Trump-Voting Farmers Are Getting the Bill for Iran

The Pentagon erased four dead soldiers from its Iran war toll, a fired 60 Minutes reporter says CBS pushed White House talking points into her stories, and veterans are replacing immigrant truckers

Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.

The Pentagon quietly erased four service members killed this month from its Iran war death toll. Fired 60 Minutes reporter Cecilia Vega says CBS bosses pushed her to insert White House talking points and misinformation into her stories. The White House now wants departing soldiers to replace the tens of thousands of immigrant truckers stripped of their licenses this year. And Trump’s war with Iran drove up diesel costs so much that the farmers who voted for him spent $1.4 billion more this planting season.

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The Pentagon Erased Four Dead Soldiers From the Count

History doesn’t repeat itself, but apparently it can be edited overnight.

The Pentagon lowered its official Iran war death toll from 18 to 14 in the span of a single day. The four names that vanished belonged to service members killed this past weekend — three in Jordan and one in northern Iraq.

Military officials said the deaths were struck from the list because they came after Trump declared a ceasefire in April. Every death still listed occurred back in March. The acting Pentagon press secretary, Joel Valdez, blamed “temporary data disruptions” and promised the website would be fixed quickly.

This comes as Rep. Adam Smith says Trump has shared no casualty statistics with Congress at all. The Pentagon hasn’t held a major briefing on the war since early May.

Trump himself used the number 18 on Thursday. “I went to Dover, four great American patriots killed. That’s 18,” he said. “One is too many, but it’s 18.”

In other words, Trump’s ceasefire ended the war, which means the men killed last weekend were technically killed in peacetime. I’m sure their families will be relieved to hear it.

Fired ‘60 Minutes’ Reporter Says CBS Asked Her to Lie

The good news is someone at CBS still fact-checks. The bad news is she got fired.

Cecilia Vega, the first Latina correspondent at 60 Minutes, told the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Conference on Thursday that management repeatedly tried to bend her stories toward the White House. She was fired in May, months before her contract was set to end next March.

Vega cited three instances. On a story about federal officers killing two US citizens during ICE operations in Minnesota, she said she was pushed to include a quote from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey urging local police to fight ICE agents in the streets. The quote did not exist.

She said she was also told to introduce an Iran war story by asking who was winning and answering that Iran was “totally outgunned,” an administration talking point. On a West Virginia story about SNAP cuts, she said she was asked why she hadn’t interviewed JD Vance about Hillbilly Elegy, a book about Ohio that was published a decade earlier.

Vega did not name editor-in-chief Bari Weiss directly, but said things changed when “new people started showing up in the screenings.” Weiss pulled a 60 Minutes episode last year hours before air. Scott Pelley, who was fired in June, also accused her of “murdering” the show.

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White House Wants Veterans to Replace Immigrant Truckers

The administration that removed 56,000 truckers from the nation’s highways this year has now announced an emergency plan to find 56,000 truckers.

The solution is a campaign called Freedom Haulers, aimed at getting departing military members behind the wheel of a big rig. Veterans who recently drove large military vehicles can skip the commercial driver’s license skills test entirely. The GI Bill will cover 100% of CDL training, plus a housing allowance for some.

The vacancies did not appear by accident. About 26,000 drivers were pulled off the road this year for failing to demonstrate English proficiency, and the Transportation Department canceled another 30,000 licenses it said were issued illegally.

Immigrants make up about 20% of all truck drivers. The non-domiciled licenses under scrutiny account for roughly 5% of the total (200,000 drivers).

The federal government has tried to withhold highway funds from California and New York over their refusal to comply, and warned Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and North Carolina they’re next. Most of it is tangled up in court.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the crackdown is “restoring the integrity of America’s trucking industry.” Nobody has asked Duffy what integrity does for a shipment of frozen chicken sitting in Laredo.

Farmers Who Backed Trump Feel Brunt of Iran War

The bill for the Iran war arrived this spring, and it went first to the people most likely to have voted for the man who sent it.

US farmers spent $1.4 billion more on diesel this year planting corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice than they did a year ago, according to a report from Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee. That’s a 63% yearly increase.

The six states hit with the biggest percentage jumps all voted for Trump in three straight presidential elections: Florida saw diesel costs rise 90.6%, followed by Alabama at 86.2%, Oklahoma at 85.9%, West Virginia at 85.8%, Kansas at 83.8%, and Indiana at 79.5%.

Prices peaked right in the middle of planting. The report estimates the average farmer paid $1,500 more to refill an onsite fuel tank than at the same point last year. Diesel hit $5.60 per gallon in May. Prices dipped after Trump’s June ceasefire, then jumped again when the war resumed this month, back up to $5.20 a gallon.

The report warns the pain won’t stop at the farm. Combined with existing tariffs, the costs are likely to push grocery prices higher for everyone.

For his part, Trump told Axios he was “close” to authorizing a “massive attack” on Iran that he vowed would be “bigger than ever before.” Farmers are advised to fill their tanks before the next round of good news.

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