"President Donald Trump held a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, today.
"Now, like every Trump rally, you know it’s going to have a lot built into it.
"But this one, because of the location, has a little bit of a deeper meaning for 2024, because Iowa is the state front and center of any presidential primary run.
"Trump pointed to the importance of Iowa in the effort to take back the House and Senate in 2022, then the White House in 2024. The Republicans need a net gain of just one seat in the Senate and a net gain of five in the House to win back the majority. The only Democrat in the House from Iowa narrowly won, so Republicans are definitely targeting that seat as one of the possibilities to try to grab back.
"Trump is definitely more popular than Joe Biden is in Iowa now, with 53% of Iowans having a favorable view of him, as opposed to 45 percent unfavorable. According to a recent Iowa poll, Biden is deeply underwater there, with 31 percent of Iowans approve of how Biden is handling his job, while 62 percent disapprove, and seven percent are not sure.
"Thousands were out early Saturday for the rally, and they were treated with a plane touting the message: “Let’s go, Brandon!” The saying has become a popular movement, along with the more ribald version: “F**k Joe Biden” — spawned last week after an NBC reporter tried to spin NASCAR fans chanting the latter as though they were chanting for driver Brandon Brown.
"Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and longtime GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley, who will be running again, both spoke before Trump." . . .