This post is to inform—not divide. Americans deserve to know what decisions are being made and how they affect us at home.
🎯 Trump Raised Tariffs on Over 66 Countries
President Trump signed a sweeping executive order that adds new tariffs ranging from 10% to 41% on dozens of countries. That includes 35% on Canada, 50% on Brazil, and 25% on India. This will raise prices for U.S. consumers—especially here in Missouri, where we depend on affordable imports and exports to keep farms and small businesses running.
🎯 He Paused Export Controls While Meeting With China
Trump paused key restrictions on high-tech exports, including AI chips, to boost trade talks with China. But this short-term move weakens our long-term technology leadership and gives the Chinese government a window of opportunity to catch up.
🎯 He Pressured the Federal Reserve—Again
The Fed voted to keep interest rates steady, but Trump responded by publicly calling for immediate cuts and insulting the Fed Chair. This could shake investor confidence and make borrowing more expensive for families and farmers across Missouri.
🎯 He Issued an Unclear Ultimatum to Russia
Trump gave Russia just 10 days to “end the war in Ukraine,” without saying what would happen if they didn’t. Allies were not consulted. Diplomacy by tweet isn’t leadership—it’s a gamble.
📉 What It Means for Missouri
Trump’s one-man decisions are driving up prices, spooking markets, and confusing our allies. For Missouri families, that means more expensive groceries, higher interest rates, and fewer export opportunities for farmers. This kind of reckless policy puts our economy—and our national security—at serious risk.
We all know how fast the summer flies by—but this year, families in Missouri need to think ahead and act even faster. School is just around the corner, and prices on school supplies are about to shoot up thanks to incoming tariffs.
President Trump’s new round of tariffs will start hitting imported goods within weeks—and that includes a lot of what’s stocked on shelves for back-to-school season. From pencils to paper, backpacks to lunchboxes, we’re looking at price increases that could hit families hard. And they’ll show up fast—right as stores are stocking their last wave of inventory.
If you wait, you’re going to pay more. It’s that simple.
Now’s the time to shop. Don’t wait for the official start of school sales in late August—by then, prices could already be higher, and supplies more limited. Beat the rush, dodge the inflation, and make sure your kids have what they need without breaking the bank.
As someone who grew up in rural Missouri, I understand what it means to stretch every dollar—especially when you’ve got more than one kid and a list of supplies a mile long. That’s why I’m urging families across Missouri’s 4th District to shop early and smart this year.
Tariffs may be out of our control, but planning ahead isn’t. Save yourself the extra cost and the headache—get your back-to-school shopping done now, before the prices spike.
Let’s keep more money in Missouri families’ pockets—and make sure every kid starts the year with what they need.
Let me be blunt: Mark “Awful” Alford’s recent posture on PBS isn’t just ignorant—it’s utterly idiotic.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down entirely after Congress and the Trump administration slashed $1.1 billion in funding. Most of its staff will be laid off by September 30, 2025, and only a skeleton crew will remain into early 2026 to wind things down.
That means over 1,500 public radio and TV stations—including the ones Missourians have relied on for decades—will be left without support. These stations serve rural areas where commercial media can’t or won’t reach. This is a direct attack on rural access to education, emergency information, and real journalism.
And what did Mark “Awful” Alford say when asked about this? He mocked it. He dismissed PBS as “left-leaning bias” and made a joke that “Big Bird needs to leave the nest.” This is who’s representing Missouri’s 4th?
He clearly has no idea how many of us grew up on Channel 6 out of Warrensburg and other PBS stations across the state. When my little sister and I were growing up on the farm, PBS was the only channel we could get clearly. Every morning we’d sit together and watch Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and 3-2-1 Contact. In the evenings, we watched NOVA, Nature, Frontline, and The American Experience.
PBS is a big reason I was reading, writing, and doing math at an eighth-grade level while I was still in first grade. I still outthink most people around me when it comes to facts and logic—and I credit that to growing up with real, high-quality public programming. It wasn’t dumbed down. It wasn’t commercialized. It was designed to teach us something real.
My mother—may she rest in peace—wanted us to learn. She never got that chance for herself. She married a cruel man, the man on my birth certificate, who beat us and controlled everything. PBS was our only escape. It taught us about the wider world and gave me a lifelong love of travel and learning. Mark “Awful” Alford clearly doesn’t understand or care about any of that.
