After his campaign event at Sweet Caroline's restaurant in downtown Ames on Wednesday, 10 feet from the Super PAC's bus waiting to take him to the airport for another campaign stop in Dubuque, Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis explained what differentiates his campaign from Donald Trump's. The former president significantly outshines him in the polls.
"It's more about him," the Florida governor said, referring to attacks Trump has launched against both him and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who endorsed him in November. "That's not what it's about. It's not about me. It's not about Donald Trump. It's about the people, their families and the future of this country. So I'm running for their issues. I think Donald Trump is running on his issues."
Depsite facing stagnant polling numbers in Iowa, DeSantis still seeks to come out on top in the Iowa caucuses.
"We have the organization in place, we've got tens of thousands of commitments to caucus — I'm sure we've added a bunch just now," he said after the Ames event. "Every stop, we're going we're bringing in more people. They're going to be energized to bring in other people. And I think you're gonna see a great, great, great event for us."
In the meantime, the Super PAC that's been helping DeSantis campaign with millions of dollars in advertising faces a turn in leadership as questions between the PAC and his campaign have blurred the lines of what's legal. Federal laws prohibit coordination between presidential campaigns and outside groups. A Federal Elections Commission complaint has been filed against his campaign after a watchdog group accused it of doing so.
DeSantis has called it "a farce."
DeSantis says Trump's immigration rhetoric is 'shooting himself in the foot'
In Waterloo on Tuesday night, Trump denied he was inspired by Adolf Hitler when he said "immigrants are destroying the blood of the country."
“I never read Mein Kampf,” he said about Hitler’s fascist manifesto.
DeSantis said immigration is a "huge issue," but disagrees with how Trump is handling it.
"He's shooting himself in the foot by how he's handling it, and I think that's not how you win over the voters that we need and that he's failed to win over in the past," he said. "We really need a fresh start. We need a candidate that's going to be able to navigate these issues in a way that's productive."
DeSantis on ethanol subsidies
Trump's attacks on DeSantis have at times centered on votes the Florida governor cast on ethanol subsidies in Congress. He's criticized the Florida governor for previously opposing the nearly 20-year-old Renewable Fuel Standard
DeSantis says the RFA would remain enforced under his presidency, and added that waivers would be provided to sell E-15 ethanol year-round.
"I've talked to a lot of people in Iowa over the last six months, nine months," he said. "We understand the impact on the economy. And we understand the importance of having American-grown energy. Whether it's here with the biofuels, whether it's our natural gas or oil, I want it to be American-made."
On abortion
Several anti-abortion groups have been arguing that a 19th century law intended to fight obscenity, called the Comstock Act, should be used to outlaw abortion pills through the mail.
DeSantis told IPR News he was "not familiar" with the Comstock Act and would have to "look up on that" when asked if he would favor using it to prevent the abortion medication miferpristone to be sent through the mail.
Last year, the Biden administration's Department of Justice issued an opinion that Comstock could not be used to outlaw the mailing of abortion pills because of their many legal uses.
Reynolds' six-week abortion ban is still tied up in the courts. DeSantis says Trump's turn on abortion policy and attacks on her fetal heartbeat legislation has damged the pro-life movement.
"I think like pro-lifers in Iowa need to look at that and say, 'OK you know, this is not the same guy that he was in the past,'" DeSantis said. "And I think it's been very harmful what he said, because the left is using his comments and weaponizing that against pro-lifers, and they're gonna continue to do that every debate that comes up a referendum and all this. They're going to point to Donald Trump, and they're going to use that against pro lifers."
As for potentially supporting a federal six-week abortion ban, DeSantis said state-by-state movements toward signing similar heartbeat bills, like his state of Florida has, will "build the culture of life nationally."
