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Happy Wednesday, and Welcome to Cornhole Champions. I’m Zachary Oren Smith, coming to you TWO days in a row. You deserve nothing less, fair reader.
Today, I’m airing a finale for this season.* We’ll be back in 2026, after I get done with some parental leave. On to the show…
XX GDP was down in the first quarter of the year 6.1% thanks to Trump’s tariff policies—and if you haven’t heard about it, that’s by design.
On this episode of Cornhole Champions, I dig into a story from the New York Times that breaks down something you already know: Iowa is in rough shape and we need to turn it around. I’m joined by Liz Fleming and Chase Seibert to dig into how Trump’s $20 billion bailout to Argentina is shipping Iowa soybean markets to South America while local farmers watch their livelihoods disappear.
Toss some bags about Iowa’s economic woes… health insurance costs going up… and some reflection on a year of Cornhole Champions.
Cornhole Champions is a weekly politics and policy podcast powered by Iowa Starting Line, hosted by Zachary Oren Smith and produced by Rebecca Steinberg, with music by Avery Mossman and art by Desirée Tapia.
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Cornhole Champions is a weekly podcast powered by Iowa Starting Line. It’s produced by me and edited by Rebecca Steinberg. Our music is by Avery Mossman and show art by Desirée Tapia. We are a proud member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative.
Your friendly neighborhood reporter,
Zachary Oren Smith
Political correspondent
Iowa Starting Line
