Some ag writer published a column denouncing those of us in the Oval last week as not deserving to be there. The insinuation is we are only there because we have “platforms.”
Well the only reason I have a platform is my reporting and documentary work on people the big lobby groups (which that writer represents) have ignored for years. I’m there to talk about them.
Yes I have cattle, yes I am in the industry, but I make my platform entirely about ranching families facing threats and lawfare, telling their stories, bridging the urban rural divide, and filling gaps the big guys have ignored for decades. In fact for
years UNWON was anonymous. Most people thought I was a man😅
So we agree. I don’t think I “deserve” to be there. I’ve never made it about me. I didn’t seek an invitation. It was just an opportunity from God and I went to represent my neighbors, family, and ultimately the interests of my son and the next generation, as best I could. I went on my own dime. I am affiliated with zero big groups.
If said big groups feel unrepresented, maybe their reps should stop acting like they are entitled to stand in the Oval Office because of their affiliation with an acronym, and get back to fighting for the PEOPLE and small towns of rural America.
The executive orders signed yesterday touch on issues many of us have fought for for YEARS.
Support from the president on enforcing Packers & Stockyards, common sense predator management, and MCOOL is TREMENDOUS.
We also had the chance to meet with him privately and give him our perspective on cattle country and the issues impacting the West and ranchers in America. He listened, asked detailed questions, and directed his team to take action.
This was all facilitated by Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Things get done by people who show up to the table. That was a room of real ranchers, real rural Americans, real voices. And those voices were heard.
I was profoundly aware that I was not there for myself. We represented our homes and neighbors and the way of life we love. Being invited, to me, meant inviting the rural West to the Oval Office. I take that extremely seriously.
More work to do. And now we get back to it.
People who know me know I have a relationship with the creator. When the foreign solar conglomerates came to destroy creation here and the families that steward it, I asked God to send warriors. One of the first who heard my call for aid was Keely Covello at @americaunwon .
Her assistance helped get the attention of formidable allies like @johnrich@EliCraneAZ@drewsexton23
Thanks Keely, and thanks to all of you here on X. You shared my story and tagged people who can make a difference.
Hey @Orsted— why are you, a company based in Denmark, trying to get this American rancher booted off the land his family has managed for 5 generations for your solar complex?
@ComicDaveSmith Criticism of a foreign policy is one thing, criticism of someone’s service is another. Screw you Dave the comedian. What have you ever done for this nation?