In Iowa, potential 2024 GOP Trump challengers quiet for now

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — By this time four years ago, at least a dozen Democratic presidential hopefuls eager to make their case against Donald Trump had either visited Iowa or announced plans to soon visit the leadoff voting state ahead of the 2020 election.

https://apnews.com/article/2024-election-trump-challengers-aa8f72fb2aa39553dc05ad9e778f74a3?

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Iowa caucuses will be first test of GOP’s standards after Trump indictment

The latest round of indictments against Donald Trump — 37 federal indictments, including 31 for violating the federal Espionage Act — has implications for the 2024 Iowa Republican Caucuses.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/06/14/iowa-caucuses-will-be-first-test-of-gops-standards-after-trump-indictment/?

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? Iowa forum's big winner, loser

DES MOINES, Iowa — A half-dozen GOP presidential contenders not named Donald Trump showed up at a convention center here Friday for their first big job interviews, and two things quickly became clear, Axios' Sophia Cai writes.

1. After ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson questioned the contenders before about 2,000 evangelical Christians, the crowd's favorites were Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
2. Former Vice President Mike Pence was booed as he defended his support for U.S. military aid to help Ukraine fight off Russia's invasion.

Ramaswamy's platform is straight from Trump's playbook: The 37-year-old has vowed to gut the FBI and the IRS and opposes U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

• As he left Carlson's interview at the Family Leadership Summit on Friday, Ramaswamy got a standing ovation from the evangelical crowd, which gave a similarly warm exit to DeSantis.

Carlson peppered Pence with questions about his stance on U.S. involvement in Ukraine.

• The tense exchange was symbolic of how Trump has changed the GOP: An evangelical former vice president who emphasizes national defense and his opposition to abortion — the top priority for many conservative Christians — was dismissed by a crowd of evangelicals.

? Reality check: A healthy chunk of the crowd appeared to back Trump — and seemed to be shopping for a No. 2 choice, just in case.

• Go deeper.

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? Trump's Iowa troll

Trump will travel to the Iowa State Fair on Saturday with a caravan of special guests: nine Florida Republicans who have endorsed him over DeSantis, their own governor.

• The Des Moines Register reports that Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Byron Donalds, Matt Gaetz, Carlos Gimenez, Brian Mast, Cory Mills, Anna Paulina Luna, Greg Steube and Mike Waltz will accompany Trump to the annual fair, a staple of the Iowa circuit that DeSantis will also attend.

Why it matters: The polling in Iowa has been sparse, but a recent New York Times/Siena poll found that Trump is leading DeSantis in the first-in-the-nation caucuses by 22 points — a slimmer margin than in most national surveys.

• Trump has spurned several GOP "cattle call" events in Iowa and has feuded with the state's popular Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is hosting a "fair-side chat" series with candidates Saturday.