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Online, right-wing influencers express outrage over Trump’s comments about importing more beef from Argentina

Right-wing cable news shows struck a different tone, with some personalities defending Trump’s move on imports

Special Programs Climate & Energy

Written by Ilana Berger

Published

Some right-wing media figures online are livid after learning that Trump will allow more beef imports from Argentina — a move they say will hurt American cattle ranchers. 

On October 20, Trump falsely told reporters that “the only price we have that’s high is beef, and we’ll get that down, and one of the things we’re thinking about doing is beef from Argentina.” A few days later, according to Reuters, the administration announced that it will allow the importation of 80,000 metric tons of beef from Argentina, roughly quadrupling the tariff rate quota. This follows a $20 billion currency swap deal reached earlier in October to prop up Argentina’s economy, compounding the anger of those who criticize foreign aid and farmers who feel abandoned. 

Online, many have criticized the move for not prioritizing American businesses in an already struggling industry — including cattle ranchers themselves, many of whom voted for Trump.  On Fox News’ The Five, Democratic strategist Jessica Tarlov criticized the president for undertaking an elaborate White House ballroom construction project while “our farmers are losing their businesses. … That is how Donald Trump’s administration is hurting everyday Americans.” Meanwhile, other hurdles for cattle ranchers, such as extreme weather and drought driven by an increasingly warming planet, appear not to be on the radar of those claiming to champion the industry.

  • Right-wing influencers accuse Trump of putting Argentina before Americans

    • OutKick and Fox host Tomi Lahren dedicated an episode of her show to the issue, calling the deal “A Knife in the Back of American Ranchers.” She called the move “so far from America first, it makes my stomach churn” and “a kick to the balls and a knife in the back of our American ranchers, and there’s no other way to put it.” [OutKick, Tomi Lahren is Fearless, 10/23/25, 10/23/25]

    • MAGA media influencer Mike Cernovich called the deal “absurd.” Tagging Trump, he wrote, “Ranchers who supported you have real concerns with the plan to import Argentinian beef to undercut them. The bad actors are the beef packing cartels! Who is advising you? American ranchers are 90% for you. This is ABSURD!” [Twitter/X, 10/22/25]

    • Shannon Joy, a “prominent anti-vaccine podcaster” wrote: “Here is Donald Trump telling American cattle ranchers they don’t know their own business while hopping in the sack with Argentina. NOT OK.” [Twitter/X, 10/22/25; The Bulwark, 6/26/25]

    • Popular MAGA account The Patriotic Blonde called the move “pathetic” and wrote, “Fuck you, @POTUS. I didn't work tirelessly for two of your campaigns … just so you could Make Argentina Great Again.” [Twitter/X, 10/21/25, 10/21/25]

    • UncoverDC Editor-in-Chief Tracy “Beanz” Diaz wrote: “I ONLY buy American beef from American ranchers. Support your American cattlemen.” [Twitter/X, 10/21/25; Media Matters, 9/26/25]

    • Former InfoWars host David Knight said on his show that “farmers are dying,” but Trump “knows that they’ll continue to vote for him.” [Rumble, The David Knight Show, 10/21/25]

    • A social media account for the right-wing influencers Keith and Kevin Hodge, known online as the Hodgetwins, wrote, “I don’t want beef from anyone other than American farmers, cmon Trump.” [Twitter/X, 10/20/25; IMDB, accessed 10/30/25]

    • Podcaster Emerald Robinson, who has been described by The Washington Post as a “covid conspiracy theorist,” called the Trump administration a “hot mess” over Trump’s Argentine beef decision, among other choices. [Twitter/X, 10/22/25; The Washington Post, 11/2/21]

    • A social media account for the now-defunct conspiracy theory podcast Shipwreck Show wrote: “Will not be buying Argentina beef my guy. Struck out here. There are local farmers who would love your business. Go find one.” [Twitter/X, 10/20/25; Media Matters, 10/30/25]

    • Podcaster Tom Renz, who previously spread misinformation about COVID vaccines, wrote, “Really? Why? Argentine beef over American? This isn’t America First… can we at least get country of origin labeling so those of us that want to support American farmers can do it?” [Twitter/X, 10/20/25; Snopes, 7/22/21; Washington Post, 9/20/21]

  • On right-wing cable shows, reactions were varied, with some personalities holding water for Trump

    • On The Sunday Briefing, Fox anchor Jacqui Heinrich said, “Many of the president's supporters have said this flies in the face of his own arguments against cheap foreign imports and illegal labor in the name of protecting American jobs and manufacturing.” She continued, “At the end of the day, is this plan even going to bring down prices?” [Fox News, The Sunday Briefing, 10/26/25]

    • On The Big Weekend Show, Tomi Lahren claimed, “The meatpackers set a lot of these prices,” while guest host Guy Benson suggested that importing beef may be “beneficial to the consumer.” Lahren said, “The president did campaign on affordability, but he also did campaign as well on America first.” She added, “If we enforce some of the anti-trust laws that are on the books, we can help by breaking down that issue,” because, ”The meatpackers are setting a lot of these prices.” Benson asked, “What is the problem from a consumer’s perspective?” and noted that consumers “can pay less for beef if we’re bringing some of it in from an allied country like Argentina, isn’t that beneficial to the consumer?” [Fox News, The Big Weekend Show, 10/25/25]

