Donald Trump has finally arrived in Iowa as other Republican hopefuls court voters

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The two politicians considered the leading Republicans in the race for their party’s presidential nomination in 2024 made their opening pitches to Iowa voters. Former President Donald Trump made his first trip to the state since announcing his third presidential bid on Monday where he took a shot at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who made his Iowa debut on Friday.

“Ron [DeSantis] is a disciple of Paul Ryan, who is a RINO loser who is currently destroying Fox,” Trump said from the stage of the Adler Theater. RINO stands for Republican In Name Only.

Trump’s visit came on the heels of news last week that the former president had been invited to testify before a New York grand jury, a move widely understood to mean he could soon face criminal charges. Trump, who finished second in the Iowa Republican caucuses in 2016 and won Iowa in the general election that year and again in 2020, told the audience that they would be better with him in the White House than with President Biden or DeSantis, his primary rival DeSantis has yet to announce an official bid for the White House.

A new Des Moines Register Iowa poll shows while Trump is still viewed favorably by Iowa Republicans, his support is slipping. The percentage of Iowa Republicans who say they will “definitely” vote for him if he is the nominee in 2024 has fallen more than 20 percentage points since June 2021.

“I don’t agree with a lot of Trump’s policies but I think he’s too abrasive,” said Ron Schorg, who is retired from the life insurance industry. “He’s got too much baggage right now to do anything. And if it’s good, you’ll get elected, and I don’t think he can.”

Schorg was one of hundreds who came to see DeSantis speak in both Davenport and Des Moines.

DeSantis avoided targeting the former president who endorsed him in the same gubernatorial election. Instead, he’s in Iowa to promote a new book and talk about what he sees as his accomplishments as Florida governor — from banning mask mandates and vaccines to passing a critic of a law called “Don’t Say Gay” – all while fighting for the press.

“All I can tell you is that I was elected by 32,000 votes,” DeSantis told a crowd of hundreds in Des Moines on Friday night. “I spent four years of them attacking me and me fighting back and I won by 1.5 million, so I’m fine with that.”

DeSantis shared the stage with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who implemented many similar policies in Iowa.

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“I’m really ready to see a change in leadership and in the Republican Party,” said Holly Ayen, who came to the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines to hear him speak. “I’m a little leaner [DeSantis] Henceforth.”

Other Iowa voters expressed concerns that the former president had already served one term in office.

“Can you do anything in four years?” Wondered Sherrie Pleis, a veterinarian who came to see Nikki Haley, Trump’s former UN ambassador, speak on a farm in central Iowa. He said he wants someone who can serve two consecutive terms to “continue some policies to undo a lot of bad democratic policies.”

But there was no question who many of the Trump supporters who came to see him on Monday were supporting. Like Laura Oldfather says most news implicating Trump for wrongdoing isn’t worth paying attention to.

“The noise,” said Oldfather. “The things they’re accusing him of … it’s like the Democrats have done it ten times and nothing happened to them.”

That’s the kind of loyalty Trump expects in Iowa and beyond. But the kind of retail politics Iowa was known for before the caucuses was not the former president’s style.

Trump is running his campaign like he’s already the nominee so shaking hands and kissing babies in traditional campaign style isn’t something you’ll see much of from him.

However, anything can happen in Iowa. That’s why Republican presidential hopefuls — those who have declared bids and those who still might — are testing the waters in the Hawkeye State. Even Trump has to work on it. Because Iowa is first in the nation and can make or break someone’s presidential ambitions.

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