Trump wants to flood the market with cheap foreign beef: Why is Ben Cline silent on this?

You’d think that Ben Cline could be bothered to weigh in on Donald Trump’s harebrained scheme, made public today, to flood the U.S. market with 300,000 metric tons of imported ground beef, with a “commitment that this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices,” to protest how this move will hamstring our local farmers.

I mean, for starters, the Virginia Beef Council is headquartered in Botetourt County, 10 minutes from the home of our Sixth District congressman.

The beef industry is big business in Virginia – $700 million-plus in economic activity annually.

And it’s really big business here in the Valley: Augusta County and Rockingham County, the heart and soul of the Sixth District, which Cline represents in Congress, are #1 and #2 in the state in beef cow inventory – each generating in the vicinity of $50 million a year in economic activity.

I probably don’t need to mention that Augusta County and Rockingham County are 70 percent-plus Republican every November.

It’s not like Cline has gone radio silent.

He’s been active on social media all day.

Among Cline’s commentaries today: well, he posted on Facebook and Twitter about Democrats being socialists.

He had another post about how Flock cameras are bad.

The edict on beef imports, oddly, seems to have escaped his attention.

Plenty of other Republicans representing districts and states big in the beef economy have spoken out.

“I’ve advised President Trump against this course of action for a year because American ranchers have been struggling against the packer monopoly for decades, and this will further harm them – most of whom are MAGA Republicans,” U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Montana, wrote on Twitter.

“I’m extremely disappointed by this decision from the White House. We all want lower grocery prices, but as I’ve said for months, we cannot do it at the expense of American producers. Flooding the market with foreign beef hurts our livestock industry and undermines the long-term solution: growing the U.S. cattle herd to meet demand,” U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska, wrote on her socials.

“Florida ranchers, in particular, will feel this squeeze, and they deserve a long-term plan that doesn’t leave them in limbo. Increasing our dependence on foreign imports is not the answer,” was the comment from Congresswoman Kat Cammack, R-Florida.

“What a slap in the face to American cattlemen and consumers. Worse than socialism! Dumping foreign beef in U.S. markets can temporarily lower prices, but it won’t incentivize American farmers to raise more beef,” frequent Trump critic Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican congressman, shared.

Cline’s silence on the issue speaks volumes.

He can’t even criticize the president when it’s obvious to others in his political party that this policy direction from Trump – which is a direct harm to his constituents – is just plain nonsense.