May 23, 2025 • 22 mins
In this episode, Secretary Brooke Rollins discusses her journey from a family farm to becoming the 33rd U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. She emphasizes the importance of faith in leadership, the critical nature of food security for the nation, and the need to protect family farms against corporate consolidation. Rollins reflects on the legacy of the Trump administration and the historical significance of current events, urging listeners to recognize the spiritual dimension of governance and the role of prayer in their work. The Tudor Dixon Podcast is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network. For more visit TudorDixonPodcast.com
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Today we have the
thirty third US Secretary of Agriculture with us. It is
Brooke Rollins. Thank you so much, Secretary for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Tutor is so fun to be here. I'm just really
honored to be a part of it. Well, I'm glad
you're here.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I think a lot of people see the administration from
afar and they don't understand the qualifications that everybody has.
And as I learn about your life growing up on
a family farm, going to school on an ag scholarship,
everything that has led up to this moment, and just
the godliness throughout, like God taking care of you throughout this.
(00:40):
And I was reading about how you say when you
were raising your kids and they were younger, you were
called on to step into the first administration. You were like,
this is not I can't do this, and I know
that feeling as a mom, but you did, and look
at what you are doing now.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, Well it really is all about God. I mean,
I know we're here to talk about agriculture and here
to talk about the US Department and this president who
is transforming and saving America. But at the end of
the day, this all goes back to God and meeting
your moment and being able to answer the call that
God has on your life. And it's funny. We're studying
(01:18):
Exodus in my church right now, and how God had
called Moses right using the burning bush, and he called
Moses over and over again, and he said, I'm calling you,
and I need you to stand up and take my
people right and get them out from the Pharaoh. And
every time Moses said, I'm not ready, or this isn't
right for me, or I don't have what it takes.
(01:39):
And the whole scriptural lesson of Exodus is that when
God calls you answer and that he will, he will
be there beside you on your walk, and as you
are being asked to do, perhaps things you never expected
or things you think are too difficult, that nothing is
too big for God. And if he's there with you,
then the you know, it's beyond what you could have
(02:01):
ever imagined. And so for me, that's what this is.
And in the first administration, where I was the President's
chief policy lead, I to your point, I said no
multiple times because I had a third grader, a fifth grader,
a sixth grader, and an eighth grader at the time.
They're now ninth, eleventh, twelfth in college, but at the
time they were much younger, and I just kept saying,
(02:22):
I can't, I can't leave those kids every day for
this sort of a job. I can't do both of
them well enough. And the president, and through a lot
of prayer and a very supportive husband, we did take
that job. The kids did move with me to Washington.
We homeschooled them up here, and it ended up being
the greatest three years for my kids, for my family.
And so when called again for this job, unexpectedly, I
(02:47):
just again I felt such a peace about it. My
kids were more excited. I said, oh, I think I
need to obviously with three high schoolers, and the kids said, no, no, no, Mom,
you can do it all. We'll pick up any slack.
And it's been an incredible blessing. I will say it's
not easy, but the President's vision was never about easy, right.
It was about what we need to do to meet
(03:08):
this moment with God alongside us, to save America. And
that's what that's what I think we're doing.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I'm glad you said it's not easy, because I think
that's what people aren't seeing. If you don't have friends
within the administration, but for for folks like me and
for you obviously you're there seeing it and doing it
and working it every single day. It is a nineteen
twenty hour a day job.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And everybody I talked to is like, we are not
slowing down.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
And it's funny because even at the one hundred days celebration,
I talked to somebody and she was like, I'm kind
of hoping that it goes a little slower now that
it's been one hundred days. And I looked at her
and I go, but you know, it's not.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
She was like, no, said no, no, I think that's right.
But from my perspective, this is the incredible joy of
this administration. I loved my three years in Trump one.
I was there year, two, year, three in years, and
I loved those three years. For me, it was the
answer to a prayer that God has given us an
(04:07):
opportunity to save America again. I mean, when I agreed
to come to the White House in that first time,
literally everyone said, well, good luck with that, right that
DC is so broken it can never be fixed, but go,
you know, good luck, And I just felt I had
to try. And when we left, even in those dark
days of having an election taken from us the January sixth,
(04:28):
and everyone's saying that America verse was dead, that you know,
all the things we had done was kind of poofed
up into the air, that no one would ever remember
us in a positive way, which is the reason I
started America First Policy was to counter that and continue
the legacy. But even amongst all of that, the opportunity
to now come together to build on the first term,
(04:50):
that four years of what I call the Great Pause,
which allowed us to get really organized and draft executive
orders and be prepared, and now that meeting of that
moment with friends, you can't slow down. Slowing down is
not an option. We've got basically four years now, a
little bit less than four. I had lunch today with
(05:11):
the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, Kelly Leffler, who's
part of the cabinet, and she said, you know, we're
about ten percent of the way in ten percent, and
why some people think that's not much? For me, it
makes me panic. I'm like, wait a minute, We've already
driven through ten percent. We only have ninety percent life.
