Cory Booker finally answered the question I asked at the beginning of the year. Would a President Booker, a vegan, care about Americans eating meat? At CNN’s townhall on the climate crisis, Booker provided this answer:
Let me be really blunt: Booker’s comments on agriculture scare the crap out of me.
Do you see what he did? He gave lip service to supporting family farms. But he literally called U.S. agriculture “perverse.” He said we’re polluting water, making people sick, abusing animals, and ruining the environment. He couches his criticisms as if they’re against “factory farming” and “corporate practices.” But those terms are just propaganda and activist talking points.
Booker’s tactic comes right from the lawyer’s playbook in those North Carolina cases that he references. The lawyers sued Smithfield Foods instead of local family farmers. Why? Because it’s easier to rally people against the biggest pork producer in the world over their neighbors. But those lawsuits were really about local family farmers. And so are Booker’s comments.
Perhaps the worst part: Booker readily admitted he met with “activists” to hear about their perceptions on agriculture. Why is he meeting with these people? They aren’t farmers. They don’t know about agriculture. They’re radical activists who demonize family farmers to support their propaganda.
I would invite Booker to meet with actual farmers. Heck, he can to our farm and meet with our family. We’d be happy to talk about technology, soil health, and the markets. And I have plenty of animal farmer friends who will happily host him as well. We aren’t ruining the environment, we aren’t making people sick, and we aren’t abusing animals.
American farmers aren’t perverse. It’s a complete disgrace that a presidential candidate would say such a thing.
