Latest / Sincerely American / Fixing Food From the Ground Up | Brooke Rollins

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Fixing Food From the Ground Up | Brooke Rollins · Sincerely American

• 0:09
  All right, we're back with Secretary Brooke Rollins, who is
• 0:12
  a dear friend of Drake, my husband.
• 0:14
  They know I talk about Drake all the time.
• 0:17
  He is fantastic. You're fantastic.
• 0:19
  I am just so proud of everything you're accomplishing.
• 0:23
  Like you are just truly a Wonder Woman.
• 0:24
  I wanted to touch on like the work that you're doing, but I
• 0:26
  also wanted to talk more about big picture things cuz there's a
• 0:29
  lot of women who look up to you and want to know how you do it
• 0:31
  all. So we'll jump into it.
• 0:34
  What do you think is your biggest achievement in 2025?
• 0:37
  What are you most proud of? Because you guys have just
• 0:38
  revolutionized the agriculture and this job.
• 0:42
  You just are taking this to historic levels.
• 0:44
  Yeah. Well, Jamie, first of all, it's
• 0:46
  so fun to be on with you. I am so proud of you.
• 0:51
  I remember in early 2021 when we were launching America first
• 0:55
  policy and I heard your name and of course you're married to our
• 1:00
  Drake and love all of the Franklins, but I remember trying
• 1:03
  to hire you and and look at you now it's so impressive.
• 1:07
  So I just it's so fun to be on and I'm so proud of you and and
• 1:11
  what you're building and I just it it's it's incredible.
• 1:14
  This is how we're going to save the country is great patriots
• 1:17
  like you who are willing to lean in.
• 1:19
  So thank you you're. So kind.
• 1:20
  You know, 2025, it seems like what was a year ago yesterday,
• 1:25
  we were at the Capitol watching the president get sworn in for
• 1:29
  those of us that had been with him in the first term.
• 1:33
  And then building the infrastructure in the the great
• 1:36
  pause is what I call it to prepare for a potential return.
• 1:39
  And then to be able to actually execute on all of that for the
• 1:44
  American people just has been, I mean, what a blessing.
• 1:48
  Like I, I believe so strongly God's hand is on all of this
• 1:52
  work. And a year ago, I guess a little
• 1:55
  more than a year ago, when I was really trying to help the
• 1:58
  president get ready and set up and who should be on his team, I
• 2:02
  did not expect to be the secretary of Agriculture.
• 2:05
  This was his idea. And I obviously come from a
• 2:08
  rural background. I was raised on a farm.
• 2:10
  I have lots of generations of row crop in my background.
• 2:13
  I was an agriculture major in college, but I just, I just
• 2:18
  never occurred to me until the president.
• 2:21
  I were talking about it one day and and now looking back, I
• 2:24
  think it is. So I don't know if I should use
• 2:27
  the word providential or not. But to answer your question,
• 2:29
  I'll say this. There is no one more important
• 2:33
  to America than our farmers and ranchers.
• 2:35
  If we can't feed ourselves, not only good healthy food, but if
• 2:40
  we can't feed ourselves, if we begin to rely on other
• 2:42
  countries, we will lose the taste of freedom.
• 2:45
  Our your children, sweet Vivi, and my kids and my future
• 2:49
  grandkids will not understand freedom.
• 2:51
  That's how important this is. But you marry that to the last
• 2:54
  decade or so. We've lost about 150,000 family
• 2:57
  farms for a lot of reasons. But the Biden administration
• 3:01
  declared war on rural America, whether it was no new trade
• 3:05
  deals, whether it was input cost going up 30 to 40%.
• 3:10
  We've lost so many family farms. So first accomplishment is
• 3:14
  moving the farmer, the rancher back to the center of policy
• 3:17
  making here, which the president has done and and hopefully I've
• 3:21
  been an important part of that. But secondly is the work.
