Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump dueled for attention as they flipped pork chops and greeted Iowans at the Iowa State Fair this weekend, while a slate of other challengers for the presidency highlighted their own platforms.
In a rebuff to DeSantis, Trump was accompanied in his trip to Iowa by a number of Floridians, including Republican Reps. Mike Waltz, Anna Paulina Luna, Cory Mills, Carlos Gimenez, Greg Steube and Matt Gaetz.
Trump didn't participate in the Des Moines Register's political soapbox or Iowa Gov. Kim Reynold's "Fairside Chats" with presidential candidates.
He did, however, visit the Iowa Pork Producers tent with Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, on Saturday before giving a speech at "Steer N' Stein," a packed restaurant on the fairgrounds. Some members of the crowd wore "Farmers for Trump" hats, while others stood on chairs to snap photos of the president.
At one point in his speech, Trump said he feels "so strongly about farmers," and he criticized Democrats, who he said were not paying enough attention to agriculture.
Trump also touted his administration's renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said turned it from the "worst trade deal ever made" into the "best trade deal ever made." He said the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement was "so good" for the United States that Mexico and Canada wanted to renegotiate it. He said "they should not do that."
DeSantis, meanwhile, was joined by Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, in the annual fair ritual of flipping pork patties in the Iowa Pork Producers tent. In a Fairside Chat with Reynolds, he criticized President Biden's push for more electric vehicle use, saying it benefits China.
"We're not going to force people to buy electric vehicles," DeSantis said. "First of all, that's expensive. It's not good for liquid fuels, like in Iowa, the biofuel."
DeSantis said he also planned to reduce staffing numbers at federal agencies "by at least 50%," as well as pursuing economic policies focused on "bringing the middle class in this country back."
During DeSantis's panel with Reynolds, protestors rang bells and blew whistles until they were removed by law enforcement. One protestor ended up falling to the ground during an altercation with surrounding attendees and an officer.
Ron DeSantis Other candidates who spent significant time at the fair included Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.She criticized the ownership of land by Chinese entities, as well as one company's 2013 purchase of Smithfield Foods. She also said Chinese theft of intellectual property like seeds is an issue she is focused on.
"They are trying to figure out how to go take what we have so they don't need us," Haley said of China.
Another candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, said he planned to reduce staff at federal agencies by 75% if he were elected and dismantle some government agencies. After his "Fairside Chat," he rapped to Eminem's "Lose Yourself."
Two Democratic candidates planning to run against President Joe Biden also spent time at the fair, despite Iowa no longer holding its "first-in-the-nation" Democratic caucus.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who originally came to public attention as an environmental lawyer, used his soapbox appearance to attack the Summit and Navigator carbon sequestration pipelines, two projects intended to transport carbon dioxide away from ethanol plants so it can be buried underground, reducing the carbon score for the biofuel. While his campaign manager held up a map of the planned pipelines' Iowa routes, Kennedy Jr. said the projects do not serve "public" purposes, but "private" ones.
"When I get in the White House, I will put an end to this and this pipeline will never be built," Kennedy said.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Kennedy also criticized consolidation in the agriculture industry, saying the current ag industry represents the "opposite" of Thomas Jefferson's vision of "landscapes left in the hands of tens of thousands of yeoman farmers." He used Smithfield Foods as an example, touting a case he helped bring against the pork giant previously in his career.
On Thursday during an appearance at the fair, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said
he is "fully confident" the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline will be completed despite his state's public service commission's initial rejection of a permit applications. Burgum was at the fair to campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.
Summit has told Agri-Pulse it will reapply for the permit.
Another Democratic candidate who campaigned at the fair on Saturday, author and speaker Maryanne Williamson, decried consolidation in agriculture and banking. She also said that both rural communities and small businesses need a "massive infusion of resources."
"Nobody in the Department of Agriculture in the Williamson Administration will have ties to big ag, I assure you" Williamson said. "We need to deal with the corporate capture of these agencies."
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