Donald Trump’s Iowa base shows cracks over Minneapolis deaths
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In the red state of Iowa, even once stalwart supporters of Donald Trump are having qualms.
“It’s horrible what’s happening in Minneapolis,” said Amy Reynolds as she shopped for groceries in Des Moines. “Innocent people are being killed. Free speech is being squashed.”
Reynolds, who owns several residential properties and a small construction business, is not alone. Polls show a sizeable minority of Republican voters have misgivings about the US president’s crackdown on undocumented migrants — the signature domestic policy of his second term.
The doubts were fuelled by the killings of two US citizens at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis earlier this month. Outrage at the deaths of Renée Good, a poet and mother of three, and Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse who was shot multiple times by border patrol officers during a protest on Saturday, was by no means confined to Democratic states.
The views of voters like Reynolds should ring alarm bells for Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections, when Democrats will be seeking to seize back control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Trump himself in effect kicked off the campaign for the midterms with a speech in Iowa on Tuesday that studiously avoided any mention of Minneapolis and touted the “greatest first year of any administration in American history”.
“After one year of President Trump our economy is booming, incomes are rising, investment is soaring, inflation has been defeated, our border is closed . . . and America is respected all over the world,” he said.
Some locals said he should have stayed at home. “He’s not welcome here,” said Chad Lopez, a maintenance worker, at a suburban supermarket in Des Moines. “I’m angry, and not just because of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). It’s because of all his negative qualities.”
So far, such voices are probably in the minority in Iowa. A conservative state, it voted for Trump in all three presidential elections: in 2024 he beat former vice-president Kamala Harris with a solid 13 percentage point margin.
In the crowd that gathered to hear his speech in the city of Clive on Tuesday were true believers who lapped up his signature dance moves to “YMCA”, his crude jokes about former president Joe Biden and his hyperbolic boasts about his achievements in office.
Those in the hall, many of them wearing red “Make America Great Again” baseball caps and occasionally interrupting his speech to chant “U-S-A”, said Trump had exceeded their expectations.
“We’re not a laughing stock any more,” said Kelm Brueschke, a pyrotechnician and Air Force veteran. “We’re getting back our place in the world.”
They were also fully supportive of Trump’s actions in Minnesota, with many blaming the anti-ICE protesters for the violence. “You can’t impede law enforcement, you can’t stop them removing illegals,” said Kelly Barnum.
Yet Trump’s party is under pressure, and not just over the Minneapolis deaths.
Though headline GDP growth is solid, there are warning signals in the US economy. Consumer confidence fell in January to its lowest level in more than 12 years, as pessimism about job prospects and future economic conditions spread.
Inflation remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2 per cent target, despite Trump’s claim on Tuesday of having “rapidly brought . . . down” prices. Long-term unemployment is at its highest level in years. There are also increasing signs of a “K-shaped economy” with rising housing, healthcare and energy costs putting strain on lower-income households, while wealthier ones, buoyed by a surging stock market, prosper.
“I’m a landlord and my tenants can’t afford day-to-day expenses,” said Amy Reynolds. “They’re struggling with the rent, and that harms me.”
Meanwhile, farmers in the US are still smarting under Trump’s tariffs. Iowa, the nation’s largest producer of corn, pigs and ethanol, has been hit by weak crop prices, high prices for inputs such as seeds and fertiliser, and the trade war with China.
Such concerns could prove to be a vulnerability for the Republicans as the midterms approach. A Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Sunday found that just 30 per cent of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the rising cost of living, while 59 per cent disapproved.
In his speech, Trump did not directly address “affordability”, a clarion call for Democrats. But a placard behind him with the words: “Lower Prices, Bigger Paychecks” showed the White House is alive to the issue.
The president said his administration had helped working people with its “One Big Beautiful Bill”, which abolished taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security and will ensure that Americans get larger refunds when they file their tax returns this year.
It had also taken steps to reduce the price of prescription drugs, he said, and was tackling housing costs by curbing purchases of single-family homes by large institutional investors, including private equity groups. Trump promised that interest rates would fall sharply once the current Fed chair Jay Powell was replaced.
That news was welcomed by Rob Doheny, owner of a small real estate company, who attended Trump’s speech. “Something certainly needs to be done [about housing costs],” he said. “First-time buyers just can’t afford to buy a house.”
Doheny also welcomed Trump’s attempts to de-escalate tensions in Minneapolis by removing the controversial field commander directing the crackdown, Gregory Bovino, withdrawing some federal agents and holding talks with local leaders. “He’s moved in the right direction,” Doheny said.
But those moves didn’t placate the demonstrators gathered outside the venue. Iowans protesting against Trump’s presence in their state held up placards saying “Impeach the Mango Menace” and “Their Blood is on your hands”, while chanting “ICE equals murder”.
Mike Carr, a retired school psychologist from Fairfield, said he had come to the protest because he wanted to “save democracy”.
“The two murders in Minneapolis made it abundantly clear what Trump is doing,” he said. “He wants to create unrest, invoke the Insurrection Act and use that as a pretext for cancelling the election.”
Bryon Helt, a retired educator, said it was the first time he had ever attended an event of this kind. He said he was moved to come “by the thug violence of ICE in Minneapolis, the damaging effect of tariffs and the vile behaviour exhibited by our president on the world stage”.
“Thanks to him we’re more divided than we ever have been,” he said. “Angrier and more polarised.”
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