SHOT/CHASER: Kevin Cramer on Soybeans vs. Reality

(BISMARCK, ND) — Kevin Cramer has been the biggest cheerleader for the president’s trade war. Turning his back on North Dakota farmers and ranchers, Cramer has dismissed their concerns as “hysteria.” Here’s a quick shot/chaser to show just how divorced from reality Cramer really is:

SHOT: Last month, Kevin Cramer said, “Soybeans are one of those products where there’sa very high demand and a short supply. That means there will always be a pretty good price for soybeans.”

CHASER: In reality, soybean prices have just plunged to a nine-year low as Cramer and the White House stumble into a reckless trade war that threatens the livelihood of North Dakota’s ag producers. Read more from CNBC.

Maybe if Cramer served on the House agriculture committee he would have a better grasp on the issues? Here’s a quick timeline of Cramer’s bad, all-over-the-place record fanning the flames of the trade war:

• March 7, 2018: Cramer joined 106 House colleagues in asking the president to reconsider his plan for tariffs.

• March 17, 2018: “Rep Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., a Trump supporter, said he would like to see changes in the tariff proposal.”

• April 4, 2018: Cramer posted, then deleted a tweet and a Facebook post citing his opposition to Trump’s tariffs, which he claimed had “the potential to harm” North Dakota’s agricultural sector.

• April 4, 2018: Cramer replaced his original tweet and Facebook posts with new statements supporting the president’s aggressive trade policies.

• April 9, 2018: Just a day after admitting similar concerns, Cramer accused Democrats of wanting to “pour fuel on the fire of hysteria” when discussing the impact of a trade war. He lamented that Democrats expressing concern about a trade war was “neither helpful to the markets nor helpful to the farmers and certainly not helpful to the country.”

• April 20, 2018: Not happy only blaming Democrats for his failing trade war, Cramer aimed his fire at the media, complaining that North Dakota’s newspapers had been promoting “Heitkamp’s misguided understanding on market impacts of tariffs in North Dakota.”

• May 3, 2018: Demonstrating how out-of-touch he is with the struggles of modern farmers, Cramer assured soybean farmers that they wouldn’t be affected by the looming trade war, saying, “you can have a one day scare, a couple of days scare, but soybeans are going to follow- They’re going to follow the market trend based on willing buyer, willing seller.”

• May 17, 2018: Doubling down on his inaccurate claims about agriculture, Cramer claimed on local talk radio, “soybeans are one of those products where there’s a very high demand and short supply. That means there will always be a pretty good price for soybeans.” In fact, due to the president’s trade war, soybean prices are at a nine-year low.

• May 21, 2018: Cramer tripled down on his hysteria comments – “Sure enough, Democrat hysteria over the past few months on trade negotiations proved to be just that–hysteria. Thankfully, the administration approached China from a position of strength and has forged a tentative deal that leaves North Dakota producers in a stronger position than they were before, given China’s commitment to significantly increase purchases.” In fact, after the president approved tariffs on Chinese goods, China backed out of its promise to buy more American goods.

• June 1, 2018: Cramer quadrupled down on his hysteria rhetoric, saying “I don’t fall for the hysteria thing.”

• June 15, 2018: During a visit to the White House with North Dakota ag producers, Cramer discussed the “excitement” of being present while the president applied tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods.

• June 19, 2018: In a campaign email, Cramer criticized a group of farmers for discussing trade with the Mexican Ambassador and accused Senator Heitkamp of undermining the presidency for working to provide a commonsense solution to a complex problem.