Donald Trump started his speech before an estimated 2,300 people at Sioux City’s Orpheum Theatre by mentioning the name of the city about 80 miles to the north, in South Dakota.
“Hello, to a place we have done very well, Sioux Falls," he said. "Thank you also to this incredible state that has been good for us.”
But that misstep didn’t dim the enthusiasm of the crowd that approved of his put-downs of President Joe Biden and views on agriculture, the southern border, international diplomacy and his popularity even as he faces legal issues.
“We’re seeing numbers we have never seen before," Trump said. "But we’re going to crush crooked Joe Biden. We’re going to make America great again. We’re going to put America first."
Trump says he is not taking the Iowa caucuses for granted. This was his eighth Iowa campaign event in a little more than a month. He last visited Sioux City in November of 2022.
“I was very disrespectful to Iowa," he said. "I'd like to apologize because I go around saying of course we're going to win Iowa and my people said you cannot assume that to this extent well, we are I think we're up by 47 points or something, which we should.”
Trump talked about how he supported Iowa by backing ethanol and a $28 billion trade deal with China.
“I saved the farmers, I saved them,” he said.
Trump spoke for more than 80 minutes and did not mention his former vice president, Mike Pence, who dropped out of the race over the weekend. He did, however, slam his GOP rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
“I call her 'bird brain,'" he said, referring to Haley. "Highly overrated. She's a very highly overrated person, but to 'Sanctimonious,' is really over. Did anybody ever see anybody fall so fast?"
Other speakers at the rally included Iowa State Sen. Brad Zaun, Matt Whitaker, the former acting United States Attorney General and Ben Carson, who ran against Trump in 2016. Carson, who served in Trump’s cabinet, endorsed the former president before he took the stage. They urged people in the audience to sign up as caucus captains during the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15.
