DES MOINES, Iowa — Starting in 2015, Donald Trump changed the scale of Republican primary politics. In Iowa, the first-voting state, Trump drew crowds that were not just bigger than anyone had seen before, but they also attracted lots of people who had never participated in the caucuses process. As…
DES MOINES, Iowa — Starting in 2015, Donald Trump changed the scale of Republican primary politics. In Iowa, the first-voting state, Trump drew crowds that were not just bigger than anyone had seen before, but they also attracted lots of people who had never participated in the caucuses process. As Trump progressed, things got even bigger.
What is clear is that many Iowa Republicans, in conversations at the political events that have started up across the state, say they want a return to what they call"normalcy" in the caucuses process. What they mean is they're not sure they want Trump to be their party's 2024 nominee. After Trump's presidency, some of the same people began expressing doubt about returning to what they called"the drama" of Trump's time in office."Drama" became code for all the things about Trump's temperament and behavior they didn't like.
At Sen. Joni Ernst's"Roast & Ride" event in Des Moines on Saturday, eight candidates spoke — the ones listed above plus Asa Hutchinson, Larry Elder, and Perry Johnson. The Roast & Ride, which attracted 1,000 attendees, was what political types refer to as a"cattle call" in which each candidate got 10 minutes to make his or her pitch.
The scene bordered on surreal. After the event, I asked Ernst whether she thought it was odd that candidates would talk about a Republican president's accomplishments, would associate themselves with those accomplishments, would take some credit for those accomplishments, but would never mention the name of that Republican president."Oh, I don't think it's odd," Ernst answered.
In conversation with 15 or so voters at Barleys, everyone matched the Republican profile at the beginning of this article — they voted for Trump twice, like his accomplishments, and want to see the general trend of his policies continue. But many of them, unbidden, expressed some level of irritation with Trump. They didn't like Trump's attacks on DeSantis. Why do it so early? They were also annoyed by Trump's attack on his former White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany.
The second part of Scott's appeal is his promise to return to optimism and hope in campaigning and governing. It's an openly Reaganesque appeal, although one would have to be at least 50 years old to remember Ronald Reagan saying things like that. Scott's message is: With me, you can get the same conservative policies that you got with Trump, only with a Reagan-like optimism and hope.
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