These Republican cowards won't call out Trump even as he decimates their state

There was a time in the distant past when Idaho elected officials had moral compasses and were dedicated to serving the interests of the Gem State. Since agriculture is so important to the Idaho economy, they were constantly on guard against federal plans and schemes that would harm that vital industry. As legislative assistant to former U.S. Sen. Len Jordan in 1970-72, I had a front row seat to the action.

Every time there was even a hint of Idaho water being poached by another state, the entire Congressional delegation – Sens. Jordan and Frank Church and Reps. Orval Hansen and Jim McClure – spoke out loud and clear against it.

When President Richard Nixon ended beef import quotas in June of 1972 so as to bring in more beef and lower prices, the delegation collectively raised hell.

Jordan always vigorously opposed actions that would harm farmers in other states, figuring there was strength in numbers.

Len Jordan was the epitome of courage, having stood up to a president of his own party numerous times. He spoke out and voted against Nixon’s two segregationist U.S. Supreme Court nominees – Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell. He led the Senate floor fight in 1972 to force Nixon to spend funds lawfully appropriated by Congress. He supported the president when he thought he was right and opposed him when he was wrong.

With Jordan’s example in mind, it is frightening to see the craven cowardice of Idaho’s top politicians – Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo, Reps. Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher and Gov. Brad Little. When Donald Trump acts against the interests of farmers, we don’t hear a peep from these officials who are supposed to represent our interests.

When Trump announced to Californians a year ago that he wanted to send them Columbia River waters, our politicos remained silent. His Jan. 24 executive order meddling with irrigation water in federal storage did not elicit a peep. We can only hope he doesn’t try that in Idaho, as it does not appear our elected heroes will push back.

Our congressional delegation is afraid of telling Trump that the constitutional power to set tariffs is theirs, not his, and that his tariffs are raising farmers’ costs for fertilizer, machine parts, lumber, chemicals and practically everything they buy.

Sen. Crapo should take a particular interest in the tariff problem because he is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which is responsible for setting tariffs. Somebody should probably wake him up and let him know that Trump tariffs are hurting folks on the farm.

Idaho is not big into soybeans, but Midwestern farmers are desperate for help. China bought $12.6 billion in U.S. soybeans last year, but absolutely none this year, thanks to retaliation for Trump’s erratic tariffs.

Trump admires Argentina’s nutty President, Javier Milei, and spent 20 billion U.S. taxpayer dollars to keep him in office. Milei won at the expense of Midwestern farmers. China bought more than one million tons of Argentinian soybeans to fill its need and will likely purchase Argentinian and Brazilian soybeans long into the future.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said the Argentine bailout was “probably one of the grossest things” she’s ever seen. Idaho’s top elected officials could not crank up the courage to protest.

Closer to home, Trump is throwing a haymaker at Idaho’s beef producers. I grew up in the cattle business. For many years my father, Henry Jones, had the largest beef operation in southern Idaho. It is kind of a boom or bust business. It happens to be the one bright spot on the agricultural scene in Idaho and across the country, but there have been many bust years and producers finally have a chance to make up for them.

But destroying the market of U.S. soybean farmers was not enough to help President Milei, so Trump now wants to quadruple beef imports from Argentina to knock down beef prices in the U.S. Trump claimed he had to help because Argentina was “dying, all right? They are dying.” Cattlemen in Idaho and across the country are justifiably outraged.

Rep. Greene said, “Honestly it’s a punch in the gut to all of our American cattle ranchers.” Senators representing South Dakota, Utah, Montana and Utah have publicly objected to Trump’s plan, but our congressional delegation and governor have remained silent, apparently frightened to stand up for our farm community.

That’s not really surprising because none of them will say anything about the thuggish tactics employed by ICE against Idaho’s undocumented workers who harvest our crops, milk our cows and do the important work that keeps Idaho’s agricultural sector operating.

If our officials can’t muster the courage to do their jobs, they should either undergo spinal transplants or check themselves into retirement homes.

• Jim Jones served as Idaho attorney general for eight years (1983-1991) and as a justice of the Idaho Supreme Court for 12 years (2005-2017). His weekly columns are collected at JJCommonTater.com.