VIEWPOINT | Trump’s actions will damage South Dakota’s economy

Guest column by Nikki Gronli, Biden Administration State Director, USDA Rural

As I look across the snowy fields surrounding my rural home, I can’t help but reflect on how an unelected billionaire with no understanding of rural life is poised to harm our state.

The recent actions by the Trump administration — cutting key federal programs, firing public servants and destabilizing government agencies — are a direct threat to rural America, especially states like South Dakota. The decisions made by Elon Musk and his team at DOGE put South Dakota’s farms, emergency services, hospitals and local economies at risk.

The Trump-Musk “revenge tour” has nothing to do with improving the federal government. If there were a strategic plan, they wouldn’t have fired 300 critical staffers from the National Nuclear Security Administration, only to realize too late that these experts oversee our nation’s nuclear stockpile. Now, they don’t even know how to reinstate them to correct their catastrophic mistake.

Let’s examine a few of the ways Trump, Musk and DOGE will harm South Dakota.