Former President Donald Trump continued his jabs at Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, urging his supporters to turn out in force on Jan. 15 to caucus for him and not take his huge lead in the polls for granted.
“On Monday, Jan. 15, we are going to win the Iowa caucuses, and then we are going to crush Crooked Joe Biden next November,” Trump stated during a “commit to caucus” campaign event at the Hyatt Regency Coralville Hotel & Conference Center.
According to the most recent state polling, Trump has a 32-point lead over his nearest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
According to the latest Iowa Poll issued Monday by the Des Moines Register, NBC News, and Mediacom, Trump has 51 percent support among prospective Iowa Republican caucusgoers, followed by DeSanits at 19 percent and Nikki Haley, who served as Trump’s UN ambassador, at 16 percent.
“We are significantly ahead, but you must vote.” “The margin of victory is critical,” Trump told a few hundred people assembled in a hotel ballroom. “The more we win, the more of a voice we have.” We need to put up large numbers.”
In less than a month, Iowa will host the first Republican presidential nominating contest.
Trump Strategy ‘Largest Domestic Deportation Operation’ Ever
Trump attacked Democratic President Joe Biden for how he ran the economy and the border. He said that Biden’s policies on immigration, climate change, and incentives for electric vehicles were to blame for high energy prices, inflation, and a rise in people crossing the border illegally.
He said that he would sign laws that would lower taxes and make refugee seekers wait in Mexico while their cases are being heard. He also promised to increase energy production in the United States.
Trump said, “During this holiday season, families all across America are struggling under the harsh weight of Bidenomics.” “…the Biden administration is riding high on the success of the Trump administration.” With your help, the U.S. economy will be roaring back by Christmas 2024, thanks to our win. 2025 will be one of the best years for the economy in U.S. history. People will not go to the border anymore because they know they will not be able to get through, just like three years ago.
If Trump wins a second term in 2024, he has promised to carry out “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.” To do that, big camps would have to be built to house migrants while they wait to be deported, and federal and local police would have to help arrest a lot of illegal immigrants across the country.
If he were elected, Trump also said he would instantly bring back and expand a ban on people from Muslim-majority countries coming to the U.S. He called for “strong ideological screening” of immigrants.
The front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination also promised to shield cops from “any and all” suits.
Trump said, “I am going to protect all police officers and law enforcement officials across the United States from being destroyed by the radical left for taking strong action against crime.”
Critics say that if you do that, people won’t be able to hold police responsible for abuse and wrongdoing.
Trump also kept saying that the 2020 election was “rigged,” even though this has never been proven. He also said that Biden had “weaponized” the Justice Department against his main opponent in 2024, who is facing more than 90 criminal charges.
Trump has been charged by federal grand juries made up of regular people after investigations that included witness statements and a lot of evidence about how he allegedly handled classified papers improperly.
The former president is being charged with criminal attempts to overturn the 2020 election. He complained that his indictments took years and were timed politically to hurt his chances of running for office.
He also said again that he didn’t agree with Reynolds’ support for DeSantis. Reynolds first said he would stay out of the Iowa caucuses and not support either party.
Trump continued to say that Reynolds’s election wins in 2018 and 2022 were his fault. He points to a Morning Consult study that showed Reynolds’ approval rating was 49%, while her disapproval rating was 47%. With that number, she is “America’s most unpopular governor,” according to Morning Consult.
But Reynolds is still liked by Republicans in the state—an August Iowa Poll found that 81% of those surveyed liked her. Trump, who was rated favorably by 65% of potential Iowa caucusgoers, did worse than Reynolds and the other Republicans running for office in 2024.
Trump also praised Iowa punter Tory Taylor, who was in the crowd on Wednesday.
“He’s going to get rich.” Trump said, “I wish I was his agent.” He called the Hawkeye football player, who was born in Australia, “a beautiful, big, strong physical specimen.”
