Iowa may be the most important state on Donald J. Trump’s early 2024 political calendar, but he hasn’t made many friends there lately.
He lashed out at Iowa’s popular Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, and then his campaign informed one of the state’s politically influential evangelical leaders, Bob Vanderplaats, that the former president would skip a meeting of presidential candidates in Des Moines this week.
Monday’s back-to-back moves — which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s campaign labeled a “snub of Iowa conservatives” in an email Tuesday — show the extent to which Mr. nomination, pretending to be immune to traditional political pitfalls while also being sued and his rivals trying to capitalize on the fatigue of some voters with his antics.
“With Trump’s personality, I feel like he thinks he owns Iowa,” said Steve Boender, a board member of the Family Leader, the conservative Christian group that hosts the Friday event Mr. Trump skips. “And I’m not sure he does.”
“I think Trump’s negativity is hurting things a bit,” added Mr Boender, who is not aligned for 2024.
Unsurprisingly, Mr. Trump will skip the Family Leader meeting. He has generally avoided these all-candidate “cattle call” events, as advisers see such establishments demean him to the level of his far-backed opponents. In addition, Mr. Vander Place has made no secret of his desire to step past Mr. Trump, including traveling to Tallahassee to have lunch with Mr. DeSantis at the governor’s mansion.
“I think there is no doubt about it, most likely I will not support him,” Mr. Vander Plaat said of Mr. Trump. “So he believes if he shows up and I don’t endorse him, he’s going to look weak.”
But as a result, he said, Mr. Trump missed a speech to an estimated audience of 2,000, and “many of those people still love him dearly.”
Over the weekend, DailyExpertNews reported on the various ways Ms. Reynolds came across as welcoming to Mr. DeSantis, much to the growing frustration of Mr. Trump, who named her predecessor ambassador. He wants recognition for her ascent and career; she won reelection last year in a landslide. On Monday, he erupted in public.
“I opened up the position of governor to Kim Reynolds, and when she fell behind, I ENDORSED her, did big rallies, and won,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to her race in 2018. “Now she wants ‘NEUTRAL’ to stay. I don’t invite her to events!
Ms. Reynolds’ office declined to comment. Mr. DeSantis was quick to defend her on Twitter, saying she is “a strong leader who knows how to ignore the chirping and get it done.”
Mr. Trump’s comment sparked some backlash from Iowans who support Ms. Reynolds, including Cody Hoefert, who served as co-chair of the Iowa Republican Party from 2014 to 2021.
“It was a continuation of a series of unforced mistakes by the former president,” Hoefert said, also citing Mr Trump’s comments against a six-week abortion ban.
Ms. Reynolds convened the Iowa legislature for a special session this week to pass a six-week ban after an earlier attempt was blocked by the state’s highest court. Mr Trump has said such a strict ban – when many women don’t even know they are pregnant – is “too harsh”.
Mr Hoefert said his break with Mr Trump – during whose presidency he remained a loyal party official – was not because of other allegiances.
“This wasn’t, ‘I’m going to attack Trump because I support X candidate,'” he said. “It’s because I’m tired of the former president making all about himself and attacking his friends and would-be supporters and other Republicans who are doing big conservative things over what looks like a personal vendetta.”
Republicans opposed to Mr Trump leading the party again predicted the attacks would play badly with voters.
“He’s shown his penchant for self-destructive behavior, and it’s one of those things I think voters are taking note of,” said David Kochel, a longtime Iowa Republican operative who advised Ms. Reynolds. “Kim Reynolds is very popular in Iowa. She did not attack Trump. She doesn’t – she’s told everyone she’ll be going to their events, and the fact that he has such an ego assumes everyone should support him. That’s not going to happen in these early states.”
Brett Barker, the chairman of the Story County Republican Party in Iowa, saw it as an unnecessary fight. “I don’t think it’s helpful to argue with incumbent governors who are very popular in their home state,” he said, before adding, “I don’t know how detrimental it will be in the grand scheme of things.”
A person close to Mr Trump who was not authorized to speak publicly acknowledged that his attack on Ms Reynolds was not part of an established plan, but questioned whether it would actually affect his position, despite predictions about political consequences. His team believes he has enough support among Iowans to counter elected officials’ views.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Mr. Trump, cited a “scheduling conflict” as the reason for missing the Family Leadership Summit, noting that Mr. Trump would be back in Iowa next week.
“The president will be in Florida this weekend headlining the main national young voter conference with Turning Point Action conference, while DeSantis is nowhere to be seen,” said Mr. Cheung on an event expected to draw a more pro-Trump crowd.
The Family Leader event — expected to feature Mr. DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson — is the second major event. conservative rally in two months that bypasses Mr. Trump.
Mr Vander Plaat said that “half the battle” showed up in Iowa, and that Mr Trump has so far fallen short on that point.
“Iowa is tailor-made to be beaten here,” he said. “And on the contrary, if he wins here, I’m not sure there’s any way to prevent him from being the nominee.”
