CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa: Few even mentioned his name, and the new federal indictment he faces was completely ignored, as Republican candidates for president tried in Iowa Sunday to present themselves as Donald Trump alternatives.
Over the course of two hours, seven GOP hopefuls took their turn on stage in front of about 800 party activists in the leadoff caucus state, all invited to speak at Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson’s fundraising barbecue at a Cedar Rapids racetrack.
But in their pitches to challenge Trump for the 2024 nomination, it was as if his indictment Tuesday on federal charges accusing him of working to overturn the 2020 election results had never happened, even from the candidate who has suggested the former president quit the race.
Instead, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who has been a vocal Trump critic, touched only on the related Republican outrage with the Department of Justice, which many conservative activists allege has been politically biased in its investigation of Trump. The former president is also facing federal charges filed in June accusing him of improperly keeping sensitive documents in his Florida home and obstructing efforts to recover them.
Hutchinson Sunday only called for revamping the Department of Justice and in a popular applause line for GOP candidates promised to name a new head of the department.
“And yes, I would get a new attorney general that would enforce the rule of law in a way that is fair for our country,” said Hutchinson, earning polite applause from the audience.
Even Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has warned that Republicans will lose next year by looking backward and repeating Trump’s false claims the 2020 election was stolen, came only as close as saying, “The time for excuses is over.”
Trump remains very popular within the Iowa Republican caucus electorate. A New York Times/Siena College poll of likely Iowa Republican caucus attendees, published Friday but taken before Trump’s indictment was made public, showed him far ahead of his closest rival. All other would-be challengers, except DeSantis, received support in the single digits.
Still, the poll suggested Trump’s position may be slightly less strong in Iowa than it is nationally.
Throughout the early months of the campaign, Republican strategists have warned against attacking Trump directly, arguing it tends to anger voters who have supported him and see the charges he faces as political persecution, even as they are open to other candidates.
“Think of everything he’s been through,” said Rosie Rekers, an interior decorator from Waverly, Iowa, who attended the Hinson event. “We’ve got to move on from that.”
DeSantis, Hutchinson, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, conservative radio host Larry Elder and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy made their arguments for their candidacies with no mention of Trump.
Only two candidates Sunday mentioned Trump by name.
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who served in the post under Trump, mentioned him in an anecdote about a report she filed to him, an illustration of her irritation about member nations who opposed US policy but received foreign financial aid.
Michigan businessman Perry Johnson was the only other candidate to name Trump, first by noting the former president had spent more money than he had to raise campaign contributions.
Johnson, who received little support in the New York Times poll noted he had pledged to pardon Trump last spring after the former president was indicted by a grand jury in New York on charges he falsified documents related to payments made to a porn star.
“I think that it’s unfair that we start picking on our candidates and letting the Democrats decide who should be running,” Johnson said.
Indictment ignored, Trump barely a mention, as GOP candidates pitch Iowa voters to challenge him
https://arab.news/cw9hg
Indictment ignored, Trump barely a mention, as GOP candidates pitch Iowa voters to challenge him
- Seven GOP hopefuls took their turn on stage in front of about Republican party activists in the leadoff caucus state
- Republicans will lose next year by looking backward and repeating Trump’s false claims the 2020 election was stolen, warns DeSantis
EU leaders to reassess US ties despite Trump U-turn on Greenland
- Diplomats stressed that, although Thursday’s emergency EU talks in Brussels would now lose some of their urgency, the longer-term issue of how to handle the relationship with the US remained
BRUSSELS: EU leaders will rethink their ties with the US at an emergency summit on Thursday after Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs and even military action to acquire Greenland badly shook confidence in the transatlantic relationship, diplomats said.
Trump abruptly stepped back on Wednesday from his threat of tariffs on eight European nations, ruled out using force to take Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and suggested a deal was in sight to end the dispute.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, welcoming Trump’s U-turn on Greenland, urged Europeans not to be too quick to write off the transatlantic partnership.
But EU governments remain wary of another change of mind by a mercurial president who is increasingly seen as a bully that Europe will have to stand up to, and they are focused on coming up with a longer-term plan on how to deal with the United States under this administration and possibly its successors too.
“Trump crossed the Rubicon. He might do it again. There is no going back to what it was. And leaders will discuss it,” one EU diplomat said, adding that the bloc needed to move away from its heavy reliance on the US in many areas.
“We need to try to keep him (Trump) close while working on becoming more independent from the US It is a process, probably a long one,” the diplomat said.
EU RELIANCE ON US
After decades of relying on the United States for defense within the NATO alliance, the EU lacks the needed intelligence, transport, missile defense and production capabilities to defend itself against a possible Russian attack. This gives the US substantial leverage.
The US is also Europe’s biggest trading partner, making the EU vulnerable to Trump’s policies of imposing tariffs to reduce Washington’s trade deficit in goods, and, as in the case of Greenland, to achieve other goals.
“We need to discuss where the red lines are, how we deal with this bully across the Atlantic, where our strengths are,” a second EU diplomat said.
“Trump says no tariffs today, but does that mean also no tariffs tomorrow, or will he again quickly change his mind? We need to discuss what to do then,” the second diplomat said.
The EU had been considering a package of retaliatory tariffs on 93 billion euros ($108.74 billion) on US imports or anti-coercive measures if Trump had gone ahead with his own tariffs, while knowing such a step would harm Europe’s economy as well as the United States.
WHAT’S THE GREENLAND DEAL?
Several diplomats noted there were still few details of the new plan for Greenland, agreed between Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte late on Wednesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“Nothing much changed. We still need to see details of the Greenland deal. We are a bit fed up with all the bullying. And we need to act on a few things: more resiliency, unity, get our things together on internal market, competitiveness. And no more accepting tariff bullying,” a third diplomat said.
Rutte told Reuters in an interview in Davos on Thursday that under the framework deal he reached with Trump the Western allies would have to step up their presence in the Arctic.
He also said talks would continue between Denmark, Greenland and the US on specific issues.
Diplomats stressed that, although Thursday’s emergency EU talks in Brussels would now lose some of their urgency, the longer-term issue of how to handle the relationship with the US remained.
“The approach of a united front in solidarity with Denmark and Greenland while focusing on de-escalation and finding an off-ramp has worked,” a fourth EU diplomat said.
“At the same time it would be good to reflect on the state of the relationship and how we want to shape this going forward, given the experiences of the past week (and year),” he said.
