President Donald Trump's Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, once downplayed food inflation in a new interview — and got a tongue-lashing back from a prominent renegade Republican lawmaker.
Rollins made the comments on "The Benny Show" to dismiss people affected by rising beef prices.
"If it is too expensive, unlike fuel, Benny, you can eat chicken, pork, salmon, eggs," said Rollins. "There are other sources of really good protein, and all of those prices are coming down as well. So it isn't necessarily breaking out there."
This response outraged Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), a conservative lawmaker who has frequently clashed with the Trump administration on key issues like the Jeffrey Epstein case files.
"This is insane," Massie posted on X. "By what metric do we measure success of agriculture in the United States? I can tell you this ain’t it. Cattlemen [are] going out of business and consumers can’t afford American beef. The problem is the Ag Secretary and Trump are captured by the foreign beef cartel."
Rollins has frequently come under fire for similarly dismissive commentary about inflation.
Last year, as egg prices were spiking due to a health scare in the poultry industry, Rollins suggested people who want cheaper eggs should just keep chickens in their backyard. Then, in January, she insisted that her department had run "simulations" to determine Americans can feed themselves for $3 per meal.
