Trump adviser: 'Nothing is finalized' on VP pick
A Trump campaign adviser told NBC News that “nothing is finalized” on Trump’s vice presidential pick, though Trump tonight seemed to suggest he had decided on one. “He’ll announce his final pick when he’s ready to,” the adviser said.
Trump said in the Fox News town hall that he had already chosen his running mate. “I can’t tell you that, really,” Trump said when he was asked who his running mate would be. “I mean, I know who it’s going to be."
I'm not sure Haley seems more relatable to average voters by bragging that she stayed at the Residence Inn.
DeSantis endorser Bob Vander Plaats says he's doing 'what it takes' to win Iowa
Bob Vander Plaats, the president and CEO of the conservative evangelical organization The Family Leader, said today on "Top Story with Tom Llamas" that he thinks DeSantis can win Iowa.
“Ron DeSantis has done the Iowa caucuses the old-fashioned way," Vander Plaats said. "He’s gotten a lot of key endorsements. And the most important one is that of Gov. Kim Reynolds. He’s got a bunch of legislative endorsements. He’s got 120 county chairs for 99 counties, 1,600 precinct captains. That’s what it takes to win an Iowa caucus, especially on a cold winter’s night."
Vander Plaats also responded to criticism from Trump, saying: “This is not against Donald Trump. This is for the future of this country and for the next generation. And that’s why I endorsed Ron DeSantis.”
He added: “I met Donald Trump, like he just said, in Trump Tower in New York City 12 years ago — immediately, we struck up a friendship that went beyond presidential politics. While I voted for the former president in 2016 and again in 2020, I’ve never endorsed him now in 2024. I remain a friend to him while endorsing Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.”
On Christie’s dropping out of the race, he said: “Gov. Christie was in the race the entire time not really to be president. I said that right off the bat — he was there just to stop Donald Trump from ever becoming president again.”
First Kim Reynolds mention comes an hour into debate
It's somewhat surprising that DeSantis' first mention of the Iowa governor, his top endorser in the state, clocked in at the hour mark of this debate.
This is the closing argument before the Iowa caucuses, but I’m struck by how non-Iowa-centric the focus of the debate is. Does this help any of the undecided Iowans I’ve met these last few weeks make a choice?
But the renewable fuel standard!
Haley brings up Secretary Austin controversy, calls situation 'unforgivable'
Haley brought up the controversy surrounding Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's decision not to inform Biden that he was in the hospital for several days.
She criticized Biden, saying, "What bothers me is how does Biden not talk to his secretary of defense every single day?" and saying, "The idea that the secretary of defense would not even be in contact with the president, much less than contact with the staff, is unforgivable."
Haley stressed that the issue was especially personal to her given that her husband is currently deployed.
DeSantis emphasizes school choice
The “school choice” issue DeSantis is hitting — and hitting Haley on — is a big one for Republicans in Iowa. He’s talking to voters here. It was the centerpiece of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ agenda.
DeSantis reminding us that this debate is actually taking place in Iowa, just five days ahead of the caucuses. He told the audience he’s been endorsed by Reynolds and has mentioned his tour of the state’s 99 counties at least twice.
DeSantis' Disney fight illustrates the GOP's evolution
While much of the first 50 minutes of this debate sounded like a throwback to the pre-Trump GOP days in policy terms, DeSantis showed how much the Republican Party has changed with his answer to the question about government leaders' pushing back on companies that don't align with their political views.
DeSantis' fights against Disney have been a staple of his stump speech — and tonight they're again a reminder that such an aggressive stance against private industry is a relatively new feature in a party that relatively recently championed free enterprise without interference.
As we approach the end of this first hour, I wonder whether Haley has lost the forest for the trees. She’s gotten bogged down in parrying DeSantis on every micro point he makes and plugging the website and vanishingly little time attacking Trump or Biden. If she’s the forward-looking candidate with momentum in this race, the last 55 minutes don’t show it.
It is as if both Haley and DeSantis are hyperventilating trying to say as much as they can because this is their last chance. Because it might be their last chance — if they can't get close enough to Trump in Iowa on Monday, it could all be over quickly.
Abortion has been a tricky issue for Trump. And in an emotional question directed at him by an anti-abortion-rights Iowa voter, it continued to be.
The woman asking the question pointed out that Trump had “blamed” anti-abortion-rights candidates for political losses across the country since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, before she asked Trump to “reassure” her that he could “protect all life without compromise.”
Trump spent several minutes responding and jumped around several topics.
He began by saying it was his Supreme Court justices that gave conservatives a 6-3 majority that ultimately overturned Roe.
“I’m proud to have done it,” he said. “We did something that was a miracle.”
He then said he supported exceptions in state abortion bans, including exceptions for rape and incest and the life of the woman.
“I happen to be for the exceptions,” he said. “I just have to be there,” he added about his position on exceptions.
But Trump, one sentence later, then said, “You have to win elections” — an apparent reference to his previous statements that strict anti-abortion-rights positions will continue to contribute to Republican losses.
“Otherwise you’re going to be back where you were, and you can’t let that ever happen again,” he continued.
Trump went on to double down on his opposition to a six-week ban, like the one DeSantis signed in Florida, saying that at “five or six weeks — a lot of women don’t know if they’re pregnant in five or six weeks.”
“I want to get something where people are happy,” he added.
“So we’re going to come up with something that people want and people like,” he said.