Alford doesn’t care about rural Missouri. He just wants to look tough by “sticking it to the Democrats.” He doesn’t care who gets hurt in the crossfire. He doesn’t care about our farmers, our families, or our future. And he only shows up when it’s time to chase your vote.
I’ve talked to Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and Independents all over this district. Most people say, “Who is Mark “Awful” Alford?” or “Yeah, I know him—he’s a real jerk.” That’s the reputation he’s earned from every side.
I was born in a rural hospital and raised in a farming community. I believe this administration is trying to silence education and silence the news—because the less you know, the easier you are to control.
Well, I say no. Whether it’s formal schooling or learned wisdom, Missourians are educated. We think for ourselves. Our farmers and families have relied on PBS for decades. PBS doesn’t run ads. They recognize donors out of transparency and commitment—not to sell you anything. It’s always been about free, public access to real content.
Mark “Awful” Alford votes against Missouri every single chance he gets. He never stands with us. He just shows up for election season, takes PAC money from out of state, and votes the way they tell him to. That’s not representation—that’s exploitation.
When you send me to Congress, I will never sell my vote. I’ll read your emails. I’ll respond. I’ll keep open lines of communication. I’ll vote in Missouri’s best interest—always.
I know what our rural communities go through. I’ve lived it. Mark “Awful” Alford hasn’t. He’s never known what it’s like to depend on one channel to learn about the world. He has no business pretending to represent us.
I will always stand with all Missourians—no matter who you vote for. I’ll listen. I’ll post online polls. I’ll run call-in lines that summarize bills and let you press a number to share how you’d like me to vote. My email will always be open. When there’s time before a vote, I will ask—and I’ll vote how the district asks me to vote. That’s what representation means.
By Ricky Dana, Candidate for U.S. House – Missouri’s 4th District
Trump Just Fired the Nation’s Jobs Statistician
Today, Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just because the jobs report showed weaker numbers than he wanted. There’s no proof she did anything wrong. She was just doing her job. This move makes it harder for anyone to trust what our government reports about the economy going forward. It’s a dangerous overreach.
When a president punishes people for telling the truth, we all lose. This is about political control—not transparency.
Trump’s Tariffs = Higher Prices
Trump is putting new tariffs on 66 countries starting August 7. Tariffs are just taxes in disguise. They make things more expensive for all of us.
Experts say the average American household will pay over $1,200 more in 2025, and nearly $1,500 more in 2026 because of these new tariffs. That’s money taken straight from working families—especially farmers and small-town folks who already feel the pinch.
And no, these tariffs won’t bring back American jobs. In fact, manufacturing has already dropped 37,000 jobs since April.
Markets Are Shaking
Stock markets dropped. Long-term growth looks shaky. And consumer confidence is falling. Even Wall Street is starting to worry that Trump’s policies are doing long-term harm to the U.S. economy. People are pulling back because they don’t know what’s coming next.
This chaos hurts small business owners, investors, farmers, and regular folks who are just trying to get by.
We’re Losing Our Friends Around the World
Our allies are angry—and pulling away. Trump’s new tariffs hit countries like Canada, Mexico, and India hard. Canada is now in a full trade war with us. Mexico is considering retaliation. India is turning toward other partners. The EU is distancing itself from the U.S. and building new defense plans without us.
Why does this matter? Because strong allies mean strong national security and better trade deals. Trump is making sure we have neither.
Final Thoughts
This kind of reckless leadership is not making America great. It’s hurting workers, raising prices, weakening trust in government, and damaging our reputation around the world.
Missouri’s working families deserve better than this. We deserve honesty, stability, and leadership that helps—not hurts—everyday people.
Once again, Donald Trump is swinging a hammer where a scalpel is needed.
According to a new report, Trump has announced a sweeping new tariff strategy designed to punish countries that don’t fall in line with his political and economic agenda. But make no mistake—this isn’t about economic justice. It’s about power, pressure, and political gamesmanship that hurts real Americans.
Tariffs aren’t new. But using them as a blunt-force weapon—threatening nations with economic pain unless they comply with U.S. demands—isn’t smart trade policy. It’s authoritarian coercion dressed up in a suit. It mirrors the same tactics used by oppressive regimes across the world.
And once again, it’s rural Americans—especially Missouri farmers—who will feel the blowback first. When Trump first started his trade wars, soybean prices collapsed, export markets dried up, and small farms suffered while foreign nations retaliated with tariffs of their own.
