The front-runner for the Republican nomination sought to galvanize Iowa Republicans by keeping the focus on defeating President Joe Biden, while also swiping at his two leading primary opponents, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who trail far behind him in polls both in Iowa and nationally.
The Iowa event – ahead of visits later in the week to New Hampshire and Nevada, which hold Republicans’ second and third nominating contests – came as Trump holds a commanding lead in primary polls and is looking to blunt any of their momentum less than five weeks before voting begins. His campaign speech followed a positive legal development for him, with a federal judge pausing an election interference case that could delay the start of a trial, which is currently scheduled to begin in early March – during the height of the campaign season.
Addressing the crowd in a hotel ballroom in Coralville, the former president sought to argue Biden’s economic policies have left American families worse off than when he was president, and that the effects were being felt particularly deeply this holiday season. Invoking former President Ronald Reagan, Trump asked, “Were you better off four years ago or are you better off today?”
He attacked DeSantis – who has pinned his campaign on a strong showing in Iowa – on his previous opposition to ethanol subsidies, a top concern of corn farmers in the state. “He was totally against anything having to do with ethanol. Then now, all of a sudden, he’s a big ethanol proponent. But one thing about politicians, when they start that way, that’s the way they end. They change for elections, but then they immediately go back,” Trump said.
More Stories
test-qa-article-19-12-24-should-be-also-blocked-1