What Can Trump say to the Rural Midwest

Trump is already sending some cabinet members to the Middle West to improve his polling. The local paper which covers most of the state of Iowa posted an article asking what I've wondered, why should rural Iowans, or rural Midwesterners, vote for Trump? There is a pattern of imposing tangible losses and offering in exchange abstract and unmeasurable benefits.

The reporter asked several Republican operatives what the message is from Trump and his Republican messengers. What all the local Republicans said was the message is not clear. The tariffs on Chinese goods caused U.S. farmers to lose much of the Chinese market. The "unfair" Chinese trade terms prior to Trump has\d no harmful effect on rural America. Trump's efforts to "correct" the terms of trade has done tangible harm.

Precisely the same pattern has been seen with Iran. That Iran owns some uranium has the abstract threat of a nuclear weapon. This weapon is of little to no threat in the U.S. Middle West. The problem is abstract. The higher petroleum prices are not abstract. 

Trump and his stand-ins have not explained or sold this exchange. Republicans here are waiting to hear how they are supposed to sell it. 

To me it is a lot like the Vietnam War. There was an abstract narrative that said, "The Communists are bent on taking over the world one country at a time. We need to stop them somewhere. That place is Vietnam."  Democrat and Republican politicians alike bought this narrative even though it was seen by many, especially young people who were the ones getting killed there, as a vague and theoretical problem that had little to no effect on the U.S., Europe or most anyone else. Loss of life, inflation and interest rates at 20% to accomplish what?

I recall that the realization that Vietnam was folly took some years to spread across the U.S. Nixon railed against student protestors. Yet, when in office, he allowed the panic withdrawal of U.S. forces. I see this coming with Trump's tariffs and Iran War.