We got to go faster. That's how I think about it.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
And I think it's also we're into the first year
now and we're getting headed toward the midterms, and there
is this attack from the media right now, which it's
kind of interesting to watch them in this crisis mode too,
as they're being exposed for a lying about Joe Biden
on all of that. But we're going into the midterms,
(05:53):
and I think it's so important. I mean, I watched
what you did with America First Policy, and people don't
know that side. I think that was something that people
didn't get to see how hard people were working in
what you called the pause. But the pause was so
another God moment because you needed that to make sure
you were ready because of the speed that this administration.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Has to go out in four years. I just love that.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
I love what you were able to do with America
First Policy. I love what the team at America First
Works was able to do and how that came together
for that election. You were so you have been by
the President's side no matter what, always supporting him, always
a team member, and now you have one of the
most important positions in the administration, if not the most important.
(06:39):
And I say that because food Security. You made a
comment and said, if you don't have food security. You're
no longer a nation that's so key.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
If you can't feed yourself, and if you're reliant on
China or Russia or other countries to feed your people,
there doesn't matter what else you have, it doesn't matter.
You will never be the economic and the freedom engine
for the world. Again. That's what we face as Americans
right now, and that's why I know, kind of pivoting
(07:07):
a little bit into into our current administration, what we're
doing on trade and tariffs is important. But one thing
I want to say too, or I don't know that
I've ever said this publicly, to have watched President Trump
and been by his side, as you mentioned, to have
near daily calls with him at least twenty one and
twenty two, when you know, you were always on the team.
(07:27):
And there were others too, And I don't want to
put myself up as you know, the special person in that.
But there for a while, there were some dark days
and a lot of people said we need to move
away from President Trump, that he's so divisive, that all
these things, and just said, this is the man that
God has chosen for this time, and his boldness and
(07:48):
courage is now turning it into fearlessness, and that is
what it's going to take to save a nation. It's
the same fearlessness. I believe that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,
Abraham Lincoln, for all the great leaders in our movement.
And you know a lot of people say, oh, well,
but he's you know, don't put him in that category.
But I do put him in that category because he
(08:10):
was a businessman from New York who left a beautiful
life of luxury where everyone loved him to move into
this darkness. And it is dark, you know this, tutor.
I mean, it takes some real conviction to bring light
into what is a very dark industry, which is politics,
and to always stay focused on the light. And for
(08:33):
President Trump, and I just it breaks my heart to
think what he went through personally as my friend, as
my former boss, is my current boss, just watching that
trying to destroy his business, trying to destroy his family,
trying to assassinate him and coming within one millimeter of
doing so. Try facing a thousand years in prison. Who
can survive that? He can because I think he's called
(08:55):
for this moment. He's so strong. But when you look
at all of that and what he personally went through
the sacrifice, but what it allowed us, to your point,
was that four years of preparation and organization and bringing
the true team together and being ready again to meet
this moment. So that's how I see it in a
historical context. I've always said that five hundred years from now,
(09:17):
they're going to be writing about this time in American
history in a way that we can't even foresee, but
in a way that I believe is written about the
Civil War. I mean, we're at the same sort of
an inflection point in American history that we were in
the eighteen sixties, certainly in the seventeen seventies as we
were preparing for revolution and independence. That's where we are today.
And it's not some radical notion of you know, we
(09:38):
all need to bear arms and go fight the bad
guys or the the tier. It's about fighting for freedom
in today's historical context, and that's what we are doing.
So yeah, now we pivot to what that looks like
in terms of governing and being a part of that
is the greatest honor. I'm so proud, but also working alongside.
It's not about any of us, not even about Donald Trump.
(10:01):
It's about God, and it's about America, and that's the
that's the most righteous battle of all. From my perspective.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
You actually gave me chills when you were talking about that,
because I think that's the you know, a side of
President Trump that I mean, certainly better than I know.
But even the experiences that I have had with him,
it is not about him, even though a lot of
people go, oh, it's about him. I think the moment
that even some of the people leftist center realized it
(10:26):
wasn't about him was when he gets shot in the
head and he looks out at the crowd. He didn't
look out at the crowd to say, you know, look
at me. He said keep going, Yeah, it's okay. And
that was you could see in his face that was
concerned for the people, not for him. And that was
even when I would go and sit with you guys
(10:47):
and attend your meetings. I remember one where you walked
in and he said, we have a special guest on
the phone. But that to me, people say he's accessible,
and it's not that he's just accessible, said he wants
you know, he cares about you.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah, that's true. And you know, you think about the
wherewithal that day he was shot July thirteenth in Butler, Pennsylvania,
and at that moment, it was within half of a
second he said, stand aside, let me tell the people
to never give up and to keep fighting for this country.
