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Donald Trump traveled to Iowa on Saturday to campaign, stopping first in Ankeny and then in Cedar Rapids. And his obsession with the 2020 election seems to continue to be an important topic for him as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination, even though his positions are repeatedly unfounded. His obsession appears to be a strategy to sow doubt if the 2024 election does not go his way.
In his “Commitment to the Caucus” speech in Ankeny, he repeated a similar metaphor he has touted throughout his campaign, calling the media “fake news” and calling the media “fake news” when President Biden is rightly declared president. He repeated false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. “One thing they don’t want to talk about is [2020] election. They committed a terrible crime and committed a terrible fraud,” Trump claimed, presumably referring to everyone who correctly recognized and verified the actual election results. “They know that, but you can never know all the ways. But you don’t need all the ways. Because, sure, I think 22,000 votes split it, but we Because we have millions of votes. That’s very sad.”
He then appeared to encourage the crowd to pursue voter intimidation and election interference, comparing the United States to a third-world country. “The most important part of what’s going to happen is protecting the vote. And you should go to Detroit, you should go to Philadelphia, you should go to some of these places, ATLANTA – And you have to go to some of these places, and we have to see when those votes come in, when those votes get shoved into wheelbarrows and thrown out on the floor. Everybody’s saying, ‘Oh, what’s going on?’ We’re like a third world nation, a third world nation. And we can’t allow that to happen.”
At a subsequent event in Cedar Rapids dubbed the “Save America” rally, President Trump focused on attacking “crooked” President Biden, saying the 2020 election was rigged. , and even continued to quibble with Jesus and unsubstantiated claims that God would proclaim him. Now it’s a winner. “If there was a real election and Jesus came down and God came down and said, “I’m going to be the scorekeeper here,” I think we’d win there, and I think we’d win in Illinois. We will win in New York.”
“I’ve been indicted four times because I question election fraud,” Trump later added, following his assessment of his alleged crimes. “But we’re not questioning it. We know the outcome, we know. And when we go through the courts, if you have presidential privilege Even if we ever have to do it because we’re in trouble. And even if there is, we should never have to do something like that, but if it happens If we want to redo the election, we want to look at the election very carefully, just from the perspective that we want that election. A lot. I have information. There was so much corruption in that election.”
He also claimed to have somehow invented the word “caravan” again, and inexplicably claimed to have saved Obamacare. He ended by claiming that he was “one of the great presidents” and that even his opponents said so.
In the ultimate irony, President Trump early on accused his opponents of waging an “all-out war against American democracy.”
“If you look at what they’ve been doing, it’s becoming more and more extreme and repressive. They’re just waging an all-out war with each passing day,” the man who tore the country apart claimed.
While Trump stumbled in Iowa, so did Ron DeSantis, who showed up in Sioux City. DeSantis, once considered Trump’s biggest challenger, has been trailing in the polls, widening in recent weeks before the caucuses and leading the polls. DeSantis has been endorsed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and evangelical leader Bob Vander Platz.
