Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis both appeared at the Iowa State Fair on Saturday in what has been described as a rare convergence between the two GOP candidates for president.
President Trump, in fewer than two hours on the steaming fairgrounds in Des Moines, attracted thousands of supporters to his stops at the Iowa Pork Producers tent, a baby farm animal exhibit, and a popular Grand Concourse pub, according to reporters on the scene.
Just as Mr. DeSantis and his family were wrapping up their day at the fair, meeting with Iowa Republican leaders and activists, Mr. Trump descended into the huge scrum of backers accompanied by about a dozen Florida U.S. House members.
Right after the Florida governor was flipping burgers at the Iowa State Fair, President Trump’s plane passed overhead. Supporters of the former president then chanted: “We want Trump” and “we love Trump,” according to footage. At one point during the event, Mr. DeSantis was seen walking through a crowd of Trump supporters who were chanting “we love Trump.”
In another instance, a plane flew over the fair with a banner that read: “Be likeable, Ron.” It’s not clear who commissioned the plane.
The moves made by the frontrunner and the overwhelmingly positive reaction can be seen as a stark reminder to Mr. DeSantis, who polls show is behind President Trump in both Iowa and nationally. A New York Times-Siena poll released earlier this month shows President Trump with 44 percent support as compared with Mr. DeSantis’ 20 percent. A poll from Cygnal, released Aug. 10, shows President Trump with 53 percent nationally, while Mr. DeSantis got 10 percent.
Mr. DeSantis and other candidates at the fair called out President Trump for his recent criticism of Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has taken a pledge of neutrality and hosted a series of one-on-one conversations that most GOP candidates accepted, but that the 45th president declined.
