Trump in Iowa, seeks more disciplined angle
Says Desantis would be strongest challenger
DAVENPORT, Iowa — Former President Donald Trump said he considers Ron Desantis as his strongest potential challenger for the Republican nomination and attacked the Florida governor during his first 2024 campaign stop in Iowa.
“I would say probably so, but you never know what happens. It could change,” Trump in response to a question about Desantis from reporters aboard his plane en route to Iowa. “I think we’re not going to have much of a challenge.”
During a speech in Davenport, Trump said Desantis opposed ethanol, which is important to farmers in Iowa and other Midwest states, and that when he was in Congress he voted to raise the minimum retirement age for Social Security to 70 years old.
“And to be honest with you, Ron reminds me a lot of Mitt Romney,” Trump said of the 2012 GOP presidential nominee who’s no longer very popular among Iowa Republicans. “So I don’t think you’re going to be doing so well here. But we’re going to find out. But those are the facts.”
The former president’s trip to the state, where Republicans next year hold their first-in-the-nation caucus, comes days after Desantis held two events there as part of his book tour and met with Iowa lawmakers.
Trump’s speech in Davenport was billed as one around his education platform, but his remarks on the issue, including opposition to critical race theory and a vow to break up the U.S. Department of Education, didn’t come until well over an hour into his speech. Instead, Trump focused on his efforts to help farmers and bolster ethanol when he was president, saying, “Every promise I made to Iowa as a candidate I fulfilled as your president.”
Trump often says that it was his endorsement that enabled Desantis to win the GOP primary and be elected governor in 2018. The former president responded “Yeah, maybe” when asked by reporters whether he now regrets that endorsement.
“This guy was dead. He was dead as a door nail. And I like people that are loyal,” Trump told reporters. “Yeah, I might say that. I always got along great with him. When he was governor, I did a lot of great things for Florida.”
Most polls show Trump as the front-runner for the 2024 nomination, with Desantis trailing him.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson are so far the only three Republicans who have formally launched presidential campaigns.
Others, however, have shown strong interest, including former Vice President Mike Pence, who at an event in Washington on Saturday offered his strongest public rebuke yet of his ex-boss’s rhetoric and actions on Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Trump said he had heard Pence’s statement and that his former running mate is “a nice man” who’s apparently trying to get more traction in a potential race.
“I guess he figured that being nice is not working because he’s at 3 in the polls,” Trump told reporters. “So he figured there might as well not be nice any longer. But, you know, he’s out there campaigning. And he’s trying very hard and he’s a nice man. I’ve known him. I had a very good relationship until the end.”
An Iowa Poll released Friday found that while Trump still enjoys strong backing among Republicans in the state, Desantis also has a robust favorability rating and the former president’s support has eroded. The findings are consistent with polls elsewhere that show many Republican voters still like Trump but are open to voting for a candidate who supports his policies without the political baggage.