Joe Kovacs once again served as dutiful stenographer for the Trump administration in a Nov. 16 WorldNetDaily article:
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday part of the reason beef prices have been soaring in America is due to the invasion of illegal aliens during the Biden administration, claiming many migrants brought diseased cattle with them.
Appearing on “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo on the Fox News Channel, Bessent was reacting to a statement by Omaha Steaks CEO Nate Rempe, who predicted: “By third quarter of ’26, families are going to see $10-a-pound ground beef in the grocery store.”
Bessent said: “The beef market is a very specialized market. It goes in long cycles, and this is the perfect storm again, something we inherited.
“And there’s also, because of the mass immigration, a disease that we’d been rid of in North America, made its way up through South America as these migrants they had brought some of their cattle with them.”
“So part go the problem is we’ve had to shut the border to Mexican beef because of this disease called the screwworm. So we’re not gonna let that get into our supply chain.”
In fact, as Steve Benen points out:
As a rule, when migrants try to reach American soil, they bring loved ones and a backpack. They do not tend to bring livestock. The Times report added, “The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for an explanation about Mr. Bessent’s suggestion that sick cows were being brought from Mexico across the border.”
Making matters worse is the familiarity of the circumstances. Concerned about health care costs? Team Trump says to blame immigrants. Frustrated by housing costs? Team Trump says to blame immigrants. Worried about crime? Team Trump says to blame immigrants.
Evidently, the growing list now includes beef prices, as implausible as this might seem.
Michael Hiltzik adds:
But Bessent’s image of immigrants smuggling their infected beeves across the border is transparent fantasy. The USDA’s announcement of the blockade didn’t tie the screwworm peril to immigration, illegal or otherwise, but to commercial imports. The agency also stated that the infestation hadn’t yet penetrated farther north than Oaxaca and Veracruz, 700 miles from the U.S. border.
The Treasury secretary’s spiel can properly be seen as standard Trumpian deflection.
That’s because at least some of the run-up in beef prices at the supermarket can be blamed on Trump policies, including his tariff on beef imported from Brazil, which has been a major exporter to the U.S. Trump himself implicitly acknowledged this Friday, when he announced that he was scrapping tariffs on beef and other foodstuffs to bring prices down.
As usual, Kovacs failed to fact-check Bessent’s absurd claim. And he wrote about another off-the-mark prediction by him:
Bessent also made a bold prediction about the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling about President Trump’s tariffs.
“This is one of President Trump’s signature policies, and traditionally the Supreme Court does not interfere with a president’s signature policy,” he explained.
“I would push this back on the Supreme Court. I don’t think this ruling is gonna go against us, but if it does, what’s their plan for refunds?” Bessent added.
“I don’t think the Supreme Court wants to wade into a mess like that.”
In fact, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariff scheme last month.