And you know, in those moments, he didn't know. He
(11:24):
could have had a bullet lodged in his brain, right,
he could have been breathing his last breaths. He didn't know.
And it's the shock of that that it really the
true measure of a man, of a woman, of a soldier,
of a warrior isn't necessarily you know, preparing for battle
(11:44):
or whatever that looks like. But it is in the
heat of the moment that's, I think, when the true
measure of a person is tested. And for those that
maybe didn't believe in him before, didn't believe in his
strength or his character, that I think answered so many
questions and inspired millions of people, and again for him
(12:06):
to stand up, but then for him to continue to campaign,
and then to win all the swing states, including yours, Tutor,
which I know you had a huge part in, to
win the popular vote, to then take that as a mandate,
and to be again so fearless in the face of
so much adversity. Is just it's the story of a
thousand years that we're going to be This country is
(12:27):
going to be talking about for many, many, many hundreds
of years after you and I are gone.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I believe it. I believe that this is a legacy
that is lasting for as long as this earth is around.
People are going to be talking about what happened in
this I mean, just like we talk about Lincoln, just
like we talk about Reagan. There are people who make
a mark that is bigger than life itself. And that
I believe is what is going on here. And I
think that the interesting part about this administration, it's different
(12:55):
than the last one. You brought that up, but he
has very carefully chosen the right people for the right moment,
for the right positions. And that I believe is you
in this position because you understand egg in a way
that other people couldn't possibly. But also, you know, just
my own experience of going through the state of Michigan,
the farmers are under attack. They feel like the taxes
(13:17):
are too high, the fertilizer is too expensive. They are
struggling with whether or not they keep their family farm
or they sell it to a solar farm and we
lose the farm altogether.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
And that to me.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
And we also have the Chinese coming into the United
States and buying farmland. There is so much that is
going on in agriculture right now. You are the ones
standing there saying I'm going to protect it. I'm going
to lower costs and going to the UK getting them
to buy more of our products. I mean, there's it's
so much right now, and I'm so impressed with what
(13:50):
you've been able to do.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
I just want you to know that, thank you well,
I really appreciate that. And you know, it's funny. This
job was not on my bingo card. I was not
planning are asking to be the Secretary of Agriculture. But
the President saw something and he did in the first
term too, I you know, started running the Office of
American Innovation, and then I got a little more responsibility,
(14:12):
a little more responsibility, and then was basically told that
I was going to take over the Domestic Policy Council.
And I said, oh, I don't know if that's going
to work. I've got all these kids. And he said, Brook,
I believe in you, and I think you can do it.
And something very similar on this job but now I
see that God's plan and Donald Trump's plan, even though
it was different than my own, is exactly where I'm
(14:33):
supposed to be. And I just I feel so strongly
and I'm so proud and inspired by our farmers and
our ranchers. And to your point, Tutor, that you so
eloquently made, that this is the moment that we have
to choose in this country, whether we go forward into
you know, a thousand years of prosperity, or whether we
(14:56):
go back into you know, socialism, government, tyranny, the elitist
deciding for us what's best for ourselves. And obviously President
Trump has stepped into that gap. But now with his vision,
we've got to effectuate that. And from the agriculture perspective,
like you said and I've said, if we can't feed
ourselves as a nation, and if our family farms keep
going out of business, and if they keep getting sold
(15:18):
to the Chinese, and if we keep having this sort
of international conglomeration where not just the Chinese but other
foreign countries are buying up our farms and putting them
under one big corporate banner, we will not survive as
a nation. And it may not be next year, and
it may not be in ten years, but it will happen.
The very backbone in fabric of America is so woven
(15:41):
into our agriculture and rural communities. And I know you
see that in Michigan, a state that is really focused
on specialty crops, so you don't have a lot of
the big, huge farms there, but you've got a lot
of family farms in Michigan where we have to ensure
that those second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth seventh generation
arms can move on to the next generation and thrive
(16:03):
and prosper in a way that maybe they haven't in
this lifetime. But we also have to make sure that
we're opening up the market for new farmers for those
who maybe didn't grow up in farming but want a
life of dignity and righteous work that you can get
in working the land in a way that maybe, again Tutor,
in our lifetimes, we've never really seen before. And so
(16:25):
pivoting the focus when I was in Nebraska yesterday, we've
been building this rural Prosperity and small family Farm plan
we announced yesterday where we're really focused on that that
farm that is multi generational, but that isn't you know,
part of the big, huge conglomeration that we've got to
keep them strong and we've got to make sure they
can make a living and support their family while again
(16:47):
at the same time opening up the markets for new farmers.
