'Is ICE going to tackle cows now?': Trump official’s ‘weird take’ on beef prices sparks ridicule

US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who raised eyebrows just weeks ago when he tried to explain how the Trump administration’s bailout of Venezuela was actually ‘America First’, has once again offered up a “weird take” on a major economic issue.

When asked by Fox News presenter Maria Bartiromo for his response to Omaha Steaks’ chief executive officer Nate Rempe warning that beef could end up costing $10, Bessen replied that the beef market is “a very specialised market”.

He told the journalist on Sunday (16 November): “It goes in long cycles. This is the perfect storm – again, something we inherited.

“There’s also, because of the mass immigration, a disease that has been- we’ve been rid of in North America, made its way up to South America, as these migrants, they brought some of their cattle with them.

“Part of the problem is we’ve had to shut the borders to Mexican beef because of this disease called the screwworm, so we’re not going to let that get into our supply chains.”

Yes, he really said that.

And it’s been met with ridicule online, with one Twitter/X user joking that Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE “needs to start arresting undocumented cows”:

Political commentator Brian Allen branded the answer “barnyard fan fiction”:

Progressive Alex Cole accused the Trump cabinet of “speed-running stupidity”:

“This whole clown show has jumped the shark,” tweeted Missouri Democratic candidate Fred Wellman:

Henry Winkler, of the American sitcom Happy Days, wrote: “Scott on his horse, lasso in hand, rounding up immigrant cows… keeping us safe”:

And podcaster Reed Galen asked: “Is ICE going to tackle cows now?”

It would be a weird moo-ve for them if they did, for sure (sorry)…

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