Former President Donald J. Trump rallied with Iowans at Simpson College on the eve of the Iowa caucuses with a message of confidence for his supporters.
“We’re leading in the polls by a lot. Not just this [caucus] poll, we’re leading nationally,” Trump said.
Trump, in a building packed with his supporters, gave a near two hour speech featuring interruptions from climate protestors and the announcement of an endorsement from Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota
Amidst a wind chill warning, over a thousand Iowans braved the cold to hear Trump’s remarks. After filling up the main room, event organizers filled two additional overflow rooms where attendees watched Trump speak remotely from a YouTube livestream. After the two additional rooms filled up, the event stopped accepting attendees.
Trump took stage shortly after noon, following opening remarks from Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, former Attorney General Matt Whitaker and a pre taped message from Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump. He asserted policies and ideas that have been mainstays of the Trump campaign since 2016, including his desire to totally shut the Southern Border and deport immigrants currently residing in the US — a focus on America First policies — and his staunch support for the use of fossil fuels.
“Drill, baby, drill,” said Trump, reiterating a catchphrase he has used to advocate for increased domestic fossil fuel manufacturing.
This issue had become a greater focus of the rally when earlier, less than 20 minutes into Trump’s speech, 3 attendees stood up and unfurled a banner that read “TRUMP: CLIMATE CRIMINAL” before event security removed them. This same group of protestors used a similar tactic at a Ron DeSantis event earlier this week.
Trump responded to the protestors by doubling down on the importance of American fossil fuel production before stating, “We’re really the party of common sense … Yes, conservative. We did a lot of conservative things, but we’re really the party of common sense”
Trump also discussed his competition from both the other Republican hopefuls and incumbent candidate Joe Biden. He mentioned fellow Republican candidates Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis by name multiple times, alleging that they are not “up to the job” nor have the necessary public support.
“MAGA represents 95% of the Republican Party, and it’s an amazing thing,” Trump said.
He then went on to say that under Biden, “America right now is not a great country.” He discredited the 2020 election as a scam, continuing his existing rhetoric that collusion on the electoral level unfairly lost him the presidency.
Towards the end of his speech, Trump began to bring guests to the podium to join him. First, and most notably, was Burgum, who announced his endorsement for Trump for the first time following his withdrawal from the presidential race. Additional guests included Brad Zaun, Iowa State Senator and early Trump endorsement, and former U.S. representative from Mississippi, Billy Long.
Ahead of the caucuses, which will occur tomorrow night across the state of Iowa, the most recent Des Moines Register poll shows Trump as having a commanding 28 point lead over his second place opponent Nikki Haley.
