'What’s so bad about impeachment?': 'Arrogant' Trump rails against Biden in Iowa attack

While his opponents hope to use the 2024 caucuses as a jumping-off point to break his lead in national polling, former President Donald Trump told Iowans on Saturday that he’s not concerned about appearing “arrogant.”

“Somebody said ‘Sir, please don’t take Iowa or Nebraska or Wisconsin or others — farm areas — please don’t take them for granted, sir. It’s not good,'” Trump told supporters in Cedar Rapids. “I said, ‘Listen, I got them $28 billion from China. And if I sound a little arrogant — I don’t see them voting against me no matter what I do. So, I don’t want to sound arrogant, but we are leading here by 44 points.”

Trump held rallies in Waterloo and Cedar Rapids on Saturday as a part of his fall push to lock down support in the first-in-the-nation state. In addition to Trump’s speeches, advocates and surrogates shared information on how to “commit to caucus” for the candidate and provided training on how to caucus in preparation for the Jan. 15, 2024, Republican precinct caucuses.

According to polling analysis by fivethirtyeight, Trump continues to hold a double-digit lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his closest competitor, in Iowa. The Iowa polling results are similar to those nationally, where the outlet found Trump maintains the support of 55% of those polled, followed by DeSantis at 14%, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 7%.

Trump said his large lead in polling shows that the GOP primary debates — both of which he skipped — are pointless.

“They’re going to cancel all the debates after Miami, that’s what I hear,” Trump told the crowd. “Makes sense, right? You know, when you’re up 62 points, I mean — what’s the purpose of this thing?”

Instead of attending the second Republican presidential debate in Simi Valley, California, Trump traveled to Michigan for the United Auto Workers strike. Speaking at Drake Enterprises, a non-union automotive parts manufacturer in Clinton Township, Michigan, he competed for manufacturing workers’ support with President Joe Biden, who joined the UAW picket line the day prior.

Trump said that if auto workers want their jobs to exist in two years, they need to support him for president over Biden. Biden’s electric vehicle policies will push car manufacturing jobs overseas, he said — adding that he knows the union will not endorse him because they have supported Democrats “about 200 years prior to cars coming out.”

The former president spent much of his time in Waterloo and Cedar Rapids criticizing the Biden administration’s policies aimed at supporting electric-vehicle manufacturing and environmental standards. These measures will not just hurt auto workers, Trump said, but Iowa farmers as well.

“Biden’s insane electric-vehicle mandates will totally decimate gas-powered cars, and if it happens, Iowa ethanol is dead,” he said. “Instead, you’re not going to be needing ethanol, you’re not going to be needing gasoline. And you’re gonna never take a trip that’s more than 12 minutes from your house.”

He also highlighted his support for Iowa farmers through his trade policies, pointing to measures like imposing tariffs on Chinese products. Trump said he would expand those tariffs if elected president in 2024, enforcing “reciprocal tariffs” on imports from any countries that impose tariffs on American imports.

“They put it on us, we put it on them,” Trump said. “One of two things is gonna happen: We’ll collect a lot of money and that’s fine, and so will they, or they’ll drop the tax and we’ll drop the tax, and it’s simple. You don’t have an accounting problem.”

A vote for Biden means “the future will be made in China,” Trump said. He also criticized Biden, who defeated him in the 2020 general election, for allowing construction of roughly 20 miles of border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border using funds set aside during Trump’s presidency. While Biden said he had no say in the allotment, as the funds had already been appropriated in 2019, before he took office, Trump said Biden is going along with the funding “simply because he’s afraid of being impeached.”

“What’s so bad about impeachment?” he said. “I got impeached twice, and my poll numbers went up. The difference is, he should be impeached. … I got impeached over a phone call, which turned out to be perfect.”

He also spoke about his indictments since leaving office in 2020, saying the court battles in New York and Georgia were over “nothing.”

“Every time the radical left, Democrats, Marxists, communists and fascists indict me, I consider it a great badge of honor,” Trump said. “Because — thank you very much — I am being indicted for you.”

Trump plans to return to Iowa on Oct. 16, according to his campaign.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.