{"id":1918277,"date":"2023-04-23T08:56:04","date_gmt":"2023-04-23T12:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/at-iowa-2024-event-trump-looms-large-even-from-afar\/"},"modified":"2023-04-23T16:24:11","modified_gmt":"2023-04-23T20:24:11","slug":"at-iowa-2024-event-trump-looms-large-even-from-afar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/at-iowa-2024-event-trump-looms-large-even-from-afar\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s Presence Felt at Iowa 2024 Event, Even from a Distance"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fat-iowa-2024-event-trump-looms-large-even-from-afar%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1918277&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"post_content\">\n<div class=\"aplayer_app\" data-source=\"https:\/\/vs1.youmaker.com\/assets\/2023\/0423\/5500b7f6-eb8d-43e5-8e99-6d5469704f0c\/audio.mp3?length=2962413&#038;duration=247\"><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Picture this: the Horizon Event Center outside Des Moines, Iowa, was packed on the evening of April 22. And it&#8217;s no surprise why. With many months still to go before the Hawkeye State holds its first-in-the-nation Republican presidential primary, likely and confirmed contenders for 2024 flocked to the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition\u2019s 2023 Spring kick-off. They were hoping to show evangelical Christians and other religious conservatives that they care.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5203708\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/04\/18\/id5203708-GettyImages-1474412719.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy laughs before taking the stage at the Vision \u201924 National Conservative Forum in Charleston, S.C., on March 18, 2023. (Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5214846\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/04\/23\/id5214846-04222023-DSC07493-Perry-Johnson.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Republican presidential candidate Perry Johnson attends the Iowa Faith &#038; Freedom Coalition in Clive, Iowa, on April 22, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu\/The Epoch Times)<\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5214863\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/04\/23\/id5214863-04222023-DSC07061-Mike-Pence.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Iowa Faith &#038; Freedom Coalition in Clive, Iowa, on April 22, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu\/The Epoch Times)<\/figure>\n<p>Former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), entrepreneurs Vivek Ramaswamy and Perry Johnson, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and radio host Larry Elder were among the men and women who took the stage.<\/p>\n<p>But the crowd&#8217;s response to former President Donald J. Trump, who appeared via video, showed just how much ground Trump&#8217;s rivals have to cover, even in a setting where the thrice-married former president&#8217;s less-than-pious reputation has been presented as a big handicap by the legacy media.<\/p>\n<p>One attendee, Lynn Vogel Flessas, was decked out in red, complete with a &#8220;Keep America Great&#8221; cowboy hat and a glittering, gun-shaped purse. She believes energy independence for the United States was Trump&#8217;s greatest accomplishment and hopes he stays strong. &#8220;Everyone in my circle loves him,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5214821\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/04\/23\/id5214821-04222023-DSC08091-Iowa-Faith-Freedom-Coalition-1200x800.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Two Iowa Faith &#038; Freedom Coalition guests pose for a photo in Clive, Iowa, on April 22, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu\/The Epoch Times)<\/figure>\n<p>Leanne Pellett, who was manning the booth for the Iowa Wildlife Foundation, thinks Trump would be the choice &#8220;if he keeps his mouth in control.&#8221; Lisa Schneider, the wife of former Iowa Senate President Charles Schneider, wants a candidate who could &#8220;bring us back pre-COVID pandemic, where things were really going in the right direction.&#8221; Gloria Mazza, who chairs the Polk County GOP, said she&#8217;s heard from people who like Trump as well as those who&#8217;d prefer a different candidate.<\/p>\n<h2>The Trump Legacy<\/h2>\n<p>The Trump legacy colored remarks from speakers seeking to court the GOP&#8217;s more religious and conservative wing&#8211;a wing that has historically played a big role in the Hawkeye State. In 2012, for example, the conservative Catholic Rick Santorum won the Iowa caucus.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3828043\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/05\/24\/rick-Santorum.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Rick Santorum arrives for a meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York on Dec. 12, 2016. (Kena Betancur\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>Businessman Perry Johnson, another 2024 hopeful, warned half-jokingly that he could be too conservative for the crowd. He also stressed his disagreement with Pence over Ukraine. &#8220;I think it&#8217;s ridiculous to send $100 billion to Ukraine when we&#8217;re going broke,&#8221; he said, drawing cheers and applause from the audience. He also criticized Trump&#8217;s main rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for not appearing at the event, calling it a &#8220;huge mistake.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Pence commented obliquely on DeSantis&#8217; absence when questioned on it by reporters. &#8220;I think the people of Iowa appreciate it when they see you,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the evening of April 22, the Horizon Event Center outside Des Moines, Iowa, was packed. It\u2019s little wonder. With many months still to go before the Hawkeye State holds its first-in-the-nation Republican presidential primary, likely and confirmed contenders for 2024 flocked to the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition\u2019s 2023 Spring kick-off, hoping to show<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":1918278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[4506,17926,4864,5626,5430,3794],"class_list":["post-1918277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times","tag-4506","tag-distance","tag-event","tag-iowa","tag-presence","tag-trumps"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1918277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1918278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1918277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1918277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1918277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}