Last week and Iowa Governor Terry Branstad looked on, Donald Trump declared himself a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ethanol Lobby. By all descriptions, Trump carefully mouthed the words he had presented to him on a note card declaring ethanol to be the greatest thing since bankruptcy protection and eminent domain abuse.

The case against the Ethanol Lobby’s reflexive defense of the renewable fuel standard (RFS) is easy to make. First, it prevents the ethanol industry from actually existing outside government subsidies. This is something even ethanol manufacturers realize. Freed from the RFS, ethanol producers can go into markets that are currently forbidden to them. More insidiously, other than the actual subsidies and captive market the government provides, every consumer in the nation that consumes beef or pork pays a premium at the supermarket because the RFS’s impact of livestock feed and, therefore, upon meat prices.

Cruz has broken new ground by being the first major candidate to actually campaign against the RFS in Iowa. Because of Cruz’s opposition to RFS, Branstad has declared Cruz must be defeated.

Now a new ad from Cruz super PAC, Courageous Conservative PAC, has tied Branstad to Trump to crony capitalism. It is a harsh attack but one that is exactly what is needed to educate voters on Trump’s life-long addiction to crony capitalism and Branstad’s self-interested defense of RFS. It also strikes against Trump’s faux “outsider” persona by directly hitting him on his connection with the Ethanol Lobby and the Branstad family’s entwinement with that lobby.

TRANSCRIPT:

Ted Cruz opposes all energy subsidies, including oil subsidies, just like any conservative should. Cruz had the guts to say it in Iowa.

That terrified Gov. Branstad and the ethanol lobby. They got Trump to promote bigger ethanol subsidies and then announced that Cruz must be stopped at all costs.

But America wants a leader who walks tall and stands up against the lobbyist thugs and the politicians they own. Branstad values. Trump Values. Cruz can’t be bought and they hate him for it. Because Ted Cruz always has our back. Always. Every time.

For some this is election is about keeping power and getting more. For the rest of us, it’s about taking our country back. Now, before it’s too late. Ted Cruz for president.

Caucus night is Monday.

Don’t let them win.

This ad parallels a Ted Cruz ad we posted on over the weekend that focused on Trump’s love of eminent domain. Here, I think, we are beginning to see the outlines of the line of attack Cruz will use against Trump for the duration of the campaign season.