Brooke Rollins

Announced as Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Agriculture

Brooke Rollins has been announced as Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Agriculture. Rollins is currently the CEO MAGA think tank America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a right-wing group she founded in 2021 alongside Linda McMahon (Trump’s pick for Education Secretary) and oil and gas billionaire Tim Dunn to, per NYT, “lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration” During the Trump’s first administration, Brooke Rollins was the acting Director of the Domestic Policy Council and assistant to the president in the Office of American Innovation. Rollins has compared Trump to the likes of other “revolutionaries” like the “Founding Fathers” and “Jesus.”

Promoting restrictions on voting was described as a priority by Rollins in 2021. She said, “One hundred percent yes […] If we do our job right we will have a package of model legislation for the federal government and state government where they align.” AFPI also has a web page, dubbed “The Real ‘Threats to Democracy’,” that downplays Trump’s role in the January 6th attacks on the Capitol, despite compelling evidence from the bipartisan House Jan. 6th Committee showing otherwise. AFPI’s leadership also supports claims that the outcome of the 2020 presidential election was the result of voter fraud—a claim debunked as false repeatedly, including by an election data expert hired by Trump.

AFPI provided pro-bono representation for Julie Adams, a Republican election official in Georgia who has been involved in election denial tactics before. Adams was a director for the Tea Party Patriots, a right-wing group that helped organize the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol on January 6th. She is also listed as a staffer for Cleta Mitchell’s so-called Election Integrity Network. Adams sued for access to voting records and also wanted the court to rule on whether she has the discretion to certify election results or not to certify. That lawsuit was filed May 22, 2024.

AFPI also filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court regarding Trump’s widely criticized claims of absolute immunity.

Trump’s first speech in D.C. after January 6, 2021 was at an AFPI event, and the group’s annual galas have been hosted at his Mar-a-Lago resort. AFPI made news when Trump contended that the millions raised by AFPI should be given to him, which would be illegal for AFPI to due to the group’s charitable status.

In December 2023, Trump claimed he would only be a dictator on “Day 1,” and AFPI recently released a national security strategy for Trump, which contended that there are roughly 1,200 national security-related positions that should be filled with Trump loyalists.

Rollins also headed the “Save America Coalition,” a group launched in 2021 that pledged to spend $10 million attacking President Joe Biden’s economic proposals. This group included the Conservative Partnership Institute, the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF).

Previously, Rollins led TPPF, a Koch-funded group that assailed efforts to mitigate climate change in Texas and is waging a national crusade against climate action by shaping laws, running influence campaigns and taking legal action in a bid to promote fossil fuels. After the Trump administration ended, Rollins returned to TPPF as a senior advisor. In December 2021, TPPF worked with the Koch funded American Legislative Exchange Council, to pass a bill to punish financial companies that stop investing in oil, gas, and coal by barring them from receiving state government contracts or managing state funds. TPPF also pushes anti-immigrant measures, co-producing a documentary called “Cartel Country” that blames the Biden administration for the number of people from violence and chaos in Central America seeking safe refuge in the U.S. In 2016, The Center for Media and Democracy found that TPPF was at one point listed as a creditor for Peabody Energy—the world’s largest private-sector coal company at the time. Her successor at TPPF was Kevin Roberts, who now helms the Heritage Foundation.

WHAT DOES PROJECT 2025 SAY ABOUT FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

THE POLICIES

– Increase the cost of crop insurance on farmers and reduce aid for farmers to cover the cost of their insurance premium, while eliminating farm subsidies.

– Install work requirements for people receiving food stamps and eliminate a so-called “loophole” for individuals to get food stamps if they receive a benefit from another program.

– Reverse Biden’s update to the Thrifty Food Plan, which increased food stamp benefits by “at least 23 percent.”

– Reject efforts to create universal free school meals and work with Congress to eliminate the Community Eligibility Provision, which enables the nation’s highest poverty schools and districts to serve no-cost breakfast and lunch to all enrolled students without households having to apply individually.

– Urge Congress to repeal the Federal Dietary Guidelines.

– Remove regulations that protect Americans from toxins and rules that ensure compliance with practices known to produce safe, non-toxic food.

PRECEDING CONTEXT FOR PROJECT 2025

– In 2018, the Trump Administration weakened school lunch standards to allow refined grains and flavored low-fat milk with added sugar. The Center for Science in the Public Interest called it an example of “putting politics before children’s health.”

– Economists in the USDA’s research branch said the Trump Administration retaliated against them for publishing reports that shed negative light on Trump’s policies. Trump’s Administration also suppressed climate science throughout the USDA.

– In 2017, Trump’s FDA denied a petition filed by environmental groups to ban perchlorate, a chemical that can be dangerous for children and fetal development, in food packaging, and then dismissed concerns from outside scientists about levels of toxic chemicals known as PFAS in food.

HOW ARE PROJECT 2025’S POLICIES POSSIBLE?

– Since Congress authorized the Community Eligibility Provision, congressional approval would be required to eliminate the Community Eligibility Provision, as would repealing the Federal Dietary Guidelines. Other regulations can either be rescinded or enacted through rulemaking.

Note: Individuals included in the “Supply Chain” risk scenario could have decision-making purview over a regulatory space that greatly influences supply chains in key industries (e.g. agriculture, healthcare, technology, consumer goods), or whose influence on domestic or foreign policy could greatly disrupt aspects of supply chains, including shipping and logistics, trade agreements, and labor availability.