President Donald Trump during an appearance at Custer Farms in Chippewa Falls today said his administration’s policies have helped farmers, while vowing the United States will be out of Iran soon and bring down prices. 

“We’re going to come out and your fertilizer prices are going to go way down just like they were four months ago. Your fertilizer’s down, your energy’s down, your oil, your gas is all coming way down. And frankly, I thought it would go much higher than it did,” Trump said during the visit, his first in Wisconsin of his second term. 

While today’s appearance was billed as a roundtable with farmers, Trump spoke for the majority of the event. 

He voiced support for U.S. Reps. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, and Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, who were all at the roundtable. Trump has endorsed Tiffany for governor and Van Orden’s reelection bid. 

He praised Tiffany as “one of the best congressmen in our country” and called Van Orden “a real fighter.” 

The president also hit on various non-agriculture topics during his remarks, including criticizing former President Joe Biden, blasting “rigged” elections, cracking down on crime in Washington, D.C. and spending several minutes touting the repainting of a reflecting pool at the Washington Monument and efforts to revamp fountains in the city.  

Olympic gold medalist speed skater Jordan Stolz was also present and put his medal around Trump’s neck, which the president wore during a portion of the event. 

After Trump spoke, other attendees provided short remarks, with Trump prefacing that by noting the long list of those who were to talk and quipping that they should speak quickly. 

“I gotta get back to a place called Washington and protect you,” he said, adding, “we don’t need your life story.” 

Tiffany and Van Orden both spoke briefly ahead of the event. Trump has endorsed Tiffany for governor and Van Orden’s reelection bid. 

“If anybody, anybody you hear says that Donald Trump and this administration doesn’t care about the farmers, you can look ‘em straight in the eye and tell ‘em that’s a pile of manure, cause the man is right back there,” Van Orden said. 

Trump’s net approval rating in the March Marquette Law School Poll hit an all-time low among Wisconsin voters. Forty-two percent of registered voters approved of the job Trump was doing, while 56% disapproved for a net rating of minus 14.

On a call ahead of the visit, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, said Trump’s policies have made farmers’ lives harder, citing tariffs and high fuel and fertilizer costs amid the war in Iran, and that Tiffany and Van Orden have stood behind him.

She said Trump administration officials visiting Wisconsin, particularly the 3rd CD, shows “they understand on some level how hard their policies and their choices are hitting our farmers in Wisconsin.” 

“The parade of Trump officials who are coming through Wisconsin and the president’s glitzy rally today are not going to do the job in convincing our farmers that they are doing better than they know they’re doing. They know the reality. They’re balancing their budgets, or trying to, every single day,” Baldwin said. 

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined Van Orden for a roundtable at a dairy farm in Elk Mound on Monday. Van Orden has also hosted several other Trump administration officials in the district this year, including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who was at today’s event as well. 

Also on the call, Menomonie kidney bean farmer Cindy Brown said exports are a major part of her business and tariffs have hit them hard. She said Chippewa Valley Bean can’t ship to customers in Dubai amid a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz and that freight costs have increased.

“There’s no clear end in sight right now and the longer this goes on, the more money farmers lose and the darker the outlook becomes,” Brown said. 

Watch the video.