So I think that's hopefully I'll walk out of here
in four years. I met Paige yesterday. She was I
think four years old. Her dad, her granddad, and her
great grand dad. We're all there, and they're all in
the same piece of land that her great great great
granddad bought and farmed, you know, one hundred years ago.
(17:09):
And that's where we did our farmer round table yesterday
in Nebraska. That's where I launched the initiative, but an
all of USDA, all of government approach on what we
need to do, and it's multi layered with lots of
different pieces, but what we need to do is stay
extremely focused on that size of our farms and making
sure they can they can move forward.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
You know, I just had a conversation with a manufacturer
this morning, and this really this conversation reminds me of
that because he's a part of a big group of
manufacturers and he said, and I used to be a
part of that group when my family owned a foundry,
and I said something about, oh, I remember when he
and I had gone on a trip together, and he said,
you know, the association doesn't do those trips anymore because
(17:52):
it used to be that the foundries were all owned
by families. But now it's big corporations that have come
in and they don't want their presidents and see to
leave on these trips, so they've stopped doing that. And
I thought, oh, my gosh, you know, how terrible that
the family foundry, the family farm a very similar situation,
(18:13):
and that was how it was. You know, it was
families that worked there for generations. They're going by the wayside,
and that's where you step in, and that's where you
step in and protect. And that's what Donald Trump understands
in a way other presidents haven't even thought up.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
They've even cared. Yeah, no, it's it's true. And you know,
it's interesting to think that the billionaire real estate mogul
from New York.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
City, and I don't want to get in front of him,
but I would guess that maybe he hadn't spent much
time on a cattle farm, right or walked through roe
crops out in the country.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Before he became president, but that he would be the
one that would, more than any other president in our lifetime,
would understand deep in his soul that unless we for
we effectuate policies, for we honor our ag community and
our rural communities, we will lose our country. And the
(19:11):
fact that it's Donald Trump and you know, and the
choices that he's made to surround himself with certain cabinet members,
I see God at work in all of it. I
see God's hand on all of it. I see God's
hand on President Trump. I see it on our cabinet.
You can feel it. I was just over at the
White House before I came to tape with you. You
can just feel the spirit moving over there, and it
(19:31):
is It's just it's such a joy to be a
part of it.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
That's what I think is the most beautiful part about
your position, because you came in here and you said,
this isn't what I was expecting. But do you notice
that there have been certainly there have been attacks against
the administration and all of this choice and that choice.
I've heard nobody coming after you. I think that people
have looked at who you are, what your history is,
(19:56):
and they see you out there working, and it really is.
I do believe that there have been so many people
praying for this administration, that there are people that were
chosen that are beyond his choice. Like you said, this
is God saying these are where these people need to
be placed. And you didn't even know that.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, it's so true, and it's funny. I in the
last administration, I hosted a Bible study in the Great Pause,
hosted a Bible study. Now we're doing a cabinet Bible
study here at USDA every Wednesday morning at seven am.
And you can feel it. But when people ask what
can we do, you know you're in the fire every
day for eight nine straight years. I've said, just pray
(20:34):
for us, Just pray for wisdom and protection and guidance
in what we're doing. These are really important times and
we won't be perfect. We will certainly be imperfect, but
I just believe with that foundation of prayer and the
biblical foundation behind everything we're doing. And Tutor, you know
you were part of the FBIAFW family and still are that.
(20:58):
We have always based everything in scripture, always and every policy,
every decision, what we've done. We're not a religious based organization.
We're a policy based organization, but all of it is
founded in the word, and I just think that's made
that's made a difference. I have no doubt the attacks
will come. If they haven't yet, they're coming. I just,
(21:18):
you know, putting on my armor of light, which is
a sure reference. I just think about that every day.
Today I'm going to put on my armor of light
and I'm going to do my very best, and I'm
going to keep fighting for America. I'm going to hopefullyfectuate
President Trump's vision. And when it's time for me to
go home and raise more cattle and start barrel racing again,
I'll be so excited for that day. But until that day,
(21:39):
this is where I'm supposed to be. And there's no
better place, no place I'd rather be than here.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I love it. And we didn't get into egg prices
or anything else, but I know that that's all going down.
