Letters to the Editor: Is the Trump family war profiteering?

What would we have said if Barack Obama’s family had stood to make millions from a conflict shaped by his own decisions? Would we have shrugged? We didn’t used to.

A company backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — Unusual Machines, a drone-defense firm — is marketing counter-drone systems to Gulf countries under threat from Iran. These same countries depend on U.S. military protection directed by their father. Donald Trump Jr. was granted a multi-million-dollar equity stake upon joining in an advisory role, while Eric Trump is also reported to be an investor, though the full extent of their ownership has not been publicly disclosed. It is a structure that places the president’s immediate family inside a business positioned to benefit from a conflict his administration helped initiate and is now managing.

At the same time, Trump-family-linked investments extend into prediction markets, including Polymarket — an online platform where users place real-money bets on whether events such as elections, economic shifts, or military actions will occur. As tensions with Iran have escalated, trading tied to war scenarios has surged, increasing the value and activity of platforms linked to Trump family interests.

Add to this a broader pattern — Jared Kushner’s foreign-backed investment fund and Ivanka Trump’s prior international business dealings, alongside Trump-family-linked involvement in drone and defense ventures such as Powerus and XTEND — and the picture becomes harder to dismiss. Influence, access, and global instability are no longer clearly separated from private gain.

And tone matters. When a president publicly elevates his own status in ways that blur the line between political leadership and something closer to religious exaltation, it inevitably shapes the environment around him. It can foster a sense — within a family and an orbit — that normal boundaries no longer apply.

No court has found wrongdoing, and there is no public evidence of insider trading. But credible reporting shows a president’s immediate family operating in arenas that can benefit from a conflict his administration is conducting.

The question is no longer whether this is illegal.

The question is why America is willing to shrug.

James Anderson, Pocahontas

Who are the people in our neighborhood, part 8

In this eighth article, I change the format slightly. My hope remains the same: to help us know the people in our community. I remain thankful to know many amazing people in the Storm Lake area who are working hard to build better lives. They are truly remarkable, and I continue to believe that their stories deserve to be shared. So, here is the eighth:

We often think we know our neighbors, but how well do we really understand the journeys that brought them here? Some stories are full of joy. Others are marked by loss and challenge. All of them can help us see each other with more understanding. It’s easy to believe the struggles we see on TV, or hear about in the news, only happen far away. But many of those same struggles affect people right here in our community.

The details in this story are changed to protect privacy, but the person is real. They might be standing next to you at the store or waiting in line for coffee. My purpose in sharing these stories is to help us connect with, and feel connected to, the people around us. After all, I believe that when we know each other’s stories, it is harder to hate or harm one another.

Before I share this story, I feel compelled to share a bit about myself. I am a Christian, and my understanding of what that means has evolved overtime. I haven’t always been clear about my Christian beliefs. I was baptized Lutheran, was a member of a Moravian church, an Evangelical Covenant Church, a Baptist church, and have found my home here at Lakeside Presbyterian church. I recall silly things about each of these churches that kids remember, but as I’ve gotten older and through my life experiences, one thing has become quite clear to me. The core of Christianity is love. Jesus shares a “new commandment” in John 12: 34-45: to love one another. He shares that love is the primary way that his followers will be known. So, to me, Jesus defines love as an action; it is not just something we feel — it is something we do. And loving others unconditionally is one of the hardest things we are called to practice.

I share this with you because this story has tested this belief in ways I didn’t expect. Please know that what I’m sharing is based on many hours of conversation, as well as the reading of case files. In short, I’ve done my homework to the best of my abilities to make sure I’m understanding all that has happened.

The story

Decades ago, a family fled their home country during a civil war that had stretched on for generations. Becoming a refugee is not a simple process. It requires interviews, screenings, waiting, and trust—trust in systems that are unfamiliar, and in promises that are not always kept. The first country the family fled to, a neighboring country, is full of stories about people like them being promised a safe passage to the United States. Many of those stories end with people taken out on fishing boats, being worked until they collapsed, and then being thrown overboard into international waters. Nothing done. No one held accountable. So, when this family found a legitimate path through a refugee agency, it felt almost like a miracle.

This family entered the United States through New York and eventually made their way to Storm Lake. Here, they found work, housing, food, and access to English classes. Compared to what they had known, these were opportunities — luxuries, even.

But what they did not receive was any support for the trauma they carried — no mental health counseling, nothing.

One member of the family, a young man, struggled to adjust. He did not speak English well. At work, he felt disrespected and misunderstood. The anger that built inside him was not new — but the only way he had ever seen anger expressed, back home, was through violence. So, when that anger surfaced, it came out in ways that frightened others.

There was an incident at work. No physical violence, but enough fear that others spoke up. He later explained himself, the immediate situation calmed—but the label remained. He became “the problem.” The one who made others uneasy. The one who reflected poorly on his community.

He knew it. He felt shame.

At home, his family began to feel afraid too. Not because they didn’t love him, but because they didn’t understand how to help him—neither did he. There were no systems he knew how to access, no models for handling anger differently. What he did know was how to quiet the noise in his mind — by drinking.

Twice, he was picked up for being drunk in public.

