WATCH LIVE: Trump holds roundtable with farmers in Wisconsin

By — Associated Press Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-trump-holds-roundtable-with-farmers-in-wisconsin Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH LIVE: Trump holds roundtable with farmers in Wisconsin Politics Jun 5, 2026 3:13 PM EDT President Donald Trump said Friday that he wants Bill Pulte, his new acting director of national intelligence, to cut the office, which has already been significantly scaled back during the president's second term. The president is expected to speak at a roundtable at 4 p.m. EDT. Watch live in our video player above. Trump noted that the size of the office as been "way too high for way too long," and that "if he cut, I wouldn't mind." "Bill Pulte is very good, he's very talented," Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled to Wisconsin for a agriculture roundtable discussion. The president said in an earlier interview with the Wall Street Journal that he has asked Pulte to start the process of firing employees. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Enter your email address Subscribe Form error message goes here. Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. Democratic Wisconsin senator says Trump's stop in the swing state shows he's nervous Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said Trump's visit to a rural swing district in Wisconsin shows he knows Republicans are in trouble in the midterms. The stop on Friday for a farmer-focused round table in Chippewa Falls marks the first time Trump has visited Wisconsin in his second term. It comes just four days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. toured a dairy farm in the congressional district held by Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden. READ MORE: Farmers seek fertilizer alternatives as Iran war drives up prices "They know they're in trouble," Baldwin said of Republicans. "They know across the country they're in trouble." Baldwin says Trump's visit is "not going to do the job in convincing our farmers they are doing better than they're doing. They know the reality." Trump is scheduled to be joined by Van Orden, one of his most vocal supporters. Democrats have targeted that district this year. A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now By — Associated Press Associated Press
President Donald Trump said Friday that he wants Bill Pulte, his new acting director of national intelligence, to cut the office, which has already been significantly scaled back during the president's second term. The president is expected to speak at a roundtable at 4 p.m. EDT. Watch live in our video player above. Trump noted that the size of the office as been "way too high for way too long," and that "if he cut, I wouldn't mind." "Bill Pulte is very good, he's very talented," Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled to Wisconsin for a agriculture roundtable discussion. The president said in an earlier interview with the Wall Street Journal that he has asked Pulte to start the process of firing employees. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Enter your email address Subscribe Form error message goes here. Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. Democratic Wisconsin senator says Trump's stop in the swing state shows he's nervous Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said Trump's visit to a rural swing district in Wisconsin shows he knows Republicans are in trouble in the midterms. The stop on Friday for a farmer-focused round table in Chippewa Falls marks the first time Trump has visited Wisconsin in his second term. It comes just four days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. toured a dairy farm in the congressional district held by Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden. READ MORE: Farmers seek fertilizer alternatives as Iran war drives up prices "They know they're in trouble," Baldwin said of Republicans. "They know across the country they're in trouble." Baldwin says Trump's visit is "not going to do the job in convincing our farmers they are doing better than they're doing. They know the reality." Trump is scheduled to be joined by Van Orden, one of his most vocal supporters. Democrats have targeted that district this year. A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now

Facts Only

* President Donald Trump said he wants Bill Pulte, his new acting director of national intelligence, to cut the office.
* Trump noted the office size had been "way too high for way too long."
* Trump stated that if the office were cut, he would not mind.
* Trump complimented Bill Pulte, calling him "very good" and "very talented."
* Trump traveled to Wisconsin for an agriculture roundtable discussion.
* The roundtable was scheduled for 4 p.m. EDT.
* The visit to Wisconsin was the first time Trump had visited the state in his second term.
* Democratic Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin said Trump's visit shows he knows Republicans are in trouble in the midterms.
* Farmers seek fertilizer alternatives as the Iran war drives up prices.
* The visit occurred just four days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. toured a dairy farm in the congressional district held by Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden.

Executive Summary

President Donald Trump expressed a desire to cut the office of Bill Pulte, the acting director of national intelligence, noting that the size of the office had been "way too high for way too long." Trump stated that he would not mind if the office were cut, acknowledging Pulte's talent. This comment appeared during his trip to Wisconsin for an agriculture roundtable discussion. The event took place on Friday. The visit marked the first time Trump had traveled to Wisconsin in his second term. Simultaneously, Democratic Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin suggested that Trump's stop in the swing state indicates nervousness regarding Republicans' position in the midterms. The event coincided with earlier reporting about farmers seeking fertilizer alternatives and the ongoing political dynamics in the congressional district held by Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden.

Full Take

The narrative strategically links a high-level personnel action (restructuring the intelligence office) with a seemingly unrelated public relations event (the agricultural roundtable). This linkage suggests a pattern of using political movement and personal commentary to establish an emotional connection with a specific demographic—in this case, rural farmers. The structure uses Trump's personal anecdote about office size and competence as a bridge to an appeal for sympathy and to frame political uncertainty ("They know they're in trouble"). The implication is that political instability and economic distress are interconnected, positioning the administration's actions (or perceived nervousness) as a shared reality for the electorate. This utilizes the pattern of weaponizing vulnerability, leveraging the genuine concerns of a specific group (farmers) to contextualize broader political anxieties, shifting focus from policy to perceived internal state and personal performance. The operation aims to create a sense of shared reality where political troubles and economic realities are inseparable, compelling an emotional response rather than reasoned policy evaluation.

Sentinel — Human

Confidence

The text exhibits standard journalistic style and attribution, indicating it is likely human-authored or heavily curated from human sources, with low synthetic confidence.

Signals Detected

Standard journalistic sentence structure with occasional colloquial phrasing (e.g., 'way too high for way too long'). Not exhibiting the overly uniform rhythm characteristic of pure LLM text.

The text blends political reporting with opinion/commentary (Baldwin's quote) and promotional elements. The flow is typical of aggregated news snippets rather than a cohesive, single-authored piece.

Uses clear, specific attribution (AP, specific senators) and direct quotes. The structure is derived from standard news reporting templates, suggesting machine generation or template use is not the primary source.

The inclusion of non-journalistic promotional material (newsletter sign-up) suggests the text was pulled from a platform where content aggregation is standard, not necessarily generated in one cohesive block.

Human Indicators

The specific political references and direct quotes suggest human sourcing, likely from official transcripts or vetted reports.

The overall structure is that of a news report, which generally resists the uniform, purely associative flow typical of raw LLM generation.