CEDAR RAPIDS – Former President Donald Trump has been the undisputed king of counterprogramming within the 2024 GOP presidential race.
Seldom lacking a possibility to upstage his rivals, Mr. Trump was again at it once more Saturday when he returned to Iowa to solid a shadow over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as he celebrated fulfilling his promise to go to the entire state’s 99 counties.
Speaking to a packed home right here at Kirkwood College, Mr. Trump stated Mr. DeSantis has been disloyal to him and stated his marketing campaign is on life assist 44 days out from the caucuses.
“We hit him hard and he’s been falling out of the air like a very seriously wounded bird,” Mr. Trump stated, sparking a rowdy applause from the group as he stood in entrance of American flags and a “Make America Great Again!” backdrop.
About 100 miles away on the “Thunderdome” marriage ceremony venue in Newton, Mr. DeSantis celebrated his completion of the complete Grassley at an occasion that additionally featured Gov. Kim Reynolds, Bob Vander Plaats, a Christian conservative activist and his spouse Casey.
“Are you ready to make history Iowa?” Mr. DeSantis stated. “We got a mission … We are going to win the Iowa caucus and that is going to propel us to be the 47th president of the United States.”
Mr. DeSantis is praying the accomplishment – named after the state’s legendary Sen. Charles E. Grassley, who has accomplished the 99 counties yearly for the final 43 years – will assist him transfer the needle in opposition to Mr. Trump forward of the Jan. 15 caucuses, the primary cease on the nomination calendar.
Mr. Trump holds a 30-point lead in Iowa, in line with the Real Clear Politics common of polls, and he touted his lead on the marketing campaign stops right here Saturday that have been scheduled after Mr. DeSantis deliberate his milestone occasion, in line with each campaigns.
Asked why their marketing campaign is so assured Mr. Trump advantages from the counterprogramming, his spokesperson Steve Cheung had a blunt take. “Nobody wants to watch community theater when they can watch Broadway,” Mr. Cheung stated.
Mr. Trump has been wrestling consideration away from his rivals – on the marketing campaign path, on social media, in tv interviews and from the courtroom – for months.
It has made it tough for them to interrupt by means of information cycles, develop their base of assist, and punch of gap in his marketing campaign’s insistence that the GOP nomination race is over.
“Trump doesn’t approach campaigns like a candidate. He approaches campaigns with the eye of an executive producer,” stated Kevin Madden, a GOP marketing consultant who labored on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential marketing campaign. “He programs the news cycle one hour at a time, and gives the media, as well as his most fervent supporters, the images and the sound bites they want and need.”
Mr. Madden stated it provides his crew a “huge advantage” as a result of it blocks the others from the political daylight, placing his rivals “unfortunate situation of just trying to grab a headline,” whereas Mr. Trump earns wall-to-wall protection.
“Campaigns are all about dictating the pace and style of the coverage and, with Trump always dominating the pace, it is very hard for his opponents to break through and go on offense against him,” Mr. Madden stated.
Mr. DeSantis was the primary attraction on the iconic Iowa State Fair this summer time proper up till the second the Trump Force One airplane buzzed over the fairgrounds, sparking hoots, hollers, and shrieks from the hordes of individuals under.
Despite skipping out on the GOP presidential debates, Mr. Trump nonetheless dominates headlines and drives the dialog.
Mr. Trump launched a pre-taped interview with Tucker Carlson 5 minutes earlier than the primary debate and held a rally miles away from the third presidential debate in Miami, the place he advised his supporters he discovered the opposite contenders “not watchable.”
Tim Murtaugh, a former Trump 2020 spokesperson and longtime GOP political marketing consultant, stated Mr. Trump sucks all of the oxygen out of the room “almost always to the detriment of what the other candidates are trying to do.”
“No matter what they’re up to, they spend a lot of their time answering questions about Trump,” Mr. Murtaugh stated. “And when they try to make news on their own, Trump can always come in and upstage them, as he has done over and over again.”
“It must be very frustrating to the other campaigns, but the fact is that Trump always makes news, and it almost always drowns out everything else,” he stated.
The DeSantis marketing campaign didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Mr. Trump’s supporters, in the meantime stated they love the best way he has tried to snuff out the competitors.
Rowdy Templer of Stanwood Iowa described the Trump technique as “genius.
“I mean, this is war, and the thing is, the first battle is Iowa,” Mr. Templer stated, flashing a smile. “I love that because it also all’s fair in love and war and politics.”
