--- title: Donald Trump Hits Ted Cruz on Ethanol in Final Iowa Pitch description: Donald Trump switched up his attack on rival Ted Cruz to an issue that hits home most with Iowans: ethanol. canonical: https://time.com/4202683/donald-trump-ted-cruz-iowa-ethanol/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-01T17:56:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:38:50.220Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Hits Cruz on Ethanol in Final Pitch to Iowans og:description: "He will destroy your ethanol business 100%." og:url: https://time.com/4202683/donald-trump-ted-cruz-iowa-ethanol/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20d7770f78026dd0/69887b9ecd1bbae9ec6ff36a/reublican-presidental-candidate-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Campaigns In Western Iowa Day Before State's Caucus og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Hits Cruz on Ethanol in Final Pitch to Iowans twitter:description: "He will destroy your ethanol business 100%." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20d7770f78026dd0/69887b9ecd1bbae9ec6ff36a/reublican-presidental-candidate-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Hits Cruz on Ethanol in Final Pitch to Iowans > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=4cba8c80-f9c8-461c-89a2-b07aad787991&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 1, 2016 5:56 PM UTC  Donald Trump attends a campaign rally at the Sioux City Orpheum Theatre in Sioux City, Iowa on Jan. 31, 2016. Donald Trump attends a campaign rally at the Sioux City Orpheum Theatre in Sioux City, Iowa on Jan. 31, 2016. Joe Raedle—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 1, 2016 5:56 PM UTC In one of his last appearances before votes are cast, Donald Trump switched up his attack on rival Ted Cruz to an issue that hits home with many Iowans: ethanol. “He will destroy your ethanol business 100%,” Trump said. “And look, I’m not really blaming him because he’s financed by oil people. The oil people don’t want ethanol, it’s very simple… Your ethanol business if Ted Cruz gets in will be wiped out within six months to a year. It’s gonna be gone.” Texas Sen. Cruz is against the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which requires more biofuels to go into the country’s gasoline each year. Cruz’s unique stance among the Republicans on this issue resonates much more with Iowans than in the rest of the country: almost half of Iowa’s corn supply goes into ethanol, [according to the Iowa Corn Grower’s Association](http://www.iowacorn.org/en/ethanol/), which is one of the biofuels under the RFS. **Read More:** [_How Ted Cruz Tried to Reframe the Ethanol Debate_](http://time.com/4199339/republican-debate-ted-cruz-ethanol/) Trump’s pivot to hitting Cruz on ethanol on caucus day, as opposed to his usual attacks on Cruz’s Canadian roots or undisclosed Goldman Sachs loans, is a last minute pitch to target the only citizens who have power Monday night. Tailoring his attack to something that matters specifically to Iowans may be a smart play. Tubby Mitchell, 68, lives in Sioux City. He attended Trump’s Sunday event in his hometown, and told TIME why he decided to support Trump over Cruz. “I like Ted,” Mitchell said. “Ted is a good man. I think he’s a good Christian man. He disappointed me a little bit about the ethanol subsidies. After all, he’s from Texas, and he’s trying to protect the oil companies, and I think we’ve protected them long enough.” In the final [Des Moines _Register_/Bloomberg Politics poll](http://time.com/4201333/iowa-poll-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/) before the caucus, Trump is leading the Republicans with 28%, and Cruz comes in second with 23%. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4202683/donald-trump-ted-cruz-iowa-ethanol/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4202683/donald-trump-ted-cruz-iowa-ethanol/"},"headline":"Trump Hits Cruz on Ethanol in Final Pitch to Iowans","datePublished":"2016-02-01T17:56:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:38:50.220Z","description":"Donald Trump switched up his attack on rival Ted Cruz to an issue that hits home most with Iowans: ethanol.","url":"https://time.com/4202683/donald-trump-ted-cruz-iowa-ethanol/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Iowa","ted cruz"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20d7770f78026dd0/69887b9ecd1bbae9ec6ff36a/reublican-presidental-candidate-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20d7770f78026dd0/69887b9ecd1bbae9ec6ff36a/reublican-presidental-candidate-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Campaigns In Western Iowa Day Before State's Caucus","caption":"Donald Trump attends a campaign rally at the Sioux City Orpheum Theatre in Sioux City, Iowa on Jan. 31, 2016.","creditText":"Joe Raedle—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4202683/donald-trump-ted-cruz-iowa-ethanol/","name":"Trump Hits Cruz on Ethanol in Final Pitch to Iowans"}}]}] ```