President Trump has often touted his pro-America policies, yet a recent flub threatens to tarnish that image.
During a rally in Iowa in support of farmers, Trump touted his support of the agriculture sector, calling himself “the most pro-farmer president in history,” while also attacking Ron DeSantis, whom he claimed would be “catastrophic for Iowa’s economy.”
“Every Iowan also needs to know that Ron DeSanctus [sic] totally despises Iowa ethanol and ethanol in general,” Trump said, adding that when politicians “have their initial thoughts … that’s what they go back to.”
“A lot of people in this room got checks of hundreds and thousands of dollars because China was taking tremendous advantage of the farmers for a long time,” Trump said .
In his remarks Friday, he pledged to pursue new, aggressive trade wars if necessary.
“If India or China or any one of many countries hits us with a 100% or 200% tariff or tax, we will hit them with exactly the same tariff or tax,” Trump said, part of a proposal he called the “Trump Reciprocal Trade Act.”
The former president, in his third visit to Iowa since announcing his 2024 run, remains the undisputed GOP frontrunner — both in the first-in-the-nation caucus state and nationally — as the summer campaign season continues.
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The campaign used the event to launch its “Farmers for Trump” coalition, appointing state legislators and leaders as co-chairs of the group in Iowa — including Reps. Mike Sexton, Heather Hora and Derek Wulf. That theme resonated with some attendees who had ties to agriculture.
It was certainly a successful event, as attendees reportedly waited outside the arena for hours to get in. In fact, some attendees were given free green hats with the slogan “Farmers for Trump” once they got inside. While this swag was meant to show solidarity between Trump and the domestic agriculture sector, it became an unfortunate faux pas, as the hats were revealed to be foreign-made.
A source passes along a photo of one of the hats at the Iowa farmers for trump event, which has a label saying it was made in Bangladesh. A spox hasn’t responded about it yet. pic.twitter.com/3cR2XOqm7P
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 7, 2023
While it may seem trivial to point this out, campaigns have been attacking each other for not using domestically produced products, and Republican campaigns in particular have made a point to rely on American-made products. While this is hardly something Trump can personally be blamed for, it is a rather significant error on the part of his campaign for not ensuring that all products, even free swag given out at events, are made in the USA. The failure to do so opens the campaign up to questions of its commitment to support America-based businesses over cheaper, foreign-made products that compete with the very businesses they profess to support.
While Trump used the event to attack DeSantis, another faux pas cost him an endorsement. Trump decided to attack Gov. Kim Reynolds (R), prompting a state senator to revoke his endorsement of Trump and back DeSantis instead.
“Trump is very outspoken. We’ve come to expect that, and that’s fine when it was focused at the right people,” Sen. Jeff Reichman (R-50th district) said. “And then this week, when it became focused on our governor … I felt like it was the right thing to do to look out for our governor, our home team here. Keeping that in mind, I decided to pull my endorsement for Trump.”
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