This AE week goes a lot better because the insight
that you just gave us was so amazing and I'm
so glad you were here. Secretary Brick Rowlands, thank you
so much for being on the podcast, But.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Tudor, what a joy. Thank you as my honor We'll
see you soon.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Sounds good, and thank you all for joining us on
this podcast. For this one an others, go to Tutor
Dixon podcast dot com, the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts and join us next time.
Have a blessed day,
Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Today we have the
thirty third US Secretary of Agriculture with us. It is
Brooke Rollins. Thank you so much, Secretary for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Tutor is so fun to be here. I'm just really
honored to be a part of it. Well, I'm glad
you're here.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I think a lot of people see the administration from
afar and they don't understand the qualifications that everybody has.
And as I learn about your life growing up on
a family farm, going to school on an ag scholarship,
everything that has led up to this moment, and just
the godliness throughout, like God taking care of you throughout this.
(00:40):
And I was reading about how you say when you
were raising your kids and they were younger, you were
called on to step into the first administration. You were like,
this is not I can't do this, and I know
that feeling as a mom, but you did, and look
at what you are doing now.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, Well it really is all about God. I mean,
I know we're here to talk about agriculture and here
to talk about the US Department and this president who
is transforming and saving America. But at the end of
the day, this all goes back to God and meeting
your moment and being able to answer the call that
God has on your life. And it's funny. We're studying
(01:18):
Exodus in my church right now, and how God had
called Moses right using the burning bush, and he called
Moses over and over again, and he said, I'm calling you,
and I need you to stand up and take my
people right and get them out from the Pharaoh. And
every time Moses said, I'm not ready, or this isn't
right for me, or I don't have what it takes.
(01:39):
And the whole scriptural lesson of Exodus is that when
God calls you answer and that he will, he will
be there beside you on your walk, and as you
are being asked to do, perhaps things you never expected
or things you think are too difficult, that nothing is
too big for God. And if he's there with you,
then the you know, it's beyond what you could have
(02:01):
ever imagined. And so for me, that's what this is.
And in the first administration, where I was the President's
chief policy lead, I to your point, I said no
multiple times because I had a third grader, a fifth grader,
a sixth grader, and an eighth grader at the time.
They're now ninth, eleventh, twelfth in college, but at the
time they were much younger, and I just kept saying,
(02:22):
I can't, I can't leave those kids every day for
this sort of a job. I can't do both of
them well enough. And the president, and through a lot
of prayer and a very supportive husband, we did take
that job. The kids did move with me to Washington.
We homeschooled them up here, and it ended up being
the greatest three years for my kids, for my family.
And so when called again for this job, unexpectedly, I
(02:47):
just again I felt such a peace about it. My
kids were more excited. I said, oh, I think I
need to obviously with three high schoolers, and the kids said, no, no, no, Mom,
you can do it all. We'll pick up any slack.
And it's been an incredible blessing. I will say it's
not easy, but the President's vision was never about easy, right.
It was about what we need to do to meet
(03:08):
this moment with God alongside us, to save America. And
that's what that's what I think we're doing.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I'm glad you said it's not easy, because I think
that's what people aren't seeing. If you don't have friends
within the administration, but for for folks like me and
for you obviously you're there seeing it and doing it
and working it every single day. It is a nineteen
twenty hour a day job.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And everybody I talked to is like, we are not
slowing down.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
And it's funny because even at the one hundred days celebration,
I talked to somebody and she was like, I'm kind
of hoping that it goes a little slower now that
it's been one hundred days. And I looked at her
and I go, but you know, it's not.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
She was like, no, said no, no, I think that's right.
But from my perspective, this is the incredible joy of
this administration. I loved my three years in Trump one.
I was there year, two, year, three in years, and
I loved those three years. For me, it was the
answer to a prayer that God has given us an
(04:07):
opportunity to save America again. I mean, when I agreed
to come to the White House in that first time,
literally everyone said, well, good luck with that, right that
DC is so broken it can never be fixed, but go,
you know, good luck, And I just felt I had
to try. And when we left, even in those dark
days of having an election taken from us the January sixth,
(04:28):
and everyone's saying that America verse was dead, that you know,
all the things we had done was kind of poofed
up into the air, that no one would ever remember
us in a positive way, which is the reason I
started America First Policy was to counter that and continue
the legacy. But even amongst all of that, the opportunity
to now come together to build on the first term,
(04:50):
that four years of what I call the Great Pause,
which allowed us to get really organized and draft executive
orders and be prepared, and now that meeting of that
moment with friends, you can't slow down. Slowing down is
not an option. We've got basically four years now, a
little bit less than four. I had lunch today with
(05:11):
the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, Kelly Leffler, who's
part of the cabinet, and she said, you know, we're
about ten percent of the way in ten percent, and
why some people think that's not much? For me, it
makes me panic. I'm like, wait a minute, We've already
driven through ten percent. We only have ninety percent life.
