Trump urges Iowans to vote despite his big lead

Former President Donald Trump returned to Iowa telling supporters that they need to attend the Jan. 15 GOP caucus and vote despite his huge lead in the polls.

A recent latest NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom survey found that Trump held a 32-point lead in the Republican presidential primary contest and that a majority of likely Iowa caucusgoers now backed the former president.

“We’re way, way, way up, but you have to do me a favor: Just go out and vote,” Trump said Wednesday night at his rally in Coralville, Iowa, the Washington Examiner reported.

“We have to put big numbers, really big numbers. Sometimes, you know, you’re leading by so much. They say, ‘Oh, I think, let’s sit home and watch a movie.’ You know, ‘We’ll watch the results afterwards.’ We don’t want to do that. You gotta get out and vote.”

Trump’s rally occurred on the same day the House voted to authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, and first son Hunter Biden defied a House deposition subpoena.

“Did you see Hunter today? He went to the wrong place. He went to the Senate instead of the House. Everyone’s saying, ‘Where’s Hunter?'” Trump told the crowd.

He also blasted Joe Biden and the president’s economic policies.

“As long as Crooked Joe Biden is in the White House, the American dream is dead,” Trump said, the Des Moines Register reported. “It’s dead. You don’t hear about the American dream anymore.”

The former president also commented on his top two GOP opponents, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

He attacked DeSantis on the governor’s previous opposition to ethanol subsidies, a top concern of Iowa corn farmers.

“He was totally against anything having to do with ethanol. Then now, all of a sudden, he’s a big ethanol proponent,” Trump said, CNN reported. “But one thing about politicians, when they start that way, that’s the way they end. They change for elections, but then they immediately go back.”

The former president also took aim at Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has endorsed DeSantis. Trump, who previously had agreed to endorse her, has taken credit for Reynolds’ election in 2018 and reelection in 2022.

“She ended up winning the election,” Trump said, the Des Moines Register reported.

“And then she said she’d be neutral on this election. I said, ‘Well, I’d like to be neutral also,’ but that’s not the way life works. So I said, ‘Don’t come around to any of our events.”

Trump is scheduled to also visit New Hampshire and Nevada this week, CNN reported. They are the states holding the GOP’s second and third nominating contests.