On the evening of April 22, the Horizon Event Center outside Des Moines, Iowa, was packed.
It’s 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’s 2023 Spring kick-off, hoping to show evangelical Christians and other religious conservatives that they care.
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.
Yet the crowd’s exceptionally enthusiastic response to former President Donald J. Trump, who came to the event by video, shows just how much ground Trump’s rivals have to cover, even in a setting where the thrice-married former president’s less-than-pious reputation has been presented as a big handicap by the legacy media.
Just ask Lynn Vogel Flessas.
She was decked out in red, complete with a “Keep America Great” cowboy hat. She carried a glittering, gun-shaped purse.
“I get a lot of compliments on my evening bag,” Flessas told The Epoch Times.
She thinks energy independence for the United States was Trump’s greatest accomplishment.
Before Biden entered the White House, “we were poised for an era of prosperity like no other time in the United States,” Flessas said. She added that she believes the 2020 election was rigged.
“I do hope and pray that Donald Trump never varies from his course. I hope he stays strong, because everyone in my circle loves him.”
The lady in the KAG hat was far from alone in appreciating the man from Mar-a-Lago.
Leanne Pellett, who was manning the booth for the Iowa Wildlife Foundation, told The Epoch Times she thinks Trump would be the choice “if he keeps his mouth in control.”
“The other person I like is DeSantis,” she added.
Lisa Schneider, the wife of former Iowa Senate President Charles Schneider, told The Epoch Times she wants a candidate who could “bring us back pre-COVID pandemic, where things were really going in the right direction.”
She thinks Trump and DeSantis currently stand out.
“Peoples’ minds could change [with] more people jumping in,” Schneider added.
Gloria Mazza, who chairs the Polk County GOP, said she’s heard from people who like Trump as well as those who’d prefer a different candidate.
“I think everybody’s listening to everybody,” she said.
The Trump Legacy
The Trump legacy colored remarks from speakers seeking to court the GOP’s more religious and conservative wing–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.
In an interview with The Epoch Times, Ramaswamy, who is known for frequent public praise of Trump, said he was a better candidate than the former commander in chief precisely because he could take America First to the next level, through a program he has dubbed “America First 2.0.”
Pence, who has distanced himself from his former boss, credited the previous administration with Supreme Court picks that “sent Roe vs. Wade to the ash heap of history, where it belongs.”
And businessman Perry Johnson, another 2024 hopeful, warned half-jokingly that he could be too conservative for the crowd—part of a rhetoric of defiance after years in which Republicans faced accusations of fascism simply for supporting Trump.
He also stressed his disagreement with Pence over Ukraine.
“I think it’s ridiculous to send $100 billion to Ukraine when we’re going broke,” he said, drawing cheers and applause from the audience.
He also criticized Trump’s main rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for not appearing at the event, calling it a “huge mistake.”
Pence commented obliquely on DeSantis’ absence when questioned on it by reporters.
“I think the people of Iowa appreciate it when they see you,” he said.
