An Ohio farmer in an op-ed piece compared the plight of American farmers under President Trump to adult-film star Stormy Daniels’s situation, saying that both got “screwed” and then paid off.
Christopher Gibbs, a farmer who worked with the Department of Agriculture (USDA) on the federal level for 30 years, penned the piece for Ohio’s Sidney Daily News, saying that Trump’s plan to bail out farmers affected by his tariffs is proof that his trade policies are “folly.”
Trump’s Agriculture Department announced last week that it would offer $12 billion in aid to farmers who have been hurt by retaliatory tariffs that came in response to Trump’s decision to impose levies on imports from other countries.
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“Let me tell you a riddle,” Gibbs wrote. “ ‘I slept with a billionaire because he said he loved me. I expected to make love, but in the morning I realized I was getting screwed. When I went to tell the world, I was offered cash to keep my mouth shut.’ ”
“Who am I?” he wrote. “No, I’m not a model or someone named Stormy. I’m the American farmer.”
Daniels was paid $130,000 by Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, just before the 2016 election and says that the payment was to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with Trump. She is now suing the president to void a nondisclosure agreement.
Gibbs wrote that Trump is “tearing down” world markets “built and paid for by farmers” with his protectionist trade policies, and said that the president’s tactics are similar to those of a “playground bully.”
“We keep hearing about the ‘Art of the Deal,’ ” the farmer wrote. “I’m waiting for the ‘Art’ portion. Using a club to bludgeon our trading partners and allies is not negotiating. It’s nothing more than a playground bully stomping around to see who will flinch.”
Gibbs warned that using taxpayer dollars to aid farmers “will do little more than put a target on agriculture’s back and make agriculture no better than those who come hat in hand wanting something for nothing.”