Good evening. I’m British Chris, and you’re watching Raw America.
Trump’s war in Iran is destroying American farms. Immigrants are dying in ICE custody. ICE is boarding cruise ships to the horror of passengers. One of Trump’s Cabinet secretaries just put the Epstein story back in the news. These are the stories shaping the country right now, and they’re exactly the kind of stories that corporate media either buries, spins, or ignores entirely. Let’s get into it.
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The War in Iran is Destroying American Farms
The war in Iran has largely shut down the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical trade routes. And that’s not just an energy story. It’s an agriculture story.
Diesel prices have climbed to around $5.35 a gallon, up from about $3.80 before the war started. And urea, a major nitrogen-based fertilizer, shot up to nearly $700 per ton in late April. Before the war broke out, it was sitting at $455.
A farmer in southwest Minnesota named Megan Horsager is watching all this with dread. She’s got a big fuel tank on her property that she fills as needed, and she didn’t lock in prices ahead of time.
She’s not alone. A recent American Farm Bureau survey found that about 70 percent of farmers nationwide say they can’t afford all the fertilizer they need right now.
In the South, the situation is especially dire. Only 19 percent of farmers in that region pre-booked their fertilizer. One Oklahoma farmer, Tommy Salisbury, said he waited because of low profits from the previous year and a drought. Now he’s switching crops entirely.
Experts say this isn’t going to resolve quickly. Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens soon, there are about 2,000 vessels stranded in the Persian Gulf, underwater mines that the Navy is still clearing, and damaged energy infrastructure that could take months or years to repair. Analysts at North Dakota State University say fertilizer prices could remain elevated well into 2028.
The Trump administration says it plans to use tariff revenue to invest in domestic fertilizer supplies, and Congress is discussing various relief packages. But farmers need help now, not promises.
18th ICE Detainee Dies in Federal Custody
ICE just reported its 18th detainee death so far this year. A 33 year-old man from Cuba named Denny Adan Gonzalez was found unresponsive in his cell at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. ICE says it’s investigating the death as a suspected suicide.
To put that number in context, last year ICE recorded 31 detainee deaths, a two-decade high. At the current pace, 2026 is on track to blow past that. The all-time record, set back in 2004, was thirty-two deaths. We’re eighteen in and it’s only the beginning of May.
The Trump administration has been holding record numbers of people in ICE custody as part of its deportation push. Earlier this year, the detention population topped seventy thousand. It’s come down some since then, but it’s still sitting around sixty thousand, higher than under any previous administration.
Reports of overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and insufficient food have been coming out of facilities across the country. ICE says it’s committed to “safe, secure, and humane environments.” The numbers tell a different story.
ICE Agents Stormed Disney Cruise Ship and Arrested Staff in Front of Passengers
On April 23, ICE agents boarded the Disney Magic cruise ship at the Port of San Diego and detained at least ten crew members. Passengers watched as workers they’d just been served by were led off the ship in zip ties, still wearing their Disney uniforms, without any of their belongings.
One passenger, Dharmi Mehta, described watching the head waiter, someone her family had gotten to know during the voyage, being taken away with his hands restrained behind his back. She said he’d been serving them just forty-five minutes earlier. She knew he had two daughters he was looking forward to seeing, and called the experience “really disheartening and unsettling.”
Two days later, four crew members from a Holland America ship were detained in what immigrant rights groups say is a growing pattern.
Advocates are now calling on cruise lines to do more to protect their workers and demanding more transparency from federal agents. The Port of San Diego said it wasn’t involved and noted that under California law, local harbor police don’t participate in immigration enforcement. The terminal, they noted, is federal jurisdiction.
Howard Lutnick’s Disastrous Epstein Testimony
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday for a closed-door interview, and it did not go well for him.
Lutnick previously claimed he cut ties with Jeffrey Epstein back in 2005. But federal materials revealed that he visited Epstein’s island in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2012, seven years after that claimed break. When pressed on why he made that visit, Lutnick reportedly described the decision as “inexplicable.”
Democrats who were present described Lutnick as evasive and dishonest. “He would not admit to lying, which he clearly did,” said one congressman. Another said, “They deserve to see the sweat on the secretary’s brow as he struggles to answer basic questions.”
Making things a little more complicated, the interview wasn’t under oath and wasn’t videotaped, which meant Lutnick didn’t face the same legal exposure he would have in a formal deposition. Even the Republican committee chair acknowledged before the interview that Lutnick “wasn’t one hundred percent truthful” in the past. That’s a remarkable thing to say out loud about a sitting Cabinet secretary.
Lutnick also admitted to discussing the Epstein matter with the administration beforehand, though he reportedly refused to say whether that conversation included the president himself.
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Thanks for watching. I’m British Chris, with Raw America. We’ll see you tomorrow.
STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
FBI Agents Reveal New Details About Kash Patel’s Drinking. Atlantic reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick — who recently reported that FBI personnel were worried about FBI Director Kash Patel’s alleged drinking problem — is now reporting new details about Patel from confidential FBI sources. In a Wednesday article, Fitzpatrick wrote that Patel travels with a case of personalized branded bourbon that he hands out to people while traveling on business. In one instance, a source recalled an instance where a bottle went missing, prompting Patel to erupt in a fit of rage and threaten to subject FBI agents to polygraph tests to find the bottle. The FBI had typically had a zero-tolerance policy toward alcohol in the workplace, and alcohol abuse while off duty.
Kyle Rittenhouse Hospitalized Over Brown Recluse Spider Bite. Right-wing activist Kyle Rittenhouse — who is known for fatally shooting two Black Lives Matter protesters and wounding another with an AR-15 rifle in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020 — recently posted photos of himself in a hospital, where he was recovering from being bitten by a brown recluse spider. Rittenhouse was acquitted of murder in 2021, and has since become a MAGA folk hero. However, his attorney said in 2023 that Rittenhouse had run out of money and was living a modest life to make ends meet.
FBI Raids Office of Virginia Democratic State Senator Behind Redistricting. Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas had her Portsmouth, Virginia office raided by the FBI on Wednesday. Agents also raided a cannabis business where Lucas is a co-owner. The raid was reportedly part of a corruption investigation dating back to the Biden administration. Lucas is known for her prominent role in organizing Virginia’s successful push to redraw congressional districts, and for gloating to Republicans complaining about the new maps.
Trump Asks Court to Block E. Jean Carroll Settlement. An attorney for President Donald Trump is now asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block writer E. Jean Carroll from being awarded her $83.3 million settlement while Trump appeals the decision to the Supreme Court. Carroll won the settlement in January of 2024, and won a previous $5 million settlement for sexual abuse in 2023. Trump continues to deny sexually abusing Carroll and claims he doesn’t even know her.
Real Estate Magnate Says Mamdani’s ‘Tax the Rich’ Slogan Is as ‘Hateful’ as Racial Slurs. Steven Roth — who is the chairman of the Vornado Realty Trust and has a net worth in excess of $300 million — is now heaping criticism on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s call to “tax the rich.” Mamdani is championing a tax on unoccupied luxury homes worth at least $5 million, which he said would generate approximately $500 million in revenue each year. Roth argued that the call to tax the rich was “just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs.”
