It’s Cedar Rapids- Six weeks before the Iowa caucuses, former President Donald Trump mostly criticized Vice President Joe Biden instead of going after his Republican opponents. He also told his followers not to believe people who say the primary is “over.”
President Trump said, “Don’t listen to that; don’t listen.” “In the end, nothing happened.” A lot of bad things have happened, and things are over. “You must go to the polls, participate in the caucus, and do your job.”
After addressing a crowd at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids on Saturday afternoon, the former president held a protest on the college’s basketball court and bleachers. The present administration, he said, was using the government and the justice system against him as a political opponent. Trump is facing criminal and civil cases in multiple states right now, and some state courts are considering whether he can be kept off the ticket in 2024.
The candidate told the crowd, “This campaign is a righteous crusade to free our republic from Biden and the criminals in the Biden administration.” President Trump didn’t care about what the national media said about Democrats wanting him to be the GOP choice because they thought Joe Biden would win in 2020.
Trump stated, “If they wanted to run against me, they wouldn’t have indicted me four times.” Real Clear Politics-collected poll data shows that Trump has the most support among Republicans, with 47% in Iowa and 62% across the country. Others want to use the Iowa caucuses to stop Trump from easily winning the ticket. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida held an event in Newton at the same time as Trump’s event in Cedar Rapids. DeSantis completed the so-called “full Grassley” by having events in all 99 Iowa counties.
Despite being far behind Trump in some national and early state polls, DeSantis is trying to pull off an upset at the Iowa caucuses. Governor Kim Reynolds, Family Leader President and CEO Bob Vander Plaats, and state politicians like House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl, who joined him at the event on Saturday, all back him.
Vander Plaats suggested that DeSantis’ success in the caucus will determine how the Republican nomination process works in 2024. Vander Plaats said that if Trump gets Iowa, he will probably easily win the nomination. Nevertheless, he said that if a rival like DeSantis wins, Republicans want a real race.
According to Vander Plaats, “America’s going to see game on” if one of these other candidates emerges as an option to Trump and wins the Iowa caucuses. “And they must decide who they want to be their nominee. Iowa is very important this time around, so they got it.
By winning big in Iowa, Trump’s campaign hopes to avoid a possibly more competitive nominating cycle in 2024. Campaign videos showed how to vote for Trump on January 15, 2024, before the president took the stage. Republican leaders in Iowa and Trump’s caucus captains answered common questions about how the Iowa Republicans’ caucus works.
He has also focused on fighting Reynolds’ endorsement. He has called out Reynolds and DeSantis on social media for “disloyalty” because he backed their bids for governor in 2022.
Fox News reported that on Friday, his campaign started a six-figure TV ad buy in Iowa, including a commercial with old footage of Reynolds praising the Trump government. On Saturday, though, in Iowa, the former president said again that Reynolds’ backing for DeSantis was incorrect.
Trump told her, “She chose to do this.” “But I trust loyalty.” Former teacher Bill Stilich from the Cedar Rapids area said he thinks Trump will easily win the Iowa caucuses, even though DeSantis has backed Trump in Iowa and voters are showing interest in Nikki Haley, the U.N. Ambassador. Stilich stated that he thinks Republicans’ decision to oppose Trump will hurt their political chances more than Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Stickich said he liked Reynolds until she backed the Florida governor in November. Despite her pain, he said, “She’s done much for the state.” “But I’m not as grateful for her.” Former acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird endorsed Trump’s campaign and told Iowans to go to the caucuses.
Mark Lucas, who founded the Iowa chapter of Americans for Prosperity, backed Donald Trump. Once a member of the AFP, Lucas expressed disappointment that the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity PAC chose to back Haley. According to Lucas, he supported the Iowa caucuses a lot, but he thought the 2024 primary was “done.”
For example, he pointed to Biden’s legal fights and efforts to remove Trump from state ballots as proof that Biden was “weaponizing” the government to hurt Trump’s election. “Staying out of this election is not an option for me,” Lucas said.
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