Decrying a Republican “culture of losing,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sought Saturday to weaken former President Donald Trump’s grip on the GOP as tornado warnings interrupted a collision of leading presidential prospects in battleground Iowa.
DeSantis, expected to announce his 2024 presidential campaign any day, briefly flipped burgers and pork chops at an afternoon picnic fundraiser in Sioux Center that drew hundred of conservatives to the northwest corner of the state. From the podium, the 44-year-old governor highlighted his eagerness to embrace conservative cultural fights and sprinkled his remarks with indirect jabs at Trump.Florida Gov.
Trump, a candidate since November, had hoped to demonstrate his political strength with a large outdoor rally in Des Moines, the capital, later in the day. He canceled the appearance hours before its scheduled start time due to a tornado warning.“I feel like it’s still Trump’s time,” said Robert Bushard, 76, who said he drove about four hours from St. Paul, Minnesota to see the former president. Of DeSantis, he said, “He’d be a good president after Trump.
On Saturday, DeSantis avoided Trump’s legal entanglements or his falsehoods about the 2020 election, instead highlighting the GOP’s recent string of electoral losses. The Republican Party has struggled in every national election since Trump’s 2016 victory. Even before he formally enters the race, he’s already facing questions about his ability to court donors and woo voters.
Trump’s 2024 Iowa campaign, unlike his rag-tag 2016 second-place Iowa effort, is putting together a more disciplined, data-driven operation. The Saturday event was aimed at encouraging attendees to sign up with the campaign on a website so the campaign could maintain contact with them, keep them posted on how and where to caucus, and recruit campaign volunteers.
DeSantis has largely ignored Trump’s most egregious jabs, which have included suggesting impropriety with young girls as a teacher decades ago, questioning his sexuality and calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
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