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