A farmer driving a tractor in 2013

President Donald Trump recently announced a $12 billion bailout of American farmers paid for by revenue generated from his tariffs on imported goods. But one longtime farmer and former Democratic U.S. senator is arguing that the bailout is a drop in the bucket compared to what farmers have lost under Trump's administration.

During a Tuesday segment on MS NOW, former Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who is also a third-generation farmer, likened Trump's handout to farmers as "socialism." He also reminded viewers that Trump authorized a similar $12 billion bailout in 2018 during his first administration, when farmers were also suffering as a result of his trade war with China.

"The only thing that's different with this one is in the first administration, he didn't give $20 billion to ... another country, Argentina, to undercut our own economy, which is what they did," Tester said. "... [C]ompare it to an arsonist coming to a house and setting it on fire. And then the same arsonist shows up in a fire truck and says, 'I'm here to help.'"

"The bottom line is, I don't care if you call it affordability or the economy or inflation. But on the farm today, the price we're getting for our products is incredibly low because of the tariffs and the inputs that we have to buy to grow those crops and to harvest those crops are incredibly high because of the tariffs," he added.

Tester went on to say that while farmers are likely appreciative of any help the government offers, it still pales in comparison to the damage Trump's policies have dealt to rural communities. He noted that Trump's signature domestic policy package signed into law in July will have a particularly detrimental impact on rural hospitals by implementing more than $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts. He went on to describe the $12 billion bailout as a "band-aid," whereas farmers are more in need of a "long-term fix."

"I don't think some of these checks can be big enough to offset the impacts that these tariffs have had on rural America," Tester said. "If you combine that with what the big beautiful bill did on healthcare, and especially as that bill is going to impact rural America, it's almost like there's a war against rural America with this administration."

"Most of the folks that I know that are in production agriculture want to get their check from the marketplace. They don't want to get it from the federal government," Tester continued. "They're concerned about the debt that this country is carrying right now. They're concerned about what this president has done to traditional buyers of our product. We raise more grain and cattle in this country than we could consume. We need those foreign markets. Those foreign markets have been pushed away, and it's going to be hard to get them back."

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