• 3:25
  And I know you interviewed my great friend Bobby Kennedy is
• 3:28
  returning to the idea of making America healthy again with real
• 3:33
  food. And for me, as a Maha Mama 4, my
• 3:37
  mom, I'd like to say, was the original Maha mom in the 70s and
• 3:40
  she was raising us. But what I see there is a
• 3:43
  fundamental shift in the future of our country.
• 3:46
  And so it's important for all Americans as we're facing such
• 3:49
  terrible chronic disease crisis, but also when you put real food
• 3:53
  back in the middle of it, the people that are going to benefit
• 3:56
  the most, not just everyday Americans, but the farmers and
• 3:59
  ranchers, because they are the solution to that challenge.
• 4:02
  And I just couldn't be more excited about the future with
• 4:04
  our farmers and ranchers leading the way on that.
• 4:07
  It sounds so simple, eat real food, but it's it for some
• 4:10
  reason it hasn't been the last few years.
• 4:12
  We're eating a water processed food.
• 4:14
  So I kind of want to hear, you know, obviously the woman who
• 4:16
  watched, they love what you guys are doing on the health and
• 4:18
  Wellness side. We go to the grocery store
• 4:20
  everyday. That's mom's jobs are in the
• 4:22
  grocery store. We're picking out our produce
• 4:23
  and everything. So I, I think we see how it
• 4:25
  affects our day-to-day life. I kind of want to hear I, I
• 4:27
  always see you with these great farmers and ranchers across the
• 4:30
  country. You're just so hands on and
• 4:32
  meeting with everyone. I want to hear their reaction to
• 4:35
  this food pyramid and just the work that you're doing and it's
• 4:37
  something that's maybe stood out to you about this work.
• 4:40
  You know, I the greatest part of my job.
• 4:42
  Listen, I love being in Washington.
• 4:45
  I love the incredible team at USDA.
• 4:48
  You know, it's a new world for for me and this work and being
• 4:52
  in the cabinet and in the succession to the presidency.
• 4:56
  I mean, who thought a small town kid from Glen Rose, TX, right?
• 4:59
  Single mom. I mean, this is crazy.
• 5:01
  But really what I've loved the most of all of it is connecting
• 5:06
  with our farmers and ranchers around the country everywhere I
• 5:09
  go. I think I've been to almost 30
• 5:11
  states now, some states multiple times.
• 5:14
  Everywhere I go, I visit a farmer, I do a round table and I
• 5:18
  ask them what is the biggest challenge facing you today?
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  And I take very copious notes and I come back and then we work
• 5:25
  to solve at warp speed. And I think a lot of it we have
• 5:29
  solved for at the beginning I heard about the cost of Labor
• 5:31
  under the H2. A program was unsustainable.
• 5:34
  We fixed that. I heard that there had not been
• 5:36
  a new trade deal in four years. We fixed that.
• 5:39
  We have 24 new trade deals with a lot more coming.
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  I heard over and over again about the war on cattle because
• 5:45
  the radical leftist, the Democrats, said that cattle gas
• 5:50
  caused climate change, so they were trying to shut our cattle
• 5:52
  industry down. I mean, one thing after another.
• 5:55
  And I believe looking back now, being able to answer those
• 5:58
  farmers and ranchers with, I hear you, here's what we're
• 6:02
  doing, the president has given me carte blanche to fix these
• 6:04
  problems and that's what we're working to do.
• 6:07
  So there's no doubt that our farm economy is still under
• 6:10
  distress. I mean, this is years of neglect
• 6:13
  and over regulation, etcetera. But we are making so much
• 6:17
  progress and I'm so excited about that.
• 6:18
  So now I'm hearing a lot of thank yous from our farmers.
• 6:21
  Thank you. But we still have to fix this,
• 6:23
  which I hear them loud and clear and we're still working so hard.
• 6:27
  Well, I love that you a lot of times will bring them into round
• 6:29
  tables with the president. I've seen that many times on TV.