We got to go faster. That's how I think about it.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
And I think it's also we're into the first year
now and we're getting headed toward the midterms, and there
is this attack from the media right now, which it's
kind of interesting to watch them in this crisis mode too,
as they're being exposed for a lying about Joe Biden
on all of that. But we're going into the midterms,
(05:53):
and I think it's so important. I mean, I watched
what you did with America First Policy, and people don't
know that side. I think that was something that people
didn't get to see how hard people were working in
what you called the pause. But the pause was so
another God moment because you needed that to make sure
you were ready because of the speed that this administration.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Has to go out in four years. I just love that.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
I love what you were able to do with America
First Policy. I love what the team at America First
Works was able to do and how that came together
for that election. You were so you have been by
the President's side no matter what, always supporting him, always
a team member, and now you have one of the
most important positions in the administration, if not the most important.
(06:39):
And I say that because food Security. You made a
comment and said, if you don't have food security. You're
no longer a nation that's so key.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
If you can't feed yourself, and if you're reliant on
China or Russia or other countries to feed your people,
there doesn't matter what else you have, it doesn't matter.
You will never be the economic and the freedom engine
for the world. Again. That's what we face as Americans
right now, and that's why I know, kind of pivoting
(07:07):
a little bit into into our current administration, what we're
doing on trade and tariffs is important. But one thing
I want to say too, or I don't know that
I've ever said this publicly, to have watched President Trump
and been by his side, as you mentioned, to have
near daily calls with him at least twenty one and
twenty two, when you know, you were always on the team.
(07:27):
And there were others too, And I don't want to
put myself up as you know, the special person in that.
But there for a while, there were some dark days
and a lot of people said we need to move
away from President Trump, that he's so divisive, that all
these things, and just said, this is the man that
God has chosen for this time, and his boldness and
(07:48):
courage is now turning it into fearlessness, and that is
what it's going to take to save a nation. It's
the same fearlessness. I believe that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,
Abraham Lincoln, for all the great leaders in our movement.
And you know a lot of people say, oh, well,
but he's you know, don't put him in that category.
But I do put him in that category because he
(08:10):
was a businessman from New York who left a beautiful
life of luxury where everyone loved him to move into
this darkness. And it is dark, you know this, tutor.
I mean, it takes some real conviction to bring light
into what is a very dark industry, which is politics,
and to always stay focused on the light. And for
(08:33):
President Trump, and I just it breaks my heart to
think what he went through personally as my friend, as
my former boss, is my current boss, just watching that
trying to destroy his business, trying to destroy his family,
trying to assassinate him and coming within one millimeter of
doing so. Try facing a thousand years in prison. Who
can survive that? He can because I think he's called
(08:55):
for this moment. He's so strong. But when you look
at all of that and what he personally went through
the sacrifice, but what it allowed us, to your point,
was that four years of preparation and organization and bringing
the true team together and being ready again to meet
this moment. So that's how I see it in a
historical context. I've always said that five hundred years from now,
(09:17):
they're going to be writing about this time in American
history in a way that we can't even foresee, but
in a way that I believe is written about the
Civil War. I mean, we're at the same sort of
an inflection point in American history that we were in
the eighteen sixties, certainly in the seventeen seventies as we
were preparing for revolution and independence. That's where we are today.
And it's not some radical notion of you know, we
(09:38):
all need to bear arms and go fight the bad
guys or the the tier. It's about fighting for freedom
in today's historical context, and that's what we are doing.
So yeah, now we pivot to what that looks like
in terms of governing and being a part of that
is the greatest honor. I'm so proud, but also working alongside.
It's not about any of us, not even about Donald Trump.
(10:01):
It's about God, and it's about America, and that's the
that's the most righteous battle of all. From my perspective.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
You actually gave me chills when you were talking about that,
because I think that's the you know, a side of
President Trump that I mean, certainly better than I know.
But even the experiences that I have had with him,
it is not about him, even though a lot of
people go, oh, it's about him. I think the moment
that even some of the people leftist center realized it
(10:26):
wasn't about him was when he gets shot in the
head and he looks out at the crowd. He didn't
look out at the crowd to say, you know, look
at me. He said keep going, Yeah, it's okay. And
that was you could see in his face that was
concerned for the people, not for him. And that was
even when I would go and sit with you guys
(10:47):
and attend your meetings. I remember one where you walked
in and he said, we have a special guest on
the phone. But that to me, people say he's accessible,
and it's not that he's just accessible, said he wants
you know, he cares about you.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah, that's true. And you know, you think about the
wherewithal that day he was shot July thirteenth in Butler, Pennsylvania,
and at that moment, it was within half of a
second he said, stand aside, let me tell the people
to never give up and to keep fighting for this country.
