Newton, IowaIt's midday in the American Midwest and I'm in a packed community hall in Iowa, praying for Donald Trump.
A woman next to me lowers her head and closes her eyes as she stands wearing a black jacket with the words: “Jesus is my Savior; Trump is my president.”
In front of me is a tall, thin man dressed like Abraham Lincoln, his top hat, white beard, and tie making him the spitting image of the nation's 16th leader.
Supporters bow their heads in prayer before Donald Trump's “Commit to the Caucus” rally in Clinton, Iowa.credit: AP
On stage, a local pastor, Dick Green, appears, recalling the scriptures of the Prophet Ezekiel: So God looked for a man to stand in the gap, but he did not find him.
“God has found one in Donald J. Trump,” Green says, as the crowd cheers before the former president's scheduled appearance. “Lord, bless this gathering and our time with President Trump.”
The road to the White House passes through Iowa, the agricultural state that has traditionally been the first state in the United States to nominate its chosen presidential candidate, to begin the general election.
Here, amid the rolling plains, evangelical churches and hog farms of America's pig capital, fundamental issues like faith, liberty and economics will take center stage on January 15 when GOP members take part in the important Iowa caucuses.
Iowa Democrats also plan to start their caucuses on the same day as Republicans, but they will not announce results until March 5.
Do well here and you'll likely build momentum for primaries in later states, like New Hampshire and South Carolina. But the performance was poor, and that could be debilitating, or even lead to the end of a candidate's campaign.
Republican presidential candidate and former president, Donald Trump, arrives to speak at a rally.credit: AP
With only a few days to go until the first votes were cast, she decided to visit Iowa – coincidentally, on the third anniversary of the attack on the US Capitol – to talk to voters at one of Trump’s “Stay Caucus” rallies.
I've covered many of the former president's campaign events before, but they are somewhat smaller and more targeted, designed to galvanize his base and ensure they show up next week to the “caucus” on his behalf, so he can secure the nomination before his election. Closest contenders: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Ultimately, this is an election like no other: If we believe the polls, Trump remains the favorite to become the Republican nominee, setting the stage for a potential rematch with Joe Biden in 2020, despite facing 91 criminal charges.
The incumbent president raised the stakes over the weekend, using his first campaign speech this year to frame the contest as a new test of American democracy.
But for Trump supporters, who braved near-zero temperatures to gather in the blue-collar town of Newton to see their man on Saturday, it is Biden and Democrats who pose the real threat: fueling an “invasion” of illegal immigrants; allowing “men to compete in women’s sports”; “Weaponizing the government” to prosecute the main candidate.
“I think it's a witch-hunt; “I think it's all political,” Knoxville resident Anna Heaton told me when I asked her what she thought of Trump's legal troubles. “They want him gone because he will win.”
A Trump supporter at the Iowa caucus.credit: Farah Tomazin
As for the Capitol riot, when Trump supporters stormed the historic building in Washington, hoping to prevent the certification of Biden's win?
“He wasn't there,” she says. “You can't control what other people do. It's their choice, so I don't think he should be responsible.”
The first thing you notice at the Trump rally is the line to get in. Trump wasn't scheduled to speak until 1 p.m., but I arrived around 9:30 a.m. after receiving an email the night before with “instructions to guests” suggesting attendees arrive early.
But by the time I got there, the line was already hundreds of people long; Soon after, the car was turning around the community center parking lot.
Most of the crowd was die-hard Trump fans, wearing little Trump MAGA or “F— Biden” hats, while volunteers with clipboards walked around, taking names and handing out “I'll Rally for Trump” stickers.
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One man pushed a small cart full of Trump merchandise for sale; Another criticized the Beach Boys from his “Trump tractor” megaphone, which was painted with the stars and stripes of the American flag.
Behind me I notice a diverse group of university students, who turn out to be part of a study program run by Duke University in North Carolina.
Among them is Andrew Sun, 20, who has spent the past few days with colleagues attending caucuses across Iowa featuring DeSantis, Haley and another Republican candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy.
“I'm a registered Democrat in North Carolina, so this was a more exciting experience, but it was also eye-opening,” he says.
“I can disagree with a lot of the positions that are put forward, but it's still interesting to see how they communicate in order to energize people.”
Few politicians energize their base as much as Trump, whose grievance-laden politics propelled his political career in 2016 and powered his comeback after losing the 2020 election.
Heather Hora, a corn and soybean farmer who now represents a state district in southeastern Iowa, believes “no one has been tougher on China” than Trump, who she says has “brought common sense back to agriculture.”
In Iowa, Andrew Sun, wearing a green jacket, and his friends from Duke University with a Trump fan dressed as President Abraham Lincoln.credit: Farah Tomazin
Michael Godart says he wasn't initially a Trump supporter, “but the thing that changed me was that he actually followed through on his campaign promises.”
Charlie McClintock laments Biden's economic record, insisting that “pedium economics” — which pushes the president to “grow the economy from the bottom up and from the middle out” — simply doesn't work.
“It used to be that you could go and cash a paycheck and get a little extra to put in the bank,” he says. “So many people are now living paycheck to paycheck, and this is devastating the middle class, not to mention the people struggling to get food and heat their homes.”
Shortly after 1 p.m. – after the opening prayer – chants of “USA!” USA!”, and two educational videos to inform the public how to participate in next week's Iowa caucuses – the former president hits the stage.
He begins as he usually does: with lines written on a teleprompter highlighting his past policies, meandering statements attacking his enemies, and dire warnings that this election will be the “final battle” to “save America.”
But in a nearly two-hour speech, the 77-year-old Republican sets the tone for what's to come this year. He accuses Biden of being the real threat to democracy “because he is incompetent” and mocks the 81-year-old president’s stuttering and cognitive ability.
He insists that the wars in Israel and Ukraine would not have happened under his watch, and praises authoritarian strongmen such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
He renews his claim that the election was rigged, and gives a glimpse of what another Trump presidency might look like: “The largest deportation program ever”; Comprehensive reform of the Ministry of Justice; Investigations against Democratic-aligned prosecutors; Reduce funding for schools that teach critical race theory.
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There is even an idea to build an “iron dome” over America, similar to the Israeli air defense system.
“do you want that?” he asks as the crowd explodes with cheers and applause.
“Isn't this better than giving other countries billions of dollars to build a dome, while we don't have one ourselves? We will have the greatest dome ever!”
This is the second version of Trump: always the showman, but he seems angrier at what he truly sees as a political witch hunt designed to prevent him from sitting, once again, behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
“America was stronger, richer, safer and more confident than ever before when I was behind that beautiful desk,” he says.
“I love this resolute desk.”
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