Fool Us Once, Mr. President, Shame On You

Iowans have heard a lot of promises from Donald Trump. Lower prices. Lower gas prices. Lower debt. No new wars. Protect Medicare. Put America first. The question isn’t whether every promise produced exactly the result voters expected. It’s how many times the gap between the promise and the result can grow before we start keeping count.

So, we did.

You Fooled Us Once with China tariffs.

During Trump’s first term, retaliatory tariffs cost Iowa agriculture an estimated $1.46 billion in annualized losses in 2018–19, including more than $1 billion in soybean losses alone.

Fool Iowa Twice, and Again, Shame on Us

Twice. Tariffs, Again.

Trump brought tariffs back. Yale’s Budget Lab estimated the 2025 tariffs would cost the average American household the equivalent of about $2,800 through higher prices.

Three Times. Lower Prices on Day One.

Trump promised to bring prices down. Instead, overall consumer prices have risen about 4.3% since he returned to office.

Four Times. American Agriculture.

Eliminating USAID disrupted a roughly $2 billion-a-year market for U.S. agricultural commodities, stranding already-purchased food and eliminating a longstanding outlet for American grain.

Five Times. End the Ukraine War on Day One.

Trump said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war immediately. Twenty months after he returned to office, the war continues.

Six Times. Eliminate the Debt.

In 2016, Trump said he could eliminate the $19 trillion national debt within eight years. During his first term, the debt grew from about $19.95 trillion to $27.75 trillion. In August 2026, it passed $40 trillion.

Seven Times. DOGE Will Cut Government Spending.

DOGE began with a promise of as much as $2 trillion in savings. The target fell to $1 trillion, then $150 billion. Federal spending continued to rise, while government auditors found that most of DOGE’s claimed savings were incorrect or couldn’t be adequately verified.

Eight Times. DOGE Will Make Government More Efficient.

DOGE cut deeply into the federal workforce and agencies responsible for agriculture, health, safety and other public services.

Then the New World screwworm returned to the United States. It had advanced from Southern Mexico unmonitored, because DOGE canceled the screwworm surveillance program there. By June, USDA had confirmed infections in Texas, and CDC activated its Emergency Operations Center. And that is just one example of how DOGE cuts have harmed Americans.

Nine Times. Lower Gas Prices.

Before the Iran war, regular gasoline averaged about $2.98 a gallon. By September 17 it was $4.44, up 49%. Diesel reached $6.40 a gallon, up more than 70%.

Ten Times. No New Wars.

Trump campaigned on keeping America out of new wars. He later refused to rule out military force to acquire Greenland or the Panama Canal. Now the United States is approaching its seventh month of a costly war with Iran.

Eleven Times. Make Childcare Affordable and Protect Medicare.

Trump campaigned on making childcare more affordable and repeatedly promised to protect Medicare. Then, on April 1, he said “We’re fighting wars. It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these things.” He said the federal government needed to concentrate on “military protection.”

Twelve Times. America First.

Trump promised to put America first. Yet he has repeatedly emphasized his relationships with authoritarian leaders including Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un.

This month, Trump personally met Communist China leader Xi at his plane, a rare presidential gesture, before giving him a formal state welcome, military review and state dinner.

Days earlier, Trump had downplayed reports that Iran obtained high-resolution satellite imagery from Chinese entities before a July attack in Jordan that killed three American troops.

U.S. officials linked the imagery to the attack; they have not publicly established that Beijing directed its transfer. Trump responded by emphasizing his good relationship with Xi. That’s America First?

Thirteen Times. The $15 Billion Iowa Steel Mill.

Now Trump is promising Iowa a $15 billion steel complex, thousands of construction jobs and 1,750 permanent jobs. It could become a major economic-development success. But after twelve promises whose results often fell short of what Iowans were told to expect, the appropriate response isn’t automatic rejection or automatic celebration. It is careful scrutiny.

Before Iowa commits substantial public incentives, taxpayers deserve to know who is financing the project, what risks accompany it, what guarantees protect the state and what happens if the promised investment and jobs don’t materialize. By number thirteen, Iowa should know enough to read the fine print before cutting the ribbon.