OUR DAILY THREAD: Roundup At The K-Shaped Corral
Get along little doggies of war
THE SET-UP: President Trump signed an Executive Order on February 18th that designated glyphosate (a.k.a. Roundup) and its chemical precursor (elemental phosphorous) as “crucial to the national security and defense”:
I find that ensuring robust domestic elemental phosphorus mining and United States-based production of glyphosate-based herbicides is central to American economic and national security. Without immediate Federal action, the United States remains inadequately equipped and vulnerable. Accordingly, I hereby find, pursuant to section 101 of the Act, that domestic elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides meet the criteria specified in section 101(b) of the [Defense Production Act [of 1950]] (50 U.S.C. 4511(b)).
It was a bit of a head-scratcher at the time, particularly given the growing sense of unease among the MAHA crowd after RFK Jr.’s notable reversal on pesticides and glyphosate in his ‘Make Our Children Healthy Again’ report released last September. It didn’t help that, as Deutsche Welle detailed, Trump’s Justice Department also switched sides to support Bayer’s attempt to limit payouts to 65,000 of the 200,000-ish litigants with cancer-related claims due to glyphosate.
Biden’s Justice Department had argued that federal pesticide law does not shield Bayer from state‑court lawsuits, since liability and consumer protection are traditionally matters for individual states.
Plaintiffs — from farmers to home gardeners — brought claims under their own state rules, alleging that Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, causes cancer and that Bayer failed to provide adequate warnings.
US federal law sets national standards for pesticide approval, but does not override states’ public‑safety powers. So even with glyphosate approved by the federal regulator, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), people could still sue if they believed Bayer’s labeling was misleading.
By contrast, the Trump administration has now urged the Supreme Court to accept Bayer’s argument that federal law preempts such lawsuits, effectively narrowing the scope for the 65,000 remaining plaintiffs.
Trump’s team has also reframed the Roundup litigation as an unnecessary burden on business, as it exposes Bayer to massive, unpredictable liabilities even when the EPA has approved its products.
MAHA’s sense of unease about these strange moves quickly blossomed into a feeling of betrayal, particularly among RFK Jr.’s most-devoted supporters—the MAHA Moms:
“Women feel like they were lied to, that MAHA movement is a sham,” said Alex Clark, a health and wellness podcaster for the conservative group Turning Point U.S.A., which is closely allied with the president. “How am I supposed to rally these women to vote red in the midterms? How can we win their trust back? I am unsure if we can.”
The New York Times found much of MAHA’s anger bypassed RFK Jr.:
“Secretary Kennedy has done everything he said he’s going to do,” said Vani Hari, a healthy eating activist and one-time Democrat (she worked to elect President Barack Obama) who has advised the administration on food policy. “He has upheld his commitment to the American people. Now, whether his boss is doing that is another story.”
That story has Trump tightening his embrace of history’s most widely-applied herbicide while simultaneously shielding it from legal consequences. It’s a fairly cavalier approach to the upcoming midterms. The GOP already faces “headwinds” on the economy, on deportation and now on Iran. They will need every vote they can get, including the MAHA Moms and the Podcast Bros who Trump wooed through RFK Jr. and Joe Rogan. They were key voters Trump added to his rock-solid Evangelical base. But he added them by making promises about “no foreign wars” and RFK Jr.’s role.
Now he’s alienated both, and it may be for the same reason.
Trump’s EO does appear to anticipate the attack on Iran.
In fact, it was signed ten days before the attack would threaten the global fertilizer supply chain. On March 18th, The Food Institute noted that fertilizer was “already in short supply” before the war. Approximately one-third of the world’s fertilizer moves through the strait and the longer the war goes, the harder it’ll get:
[Fertilizer] “could become a sparse commodity as the spring planting season approaches, sparking fears of a global food shortage and higher grocery prices if the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz continue much longer.
“Farmers in the coming weeks will start to have to make choices in reference to what crops they need to go ahead and plant. As fertilizer prices increase crop selection is going to become a pivotal aspect,” Babak Hafezi, adjunct professor of international business at American University told The Food Institute.
Both phosphorus and nitrate come from areas that ship their products through the strait, which Iran has blocked since the start of the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign.
Well, that’s quite a coincidence.
Trump just-so-happened to invoke the Defense Production Act before going to war. And he managed to anticipate an impending shortage of phosphorous. Indeed, there has been a shortage. Luckily for Trump, he had a little something in his back pocket:
Late Friday, the U.S. Treasury Department said it was taking immediate steps to allow for more imports of Venezuelan fertilizer “to support our great American farmers.”
That’s a Reuters report from March 13th.
The timing of the “late” Friday announcement is likely meant to slip it in under the radar. Although, Trump has not been bashful about pillaging Venezuela’s oil, which also seems to have anticipated the attack on Iran. It sure seems convenient to have access to Venezuela’s oil and fertilizer right before your next attack is going to restrict the flow of oil and fertilizer.
It might be that we can trace the attack on Iran all the way back to the opening act of the second Trump Presidency—the crackdown on Gaza-related protests on college campuses. That crackdown and the speech restrictions many four-year school adopted, or were forced to adopt, effectively shut down college protesting. Also conveniently timed was the demonstration of force in Minnesota. Was that meant to intimidate Americans who’d no doubt object to an unconstitutional war against a nation that posed no real threat to the United States?
Wars of choice need pretexts. And the regime has offered many. Thus far, none of them have legs. Even worse, none of them have credibility … not with MAHA Moms or Podcast Bros. Despite it all, one question may have finally been answered.
Now we have a pretty good idea why Venezuela had to happen and why it had to happen when it did. - jp
High pesticide-use counties often have higher-than-average late-stage cancer rates
https://investigatemidwest.org/2026/03/16/high-pesticide-use-counties-often-have-higher-than-average-late-stage-cancer-rates/
Analysis finds “hot spots” for glyphosate and cancer in Iowa and other Midwest states
https://www.thenewlede.org/2026/03/analysis-find-hot-spots-for-glyphosate-and-cancer-in-iowa/
New Analysis Maps Glyphosate, Cancer Connection
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2026/03/16/new-analysis-maps-glyphosate-cancer-connection/