Trump looking for ‘epic landslide’ in 2024 Iowa Caucuses

ADEL — Former President Donald Trump says he wants to start 2024 with what he calls an “epic landslide” in the Iowa Caucuses.

“You’ve got to get out and vote. We want to send it off with a bang,” Trump said. “We’re going to win Iowa, but we want to win by a big number.”

Trump, who spoke to crowds at two central Iowa sites Monday, finished second in the 2016 Iowa Caucuses, but Trump has a larger campaign apparatus in Iowa this time around.

Trump addressed his own legal situation during his remarks in Iowa Monday. Trump suggested he would not be silenced by the judge overseeing his election interference case. The judge’s gag order forbids Trump from making statements about potential witnesses or criticizing prosecutors.  “What they don’t understand is that I am willing to go to jail if that’s what it takes for our country to win and become a democracy again,” Trump said, to cheers. Trump also pledges cut off U-S aid to Palestine and impose crushing sanctions on Iran. Trump says he’d reinstate a ban to prevent immigrants and travelers from some Muslim-majority countries from entering the US.  “If you’re coming from somewhere full of people who want to kill Americans, we will not let you in,” Trump said. “We worked very hard on that.” 

Trump’s travel ban, which was redrafted after court challenges, took effect in 2018. It barred travelers from five mainly Muslim countries. President Biden reversed the ban during his first week in office.   “In my second term we’re going to expand each and every one of those bans because we have no choice. Some very rough people come out of those areas. They want to blow up our country. We aren’t bringing in anyone from Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen or Libya or anywhere else that threatens our security.”

While campaigning in Iowa this past weekend, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the US should not accept refugees from Gaza. DeSantis says they’re not all part of the Hamas terror group, but they are all anti-Semitic.