President Donald Trump now says he wasn’t “given the proper information” before he endorsed U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra for governor, days before Iowa’s primary election.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on June 11, Trump bragged about his “amazing track record” in GOP primaries, claiming, “Every time I endorse, they win.”
A journalist followed up to ask whether the president regretted backing Feenstra in Iowa.
“The man running against him was all Trump,” he replied, adding that this was “the only one out of hundreds of races” where his preferred candidate lost. He went on:
There’s a gentleman in Georgia [sic] that I endorsed, who was much less Trump than the other man that won, as you know.
And had I been given the proper information, which I don’t think I was, I probably would have endorsed the other person, but—or not endorsed at all. But I would have endorsed the other person.
The other person was much more Trump, as you know, than Randy.
I’ve cued up the official White House video to that exchange.
It’s quite a reversal from what Trump posted to Truth Social on May 29, and again the night before the primary: “Randy is MAGA all the way!” and “WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”
The president’s new line echoes what Zach Lahn, the surprise winner of the June 2 primary, was saying in the run-up to the election.
Lahn told an audience in Ankeny on May 31, “I believe the president got bad advice. And I don’t know which one of the groups that was lined up against our campaign and got into his ear, but I believe he had bad advice. Because if he saw what was going around on the ground right here, he would be standing up here right now saying we need to elect Zach Lahn as the next governor of Iowa.”
Confidential tips are welcome on who talked Trump into a last-ditch effort to salvage Feenstra’s remarkably weak campaign. As Lahn suggested, his rhetoric drew opposition from some powerful interest groups. At his campaign events, he routinely called for breaking up Big Ag monopolies and blocking eminent domain for CO2 pipelines. He also accused corporations of lying about their harmful products and speculated that glyphosate and other farm chemicals may be linked to Iowa’s rising cancer rate.
Another possible voice in the president’s ear: former Governor and U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad. Not only is he a longtime Trump ally, he had endorsed Feenstra for governor and was a senior policy advisor to Summit Carbon Solutions, which wants to build that CO2 pipeline across Iowa.
Other members of Iowa’s Congressional delegation, several of whom backed Feenstra for governor last year, might also have pushed the White House to weigh in.
Theories on who didn’t give Trump “the proper information” are welcome in this thread.
Top photo: President Donald J. Trump signs the Secure America Act in the Oval Office on June 10, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)