun for abuse of power’
Legal commentator Elie Honig said during a podcast Sunday that the indictment of former FBI director James Comey might be "abuse of executive power."
Speaking to journalist John Avalon on The Bulwark's podcast, Honig, who is the author of the book When You Come at the King: Inside DOJ's Pursuit of the President, From Nixon to Trump, said, "I mean, God, Trump basically, by mistake, published a DM demand to his AG that in any other environment would be seen as a smoking gun for abuse of executive power. And now it just seems like something happened two Fridays ago. And who can remember or care?"
He continued: "I do think more people will get indicted on the hit list. He gave us a hit list. I know there's speculation if it's a DM that he inadvertently posted. It has hallmarks of both."
Avalon said the indictment "seems like a new low in the politicization of justice and the persecution of [President] Donald Trump's enemies."
According to Honig, there is "the complete evisceration of this wall that has long existed between the White House and the political operation of the executive branch and the Justice Department's prosecutorial function."
"When the president gets involved in dictating who gets charged and who doesn't, prosecutorial decisions, then we have crossed the line. And that's something that both parties for decades. Presidents don't always love it. Presidents would like to have more control over prosecutors. But even going back to Nixon, they've always understood that there has to be some independent prosecutorial function. But that's changing now very quickly," he added.
Honig further noted that there is no law per se "saying DOJ must be separate and independent from the White House, from the president."
He added: "I mean, if you went to court and said, I want to sue because I think DOJ is no longer independent, you wouldn't have a leg to stand on. This is more along the lines of a long established law foundational norm and tradition that both parties have long observed and respected."
Referencing his book, Honig noted how Trump 2.0 appears different from other presidencies.
"And part of the book is about ways that that has been chipped away over the years. But whether it's Nixon or Clinton, and they're not all equal, but Nixon or Clinton or Trump 1 or Biden, they've all chipped away at that wall in various ways."
"But now here comes Trump 2.0 and it's over. He just dynamites it. This is one of those things that's like not really enforceable. I mean, yes, Jim Comey can go into court and argue that he's being selectively prosecuted. And I think he's going to win on that. Given the things Trump has said and posted on social media publicly, he makes the case for him, but it's not like 'my fourth amendment constitutional right is being violated. My first amendment constitutional right is being violated.' It's just really like good government that we've long recognized that is now totally scrapped."
Avalon noted that "there is an unwritten part of the constitution, which is rooted in concepts of honor, decency, and common sense, as the founders intended and as everyone has recognized."
"And the rest of the quote, 'Rome wasn't built in a day, but it was burnt in one.' And Trump is burning something. I mean, FBI shows outside John Bolton's house. You've got [New York Attorney Genera] Letitia James next on the list."
Commenting on James' case, Honig said, "I've looked at the allegations against Letitia James. You know, I've been a critic, a sharp critic of Letitia James. But this mortgage fraud case is bogus. It's bonkers."
