Big farmer Kip Tom of Indiana, a member of the Trump agriculture advisory committee, was at Trump Tower in New York for an interview amid conflicting descriptions of President-elect Donald Trump’s search for a nominee for agriculture secretary. Elsa Murano said Trump was “down to earth” and “attentive” when he interviewed her for the job 10 days ago.
A member of the Tom family, which farms more than 20,000 acres in Indiana and Argentina, said Kip Tom “didn’t tell us” who he was meeting or why. “He would be honored to be considered for anything,” she said. An unsuccessful candidate for Congress, Tom was among more than a dozen people mentioned for agriculture secretary under Trump.
Trump has met face-to-face with at least six candidates for agriculture secretary since Nov. 30 without making an immediate choice. The Hagstrom Report said speculation was broadening about who was in the running with the visits by Tom and former Georgia Rep. Jack Kingston, who chaired the House subcommittee in charge of USDA funding. Earlier on Thursday, Politico reported that two sources told it that Trump was poised to nominate former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, a veterinarian by training and owner of agricultural companies.
The search for a nominee is the longest since Franklin Roosevelt selected Henry Wallace in February 1933. It raises the prospect that Trump will take office in two weeks without having his hand-picked choice in place to direct USDA. The mammoth department, with an annual budget of $150 billion, is responsible for national forests, crop subsidies and anti-hunger programs.
A former president of Texas A&M, Murano told The Eagle, of Bryan, Texas, that Trump was “down to earth and very approachable” during a 30-minute meeting on Dec. 28 that covered her experience and qualifications for agriculture secretary “We got to discuss several issues of importance to agriculture,” said Murano. “My expectations were surpassed in that I found Mr. Trump to be kind, respectful, attentive and charming, in spite of the fact that he was dealing that day with important issues that were occupying his time, such as the U.N. vote on Israel.”
On his Twitter account, Tom highlighted an essay in The New York Times, “Why rural America voted for Trump.” In late December, along with a photo of USDA headquarters, he tweeted, “If we want to change Washington, we need to change who we send there. Ag Advisors Want Republican, DC Outsider.”
In the New York Times op-ed, Robert Leonard, news director of two Iowa radio stations, says rural and urban voters “live in different philosophical worlds, with different foundational principles.” There is, Leonard writes, “a growing movement in rural America that immerses many young people in a culture — not just conservative news outlets but also home and church environments — that emphasizes contemporary conservative values. It views liberals as loathsome, misinformed and weak, even dangerous.” There is also grievance that “it seems our taxes mostly go to making city residents live better” while rural towns die.