Are Reps. Hinson and Miller-Meeks still in lockstep with Trump?

Reps. Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks have frequently expressed their complete support of President Donald Trump and the policies of the Trump administration. That administration is nearing the end of its first year. It’s time to check in with the two Eastern Iowa U.S. representatives, both seeking to be on the ballot in the 2026 midterm election. Reps. Hinson and Miller Meeks:

Should we assume that you support the complete dismantling of USAID? USAID was established in 1961 and has enjoyed broad bipartisan support until Trump and Elon Musk took their chain saw and obliterated it. USAID, costing less than 1% of the U.S. budget, had as its twofold aim: humanitarian assistance and assistance to developing countries as they sought economic growth and self-reliance. Researchers at UCLA estimate that USAID helped save 91 million lives over the past twenty years through nutritional and health care programs. The UCLA research projects more than 14 million deaths by 2030, including 4 million children under five, if USAID is not restored. Unimaginable cruelty from the wealthiest country in the world.

Should we assume that you support the all-out assault on climate programs that has characterized the first year of the Trump administration? The Trump assault is broad-reaching and science-denying and includes new restrictions on tax credits for renewable energy projects including wind and solar, policies which undermine environmental reviews giving polluters more time to pollute without oversight, and even Department of Energy admonishments to avoid using terms such as climate change, green, emissions, and clean energy. To further illustrate the Trump administration’s subjugation to the fossil fuel industry, when 196 countries gathered in early November, 2025, for United Nations climate talks, the United States was one of four countries deliberately absent along with strife-torn Afghanistan and Myanmar and tiny San Marino. How embarrassing for the world’s wealthiest nation and second-biggest carbon polluter. Who is thinking about our children and grandchildren?

Should we assume that you support President Trump’s callous disregard of the American system of justice when he pardoned 1,500 felons convicted in U.S. courts by juries of their peers of storming the U.S. Capital on Jan. 6, 2021, in support of Trump’s effort to overturn the election that he lost the previous fall? And the commutation of the prison sentence of George Santos, convicted of wire fraud and identity theft, because he would always vote Republican. You had a front-row seat for the Santos antics.

Should we assume that you support the new guidelines for the capture and deportation of undocumented immigrants including ICE agents wearing masks and refusing to identify themselves and the reversal of long-standing guidelines that prohibited ICE agents from operations at “sensitive locations” like schools, hospitals, and places of worship? And the demeaning and sometimes violent treatment of those whom ICE suspected were undocumented? Even the zip tying of children?

Should we assume that you support President Trump’s targeting of perceived political opponents and the administration’s firing of countless federal employees who do not display loyalty to the Trump administration? And that you support the lack of civility in political discourse exhibited by Trump, the apparent unwillingness to acknowledge that the members of the Democrat Party are also patriots who love their country, and the unwillingness of the administration to work with Democrats to come to agreements that serve the American people?

Can we also assume that you support the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education? Sharply reduce Head Start funding? Slash financial support for cancer research?

Iowans will want to know your positions on all of these Trump initiatives. With President Trump’s approval rating low and falling, it may not be enough to say, “I support President Trump’s vision for America.” Many Iowans do not.

Ralph Plagman is a retired educator, having worked as a teacher and administrator in Cedar Rapids Schools for nearly 50 years.