It’s week one of the Trump presidency. If the fat reem of executive orders didn’t bother you, than the 11 trillion dollars dressed as people on the inauguration stage should. These are the people with the president’s ear and the rest of us can’t even get inside to watch the inauguration.
On this episode of Cornhole Champions—after making a big to-do about being a local podcast—we’re thinking about the inauguration, the election and the billionaires that defined it. Hosts Zachary Oren Smith and Amie Rivers dig through executive orders and why mutual aid can do a lot in times like these.
Hear from state Rep. J.D. Scholten and Sen. Zach Wahls about why corporate interests and its political power should worry you. And why Austin Frerick says corporate consolidation in the agriculture and food sector is making our lives worse and less tasty.
Links
1. Trump versus the US Constitution (Iowa Starting Line): https://iowastartingline.com/2025/01/20/trump-executive-orders-day-one/
2. We care for us: Iowa places to support as another Trump presidency looms (Iowa Starting Line): https://iowastartingline.com/2024/11/06/we-care-for-us/
3. ‘Best seats’ for billionaires at Trump’s inauguration (Iowa Starting Line): https://iowastartingline.com/2025/01/20/trump-inauguration/
4. J.D.’s latest on the new Gilded Age and the billionaires that run it all: (You’re Probably Getting Screwed): https://screwed.substack.com/p/youre-probably-getting-screwed-by-011?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=894466&post_id=155347468&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1etoi4&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
5. Trump’s Gender Order Won’t Affect Existing Passports — Unless They’re Renewed (NOTUS): https://www.notus.org/whitehouse/trump-gender-sex-order-passports
Guests:
– Rep. J.D. Scholten of Sioux City is a Democrat representing State House District 1.
– Sen. Zach Wahls is a Democrat representing State Senate District 37.
– Austin Frericks the author of Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food.
Cornhole Champions is a weekly podcast powered by Iowa Starting Line with music by Avery Mossman. We are a proud member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative.
Support Our Cause
Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Before you go, we hope you'll consider supporting our values-driven journalism, which has always strived to make clear what's really at stake for Iowans and our future.
Since day one, our goal here at Iowa Starting Line has always been to empower people across the state with fact-based news and information. We believe that when people are armed with knowledge about what's happening in their local, state, and federal governments—including who is working on their behalf and who is actively trying to block efforts aimed at improving the daily lives of Iowan families—they will be inspired to become civically engaged.
WATCH: Students at all public Waterloo schools plan walkout to protest ICE
Students at all public Waterloo high schools—East, West, Expo, and the Career Center—planned to jointly walk out of class Friday, Feb. 6 at 12:30...
WATCH: Iowa mobile home residents report bad water, unsafe soil
Residents told Iowa Starting Line about long-term issues with unclean water and soil erosion that has become so serious it's beginning to impact...
WATCH: Privaty equity is raising the rent at mobile home parks
Havenpark Communities owns mobile home parks across Iowa and the country. Residents' rents are climbing. Services are getting cut.
WATCH: Plant closure will be ‘devastating’ for Iowa community
Case New Holland says it will close its Burlington plant by the middle of next year. Workers say it's not because of money—which the company has...
WATCH: Iowa’s economic crash out (PT 1) – Cornhole Champions #46
It's easy to miss what's happening in Iowa when you're scrolling past headlines. GDP down 6.1% in Q1. Soybean markets shipped to Argentina. A $20...
WATCH: Celebrating one year of Cornhole Champions (PT 3) – Cornhole Champions #46
This is one of the last episodes of Cornhole Champions for 2025. We're taking November and December off, coming back in January with fresh ideas....
