Donald Trump has apparently not endeared himself enough to the governor of Iowa.
Kim Reynolds, who is the Republican governor of Iowa, has thus far remained neutral as others in the GOP have already begun to pick sides in the upcoming presidential primaries.
In return, Trump posted angrily about Reynolds in a Truth Social post recently, saying that he won’t be inviting the Iowa governor to any of his events. Iowa’s caucuses, of course, are the first stop on the GOP primary tour starting early next year.
On Truth Social, Trump wrote:
“I love Iowa, protected & expanded Ethanol, got 28 Billion Dollars from China for our great Farmers, ended the Estate (Death!) Tax on farms, made the best TRADE deals in history (USMCA, China, & many more), introduced the World to our FARMERS, & kept Iowa’s ‘First in the Nation’ status.
“I opened up the Governor position for Kim Reynolds, & when she fell behind, I ENDORSED her, did big Rallies, & she won. Now, she wants to remain ‘NEUTRAL.’ I don’t invite her to events. DeSanctus down 45 points!”
In the post, Trump basically claimed responsibility for Reynolds becoming governor. He may actually have a point, too.
While president, Trump named then-Iowa Governor Terry Branstad as the country’s ambassador to China. Since Reynolds was the state’s lieutenant governor at the time that happened, she succeeded Branstad and took over as governor.
She eventually won election for governor in 2018, then won re-election to the post in 2022 by almost 20 points over her challenger.
Reynolds may not be seeing the situation exactly the same way as Trump is – or, at least, she’s trying to play the political game by not choosing sides this early.
As the home of the first-in-the-nation caucuses, there’s a lot of attention on Iowa. Reynolds, and many governors before her, seems to be trying to stay out of picking sides, so as to – at least on the surface – appear as though Iowa is home to fair elections that are decided by the voters.
While Reynolds hasn’t endorsed any GOP candidate for president, she has said that she would attend all candidate events if she were invited to them. That’s been par for the course for many of the candidates, especially because of how popular Reynolds is in the state.
Back in March, Reynolds made some appearances with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – before he even officially declared that he was going to be a presidential candidate. On one of his stops, Reynolds said of DeSantis:
“He is just getting warmed up. This guy is a man on a mission.”
While some may think those aren’t very neutral words, Reynolds tends to speak positively about all GOP candidates who have come to her state.
Of former ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, Reynolds said:
“She has a servant’s heart, I can tell you without hesitation.”
And of Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina:
“I’m really proud to have Senator Scott here with me.”
But, thus far, no rousing words of endorsement from Reynolds about Trump.