• 6:32
  Brooke is always on TV. I call her Brooke Still
• 6:34
  secretary. It's so important to me to get
• 6:40
  the message out and I feel like I have been called to meet this
• 6:44
  moment to represent our AG industry and our farmers and
• 6:47
  ranchers, to make sure they're in the Oval Office and make sure
• 6:51
  they're around the cabinet room in those meetings.
• 6:53
  And and to make sure the president heart, he says it and
• 6:56
  he said it all along. The people that have been with
• 6:58
  me the longest and the most dedicated are farmers and
• 7:02
  ranchers, rural America. And he's right.
• 7:04
  So I have to marry that. I have to build the bridge with
• 7:07
  the president is so focused on making sure that you have what
• 7:11
  you need, but we've got to make sure the policy is following
• 7:14
  that and that really focused on that too.
• 7:16
  I love that going off of this. So a lot of parents like myself,
• 7:20
  we're concerned about school lunches.
• 7:21
  And even when I was growing up in the early 2000s, I remember
• 7:24
  these school lunches are low quality.
• 7:26
  But a lot of kids count on that. So I know that's a big priority
• 7:29
  that you guys have with improving school lunches,
• 7:31
  improving the produce, real food.
• 7:34
  How are we doing that? As well as keeping in mind that
• 7:36
  we, you know, a lot of especially lower income kids and
• 7:39
  lower income areas want to make sure that this food is also
• 7:42
  affordable. I know you guys are doing great
• 7:43
  work on that, so I just wanted to hear your thoughts.
• 7:45
  Thank you for asking that. You know, we have the the new
• 7:49
  dietary guidelines and flipping the triangle upside down and
• 7:52
  putting real food back in the middle of it is just such a game
• 7:55
  changer. The biggest nutrition reset in
• 7:58
  our country's history by the government.
• 8:00
  And so that's important. But for me, if we can't get this
• 8:04
  food to the most vulnerable communities, if if those
• 8:08
  families, those single moms who are trying to get food on the
• 8:11
  table and work three jobs and make sure their kids have good
• 8:14
  education, if she can't, doesn't have access to that healthy
• 8:19
  food, then, then what does it matter?
• 8:21
  Now the school lunch is important for that reason.
• 8:23
  And so we're recalibrating the school lunches we're making,
• 8:25
  making sure we're incentivizing that locally grown fresh
• 8:30
  produce. And this is going to take time
• 8:32
  to really change the system. But we're already making such
• 8:35
  great, great steps in that direction.
• 8:37
  So we'll begin to see real changes in the school lunch
• 8:39
  program this fall. But the bigger question for me
• 8:42
  is all of these moms and dads who live in more socioeconomic
• 8:47
  economically disadvantaged communities that don't have a
• 8:49
  Whole Foods can't afford a Whole Foods that you know, they can't
• 8:53
  go buy a steak at at a fancy grocery store.
• 8:55
  But what are we doing? The 250,000 retailers across
• 8:59
  this country that take the food stamp program, the SNAP program,
• 9:03
  250,000. That's a mind boggling number.
• 9:06
  We are requiring them, if they want to continue taking that the
• 9:09
  food stamp money from the government, they have to double
• 9:12
  their stocking standards, meaning they have to double the
• 9:15
  amount of stock they're on their shelves that qualify as part of
• 9:19
  our new dietary guidelines. So the corner bodega, the the
• 9:23
  711, the, the, the convenience stores that take the EBT cards,
• 9:27
  they're now going to have to double the amount of healthy
• 9:29
  food that they provide. Well, I think aside from maybe
• 9:32
  some crazies, I think everybody was on board with that there.
• 9:35
  There was running jokes I saw all over X on an Instagram where
• 9:38
  people were showing that like Skittles were on snap.
• 9:41
  And that is crazy because I do think that if obviously I think
• 9:45
  Americans want to help out people who come from our socio
• 9:47
  economic challenged areas, but we need to do that in a healthy
• 9:50
  way. So I love that you're doing
• 9:51
  that. OK, switching gears, you worked
• 9:54
  in the first Trump administration, obviously at the
• 9:56
  Domestic Policy Council. You've just been by his side
• 9:59
  since the beginning. And I just see the way he looks
• 10:02
  at you. He counts on you.