And you know, in those moments, he didn't know. He
(11:24):
could have had a bullet lodged in his brain, right,
he could have been breathing his last breaths. He didn't know.
And it's the shock of that that it really the
true measure of a man, of a woman, of a soldier,
of a warrior isn't necessarily you know, preparing for battle
(11:44):
or whatever that looks like. But it is in the
heat of the moment that's, I think, when the true
measure of a person is tested. And for those that
maybe didn't believe in him before, didn't believe in his
strength or his character, that I think answered so many
questions and inspired millions of people, and again for him
(12:06):
to stand up, but then for him to continue to campaign,
and then to win all the swing states, including yours, Tutor,
which I know you had a huge part in, to
win the popular vote, to then take that as a mandate,
and to be again so fearless in the face of
so much adversity. Is just it's the story of a
thousand years that we're going to be This country is
(12:27):
going to be talking about for many, many, many hundreds
of years after you and I are gone.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I believe it. I believe that this is a legacy
that is lasting for as long as this earth is around.
People are going to be talking about what happened in
this I mean, just like we talk about Lincoln, just
like we talk about Reagan. There are people who make
a mark that is bigger than life itself. And that
I believe is what is going on here. And I
think that the interesting part about this administration, it's different
(12:55):
than the last one. You brought that up, but he
has very carefully chosen the right people for the right moment,
for the right positions. And that I believe is you
in this position because you understand egg in a way
that other people couldn't possibly. But also, you know, just
my own experience of going through the state of Michigan,
the farmers are under attack. They feel like the taxes
(13:17):
are too high, the fertilizer is too expensive. They are
struggling with whether or not they keep their family farm
or they sell it to a solar farm and we
lose the farm altogether.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
And that to me.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
And we also have the Chinese coming into the United
States and buying farmland. There is so much that is
going on in agriculture right now. You are the ones
standing there saying I'm going to protect it. I'm going
to lower costs and going to the UK getting them
to buy more of our products. I mean, there's it's
so much right now, and I'm so impressed with what
(13:50):
you've been able to do.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
I just want you to know that, thank you well,
I really appreciate that. And you know, it's funny. This
job was not on my bingo card. I was not
planning are asking to be the Secretary of Agriculture. But
the President saw something and he did in the first
term too, I you know, started running the Office of
American Innovation, and then I got a little more responsibility,
(14:12):
a little more responsibility, and then was basically told that
I was going to take over the Domestic Policy Council.
And I said, oh, I don't know if that's going
to work. I've got all these kids. And he said, Brook,
I believe in you, and I think you can do it.
And something very similar on this job but now I
see that God's plan and Donald Trump's plan, even though
it was different than my own, is exactly where I'm
(14:33):
supposed to be. And I just I feel so strongly
and I'm so proud and inspired by our farmers and
our ranchers. And to your point, Tutor, that you so
eloquently made, that this is the moment that we have
to choose in this country, whether we go forward into
you know, a thousand years of prosperity, or whether we
(14:56):
go back into you know, socialism, government, tyranny, the elitist
deciding for us what's best for ourselves. And obviously President
Trump has stepped into that gap. But now with his vision,
we've got to effectuate that. And from the agriculture perspective,
like you said and I've said, if we can't feed
ourselves as a nation, and if our family farms keep
going out of business, and if they keep getting sold
(15:18):
to the Chinese, and if we keep having this sort
of international conglomeration where not just the Chinese but other
foreign countries are buying up our farms and putting them
under one big corporate banner, we will not survive as
a nation. And it may not be next year, and
it may not be in ten years, but it will happen.
The very backbone in fabric of America is so woven
(15:41):
into our agriculture and rural communities. And I know you
see that in Michigan, a state that is really focused
on specialty crops, so you don't have a lot of
the big, huge farms there, but you've got a lot
of family farms in Michigan where we have to ensure
that those second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth seventh generation
arms can move on to the next generation and thrive
(16:03):
and prosper in a way that maybe they haven't in
this lifetime. But we also have to make sure that
we're opening up the market for new farmers for those
who maybe didn't grow up in farming but want a
life of dignity and righteous work that you can get
in working the land in a way that maybe, again Tutor,
in our lifetimes, we've never really seen before. And so
(16:25):
pivoting the focus when I was in Nebraska yesterday, we've
been building this rural Prosperity and small family Farm plan
we announced yesterday where we're really focused on that that
farm that is multi generational, but that isn't you know,
part of the big, huge conglomeration that we've got to
keep them strong and we've got to make sure they
can make a living and support their family while again
(16:47):
at the same time opening up the markets for new farmers.
