Nicole Shanahan has a recommendation for President Donald Trump’s next cabinet.
Shanahan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, suggested Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky should serve as the secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture.
The technology entrepreneur told Chris Cuomo that her time on the campaign trail made her aware of the underrepresentation of farmers in the government.
“Farmers are on their knees in this country right now. They are not price gouging,” she said during a Monday interview.
She added that the members of the Democratic Party were resistant to listening “to actual science” or to hearing “the people on the ground.”
In a post on X, Shanahan expanded on her criticisms of Vice President Kamala Harris and her belief that Trump was more prepared to help farmers.
“Harris’ accusation of price gouging is wildly misleading and needs to be called out — it completely ignores the serious economic challenges they’re facing,” she wrote. “President Trump, at least, is showing a willingness to understand and address the real issues affecting Americans. He’s surrounding himself with people who can help reduce food prices by stimulating the farm economy the right way.”
She concluded her message by recommending Massie to lead the USDA, which had over $466 billion in budgetary resources in 2024 – roughly 3.4% of the federal budget for that fiscal year.
Massie responded to Shanahan’s post on Tuesday morning.
“Imagine the health & economic benefits our country would enjoy if we’d just empower small farmers and legalize local food distribution!” the Republican wrote on X. “Current rules protect corporate monopolies and drive us toward chemically laden nutrient deficient processed foods.”
He did not confirm or deny if he’d accept the appointment if Trump offered him the position.
Massie is a frequent critic of the USDA. In 2022, he accused the federal agency and the Food and Drug Administration of “working everyday to keep prices high and supply low, while making sure no new businesses can enter the market” amid meat and baby formula shortages, per Fox News.
In 2015, he co-sponsored the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption (PRIME) Act with Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives at the time. The bill would have ended “the USDA's stranglehold over how meat is processed within states” and allowed states “to set up their own rules and permit more custom slaughtering to better meet the needs of both consumers and farmers,” per Reason.
Massie and Polis had previously worked to loosen federal restrictions on growing hemp.
More recently, the Kentucky congressman supported an effort to block a cattle ear tag mandate from the USDA.
“The mandate of electronic identification ear tags on cattle is the beginning of the end for American cattlemen,” he said on X of the regulation in June.
Massie also fought against a potential ban on shared ownership of livestock that the USDA had reportedly considered enacting. The congressman said shared ownership among multiple families allowed citizens to “produce healthy local meat.” VICTORY! The House just overwhelmingly agreed to pass my amendment to ensure families can still share ownership of livestock in order to procure healthy meat locally. The USDA had ridiculously suggested they might ban sharing among multiple families. pic.twitter.com/UoDHRQz6Ri
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) September 27, 2023