• 10:03
  You guys have just an incredible relationship, truly, and he
• 10:06
  really values everything that you've done.
• 10:08
  So what is the best part about working for President Trump?
• 10:11
  Maybe like a funny story or something.
• 10:13
  Yeah, You know, I love that man. He is not the easiest boss, but
• 10:21
  nor should he be. He's the president of the United
• 10:24
  States of America. He suffers no fools.
• 10:28
  But the flip side of that, Jamie, is if he believes in you
• 10:33
  and your competency and your ability to get things done, he
• 10:38
  gives you the keys to the Kingdom.
• 10:39
  And for me, having been by his side in Term 1, having in the
• 10:44
  darkest days of early 21, throughout 21 when everyone, you
• 10:49
  know, thought he was going to either go to prison or be
• 10:50
  bankrupt or both potentially dead, almost happened.
• 10:54
  That just seeing him in the good days and the bad days, he never
• 11:00
  wavered in his love for America, in his love for his team, in his
• 11:06
  work to save the country, he has always put that first.
• 11:10
  And for those of us that experience have experienced it,
• 11:13
  it is history making, it is game changing, it is country saving.
• 11:17
  And so working for him to execute that vision.
• 11:21
  We don't get much sleep in the Trump administration, but it is
• 11:25
  the honor of a lifetime and has been my great joy to be by his
• 11:27
  side all these years. I love that.
• 11:30
  I think he surrounds himself just with such incredible woman
• 11:34
  and including yourself, but you are so busy.
• 11:37
  You do it all and you're just truly.
• 11:40
  I think for a lot of women who watch this, including myself,
• 11:42
  you are goals. You are icon like the way that
• 11:44
  you just work and get it all handled.
• 11:46
  What is your advice to a woman that do want to achieve it all
• 11:49
  but also be devoted mother, a devoted mother like yourself?
• 11:52
  How do you do? How do you make it all work?
• 11:53
  You know, thank you for saying that.
• 11:55
  There are days that it works perfectly and then there are
• 11:58
  days that it doesn't. So always give yourself some
• 12:01
  grace for the days that it doesn't.
• 12:03
  It's funny now my I have 4:00 kids 2IN college.
• 12:07
  My two sons are in college. My 2 girls are still in high
• 12:10
  school. They're a sophomore and a
• 12:11
  senior. They were here in DC.
• 12:12
  They just flew out this morning. We talk about this a lot because
• 12:15
  my 17 year old Anna is off to College in the fall and she's
• 12:20
  just the most beautiful. Well both girls just have the
• 12:22
  most beautiful heart. They love Jesus, they love their
• 12:25
  country and to hear them now say you know my mom is amazing.
• 12:31
  She's done it all and she's never missed a tennis match.
• 12:34
  I mean, for me that says everything I think.
• 12:37
  And I have missed a few tennis matches, to be fair, but I love
• 12:39
  that in her mind I haven't missed any.
• 12:41
  But what I would say is keep First things first, your family,
• 12:45
  your husband, your kids have to always come first.
• 12:47
  And the way I have approached it is if there was ever a time in
• 12:51
  the last 21 years of me raising these amazing kids that even one
• 12:55
  of them said, mom, I need you like you're not, you're not,
• 13:01
  you're gone all the time. You're not at home, you're not
• 13:03
  cooking dinner. Like why?
• 13:05
  What's wrong? I would have completely changed
• 13:07
  everything to recalibrate back to that.
• 13:10
  But what I did through all the years is putting those kids
• 13:13
  first, cooking. Not all their their dinners or
• 13:15
  all their breakfasts, but a lot of them.
• 13:16
  You're a Maha mom. Well, yes, exactly.
