On Monday former President Donald Trump once again took a jab at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a rally in Iowa. As he stated during the event, he was going to “protect Iowa ethanol from anyone who wishes to destroy it.” DeSantis had previously voted in favor of restructuring or withdrawing subsidies for agricultural products including ethanol.
DeSantis also made a recent visit to the state on Friday; however, his visit was mainly focused on the promotion of his new book. Still, many have speculated that his visit to the state was made as a prospective presidential candidate.
Trump once again used his infamous nicknames for DeSantis, “DeSanctis” and “DeSanctimonious,” to state that he had “fought against it at every turn, and he’s going to do that again.” He then claimed that DeSantis reminded him of Mitt Romney who was the 2012 GOP nominee but had failed to win the election against then-President Barack Obama. Romney is now serving as a senator.
However, during his attack on DeSantis, the crowd was relatively quiet. In Iowa, many voters and political leaders are still uncommitted to a specific candidate as the GOP primary is still forming.
GOP state Rep. Helena Hayes, who attended Trump’s speech after having a meeting of state legislators with DeSantis on Friday revealed that she is planning on meeting with all of the Presidential candidates before deciding whom to endorse. She added that there are also concerns surrounding Trump’s electability after he lost the 2020 presidential election.
