Trump Administration’s chaotic firing spree of federal workers, across multiple agencies, has profoundly harmed national security. USDA‘s dismissal of multiple invasive-insect experts—including Jonah Ulmer, sometime around Valentine’s Day—is no different: Ulmer, as NBC News’ Suzy Khimm notes, “was the federal government’s foremost authority on tiny invasive pests that most Americans have never heard of.”
Known as thrips and psyllids, the gnat-sized insects often sneak into the country on imported flowers and produce—and it was the job of Ulmer and his colleagues at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to identify and quarantine highly destructive species that appear on perishable goods during the inspection process required at U.S. ports of entry. But Ulmer was abruptly fired last month — swept up in the Trump administration’s frenzied and turbulent efforts to drastically shrink the federal workforce. He’s one of at least 145 workers in plant protection alone who were terminated, including entomologists, soil conservationists and tree climbers who hunt for pests, according to a list of terminated job titles obtained by NBC News.
The clumsy, haphazard firings could have potentially huge ramifications for U.S. agriculture, which itself is an enormous, self-contained $1 trillion economic system.
The cutbacks could have severe, sweeping economic consequences for American farmers and consumers alike. Though USDA inspections — which are conducted jointly with U.S. Customs and Border Protection — are continuing at ports of entry, the loss of both staff and expertise raises the risk that harmful pests and diseases will slip into the U.S. unnoticed, industry representatives and agriculture experts said.
AUTHOR FOOTNOTE
Mainstream press would do a huge service to readers if they could simply note—in addition to the mechanics of who got let go, and what job they held—that Donald & Elon’s clumsy firing spree is not normal. For each procedural article media types up, Americans become a step more inured to the regime’s convulsive actions.
In almost every case, too, those same actions either obliterate norms or, worse, violate constitutional law. That fact should also be mandatory in all reporting.
As for American farmers, their balance sheets already took a massive hit as a result of Donald’s mob-hit on USAID, so how many more data points do they need to realize Trump couldn’t give fewer Fs about their businesses? Nearly 80% of farming-centric counties voting for Trump in 2024, and weakening (some might say “obliterating”) USDA safety checks introduces another direct threat to their livelihood (to say nothing about public health writ large).