• 13:19
  Being the headroom mom, coaching Lily's Little League team,
• 13:22
  working to serve the food at Luke's football games.
• 13:26
  You know, that is at the end of the day, I'm so proud of this
• 13:28
  work to save the country and I do believe that we are saving
• 13:32
  America. But at the end of the day, it's
• 13:35
  my family that is the single most important thing by a lot.
• 13:38
  And so putting them first and then fitting in all the other
• 13:41
  things, sometimes late at night and early in the morning has
• 13:44
  been just the greatest blessing to be able to do all of it.
• 13:46
  So maybe the in summary, I would just say that don't ever let
• 13:50
  anyone tell you, you have to choose one or the other.
• 13:53
  If you do choose to be home and raise your family, there is no
• 13:56
  better job or more important job.
• 13:58
  And God bless you for that. That was what my plan was 21
• 14:01
  years ago. I didn't plan to work all these
• 14:03
  years, but God kept opening these doors and, and putting his
• 14:05
  hand on my shoulder and saying, I've got you, I'm with you on
• 14:08
  this. You can do it all.
• 14:10
  And now that I'm kind of at the back end, not completely done,
• 14:12
  but at the back end, I look back and I say thank you God for
• 14:16
  giving me the grace and the patience and the energy to be
• 14:19
  able to focus on my family first, but to also build this
• 14:23
  work which I believe is game changing for our country.
• 14:26
  Something that I always have noticed about you, and I think a
• 14:29
  lot of people will agree with me, you're just such an eloquent
• 14:31
  speaker on, on all these things. You're on TV all the time.
• 14:34
  You're so passionate about these issues.
• 14:36
  For someone who, you know, wants to get into politics, what, what
• 14:39
  would you recommend? How did you kind of build up to
• 14:41
  your career today and, and become just such a great
• 14:44
  spokesperson for so many different issues within the Make
• 14:47
  America Great Again agenda and, and within the American First
• 14:50
  agenda? Yeah.
• 14:51
  And the American First agenda, you know, it goes back for me, I
• 14:56
  was very involved in the future Farmers of America, which
• 14:59
  probably a lot of your mom's that, that that ship has sailed.
• 15:02
  But the opportunity to be involved and to have these
• 15:05
  conversations and to be well read.
• 15:08
  You know, I know we talk a lot about how negative social media
• 15:13
  is and it gets in your mind and it creates these images and
• 15:16
  especially for our young girls. And I certainly have seen that.
• 15:19
  But I also see the flip side that the access to information
• 15:24
  into education is unlike anything ever before in the
• 15:27
  history of the world. And so reading a lot and
• 15:31
  understanding what the issues are and being willing to engage.
• 15:34
  I mean, Jamie, I think you're such a great example of this,
• 15:36
  that that leaning in in your early 20s, mid 20s, late 20s,
• 15:41
  not letting the school board meeting pass without saying, no,
• 15:45
  I don't want a boy in my daughter's bathroom or no, that
• 15:51
  teaching climate change to my kid and that the world's going
• 15:54
  to end in a decade is just not right.
• 15:56
  Like standing up and speaking on behalf of, and not everyone has
• 16:00
  the years and years of practice. And I appreciate you saying that
• 16:02
  some days again are better than others for me, but I'm but just
• 16:05
  being engaged and educating yourself and and stepping up.
• 16:08
  And now I think that's how we save America.
• 16:11
  And it's your generation that is the most faith driven, educated,
• 16:16
  forward leaning in in my lifetime.
• 16:19
  And I'm so excited about that. But it's going to take more
• 16:23
  Jamie's and more Drakes to get that done.
• 16:26
  So, so God bless those who are doing it.
• 16:28
  You're just so positive as well. I, I think that's what I love
• 16:31
  about you. You always have a positive thing
• 16:33
  and a positive message. And I think in this day and age
• 16:35
  where it's doom and gloom all the time, we need more people
• 16:38
  like you and I love that. OK, last question.
