The Epoch Times raced around the Hawkeye State, seeing four candidates speak in five days.
Iowa isn’t as flat as it looks.
On either side of its rivers–and Iowa is a well-watered state–tall bluffs overlook bottomland. At Ledges State Park south of Boone, the fields and rolling forests give way to gulches and sandstone cliffs. Elsewhere, birds of prey wheel above golden hills.
The state slopes gradually upward, from lows in the southeast along the Mississippi River to Hawkeye Point in the northwest. It’s a preview of the rise to the High Plains and, still further west, the Rocky Mountains. Take I-80 fast enough, and you feel like you’re speeding to, or possibly from, the American Dream.
On the Iowa campaign trail, that steady rise in the land can seem a little like former President Donald J. Trump’s ascent in advance of the state’s first-in-the-nation caucus. Despite, or because of, multiple criminal indictments and other legal battles, he has solidified a huge lead while his chief opponent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has lost ground.
As of Oct. 12, Real Clear Politics’ poll average shows President Trump at 50.3 percent, far ahead of Mr. DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Mr. DeSantis has plummeted from 28 percent in May to 17.3 percent by Oct. 12, according to the same poll average.
Over five days in early October, The Epoch Times raced around the Hawkeye State to hear from all four of those leading candidates.
Midway through the tour, Hamas’s attack on Israel intensified the competition among contenders. Amid widespread horror at those deaths and humanitarian concern over civilians in both Israel and Gaza, a “surging” of munitions and other support to Israel escalated U.S. involvement in a war that could enmesh Hamas’s sponsor, Iran, and Lebanon, home of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, now skirmishing with Israel.
Syria claims Israel has already struck two international airports within its borders. The move was condemned by Russia, already at odds with the United States in the midst of the Russia-Ukraine war.
China, meanwhile, could be poised to attack Taiwan. Some worry that events in the Middle East could distract America from its commitments in the Pacific.
While some blame events now unfolding on President Trump’s Abraham Accords, the ongoing conflict started well into President Joe Biden’s tenure. For Americans sympathetic to his message, President Trump’s frequent talk of preventing “World War III” may have renewed force.
President Trump’s primary season rivals remain hesitant to criticize him in front of the Republican base, which is almost as pro-Trump as it is pro-Israel. Yet, while they may not be able to say it out loud, they can only hope his Iowa campaign stumbles into a gulch.
