It didn’t take long for a CNN panel to explode after MAGA strategist Kristin Davison tried to paint President Donald Trump as a political mastermind — and ended up triggering a full-on revolt from nearly everyone at the table.
The clash began during a tense discussion on “NewsNight with Abby Phillip”, when Davison refused to back down from her over-the-top defense of Trump’s supposed “genius.” Her insistence only fueled the disbelief around her — especially after she claimed there was a “mutual love fest” between Trump and the very farmers crushed by his own policies.
“That’s what he ran on, to bring back manufacturing, to put American workers first,” Davison insisted.
Meanwhile, soybean farmers, who largely supported Trump in the election, have lost billions of dollars due to the president’s trade war with China, which imports about 60 percent of the world’s soybean harvests. China had responded to Trump’s impositions of tariffs on its exports by cutting off virtually all imports of American soybeans.
Davison continued, “I don’t think anyone at this table or anyone else could say ‘I know how to do that without any tariff or cost rising,’ or anything like that.”
“Soybean farmers, who, yes, have been going through a tough time right now, will run through a brick wall for the president,” she told the skeptical panel on the Oct. 29 episode of “NewsNight.” “Because they see him, they’re fighting for him, and I think you’ve just gotta let him cook.”
Whether farmers are familiar with “let him cook” vernacular isn’t clear, but Davison failed to convince the panel that they should trust in Trump’s negotiation skills.
“The soybean farmers are getting screwed by Trump’s trade war. That’s the reason they’re not selling soybeans,” said Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Max Boot,
Abby Phillip also vehemently interjected. “They’re going out of business. What do you mean they’re going to run through a brick wall? They are literally saying we are not going to be able to sustain getting zero assurances from China.”
But Davison continued to push back, telling the panel to trust that Trump would hammer out a deal during his Oct. 30 meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping. Boot retorted, “This is like the arsonist saying, ‘I’m going to put out the fire that I started.’”
“This is very elementary to think that you can just walk into a Chinese conference room and say “we need to increaase our production …” we have to go through a process,” she insisted.
The panel immediately erupted with nearly everyone jumping in but political commentator Ashley Allison was prepared.
“It’s elementary to just do blanket tarrifs on every country which he did at the beginning,” she began before Davison interuppted to reiterate “it’s a process.”
“Let me finish, let me finish” Allison pushed back as another MAGA commentator to her right tried to drown her out insisting Trump cemented trade deals with Japan and Korea, something that’s since been disputed.
“Why is he there, because he doesn’t have a trade deal,” Allison fired back.
President Xi left that summit with significant concessions, including tariff reductions and a suspension of port fees on Chinese ships, media outlets reported.
For its part, China promised to restore purchases to the status quo — before Trump’s trade war began — agreeing to buy at least 25 million metric tons of soybeans annually for the next three years. But soybean farmers are not out of the woods yet. The 12 million metric tons China agreed to buy before year’s end represents about half of the usual annual volume as costs for equipment, fertilizer, and seeds continue to skyrocket.
Soybean farmers still pissed and put the blame squarely on Trump. “This is a man-made crisis caused by Donald Trump,” said John Bartman to CNN.
But they earned very little sympathy online. Critics pounced, many asking who he voted for.
“It’s not all his fault. The farmers who were warned something like this would happen if Trump won and yet still voted for him—they carry a lot of the blame, too,” said one user on X.
Another added, “Soybean trumpeters you voted for this…you put him in charge over a highly qualified well educated woman…..go broke like the rest of us…..his cronies here and around the world get rich….he’s giving 40 BILLION to Argentina to prop up their govt while u lose everything.”
