Washington moved first in early June, recasting two Michigan arrests as a test of “agroterrorism” and resetting the baseline. Lansing answered with speed and posture. The goal was to show motion and keep the floor from dropping.
The rhythm is familiar. A systems failure becomes a morality play. The fix arrives dressed as a crusade. We’ve lived this loop. Pretending it’s new is a way to ignore the dull places we starve: ports, labs, and the quiet trust between growers and the people who police their trade.
The fungus at the center isn’t exotic. Anyone who’s watched a wet spring has watched elevators dock loads when vomitoxin spikes after rain won’t quit. Fusarium graminearum is a resident, not an invader. Some years it’s a multibillion drag; other years a ripple. It’s never sat on a select agent list. It is always in the air. Turning it into a plot doesn’t make it less local. It only makes the politics louder.
The leap from biology to menace didn’t happen in public. It grew …
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