Trump would be a disaster for Iowa
Tariffs, immigrant sweeps a one-two punch to our basic industries
Note: This column was written before the debate where Kamala Harris dominated Donald Trump, and before Childless Cat Lady Taylor Swift endorsed Harris Tuesday night.
Iowa is likely to carry for Donald Trump, even though he would wreck the Tall Corn State economy.
The state is crazy in that way.
First order of business: Deport Mexicans. Hasta la vista, Storm Lake. Join in the refrain: Who’s going to cut your pork chop, gringo?
Next up: Build a net of tariffs that suffocate pork and soy export markets to China, among Iowa’s top customers. We are an export-sensitive state — ag and manufacturing are our bread and butter.
Immigration is Numero Uno for Trump & Co. He insists that we will deport up to 15 million undocumented people. Storm Lake would be ripped asunder. He says that immigrants poison our blood. In fact, they feed us. Not if they run away out of sheer fear.
Trump started a trade war with China that plundered Iowa ag exports, which have steadily declined since. China turned to Brazil and Argentina for its immediate needs. Food security is leader Xi Jinping’s priority. Although the Biden Administration maintained many of the Trump tariffs, it has tried to manage the relationship through top-level talks. The phone lines to Beijing went dead when Trump occupied 1600 Pennsylvania. Terry Branstad was left in charge. Scary stuff. We repress these memories.
Trump told money men gathered in New York last week that covering free child care would be a pittance for the revenue created by his planned tariffs. He could pay for huge tax cuts with the tariffs, too.
Imagine the impact on ag producers.
Trump bought them off with more than $70 billion in “Trump bumps” through USDA’s Commodity Credit Corp. A lot of the money went to agribusinesses. Next time, who knows? China will burn down the Amazon rain forest to avoid buying our beans if need be. It will support Russia to keep the flow of wheat coming, and it will appreciate the strategic benefit of controlling Ukraine’s food production. The US is not seen as a reliable supplier.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urged moderation in our rhetoric toward China.
It’s easier to talk about Taiwan, sovereignty and human rights on a full stomach. China still needs our soy and pork, and we could use some sales.
Harris pledges to protect strategic industries like semi-conductors, based in Taiwan. She does not sound keen for war. Trump sounds like he is. The Wall Street free traders were not impressed with Trump’s tortuous tariff speech. Goldman Sachs declared Harris superior for the economy. The real money is betting against Trump.
Trump would unravel Storm Lake. He would kill Iowa exports.
Fortunately for us, the biggest con man in American political history is flagging fast.
He can’t find a good nickname for Kamala Harris. She is killing him in fundraising, which is a far more important number than post-debate polls. While he was cavorting in a golf cart on Labor Day at Mar A Lago, Harris and running mate Tim Walz were working the hustings in key swing states.
As for the polls, Harris has grown a slim lead in the national popular vote. She is statistically tied with Trump in the half-dozen swing states. The governors of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are Democrats with strong statewide organizations. Harris will have Black women marching door to door in Atlanta and Savannah. Women of color are flocking to register to vote in those swing states in remarkable numbers. North Carolina may be within Harris’s reach. She is enjoying strong and rising support among Latino voters, crucial in Arizona and Nevada.
The turning tide is creeping everywhere.
Iowa Republicans are feeling the heat. They burst into a late-summer sweat when Kevin Virgil of Sutherland endorsed Democrat Ryan Melton of Nevada in his congressional challenge to Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Hull. Virgil got 40% of the GOP primary vote against Feenstra in June. He and Melton both tag Feenstra as a corporate lackey who takes Chinese money and who supports CO2 pipelines. The governor condemned Virgil along with the other Republicans from Iowa’s congressional delegation. Nobody had been paying attention, but leading Republicans were soiling themselves over Virgil. The GOP also had the votes on a state board to boot Libertarian congressional candidates off the November ballot. When had Republicans ever worried about Libertarians in Iowa? Suddenly, congressional seats around Des Moines and Davenport are in play. Republicans should freak out. This could flip the House.
In the event of loss, Republicans can take comfort. Harris is prepared to do whatever it takes to lock down the border, even if it means denying refugees basic human rights. Republicans should like that. Meatpacking may continue with immigrant hands on the knives, and we will be able to ship soybeans and big green tractors overseas. For better or worse, it’s what we do here. Get real with it, and get over the idea of Trump being good for Iowa. He is a train wreck. He is a loser.
Art Cullen is the editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot in Northwest Iowa, where this column appeared. For more columns and editorials, please consider a subscription to the Times Pilot. Or, if you wish, you can make a tax-deductible gift to the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation to support independent community journalism in rural Iowa. Thanks.
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
Have you explored the variety of writers, plus Letters from Iowans, in the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative? They are from around the state and contribute commentary and feature stories of interest to those who care about Iowa. Please pick five you’d like to support by becoming paid. It helps keep them going. Enjoy:
I am sincerely hoping conservatives listen to Dick Chenney, "In our nation's 248 year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donal Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again. As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris." The question is are the conservatives reading this statement?
"Not if they (immigrants) run away out of sheer fear." If Trump wins, we might want to follow them--they might be able to teach us how to leave this country.