This is what Trump said: “Are you from Iowa?”
“Are you from Australia?” He said, “Okay, we’ll adopt you.” “…he’s in central casting.” He’s going to do great.”
Trump supporters are enjoying his leadership and unscripted speech
Anastasia Mwenemkamba, 23, of Iowa City, was one of several hundred individuals who queued to hear Trump speak inside the hotel ballroom.
The Kirkwood Community College criminal justice student expects to vote in the Iowa caucuses for the first time on January 15.
Mwenemkamba said she hasn’t chosen which candidate she’ll back in the caucuses, but Trump “is at the top of the list,” followed by DeSantis.
“Someday, I want to work in politics as well and I just want to see how everything is run and encourage other young people to get involved in politics as well,” Mwenemkamba said in a statement. “Because the way our country is running (it) doesn’t seem like everything is going as it should be.”
She highlighted prices and a widespread impression of increased crime. According to data in the FBI’s annual crime report released in October, violent crime in the United States fell last year, falling to almost the same level as before the COVID-19 outbreak, although property crime increased significantly.
She stated that her family requires a new car but cannot afford one due to rising housing, food, and other living expenses.
“I’m a full-time student and trying to afford the house, (a) car, and other stuff, like, we can’t do that right now,” she told me.
Mwenemkamba also praised Trump’s “America First” approach to foreign policy, trade, and national security, which focuses on lowering trade imbalances and minimizing the United States’ involvement in foreign affairs.
“I feel like when (Trump) was in office, the country was pretty calm,” she remarked. “It was divided, but people felt like they were safe and they had the money to put food on the table.”
She stated that she is unconcerned with Trump’s multiple criminal indictments and believes there is insufficient evidence to sustain his prosecution. Despite surveillance video, text messages, and other communications revealing Trump and his associates’ efforts to reverse Georgia’s 2020 election results.
Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and witness tampering.
“I feel like they’re looking for anything to charge him with anything,” Mwenemkamba said in a statement. “But, I don’t feel like that reflects on his leadership.”
Dan Reitinger, 43, of Bettendorf, said he plans to vote for Trump in the Iowa caucuses, citing his perseverance and “ability to continue” in the face of repeated criminal charges.
“It’s also about the economy, the border,” Reitinger explained.
Connie Dowling, 67, of West Des Moines, Iowa, shrugged and said “That’s Trump” when asked if Trump calling his political opponents “vermin” whom he will “root out” reignited criticism that the former president would abuse his power to seek retribution against his rival and the news media if he returned to the White House.
“He’s the only one. “That’s how he interacts with people,” Dowling explained. “He’s the only one. He speaks spontaneously. It makes no difference to me.”
Sean Hannity asked Trump twice during a Fox News town hall last week in Davenport if he would abuse presidential power and retaliate against political opponents if elected next year. Mr. Trump declined to issue an explicit rejection both times.
Democrats Highlight Trump’s Call to Repeal “Obamacare”
Democrats in Iowa and across the country are aware that Trump has kept saying he wants to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.
They say that if that happens, tens of millions of Americans will lose their health insurance and insurance companies could discriminate against up to 135 million Americans who already have health problems.
Before Trump’s campaign stop, Rita Hart, Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, said, “It’s just a shame that Donald Trump is once again putting this MAGA agenda ahead of the needs of Iowans. And it’s really important to understand that repealing the Affordable Care Act would destroy Iowa.”
Hart and the doctor and Democratic U.S. Rep. Ami Bera of California also criticized Trump for supporting abortion restrictions at a time when women all over the country are dealing with a patchwork of tighter rules. It happened just a few days after the Texas Supreme Court rejected a lower court decision that let a pregnant woman have an abortion even though the baby had a disease that would kill it.
The lawsuit is thought to be one of the first in the country by a person trying to get a court-ordered abortion since Trump’s conservative Supreme Court nominees helped get rid of government protections for abortion last year.