'Betrayal': Rural red state farmers turn on Trump after he targets major industries

Newsweek reports Trump’s once-solid grip on the red state of Iowa may be in danger as residents come to their own grip with the consequences of Trump as president.

The most recent problem: Trump’s war on corn sweeteners.

"All of our corn sweetener comes from American farms, raised by American farmers and processed in American plants," said Mark Mueller, a corn and soybean farmer from Waverly, Iowa, who told Newsweek Trump’s decision to remove corn sweeteners from a variety of food products, including Coca-Cola, felt like "a betrayal" of Trump's own "America First" pledge.

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Industry trade group The Corn Refiners Association estimates that eliminating high-fructose corn syrup from U.S. food and beverage supply chains could cut corn prices by up to 34 cents a bushel and result in a $5.1 billion loss in farm revenue.

“Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar doesn’t make sense,” the group said in a statement. “President Trump stands for American manufacturing jobs, American farmers, and reducing the trade deficit. Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit.”

"What happened to the 'Make it in America' mindset?" Mueller told Newsweek, adding that even a small hit to corn prices of just a nickel or dime per bushel could crush small farms.

In addition to Trump’s attack on Iowa’s biggest agricultural industry, an analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows Iowa's rural hospitals stand to lose $4.45 billion in Medicaid funding under Trump's policies. Rural hospitals comprise nearly 68 percent of the state's community hospitals.

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Trump has also taken a stand against wind energy — another blossoming Iowa industry that generates more than half the state’s electricity. Newsweek reports Trump rolled back federal renewables incentives, which now requires upcoming wind energy projects to be completed by 2027 instead of the 2030s, and it halts new wind leases on federal lands.

The last Democrat to win Iowa’s six votes was Barack Obama in 2012.

Read the full Newsweek report at this link.