To the editor:
Quite a few choices to talk about this week including: trump getting his DON’T RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES victory in defeating Republican representative Massie in Kentucky; the $1.776 BILLION looting of our tax money to “settle” trump’s lawsuit against the IRS; the strait of Hormuz still closed; the trump investments doing over 3,700 stock trades in the first quarter of 2026; and speaker Johnson announcing that our members of congress cannot support their families on their $174,000 salary and additional benefits including subsidized health insurance, so they need to be able to trade stocks (based on their insider knowledge?).
But the news drawing little publicity is trump’s announcement after his China trip is that China should be able to buy farmland in the United States. He thus repudiates his 2024 campaign pledge of an “America First” ban on Chinese buyers and his 2025 USDA “National Farm Security Plan” to ban Chinese Nationals from purchasing U.S. farmland and to claw back existing holdings near military bases. What is trump’s justification for this breaking of his 2024 pledge and 2025 ban? He says he had to do it because taking Chinese land buyers out of the real estate market would devastate American farmers financially by tanking land demand and prices.
He’s right, adding Chinese buyers to the billionaire oligarchs already buying up our farmland does drive up the price of farmland. But how does that help the family farmer trying to buy their own farmland? How does having Chinese buyers of farmland help grain prices? All five of our trump enablers, Marshall, Moran, Mann, Estes & Schmidt, joined trump in campaigning against Chinese ownership and in sponsoring bills to stop Chinese ownership of United States farmland. So what are these five doing now? There is no criticism of trump’s about-face. Just like there was no criticism of trump when he imposed his illegal tariffs that ruined the markets for our grain.
All of them up for election this year are bragging about their support of trump!
Ron Svaty
Ellsworth