Now we’re looking at more of the same. And this time, he’s making it even more personal—tying tariffs to whether countries “align with the United States on national security matters.” That’s not economics. That’s blackmail.
This is how authoritarians operate. They wield economic pain as a weapon against both allies and enemies. It’s not diplomacy. It’s not leadership. And it certainly isn’t putting American workers, businesses, or farmers first.
We need leaders who will fight for fair trade—not fear-based trade. We need policies that uplift rural communities, not drive them deeper into uncertainty. And we need to call this what it is: economic intimidation that damages America’s credibility around the world.
I’m Ricky Dana, Candidate for U.S. House in Missouri’s 4th Congressional District, and I believe Missouri deserves better.
Written by Ricky Dana, Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, Missouri’s 4th District
ScreenshotScreenshot
Summary: I read Trump’s latest post accusing a Biden appointee of faking job numbers—and I fact-checked every claim. What I found was a mix of half-truths, misunderstanding of basic economic processes, and flat-out conspiracy theory. This kind of disinformation is dangerous. So let’s break it down with real sources and clear facts.
No, Trump—The Jobs Numbers Weren’t “Faked”
Donald Trump is once again blaming civil servants and career experts for numbers he doesn’t like. His latest claim? That a Biden appointee at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) “faked” job numbers to help Kamala Harris win the 2024 election.
That’s false—and dangerous.
Let’s break it down.
Who Is Dr. Erika McEntarfer?
Dr. Erika McEntarfer is the Acting Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. She’s a respected economist and a career government employee—not a political hack. The BLS is a nonpartisan agency, and it operates under strict professional standards.
Her job is to report job numbers—not spin them. The data she shares comes from surveys, business payroll records, and statistical models used for decades by both Republican and Democratic administrations.
What About Those “Fake” Numbers?
In Trump’s post, he claims the BLS overstated job growth by 818,000 jobs in March 2024 and later by 112,000 jobs in August and September. This is actually true—but misleading. The BLS updates past jobs numbers when better data becomes available.
That’s not fraud. That’s just how economics works.
Revisions happen all the time—including during Trump’s own term. Numbers are collected quickly at first, then corrected as more payroll data rolls in. It’s part of the official BLS methodology and has nothing to do with who’s in office.
Trump says he directed his team to fire McEntarfer and replace her with “someone more competent.”
But that’s not how it works. Federal civil servants are protected by merit-based hiring rules. You can’t just fire them because you don’t like the numbers they report.
He also says the economy is “booming under Trump.”
That’s a stretch. Yes, the economy has grown—but it’s been uneven. Inflation remains high, tariffs are driving up prices, and global markets are shaky. Economists call this a mixed recovery, not a boom.
Trump finishes by accusing the Federal Reserve of cutting interest rates “to help Kamala.”
That’s just not how the Fed works.
The Federal Reserve is an independent institution. It sets interest rates based on inflation, employment, and growth—not who’s running for office. And Jerome Powell? He was appointed by Trump himself.
Blaming honest public servants, pushing conspiracy theories, and demanding firings based on political discomfort? That’s not leadership. That’s authoritarianism.
The job of our government—especially agencies like the BLS and the Fed—is to serve the American people, not any one politician.
We must protect truth and transparency from political attacks. And we need leaders who understand the difference between facts and feelings.
Just hours after a disappointing jobs report showed the economy slowing down, Donald Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s not leadership—that’s manipulation.
Erika McEntarfer, a respected economist and career public servant, was removed simply for reporting the truth: hiring has dropped off over the last three months. That truth didn’t fit Trump’s narrative, so he got rid of her. He called her a “Biden appointee” and said the numbers were being “manipulated for political purposes.” But let’s be honest—what’s more political than firing the messenger when you don’t like the message?
This isn’t the first time Trump has tried to replace nonpartisan experts with loyalists who’ll say whatever he wants. And if he installs someone who’ll twist the job numbers just to make things look good, working families in Missouri and across the country will pay the price.
We rely on honest data to make good decisions—for our farms, our businesses, our schools, and our budgets. When our leaders try to rewrite reality, it doesn’t just hurt “the other side.” It hurts all of us.
Missourians deserve better than manipulated statistics. We deserve the truth—even when it’s inconvenient.
