Trump makes closing pitch to Iowa Republicans month out from Iowa caucuses

CORALVILLE — Former President Donald Trump continued his swipes at Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and urged his supporters to show up in force to caucus for him on Jan. 15 and not take his commanding lead in the polls for granted.

“On Monday, Jan. 15, we are going to win the Iowa caucuses, then we are going to crush Crooked Joe Biden next November,” Trump said at a “commit to caucus” campaign event at the Hyatt Regency Coralville Hotel & Conference Center.

Trump holds a 32-percentage-point lead over his nearest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to the latest state polling.

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The latest Iowa Poll released Monday from the Des Moines Register, NBC News and Mediacom shows Trump with 51 percent support among likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers, followed by DeSanits at 19 percent and Nikki Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, at 16 percent.

“We are ahead by a lot, but you have to go out and vote. … The margin of victory is so important,” Trump told the crowd of a few hundred gathered in a hotel ballroom. “The more we win by, the more we have a voice. We have to put up big numbers.”

Iowa will hold the first Republican presidential nominating contest in just more than a month.

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Trump promises ‘largest domestic deportation operation’ in history

Trump criticized Democratic President Joe Biden for his handling of the economy and border security — blaming Biden’s immigration and climate policies and electric vehicle incentives for driving inflation, high energy prices and a surge in illegal border crossings.

He touted signing measures cutting taxes and forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases are pending, and pledged to boost domestic energy production.

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“During this holiday season, families all across America are struggling under the brutal weight of Bidenomics,” Trump said. “ … The Biden administration is running on the fumes of the great success of the Trump administration. … With your vote, by Christmas 2024, the momentum of our victory will have the U.S. economy roaring back — and 2025 will be one of the greatest economic years this nation has ever recorded. People will stop coming to the border, because they know, like just three years ago, they won’t be able to get through.”

Trump promised to conduct "the largest domestic deportation operation in American history" should he win election to a second term in 2024. Doing so would require building large camps to house migrants waiting for deportation and tapping federal and local law enforcement to assist with large-scale arrests of undocumented immigrants across the country.

If elected, Trump said he would also immediately restore and expand a travel ban on entry into the U.S. from Muslim-majority countries and proposed "strong ideological screening" of immigrants.

The GOP presidential front-runner also vowed to protect police from “any and all” legal liability.

“I am going to indemnify through the federal government all police officers and law enforcement officials across the United States from being destroyed by the radical left for taking strong actions on crime,” Trump said.

Critics argue doing so would prevent individuals from holding law enforcement accountable for abuse and misconduct.

Trump also continued his relentless, unproven claims that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged,” and claimed Biden has “weaponized” the Justice Department against his chief 2024 rival, who faces indictments that amount to more than 90 felony charges.

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Trump has been indicted by federal grand juries composed of average citizens following investigations that included witness testimony and a trove of evidence over his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

The former president, who faces felony charges over efforts to overturn the 2020 election, groused that his indictments took years, claiming they were politically timed and intended to torpedo his candidacy.

He also reiterated his disapproval of Reynolds’s endorsement of DeSantis. Reynolds initially pledged to remain neutral in the Iowa caucuses.

Trump continued to take credit for Reynolds’s election victories in 2018 and 2022, and cites a Morning Consult poll showing Reynolds’ approval rating was at 49 percent and her disapproval at 47 percent. The latter is the highest number in the nation, making her “America’s most unpopular governor,” according to Morning Consult.

Reynolds, however, remains popular among Republicans in the state, with 81 percent viewing her favorably, according to an August Iowa Poll. Reynolds outperformed the Republican 2024 field, including Trump, who was rated favorable by 65 percent of likely Iowa caucusgoers.

Trump on Wednesday also gave a shoutout to Iowa punter Tory Taylor, who was in the crowd.

“He’s going to make a lot of money. I wish I was his agent,” Trump said, calling the Australian-born Hawkeye football player “a beautiful, big, strong physical specimen.”

Trump asked if Taylor was from Iowa.

“You’re from Australia? Well, we’ll adopt you,” he said. “ … He is part of central casting. He’s going to be a great one.”

Trump supporters like his leadership, ability to speak ‘off the cuff’

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Anastasia Mwenemkamba, 23, of Iowa City, was among the couple hundred people who waited in line to hear to Trump speak inside the hotel ballroom.

The Kirkwood Community College student studying criminal justice plans to participate in the Iowa caucuses for the first time on Jan. 15.

Mwenemkamba said she’s undecided which candidate she’ll support in the caucuses, but that 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. “Because, the way our country is running (it) doesn’t seem like everything is going as it should be.”

She cited inflation and a perception of worsening crime across the country. Violent crime across the U.S. decreased last year — dropping to about the same level as before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic — but property crimes rose substantially, according to data in the FBI’s annual crime report released in October.

She said her family is in need of a new car, but cannot afford it due to increased housing, food and other living costs.

“I’m a full-time student and trying to afford house, (a) car and other stuff, like, we can’t do that right now,” she said.

Mwenemkamba said she also liked Trump’s “America First” approach to foreign policy, trade and national security that centers on reducing U.S. trade deficits and for the U.S. to become less involved in foreign matters.

“I feel like when (Trump) was in office, the country was pretty calm,” Mwenemkamba said. “It was divided, but people felt like they were safe and they had the money to put food on the table.”

She said she’s not concerned about Trump’s multiple criminal indictments, and does not believe there’s enough evidence to support his prosecution. That despite surveillance video, text messages, and other communications unearthed of efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

Trump faces criminal charges that include conspiracy to defraud the United States and witness tampering.

“I feel like they’re looking for anything to charge him with anything,” Mwenemkamba said. “But, I don’t feel like that really reflects on his leadership.”

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Dan Reitinger, 43, of Bettendorf, said he plans to support Trump in the caucuses, partly because of his perseverance and “ability to continue on” in the wake of multiple criminal prosecutions.

“It’s also about the economy, the border,” said Reitinger.

Asked if Trump calling his political opponents “vermin” who he will “root out,” reigniting criticism that the former president would abuse his power to seek retribution against his rival and news media if he returns to the White House, Connie Dowling, 67, of West Des Moines, shrugged and said “that’s Trump.”

“That’s just him. That’s how he relates to people,” Dowling said. “That’s just him. He speaks off the cuff. It doesn’t bother me.”

Twice during a town hall on Fox News last week in Davenport, Sean Hannity asked Trump to say that he would not abuse presidential power and retaliate against his political opponents if elected next year. Both times, Mr. Trump declined to give an outright denial.

Democrats point to Trump’s call to repeal ‘Obamacare’

Iowa and national Democrats note Trump has continued to double down on his call to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Doing so, they argue, would mean tens of millions of Americans will have their health care coverage endangered and as many as 135 million Americans with preexisting conditions could be subject to discrimination from insurance companies.

“It's just a shame that Donald Trump is once again putting this MAGA agenda ahead of the needs of Iowans, and it really is important to understand that repealing the Affordable Care Act would devastate Iowa,” Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said ahead of Trump’s campaign stop.

Hart and California Democratic U.S. Rep. Ami Bera, a physician, also attacked Trump for his support of abortion restrictions as women across the country grapple with a patchwork of tightening restrictions. It comes days after the Texas Supreme Court overturned a lower court order allowing an abortion for a pregnant woman whose fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition.

The lawsuit is believed to be one of the first attempts in the country by an individual seeking a court-ordered abortion since conservative Supreme Court justices appointed by Trump helped overturn federal abortion protections last year.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com