by “Trump is the only one who can save this country right now,” said Traci Walters, a 52-year-old accountant from Cedar Rapids. “We know he can do it. And you know, other people, maybe they can, maybe they can’t. We do not know.
The former president’s most applauding lines came when he spoke about hot-button social issues like banning critical race theory in schools and transgender athletes in women’s sports.
But as he rolled out his platform’s education board, he also showed that he’s paying attention to the way DeSantis has used the federal response to Covid-19 to appeal to Republican voters.
Trump, who pushed vaccine development hard as president, echoed the rhetoric of DeSantis, who signed a ban on vaccine mandates last year.
“I will not give a dime to any school that has a vaccination mandate,” Trump declared Monday. He also vowed to push other states to adopt school voucher systems similar to the one enacted by Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, and to directly elect school principals. In an area where the president has a more obvious role in politics, he said it is a “short-term goal” to split the Education Department.
Despite his campaign announcing that the event focused on education, Trump leaned heavily on agriculture and commerce.
Iowa is one of the top-producing agricultural states in the country, and Trump boasted of his record on the issue. He said he provided payments to farmers to offset the costs of a trade war with China, reminded voters that he repealed a recently revived Obama-era regulation that specifies which waterways are subject to Clean Water Act standards, and promised to do more.
“Within hours of my inauguration, I will cancel all of Biden’s policies that are brutalizing our farmers,” Trump said, prompting a standing ovation and a chant of “USA. Uh.” with his call to repeal Biden’s farm agenda. He then promised to make fertilizers cheaper and export more ethanol.
Reynolds, who appeared twice with DeSantis on Friday, introduced Trump and praised his work for the state as president.
“In short,” he said, “he fought for the Iowans.”
In an interview with NBC News Friday, Reynolds, who has not endorsed any candidate, deflected when asked about possible interest in being the eventual nominee’s vice-presidential running mate.
“We’re focused on Iowa right now,” he said. “We’re going to spend a lot of time here.”
Trump, who spoke to significantly larger crowds than at two DeSantis events last week, said he chose the indoor venue because it was too cold outside for one of his signature rallies. The theater manager said more than 2,000 people attended. Jason Miller, one of Trump’s top advisers, said the audience included people from 77 of the state’s 99 counties.
