The most obvious signal of a nearing presidential election cycle is when both declared and potential Republican candidates schedule stops in Iowa, where candidates can thrive and build momentum or quickly realize that it’s not their time to shine.
A key to winning the hearts of voting Iowans is the ability to connect with — and impress — the state’s farmers and farming industry in general, which is irrefutably the heart and soul of the Hawkeye State. Out of the upcoming crop of GOP candidates, former President Donald Trump has the unique ability to do just that.
Sunday morning, a day before a planned trip to corn country, Trump reminded his followers on Truth Social that he is clearly the best choice in candidates for farmers, adding that no president has done more for America’s farmers than he did during his presidency.
“Nobody, in history, did more for the FARMERS of our Country than I did. Even got them 28 Billion Dollars from China based on how unfairly they were treated, before me, by the Chinese Government. People couldn’t believe it. Nobody’s going to win with the Farmers but ‘Donald J. Trump.’ Will be in Iowa on Monday. Big crowd!” Trump wrote.
This is a FACT – my entire family are farmers in Iowa!
Iowa LOVES Trump! 🇺🇸♥️🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/5i3AYFCoVR— Emily (@Emme0703) March 12, 2023
There’s simply no denying that the 45th president was incredibly active in helping America’s farmers.
As the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported in a 2020 press release, Trump took massive action to boost the farming industry during his time in the White House.
“As landowners, most farmers recognize the value of the president’s tax cuts, which virtually repealed the death tax, thereby keeping family farms in the family without penalty. One often overlooked yet crucial part of tax reform was its impact on pass-through entities. More than 98% of family farms are pass-through entities. These family farms constitute more than 90% of all United States agricultural production,” the USDA statement read.
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The Trump administration’s deregulatory actions were also touted, with the USDA completing “38 deregulatory items for every five regulatory items for a total regulatory annual savings of over $262 million.”
Trump also bolstered U.S. farmers while he worked to hold China accountable on the trade front. The Trump Archives from the White House website noted that Trump “authorized $28 billion in aid for farmers who have been subjected to unfair trade practices—fully funded by the tariffs paid by China.”
The Trump Archives also noted that the former president “successfully negotiated more than 50 agreements with countries around the world to increase foreign market access and boost exports of American agriculture products, supporting more than 1 million American jobs.”
In a Fox Business op-ed from 2020, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue reminded readers of Trump’s support for American farmers, the country’s backbone.
“At the end of the day, farmers today are better off thanks to President Trump’s policy initiatives, trade policies and his strong support. According to the Economic Research Service, farm income is forecasted to be at its highest level since 2013, reversing course after bottoming out in 2016. This didn’t happen by accident,” Perdue wrote at the time.
Not long ago, Iowa was one of several key battleground states that every candidate on both sides vied to win. But Iowans overwhelmingly kept their state red, in the Trump column, for both the 2016 and 2020 elections, as the Des Moines Register reported at the time.
Fox News reported Sunday that Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, predicted by many to launch a presidential campaign later this year, just wrapped up a trip to Iowa in what was seen as his most obvious sign of interest in making a play for the White Hous next year. Over the weekend, the former president took several specific shots at DeSantis on the topic of farming.
“Very small crowds for Ron DeSanctimonious in Iowa. He’s against Farmers, Social Security, and Medicare, so why would people show up – other than Fake stories from the Fake News!” Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social.
If DeSantis launches a formal bid for the White House, Iowa will be one of the most important states for him to win. However, it’ll be a monumental challenge as voters have — for years — made it clear that Iowa is largely MAGA country.
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