The center of attention in the Hawkeye State on Saturday, Former President Donald Trump, the leading GOP candidate for president in 2024, partied with an Iowa State fraternity, flipped burgers, and even threw footballs into the crowd of those gathered to see him. Based in Ames, Iowa, Iowa State University, faced off Saturday against in-state rival University of Iowa.
Prior to the game, Trump visited the Alpha Gamma Rho (AGR) agriculture fraternity house, where he threw footballs lined up on a beer pong table into the crowd of those gathered to see him. Students were obviously very pleased to have him there, shouting “Trump, Trump, Trump!”
A huge crowd was waiting there for him. Trump even took an interest in flipping some burgers on scene, then stopping for a photo with the frat members, before heading to the game. When Trump arrived at Jack Trice Stadium for the game, the massive crowd went wild. Even after the game, Trump was ushered out with overwhelmingly welcome chants of fans shouting “USA, USA,USA!”
Trump continues to demonstrate that despite his legal battles he is still here, still forging ahead and has no plan to do otherwise. His presence before, during and after the game was an amazing example of his ability to get his message of hope, change and looking toward to a better future for the nation, out there. Everywhere he went, Iowa fans welcomed him.
Trump currently polls with majority support in Iowa, with 51 percent ahead of January’s caucuses. This is according to the latest polling out of Iowa, conducted by pollster Civiqs in conjunction with Iowa State. The next closest candidate, is reportedly Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who trails Trump in Iowa by 37 percent. As his campaign now admits he might not win Iowa, DeSantis has dropped down to just 14 percent support.
Signaling that he needed to win Iowa to keep his bid for the White House alive, DeSantis’s team had previously focused on the state, but now aides for the Florida governor’s struggling 2024 bid told Politico this week, that if he comes in at least a “strong second” he thinks he will be okay. Strangely, DeSantis’s team even says they can still win the nomination without winning any states.
With solid footing, Trump, on Friday night, secured the endorsement of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, whose state borders Iowa. At one point, a possible contender for her own 2024 campaign, Noem decided instead quite clearly to back Trump.
"The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet."
-Theodore M. Hesburgh