By Maria Ortiz
Dec 14, 2023, 10:10 PM EST
The ex-president donald trump gave a speech to Republican voters in Iowa Wednesday ahead of that state’s caucuses next month, on the same day his business fraud trial in New York wrapped up with witness hearings, according to CNN.
Former President Trump sought to galvanize Iowa Republicans by keeping the focus on defeat President Joe Biden in the 2024 election, while attacked his two main opponents in the Republican primaries, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who are far behind him in voting intention polls both in Iowa and nationally.
As the January 15 Iowa caucuses approach, new polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight show that Trump maintains his favorite status in the state by double digits, despite his extensive legal problems.
Addressing the crowd in a hotel ballroom in Coralville, the former president attempted to argue that Biden’s economic policies have left American families worse off than when he was president, and that the effects were being felt particularly deeply this holiday season. Invoking former President Ronald Reagan, Trump asked: “Were they better off four years ago or are they better off today?”
He also attacked Ron DeSantis, who has based his campaign on a good performance in Iowa, due to his previous opposition to ethanol subsidies, one of the main concerns of corn producers in the state.
“I was totally against anything that had to do with ethanol. And now, all of a sudden, he’s a huge proponent of ethanol. But one thing about politicians is that when they start that way, that’s how they end. “They change for the election, but then they immediately come back,” Trump said.
The ex-president dismissed Haley’s recent surge in support in polls, pointing out his considerable lead over the former governor and the rest of the Republican field. And he criticized New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu after he endorsed Haley this week, arguing that endorsement wouldn’t make a difference in the Granite State.
“There is no increase. “They don’t have any raise,” Trump said.
The 77-year-old former president faces 91 criminal charges, including 17 for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, and civil lawsuits, including a defamation suit stemming from a rape allegation that a judge called “substantially true.”
Warnings about the authoritarian threat he poses if he returns to the White House have been increasing in volume.
However, he received 51% support in the voting intention survey in Iowa and maintains its lead in the first-to-vote primary state, according to a new Des Moines Register/NBC News poll released Monday.