URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) – An ambitious Republican is starting to make moves in Iowa, which is a test seat for future presidents. Their first step is to find out if there are protesters over the last one.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the first to oppose that embargo, revealing himself Friday to Iowa GOP campaigners as a loyal champion on the former head’s agenda. Donald Trump sits but in his own brand of plainspoken, Midwestern conservatism.
Trump is still a hulking presence in Iowa, where he has won twice with healthy margins. He is said to be running again, and his false claims that the last election was stolen still dominate Republican circles.
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But Pompeo’s visit less than five months after the November election shows that Trump has not frozen the interest of another 2024 Republican prime. Pompeo’s two-day Iowa tour will lead an extremely early tour of Iowa travel planned by U.S. seniors, featuring national GOP figures.
In a wide-ranging speech by about 200 Des Moines district conservationists at a regular breakfast meeting in the Des Moines suburban area, Pompeo backed Trump’s court challenges in the 2020 election, but stopped short of repeating the his false claims that the election was stolen.
Members of his own administration, including former lawyer William Barr, say no evidence of widespread voter turnout has been found. Courts in several states have thrown out warrants of a lawsuit filed on behalf of the president.
Instead, Pompeo credited Trump for putting the interests of the United States around the world, noting his own role in implementing the vision throughout the world. -world. Pompeo made a point to remind his audience that he was in charge of the relocation of the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which had long been a priority for Christian conservatives.
“As an evangelical Christian, the importance of Israel, this important place in the world for generations to come, cannot be affirmed,” he said, echoing praise from the audience. “I was happy to be just a small part of it. . ”
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will strike an elbow before making a statement to the media after a meeting in Jerusalem, on 24 August 2020 (DEBBIE HILL / POOL / AFP)
Pompeo and others who are making plans are welcome, campaigners say, despite Trump’s persistence and the widespread belief that he has been blamed in some way in his case on 2020. But there is still hope that Trump will run for the third time.
Nearby Miriam Pederson of Ankeny is passionate about Trump and hopes he will run again, but he doesn’t dismiss others, especially those who wear Trump’s costume, at his political skills are better.
“Trump will play a part in the election in terms of getting people elected based on what he believes, ‘America first,'” Pederson said after Pompeo’s appearance at the Iowa Machine Shed restaurant. “But Mike Pompeo is very good. He wants to uphold Trump’s policies and that is fundamental, to follow the policies. “
Interviews with GOP county party leaders and local activists across the state reveal the difference between their stated love for Trump and the hope that he will run again.
“There are Trumpsters who can’t wait for it to run again.” They are the ones who are still complaining and complaining that they were deceived out of the election, ”said Gwen Ecklund, former county chairman of western Iowa conservation. “But there are some – average Republican, level-and-file – who turn the page.”
Protesters backing former U.S. President Donald Trump march across 42nd Street toward Times Square, March 5, 2021, in New York. (Photo AP / John Minchillo)
Jocular and self-deprecating, former Trump diplomat and successful Kansas politician was at rest in a back room full of restaurants. It was like Wichita’s political home to Des Moines. He continued the longstanding tradition of noticing his Iowa connection: His wife is from Iowa City.
As deputy director of the CIA before the secretary of state, he began to joke when asked about an intelligence issue, noting bluntly, “You remember the part about which I talk about almost anything. “
Pompeo is re-starting a national political debate at the Conservative Conservative Union of America’s CPAC conference last month in Florida. He helped raise money for a west Iowa county party Thursday night before concluding an event Friday morning, meeting an under-40 Republican in Des Moines, and meeting with state GOP leaders including a member House of first term Ashley Hinson.
Pompeo also raised questions about his own future, but in particular steered him clear from talking about what Trump is doing. Others will try to walk the same line in the spring.
Audience members will hear former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speak at the Western Conservative Club, March 26, 2021, in Urbandale, Iowa. (Photo AP / Charlie Neibergall)
Florida Senator Rick Scott is scheduled to visit Cedar Rapids on April 1. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott plans to meet with a Republican in the Quad cities of Iowa on April 15, signs of a very early start in 2024 campaign.
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, who met nearly a Republican in New Hampshire ‘s primary school state, is also making plans to visit Iowa in the coming months, councilors said. Pompeo is scheduled to deal with the New Hampshire Republic almost Monday.
Despite Trump ‘s attractiveness in Iowa, not all Republicans want him to run again. Ecklund, Crawford County Republican communications director, has met a Republican “ready to move forward” and “tired of the real controversy” in Trump county carried by more than 30 percentage points twice.
Nationwide, comments about Trump have eased some since he made Iowa around 8 percentage points in November. In the Iowa Poll at the Des Moines Register, 53% of Iowans viewed the former president unfavorably and 45% favorably, about a year ago.
In a less scientific measure, a straw poll of about 1,000 protesters from across the country showed that 97% approved of Trump’s performance in office. Although asked if he should run again, only 68% said he should.
