News/Commentary

Iowa governor calls Trump campaign ad using her own words ‘misleading’: ‘It’s a different day’

December 19, 2023 | | Print Article

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds called out  a “misleading” ad from former President Donald Trump in the Hawkeye State.

“That’s on one hand, and now we look at another hand…”

With less than a month to go until the Jan. 15 Iowa caucus, a thirty-second spot from Trump’s campaign sought to make use of past remarks from Reynolds, seemingly to detract from her endorsement of conservative rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. After the issue cropped up during a campaign stop in Bettendorf, Iowa, she spoke with Fox News Digital to reaffirm her support for DeSantis and clarify, “It’s a different day. It’s a different time.”

“It’s misleading and it’s not fair to Iowans,” expressed Reynolds during an interview with the outlet.

“He came in, he was upset with me because I was gonna stay neutral at the beginning of the campaign for the first-in-the-nation caucus, which I did for seven months,” she continued before pointing to her decision to endorse DeSantis’ run for the White House.

“Then he said that that support, endorsement, didn’t mean anything. It was worthless. He said I was the worst governor in the country,” she went on referencing Trump’s reaction which included him referring to both governors as “extremely disloyal people.”

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“That’s on one hand, and now we look at another hand — he’s using me in a commercial…that dates back to 2016 and, again, misleading Iowans as if I was endorsing him and going back and forth,” stated Reynolds.

The television ad featured the Iowa executive in 2016 and 2020 speaking in favor of the Republican nominee during both cycles with an overlay continuing to tout poll numbers suggesting “TRUMP MAINTAINS COMMANDING LEAD IN IOWA POLL,” citing NBC News.

“In 2016 and 2020 I supported President Trump. I endorsed him. I helped him in the state of Iowa. It’s a different day. It’s a different time,” she explained to Fox News Digital before adding of the former president, “He has a lot of issues and it’s okay for Iowans to say thank you for what you did and move on. We need somebody that can win, we need somebody that can follow through with what they said they were gonna do and we need somebody that on day one can reverse the madness that we’ve seen from the Biden administration. That’s Ron DeSantis.”

Fox News Digital reported that when Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung was asked to respond, he asked back, “is she saying that she lied to voters all these years?”

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Reynolds also addressed the oft-debated poll numbers that in recent election cycles had failed to predict the victor in the Iowa caucus and noted “it can change” before asserting, “The energy, the momentum, is with [DeSantis]. Iowans break late. So we’ve got a lot of time left.”

Kevin Haggerty
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