For many, that might seem like a simple offense. But for him, it became something more — another mark against him, another way he was seen not as someone struggling, but as someone who did wrong. He’s now known as the refugee making his community look bad. He is ashamed and still angry. He vows to stay out of trouble by keeping to himself.

Then one day, his sister asked him to go to the store to buy taro root.

He never comes back.

She waits, thinking maybe he had stopped somewhere. By the next morning, she knows something is wrong.

Then the phone call came.

Immigration authorities had detained him. He is being held in a facility in Nebraska because the closer centers are full.

He called her once. He said he was okay, but there wasn’t much space. There wasn’t much food. He begs his sister to send money so he can eat. He asks for his Bible.

The present

About three weeks ago, his sister reached out for help.

She was trying to navigate a legal system she did not understand, in a language she did not fully speak. She was afraid — not just for her brother, but that seeking help publicly could put her family at risk.

She calls you because she believes you understand the legal system better. She also says that your voice sounds like someone who can help.

So, you start making calls using the list of immigration lawyers you found at Coffee Tree. You learn that there no requirement for someone in immigration court to be provided an attorney. The first several lawyers you contact are not taking new clients. Others have waitlists longer than the time he has — his hearing is in two weeks.

Eventually, a lawyer is found who can take the case. The cost is $150 for a consultation and $3,000 for a retainer. The family gathers all the money they can. They come up with $1,500 — half of what is needed.

You call the lawyer, hoping something can be worked out. It can’t. You reach out to others in the community to help you find resources. None can be found. The family remains too afraid for their situation to be made public.

The sister keeps calling. She tells you about the scary dreams she is having; about how her family believed they would be safe here. About how her brother would die if he were deported to their home country. It is too much for her to process him being sent to a different country — one he had never lived in, where he did not speak the language.

And still, time moves forward.

Without legal representation, the likelihood of deportation is high.

So, what did I do? I talked to God. I shared all my feelings about the situation. Since it is Easter season, everywhere I turn there are reminders of who Jesus was and what he taught — things we accumulate here do not follow us. That we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves — not in theory, but in action.

And I found myself asking:

What action would God expect from me? And the answer became clear, even though it challenged me deeply to trust in something greater than myself.

What would you do?

I know what I did.

The brother and sister are members of our community.

They are our neighbors.

And they are scared.

Sarah E. Schoper, Storm Lake

How will farmers vote?

A big deciding question for rural Iowans:  Will Iowa farmers and their allies vote their pocketbooks or their oft-color red “tribe” in this year’s U.S. congressional elections?

Let’s hope Iowa and federal trifecta GOP lawmakers get the reckoning they deserve this time, after ten or more years of their “War on Rural Places.” 

Is it really necessary to itemize all the elements of this “war?”

Damaged export markets, skyrocketing input costs, below-cost-of-production commodity markets, Big Ag monopoly processing control, unsustainable monocrop/CAFO production trends that spoil public domain waters and rural life quality, lingering USDA programs that encourage farm consolidation, i.e. uncapped subsidized crop insurance with weak land and water stewardship compliance, EQUIP conservation programs that incentivize industrial-scale production.

Jay Howe, Greenfield

Warning! Possible takeover of the 2026 Midterm elections?

Will the 2026 Midterm elections be conducted in a “free and fair” manner? Could they be compromised in some fashion? Yes, but how?

Step One: Mr. Trump will declare, without verifiable evidence, that voter fraud will take place during said elections in Blue states. He signs an Executive Order limiting mail-in voting.

Step Two. Legislators in some Red states will promulgate creative laws to allow the “redrawing” of congressional voting district maps, to “gain” additional U.S. House of Representatives seats.

Step Three: Given unverified voter fraud allegations, the Department of Justice will instruct the FBI to initiate criminal/civil court proceedings against Blue states suspected of perpetrating such fraud.

Step Four: Again, based upon voter fraud allegations, the Department of Homeland Security will deploy ICE agents to large cities in Blue states to monitor, patrol, question, and detain registered voters “deemed suspicious.”

Step Five: Republican members of Congress will be instructed to promulgate new laws and statues designed to prevent full participation by all citizens eligible to vote, by introducing voter ID requirements, eliminating mail-in ballots, etc.

Step Six: Both the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the CIA will declare evidence of foreign government interference with voting machines in Blue states and will impound said machines until a thorough investigation has been conducted. The election results will, therefore, be postponed until further notice.

Mr. Trump has installed loyal sycophants in all of the agencies cited above, who are more than willing to subvert “free and fair” elections taking place especially in Blue states. WARNING, free and fair Midterm elections may not take place in 2026.

John M. Mishler, Harpswell, Maine

Ease of lying

President Trump has used the lie often in his career.

Lying is so easy. You don’t have to work at anything. You don’t have to read or study. All you have to do is act with great fanfare and lie like hell.

Lying allows you to shape reality however you want to shape it, just like God, and a whole lot of people will believe you.

Lying is a great way to reduce the complexity of life down to almost nothing, so the liar can get people to unite around a simplified version of reality.

Here’s Trump’s easy to grasp version of life: “Immigrants and people of color are bad. Science and universities are bad. Humanitarian government policies are bad. Muslims are bad. Trump is good. Trump is never, ever wrong.”   

Bingo, MAGA America has something they can unite around without ever opening their eyes to see the real world.

Kimball Shinkoskey, Woods Cross, Utah