    • Fox & Friends Weekend hosts framed the beef import issue primarily as a problem of corporate power and lack of transparency, bringing the focus away from Trump. Host Charles Hurt argued for the importance of country of origin labeling, saying that “powerful interests” don’t want these labels because they’re “highly effective” at changing consumer behavior. Co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy offered potential cover for Trump by suggesting that “there might be a geopolitical angle to this” and that this “might be a way to pull China apart” from its influence in South America. [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 10/25/25]

    • In an interview with Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund CEO Bill Bullard, Campos-Duffy shifted focus to regulation, asking whether “part of the solution” should be allowing “small, local processors to compete with the big guys.” Campos-Duffy did not address the apparent  contradiction between Trump’s announcement and his “America First” agenda, instead concluding, “I don’t think anything compares to American, U.S. beef.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 10/25/25]

    • On Fox Business’ The Big Money Show, hosts were split on the issue, with David Asman defending Trump’s approach by arguing that ranchers are “making a lot of money at our expense” while Dagen McDowell countered that cattlemen are “mad as hell” at Trump for “hammering them about the prices” and increasing beef imports. [Fox Business, The Big Money Show, 10/24/25]

    • The Big Money Show guest host Caroline Downey said, “I’d rather we import Argentinian beef than have lab grown meat, which is what the progressives in Davos want.” [Fox Business,The Big Money Show, 10/22/25]

    • On Newsmax, host Rob Schmitt pushed back on Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) as the congressman argued that importing Argentine beef is “not a good solution for Americans.” “He’s really trying to help in Argentina — this capitalist Milei — and kind of help prop him up as he does the heavy work of trying to rid the stink of socialism in his own nation.” He later said, “You would kind of want to use Argentina to try and force China into a better deal, which would be America first.” Massie argued that “MAGA doesn’t stand for make Argentina great again” and that buying beef from the country is “not a good solution for Americans.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 10/21/25]

  • Climate change is creating problems for ranchers, and animal agriculture itself is a major driver of climate change

    • In a press release condemning Trump’s plan to import more beef, the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association named drought as one factor bringing up the cost of beef. Rising temperatures cause water to evaporate more quickly, sucking the moisture out of plants and soil. Warmer weather also diminishes snowpacks that melt and provide much needed water in the spring and summer. “America’s ranchers have weathered years of rising input costs, drought, and market shifts with unwavering resilience,” the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association wrote. “Today’s beef prices are a direct reflection of these challenges.” [Newsweek 10/20/25; Climate Central, 10/1/25; Yale Climate Connections, 5/11/23]

    • As a result of severe drought and changing weather patterns, U.S. cattle herds have gotten smaller. According to Investigate Midwest, climate change-driven weather volatility has “made relying on typical weather patterns and grazing conditions difficult for the nation’s beef producers." That means ranchers must travel farther to find adequate grazing grounds for their herds and spend more on feed. They are also forced to wean calves earlier so heifers expend less energy feeding calves and require fewer nutrients. Some farmers have even had to cull their herds. [Bloomberg, 1/31/25; Investigate Midwest, 3/13/24; South Dakota State University Extension, 3/21/25]

    • According to The New York Times, “Meat and dairy, particularly from cows, have an outsize impact” on the planet, “with livestock accounting for around 14.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases each year.” The Times explains, “That’s roughly the same amount as the emissions from all the cars, trucks, airplanes and ships combined in the world today.” [The New York Times, 4/15/22]

    • Researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota recently estimated that the meat consumed annually in the U.S. is responsible for 329 million tons of carbon emissions. The researchers also found that “emissions from meat consumption in the U.S. exceed total annual carbon emissions” from both the U.K. and Italy. [ABC News, 10/20/25; Nature, 10/20/25]

  • Climate change is also making food more difficult to produce and expensive in general

    • A 2025 study from the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability estimates that “every additional degree Celsius of global warming on average will drag down the world’s ability to produce food by 120 calories per person per day.” One author of the study said, “If the climate warms by 3 degrees, that’s basically like everyone on the planet giving up breakfast.” The predicted change in crop yields by the end of the century is particularly high in the Midwest, where corn and wheat decline could reach 25% in a moderate emissions case. Notably, the study contradicts past predictions that increased CO2 would slightly increase crop yields. [Stanford University, 6/18/25; Axios, 6/20/25]

    • A new joint report from several U.K. and EU-based organizations linked surges in food prices in 18 countries to “weather extremes that ‘exceeded all historical precedent prior to 2020.’” The report examined extreme weather that led to shocks between 2022 and 2024. For example, it found that drought led to 80% price spikes for various vegetables in California and Arizona in 2022. [The Guardian, 7/20/25]