In Iowa, Trump blasts Desantis over ethanol
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Campaigning in Iowa on Friday, former President Donald Trump attacked Florida Gov. Ron Desantis as an enemy of corn-based ethanol in his largest campaign event in the lead-off caucus state in nearly four months.
Trump, appearing in Council Bluffs in the western part of the state, criticized his top 2024 Republican presidential rival for voting as a member of Congress to oppose the federal mandate for the fuel additive that Iowa leads the nation in producing.
Trump declared himself “the most pro-farmer president that you’ve ever had” at the event, which was aimed at promoting his administration’s agricultural record and touting his oversight of reversals of regulations on farmers. “I fought for Iowa ethanol like no president in history.”
On a rainy Friday, Trump spoke to more than 1,000 Iowans and Nebraskans packed into the event, with hundreds more in line outside the Midamerica Center arena.
As a congressman from Florida, Desantis co-sponsored a bill in 2017 that would have immediately ended the renewable fuel standard, a position consistent with fiscal conservatives who see such mandates as government overreach.
“Iowa also needs to know that Ron Desanctus totally despises Iowa ethanol and ethanol generally,” Trump said, intentionally mispronouncing his rival’s name as he routinely does. “He’s been fighting it for years. Don’t forget, as a congressman he was voting against it, and fighting for years to kill every single job.”
Trump spoke for 80 minutes, blending his attacks on Desantis and President Joe Biden with asides on such subjects as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine – “I told him: Don’t do it.” – an impression of French President Emmanuel Macron and a dismissal of climate change science, saying during the hottest week in
history that global warming is just going to give more people beachfront property.
He touted his three picks for the Supreme Court, who helped make up the majority that voted to overturn Roe v. Wade on abortion last year and to end affirmative action in college admissions last week. He urged caution in the way that Republicans talk about life after Roe and cast the decision as an opportunity for bargaining at the state and federal levels.
“That issue has to be spoken about properly because Republicans, many of them don’t speak about it properly,” he said. He added: “It’s really a great victory to get something done. You now have tremendous power to negotiate something.”
As he arrived in Iowa, Trump also rolled out his Farmers for Trump Coalition, a group co-chaired by officials including state Reps. Mike Sexton and Derek Wulf, the top two Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee.
Trump campaigned in the Des Moines area last month, meeting with GOP state lawmakers, conservative pastors, campaign volunteers and a suburban Republican breakfast club. That visit came about a week before he was indicted on federal charges.