Two protesters were removed from President Donald Trump’s event in Iowa today after chanting “release the files” during Trump’s speech.
Trump spoke about the economy, immigration, crime and healthcare in Clive Tuesday at 4:15 p.m., an hour after the event was slated to begin.
Economy
“We inherited the highest inflation in the history of our country,” Trump said. “But today, just after one year of President Trump, our economies are booming, incomes are rising, investment is soaring, inflation has been defeated.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation’s unemployment rate was 4.1% in December 2024, Joe Biden’s final month as president, and 4.4% in December 2025.
“I’m also making it a lot easier to buy a house, the American dream. Last week, I signed an executive order that banned Wall Street and large institutional investment from buying up all the single-family homes,” Trump said.
Executive Order “Stopping Wall Street From Competing with Main Street Homebuyers” can be accessed on the White House webpage.
“Interest rates are now at the lowest level in three years, new mortgage applications dropped 30%,” Trump said.
“After one year of Trump, your wages are up, wages have gone up much faster than inflation,” Trump said.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, real average hourly earnings increased by 1.1% from December 2024 to December 2025.
Chairman and CEO of John Deere, John May, attended the event, and Trump addressed him personally.
“That’s a great company and you just said you are opening two massive plants because of tariffs. We have a lot of very successful companies,” Trump said.
Immigration
“Our border is closed, totally closed, America is respected all over the world like they’ve never been respected,” Trump said. “We have totally and completely closed the southern border… Nobody is able to come into another country except for those who came legally.”
“A recent Harvard Harris poll found that 80% of Americans support our unprecedented operations to deport criminal aliens,” Trump said.
Reuters reported following the murder of Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis that 39% of Americans support Trump’s work on immigration.
Military
“We’re fully rebuilding the U.S. military with more than $1 trillion for spending,” Trump said.
This will mark a 13.4% increase in spending from Fiscal Year 2025, according to the Department of War, formerly known as the Department of Defense. Of the $1 trillion, $160 billion will fund new military personnel.
“Today, we have the single greatest recruitment numbers in the history of America. Now everybody wants to be in the military,” Trump said.
The Department of War implemented changes in 2025 to lower the recruiting timeline from 10 days to one day. The shorter timeline aims to minimize new recruits losing interest in service.
Agriculture
“We recently issued $12 billion in farm relief because you were screwed,” Trump said.
The $12 billion in farm relief will bridge the financial gap for farmers who experienced trade market disruptions and high production costs.
From 2016 to 2024, the U.S. soybean market share dropped by 21%. From January to August of 2025, U.S. soybean exports to China totaled 218 million bushels, as compared to 985 million bushels in 2024.
The U.S. exports 50% of its soybeans, and China imports 60% of soybeans globally.
“China has agreed to purchase over $40 billion of U.S. soybeans,” Trump said. “Foreign countries cannot believe what happened. They’re studying us.”
Crime
“We’re also working tirelessly to bring back a thing called law and order,” Trump said.
“You read a bunch about Minnesota, where we have brought down crime substantially,” Trump said. “We’ve taken hard criminals, hard vicious, horrible criminals.”
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse reported, as of Nov. 30, 2025, that 73.6% of those held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention have committed only “minor violations,” including traffic violations.
Chief Federal Judge Patrick J. Schiltz summoned ICE Director Todd Lyons to appear in Minnesota court for delays in carrying out court orders.
Trump didn’t address the murder of Alex Pretti and Renee Goode in Minnesota, two Americans protesting ICE.
Healthcare
“I got the biggest price reduction in history of drugs, pharmaceutical drugs,” Trump said. “We were subsidizing the entire world. We were paying ten times, in many cases more, than the rest of the world.”
In December, Trump announced nine agreements with pharmaceutical companies. Patients will see price reductions in pharmaceutical drugs if purchasing through TrumpRx.
“I recently introduced my plan to reduce the damage of the Unaffordable Care Act, the worst disaster, which now costs many families more than a mortgage,” Trump said. “ObamaCare was created to make insurance companies rich with government subsidies.”
Twenty-four million Americans receive insurance through the Affordable Care Act. According to BlueCross BlueShield, if the Affordable Care Act expired in January, the premiums on health insurance would have increased 144%. The average American family earning $66,000 per year would pay $2,970 more annually.
Protests
The road near the Horizon Events Center, where Trump spoke, was closed to vehicle traffic to make room for protestors. The Des Moines Register estimates over 2,000 people were present.
Ames resident Madison Wild and Elk Run Heights resident Calvin Horn attended protests outside of the Horizon Events Center.
Wild carried a sign reading, “Nazis = Trash,” and Horn carried a sign reading, “ICE OUT.”
“This is my third protest,” Wild said. “I’m disabled, so I can’t come to a lot. I started coming because they want to take away my Medicaid. I’m really disappointed that it turned out this way and they couldn’t just get along like Obama can get along with Bush.”
“We got here right around 1 p.m., there were probably two to three thousand people out here,” Horn said.
