Jan. 10 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump was in Iowa on Wednesday night time to take part in a city corridor, the place he laid out his priorities for a second time period, calling for a powerful border and power independence as his opponents debated one another throughout city.
The Fox Information city corridor, moderated by Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier, was full of Iowa Republican voters — determined and undecided — to ask questions earlier than Monday’s caucus.
One of many first questions was concerning the altering dynamics of the race for the Republican presidential nomination as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dropped out of the race Wednesday.
Trump mentioned he’s not fearful and mentioned primarily based on the polls, “I feel we’ll win considerably,” referring to New Hampshire.
One other query raised considerations about chaos with one other Trump presidency, which President Joe Biden has been campaigning on throughout latest speeches.
“They’ve chaos now. They’ve chaos on the border,” Trump argued. “All the chaos is attributable to the Democrats continuously going after me.”
“I’ve no wars. I’m the one president in 70 years who had no wars,” Trump added. “The brand new narrative is I will be a dictator. That is the one factor Biden can run on.”
“I will probably be a dictator on solely two issues: the border and on power independence. After that, I’m not going to be a dictator,” Trump mentioned, including that his priorities with a second time period can be to chop gasoline costs and end the border wall.
Trump additionally touted his financial accomplishments throughout his 4 years in workplace, as he faces quite a few courtroom battles.
“We had the best financial system in historical past. We had no inflation. We had been power impartial earlier than COVID. We had an unimaginable 4 years,” Trump mentioned, including that the Biden administration is piling on indictments as a result of Trump claimed he cannot run on his personal file.
“It is a witch hunt, it is election interference by Biden as a result of he cannot win an election truthful and sq.,” Trump claimed. “I am main Biden in each single ballot. I am main in Michigan by 11 due to Biden’s mandate for electrical automobiles.”
Whereas Trump’s opponents for the Republican presidential nomination had been in Des Moines for one last debate, earlier than Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus subsequent week, Trump selected to not take part Wednesday night time. It’s the fifth time Trump has skipped a Republican debate.
Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had been the one different candidates, moreover Trump, to satisfy the ten% polling necessities for Wednesday’s Iowa debate, as Christie introduced he would finish his marketing campaign.
Trump has defended his determination to skip the debates and instructed the opposite candidates ought to rally behind him to unseat Biden within the November presidential election. Whereas Trump at present holds a big lead over Haley and DeSantis in most polls, Haley has trimmed Trump’s lead in New Hampshire to 7%, in accordance this week’s CNN ballot, which was performed by the College of New Hampshire.
Trump will spend his previous few days earlier than Monday’s Iowa GOP caucus, holding two marketing campaign appearances on Saturday and two occasions on Sunday. This week, Trump opted to make two courtroom appearances as a substitute of spending time in Iowa. On Tuesday, he attended appeals courtroom arguments in Washington, D.C., as he tries to dismiss his federal election interference case primarily based on claims of presidential immunity.