• 16:40
  What are we most excited for in 2026?
• 16:42
  I know that might be hard. You know, I didn't know what my
• 16:46
  partnership with Bobby Kennedy was going to look like.
• 16:49
  Someone sent me a political article that ran the day after
• 16:53
  we were both confirmed on the same day, February 14th, and it
• 16:57
  was Valentine's that said who's likely to get divorced 1st.
• 17:00
  And at the top of the wedding cake was Bobby and me.
• 17:04
  And I look back now and even then I didn't know either.
• 17:07
  But now that partnership with him.
• 17:09
  But it's really indicative of our entire cabinet is so game
• 17:12
  changing and so exciting and so encouraging that I think the
• 17:17
  work that Bobby and I are doing together on real food and making
• 17:20
  America healthy again is is going to change everything.
• 17:22
  Well, Brooke, we're just so thankful.
• 17:24
  You and Secretary Kennedy, you guys are doing just such
• 17:27
  incredible work. And I'm just so thankful for
• 17:29
  Drake. I'm speaking on Drake and and
• 17:31
  myself that we're so thankful to have you in our lives.
• 17:33
  You're just such an incredible role model for any young woman.
• 17:36
  If you don't know Brooke yet, which you probably do because I
• 17:38
  feel like everyone knows you now, but you should give her a
• 17:41
  follow because you're just such an incredible example and we're
• 17:43
  so thankful for you. Well, I really appreciate and
• 17:46
  and you know, these jobs are hard.
• 17:49
  There is no doubt. You've got the media coming
• 17:52
  after you. You've got, you know, literal
• 17:55
  death threats coming for you. But but staying calm sort of an
• 17:58
  in in the middle of the storm is often how I describe what we do
• 18:02
  and, and staying resolute and understanding that America is at
• 18:06
  stake and there's nothing worth fighting for more than this
• 18:09
  country. But I will also say that having
• 18:12
  you and Drake and others like you in my circle and seeing what
• 18:17
  you're doing and what the next generation is doing is one of
• 18:20
  the most encouraging things I've ever, ever been a part of.
• 18:23
  So I look forward to so many more years of working alongside
• 18:27
  you. But God bless you and your
• 18:29
  beautiful family and all the people at the Conservator and
• 18:33
  with your podcast and all the great work you're doing.
• 18:35
  It gives me so much energy and hope to.
• 18:38
  Thank you, Brooke, you're so kind.
• 18:39
  God bless your family as well. And we're going to see big
• 18:41
  things from you in the future. I'm looking forward to it.
• 18:45
  Have a good one, Brock. All right, sincerely, sisters.
• 18:48
  I think we learned a lot today. Like I said, we got very policy
• 18:51
  oriented, but there was just so much great information.
• 18:54
  And anything that we learned from these administration
• 18:57
  officials is that they're just so passionate about making
• 19:00
  America great again. And I'm just so thankful that we
• 19:03
  have these officials at the helm with President Trump.
• 19:06
  They're truly just improving this country and just making
• 19:09
  historic progress that is just for generations to come.
• 19:13
  And moms like myself, these are just so many issues that we are
• 19:16
  so passionate about because like I said, health and Wellness is
• 19:19
  the most important. If you don't have health, you
• 19:21
  don't have anything. And so I'm very proud to be here
• 19:24
  today. I'm really proud to be helping,
• 19:27
  you know, promote this agenda to the rest of the world.
• 19:29
  And, you know, I just, I, I, it's crazy to me that all of the
• 19:33
  stuff that we talked about today could even be considered
• 19:35
  controversial because this is issues that I think every
• 19:38
  American should get on board with.
• 19:40
  The health of our nation is so important and the health of our
• 19:42
  kids are so important. So I'm so thankful to have
• 19:44
  joined you guys here today, definitely right into us.
• 19:47
  We'll be back next Wednesday of a normal episode and we'd love
• 19:50
  to hear your feedback and if you want to see more of these
• 19:52
  interviews.