So I think that's hopefully I'll walk out of here
in four years. I met Paige yesterday. She was I
think four years old. Her dad, her granddad, and her
great grand dad. We're all there, and they're all in
the same piece of land that her great great great
granddad bought and farmed, you know, one hundred years ago.
(17:09):
And that's where we did our farmer round table yesterday
in Nebraska. That's where I launched the initiative, but an
all of USDA, all of government approach on what we
need to do, and it's multi layered with lots of
different pieces, but what we need to do is stay
extremely focused on that size of our farms and making
sure they can they can move forward.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
You know, I just had a conversation with a manufacturer
this morning, and this really this conversation reminds me of
that because he's a part of a big group of
manufacturers and he said, and I used to be a
part of that group when my family owned a foundry,
and I said something about, oh, I remember when he
and I had gone on a trip together, and he said,
you know, the association doesn't do those trips anymore because
(17:52):
it used to be that the foundries were all owned
by families. But now it's big corporations that have come
in and they don't want their presidents and see to
leave on these trips, so they've stopped doing that. And
I thought, oh, my gosh, you know, how terrible that
the family foundry, the family farm a very similar situation,
(18:13):
and that was how it was. You know, it was
families that worked there for generations. They're going by the wayside,
and that's where you step in, and that's where you
step in and protect. And that's what Donald Trump understands
in a way other presidents haven't even thought up.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
They've even cared. Yeah, no, it's it's true. And you know,
it's interesting to think that the billionaire real estate mogul
from New York.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
City, and I don't want to get in front of him,
but I would guess that maybe he hadn't spent much
time on a cattle farm, right or walked through roe
crops out in the country.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Before he became president, but that he would be the
one that would, more than any other president in our lifetime,
would understand deep in his soul that unless we for
we effectuate policies, for we honor our ag community and
our rural communities, we will lose our country. And the
(19:11):
fact that it's Donald Trump and you know, and the
choices that he's made to surround himself with certain cabinet members,
I see God at work in all of it. I
see God's hand on all of it. I see God's
hand on President Trump. I see it on our cabinet.
You can feel it. I was just over at the
White House before I came to tape with you. You
can just feel the spirit moving over there, and it
(19:31):
is It's just it's such a joy to be a
part of it.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
That's what I think is the most beautiful part about
your position, because you came in here and you said,
this isn't what I was expecting. But do you notice
that there have been certainly there have been attacks against
the administration and all of this choice and that choice.
I've heard nobody coming after you. I think that people
have looked at who you are, what your history is,
(19:56):
and they see you out there working, and it really is.
I do believe that there have been so many people
praying for this administration, that there are people that were
chosen that are beyond his choice. Like you said, this
is God saying these are where these people need to
be placed. And you didn't even know that.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, it's so true, and it's funny. I in the
last administration, I hosted a Bible study in the Great Pause,
hosted a Bible study. Now we're doing a cabinet Bible
study here at USDA every Wednesday morning at seven am.
And you can feel it. But when people ask what
can we do, you know you're in the fire every
day for eight nine straight years. I've said, just pray
(20:34):
for us, Just pray for wisdom and protection and guidance
in what we're doing. These are really important times and
we won't be perfect. We will certainly be imperfect, but
I just believe with that foundation of prayer and the
biblical foundation behind everything we're doing. And Tutor, you know
you were part of the FBIAFW family and still are that.
(20:58):
We have always based everything in scripture, always and every policy,
every decision, what we've done. We're not a religious based organization.
We're a policy based organization, but all of it is
founded in the word, and I just think that's made
that's made a difference. I have no doubt the attacks
will come. If they haven't yet, they're coming. I just,
(21:18):
you know, putting on my armor of light, which is
a sure reference. I just think about that every day.
Today I'm going to put on my armor of light
and I'm going to do my very best, and I'm
going to keep fighting for America. I'm going to hopefullyfectuate
President Trump's vision. And when it's time for me to
go home and raise more cattle and start barrel racing again,
I'll be so excited for that day. But until that day,
(21:39):
this is where I'm supposed to be. And there's no
better place, no place I'd rather be than here.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I love it. And we didn't get into egg prices
or anything else, but I know that that's all going down.
This AE week goes a lot better because the insight
that you just gave us was so amazing and I'm
so glad you were here. Secretary Brick Rowlands, thank you
so much for being on the podcast, But.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Tudor, what a joy. Thank you as my honor We'll
see you soon.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Sounds good, and thank you all for joining us on
this podcast. For this one an others, go to Tutor
Dixon podcast dot com, the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts and join us next time.
Have a blessed day,
Host
Tudor Dixon
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