Iowa Politics

Speaking at a Jan. 27 event in Clive, Iowa, Trump kicked off a series of planned midterm stops touting a "booming" economy — saying inflation has been defeated, growth is "exploding" and real wages are up — as the White House frames the tour as an affordability push. That message was undercut by independent data and local indicators (Moody’s/Mark Zandi flagging Iowa at recession risk; Philadelphia Fed ranking Iowa last for growth; November unemployment rising to 3.5%), KFF projections that about 80,000 Iowans could lose coverage and premiums could roughly double for another 117,000, protesters interrupting the event, and the political fallout from the Minneapolis federal‑agent killings and scrutiny of DHS leadership, while Democrats pushed back and Trump repeated an unsubstantiated $18 trillion investment claim.