Donald Trump expresses support for Dutch farmers in speech denying climate change

Former United States President Donald Trump expressed support for Dutch farmers protesting against the Cabinet’s nitrogen policy in a speech to conservative young people in Tampa, Florida. In the two-hour-long speech, he also claimed that climate change is a hoax and that attempts to protect the climate would lead to “famine and starvation.”

“As we speak, farmers in the Netherlands of all places are courageously opposing the climate tyranny of the Dutch government. Can you believe that? Which wants to dramatically cut Dutch farm production despite growing food shortages,” Trump said, not clarifying what food shortages he was talking about.

He claimed that the Dutch government wasn’t allowing farmers to farm their lands, was refusing them fertilizer, and instructed them to get rid of their cattle. “They want to get rid of the cattle. Because of what it does to the globe. Half of the cattle they want out. You’ll be next,” he told the Tampa students.

“In our movement, we stand against the climate fanatics. We stand with the peaceful Dutch farmers who are bravely fighting for their freedom. It’s horrible what’s happening,” Trump said.

Trump isn’t the only right-wing personality to express support for the protesting Dutch farmers. French politician Marie Le Pen also did so on Twitter on Saturday. “In a time when Dutch farmers are demonstrating against expropriation, as chairman of the Rassemblement National group in parliament, I want to show them my support," she tweeted.

Michael Flynn, a former lieutenant general in the US Army and briefly Trump’s national security advisor before he pleaded guilty in court for lying to the FBI about his connection to a Russian ambassador, also expressed support to Dutch farmers. “Today we are all Dutch farmers. Your struggle is our struggle,” he said in a video played at a protest on Dam Square in Amsterdam on Saturday. “We applaud your courage and we fight to defend your land, your ability to farm and your freedoms are under attack.”

Sunday’s protest was organized by Nederland in Verzet, an action group closely tied to many protests against coronavirus restrictions and Covid-19 vaccinations. Due to its standpoints, the group attracted some who shared beliefs in various conspiracy theories.

Farmers in the Netherlands have been protesting against the Cabinet’s nitrogen policy for weeks. The government aims to reduce nitrogen emissions to such an extent by 2030 that almost 75 percent of the Netherlands’ Natura 2000 reserves are below the critical deposition value - the nitrogen level considered safe for nature.

The government and agricultural sector still need to work out how to meet these environmental targets. Calculations by the Ministry of Finance of the Cabinet’s current proposals showed that 11,200 of the about 50,000 livestock farmers in the Netherlands would have to close, and 17,600 would have to reduce their livestock by between a third and almost half.