J.D. Scholten, who is running against Rep. Steve King, explains why the tariffs have Trump and Republicans in trouble in Iowa.
Trump’s Tariffs Boost Democrats In Iowa
Scholten said on MSNBC’s MTP Daily:
I hardly talked about Trump at all to be perfectly honest in our election when we were up against Steve King, I had to call out his racism and his hatred absolutely. But when we give oxygen to it, then we lose the issues that really matter here in the 4th district. The second most agriculture producing district in America, we have 55,000 farmers in this district that have their backs against the wall. Even if the tariffs end tomorrow, we’ve got market consolidation and other issues. We’ve got a half-decade of low commodity prices. And at the end of the day, we have to call that out. But it’s the kitchen table topics that we are just out there talking with voters about.
….
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
The bizarreness of what’s happening right now is we’re borrowing money from China to pay our farmers to not sell their products to China. And, I mean, we have — and we look at some of these multinational corporations that they’re going to sell their soybeans to China one way or the other. And so I’m out here making sure that it’s trying to be Iowa farmers that are selling their soybeans to China and not somewhere down in South America. When you have Representative King not on the farm committee or the agriculture committee, that’s hurting our farmers.
Video:
J.D. Scholten, who is running against Rep. Steve King, explains why the tariffs have Trump and Republicans in trouble in Iowa. pic.twitter.com/7A5G8YGkWz
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) August 9, 2019
Trump’s trade war is putting Iowa farmers out of business. Scholten is a very impressive candidate who should have won in 2018. He is right. He doesn’t need to talk about Trump or tweets, because that isn’t what voters in his district care about. Trump has a net (-11) favorability rating in Iowa, and his trade war is a big part of the reason why. Democrats have a legitimate shot at winning back some rural voters in 2020, because rural voters, like everyone else, care about kitchen table issues, and the discussion around their kitchen tables increasingly centers on the damage being done to them by Donald Trump.
For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
Follow Jason Easley on Facebook
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
