Former President Donald Trump is warning that Republican candidates may get “clobbered” in 2024 if they don’t learn how to “properly talk” about the abortion issue. Trump also reminded a crowd in Dubuque that he appointed three U.S. Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v Wade.
“I got the job done. I got it done,” Trump said earlier this afternoon and the audience applauded and cheered. “…This issue has been returned to the states where all legal scholars on both sides felt it should be.”
Trump recently said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Florida’s six week abortion ban had been a “terrible mistake.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who’s running against Trump for the GOP’s presidential nomination, told Radio Iowa Trump can’t claim to be pro-life after making that statement. Governor Kim Reynolds, who signed a nearly identical law twice, responded, too, saying it’s “never a terrible thing to protect innocent life.”
Trump did not mention those laws during his Dubuque rally, but talked about the abortion issue in general, often getting interrupted with applause from the crowd. “Like Ronald Reagan before me, I believe in the three exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. I believe in that. It’s very important,” Trump said. “Without the exceptions, it is very difficult to win elections.”
Representative Shannon Lundgren of Peosta, the legislator who led debate of the six week abortion ban in the Iowa House this summer, endorsed Trump a few months ago and attended his Dubuque rally. Earlier in the day, Trump was endorsed by Representative Luana Stoltenberg, who’s pushing for a ban on all abortions, without exceptions. “You have to follow your heart,” Trump said in Dubuque. “At the same time, we have to win elections, otherwise we’ll be back where we were.”
Earlier this afternoon, Trump told a crowd in Maquoketa that he’s been enduring “made up” allegations since he first ran for president and that’s why his supporters are dismissing the criminal indictments he now faces. “Because the people know me so well, they know it’s all bullshit. It’s all bullshit. They know that,” Trump said. “They say: ‘He questioned the election.’ Well, everybody in this room questioned the election.”
Trump made those comments after a man in the crowd at the Jackson County Fairgrounds asked this question. “No man can endure what you have endured. Do you realize God is behind you and strengthening you?” the man asked.
Trump replied: “I appreciate what you’re saying. I understand what you’re saying, too. It’s been a terrible thing in so many ways.”
Trump told the crowd he’s gratified by his standing in national polls that show he has the backing of about 60% of Republican voters. “We’re going to get out there and we’re going to get out the vote, that Caucus vote, which is very important and you know last time, I was leading. I was beating everybody, but they didn’t do the Caucus thing too well and I learned a lot and we went to New Hampshire and we knocked ’em dead,” Trump said. “We did very well here. We came in second. This is my only second. I don’t like second, though. Then we won the race.”
Trump finished 3.3% behind 2016 Iowa Caucus winner Ted Cruz. A couple of days later, Trump accused Cruz of cheating and asked for a re-vote or that Cruz’s Iowa Caucus results be thrown out. Trump reminded audiences in Dubuque and Maquoketa today that the 2024 Iowa Caucuses are on January 15.
“In less than four months from now, we’re going to win the Iowa Caucuses in a historic landslide,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to be a landslide. You see what’s going on with the polling.”