STATEMENT: Trump Tries to Bail Out Feenstra as MAGA Grassroots Remain Down on Republicans’ Establishment Candidate
DES MOINES – IDP Chair Rita Hart released the following statement in response to Donald Trump’s endorsement of Randy Feenstra:
“Washington sellout Randy Feenstra has spent years putting the swamp ahead of hardworking Iowans, all to score political points with Donald Trump. Unfortunately, the grassroots has made it clear they want anyone but Feenstra in this race, and this bailout comes too little too late after months of bruising Republican infighting that’s left him weakened, cash-strapped, and deeply unpopular. From hiding from Iowa voters and ducking debates to writing the bill that makes the largest cuts to Medicaid in history and supporting costly tariffs hurting Iowa farmers, Feenstra has consistently sided with powerful insiders over working families. After a decade of failed one-party rule, Iowans know it’s time for change, and this announcement doesn’t change that.”
What you need to know about D.C. swamp creature Randy Feenstra:
- Feenstra has faced major “dissatisfaction” and “opposition” from his own party after he was “unable to clear the primary field.”
- Feenstra’s opponents and fellow Republicans have spent months warning that he would be too weak to win a general election.
- In January, Fox News reported on a petition circulating among the grassroots begging Trump to endorse anyone but Feenstra. Since then, Feenstra’s “difficulty connecting” with voters has become a “persistent theme” of the wide-open race.
- Feenstra’s abysmal fundraising reflects his unpopularity with his base — he’s stumbling into the general election with only $580,000 to his name after lighting millions on fire to barely crack 35 percent in the primary.
- Feenstra has built his political career on serving powerful elites and selling out working families, and he’s running for governor to bring the D.C. swamp to Iowa.
- Feenstra has bragged about writing the bill that makes the largest cut to Medicaid in history, which threatens health care for 110,000 Iowans, puts at least 23 rural hospitals on the brink of closure, and does nothing to stop health care premiums for 117,890 Iowans from skyrocketing.
- Feenstra also voted to pass Terry Branstad’s disastrous Medicaid privatization scheme in the state legislature, which drove up costs, hurt Iowans with disabilities, and put profits before patients.
- Feenstra consistently voted to protect cost-raising tariffs hurting farmers, supported unaccountable private school vouchers that rip funds away from public schools, and voted to continue the war in Iran that’s jacking up the price of gas and groceries.
- Feenstra’s long record of corruption represents everything Iowans hate about politics.
- Feenstra admitted he hasn’t been able to get meaningful results for Iowans in Washington, saying “I’ve been in Congress now for five and a half years … I don’t want to stay in this swamp bureaucracy where you just keep not getting things done.”
- Feenstra has funded his campaign with Iowa taxpayer’s money, spending thousands in taxpayer dollars on his own campaign ads. Feenstra shamelessly refused to give a straight answer about his shady and unethical behavior when confronted by a taxpayer.
- Feenstra is bankrolled by Smithfield and Syngenta, the same foreign-owned companies buying up Iowa farmland he publicly pretends to oppose.
- Feenstra has tied himself to Kim Reynolds’ deeply unpopular legacy after he was caught claiming to have her endorsement on the campaign trail.
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