You may have seen the article in the El Dorado Springs Sun. If you didn’t, it’s about Mark “Awful” Alford launching a “Heartland Hotline”—a phone number he says will connect him to rural Missourians.
But let’s be real: this is just damage control.
Mark “Awful” Alford has been voting against the best interests of folks in Missouri’s 4th District for years. And now that people are catching on, he’s scrambling to pretend he cares.
He wasn’t born here.
He wasn’t raised here.
He didn’t farm here.
He doesn’t live the life rural Missourians live every day.
This hotline is about optics, not outreach. It’s not a lifeline—it’s a cut cord, just like the connection he’s had to our rural communities all along.
And while Alford’s campaign is bankrolled by big-money donors from Washington, Kansas, and beyond—I’m building this campaign with grassroots support from real Missourians who live and work here, just like I do.
So ask yourself:
Do you want Missouri represented by someone bought and paid for by out-of-state interests?
Or do you want someone who knows your struggles, shares your values, and won’t sell you out for PAC money?
Let’s bring real representation back to Missouri’s 4th.
❤️ Standing With Every Family Hit by Floods and Wildfires
To everyone dealing with the destruction from recent flooding or wildfires—we see you, and we stand with you. If you’ve lost a loved one during these disasters, your pain matters. You’re not alone, and we won’t look away.
Here’s where things are hitting hardest right now:
🗽 New York (NYC, Long Island, Hudson Valley)
Torrential rains on July 31 flooded subways, highways, and basements. Cars were underwater on the Clearview Expressway. Emergency crews were overwhelmed. People are still cleaning up, still recovering. People.com YouTube Video
🌧️ Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, D.C.
Flash floods from a slow-moving storm system swept across the region. A 13-year-old boy in Maryland was pulled into a storm drain and died. AP News
🔥 Arizona & Utah
The Dragon Bravo and Monroe Canyon wildfires are still burning. Thousands of acres gone. Families displaced. Smoke spreading across the region.
🌊 Texas (especially Dallas) & New Mexico
Dallas is flooding now—21 roads closed and more rain expected today. Flash Flood Warnings are in effect. In July, over 100 people died in Central Texas during deadly flash floods. Houston Chronicle
🌫️ Smoke Across the Midwest
Wildfire smoke from Washington and Canada is choking the air in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota. Air quality alerts remain in effect. Especially dangerous for kids, the elderly, and folks with health issues. CBS News
We don’t need empty promises—we need leaders who invest in early warning systems, rural emergency response, and real infrastructure upgrades.
If you’re organizing help in your area, drop it in the comments. Let’s back each other up.
By Ricky Dana • Published July 31, 2025, 9:07 PM CT
🧑🌾 Missouri Feed Prices as of July 31, 2025
Farmers across Missouri are watching feed prices closely. Right now, some by-product feeds are affordable. Here are a few examples:
Dried Distillers Grain (DDG): $139–173 per ton (various Missouri suppliers)
Corn Gluten Feed, Pelleted: $140–198 per ton
14% Cattle Commodity Feed: $207 per ton – Ste. Genevieve, MO
Calcium Carbonate (Feed Grade): $57.50 per ton
Soy Hulls, Pelleted: $110–150 per ton
Confectionery Sugar: $500 per ton – Quincy, IL
Crude Cottonseed Oil: $796 per ton – Brownfield, TX
These feeds can help lower costs if you’re buying in bulk or hauling short distances. It’s a good time to shop around.
⚠️ Why New Tariffs Could Hurt
In July 2025, the Trump administration added new tariffs on goods from many countries. These are extra taxes on imports—but when other countries fight back, they often raise tariffs on our exports.
Missouri exports a lot of grain-based feeds and dairy. If countries like Mexico or China raise taxes on our farm goods, we could lose big markets. That means extra supply here in Missouri and lower prices at home.
Even if feed costs stay steady, low selling prices mean smaller profits for our farms. These tariffs could really hurt rural communities.
✅ What You Can Do
🗓️ Check the Missouri feed price list often. It’s updated weekly.
📢 Call your lawmakers. Let them know these trade fights hurt real farmers.
🧾 Look into group buying or co-op pricing to stretch your feed dollars.
📉 Watch export news. If big buyers stop buying, local prices will drop.
As your future Congressman, I’ll always speak up for Missouri farmers. We don’t need more politics—we need smart trade that works for the people who feed this country.
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