Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail and conducted his second rally in as many days when he spoke to his base in Des Moines, Iowa.
The president comfortably won the state back in 2016 but still felt the need to hold a rally in the state, despite the pandemic.
Scenes from the crowd that turned up to see Trump showed little to no evidence of social distancing measures being in place but some supporters were wearing face masks.
Trump’s Iowa crowd tonight. https://t.co/1UV7jZA4vB— Jennifer Jacobs (@Jennifer Jacobs) 1602717804
Trump spoke for nearly 90 minutes on Wednesday and started things off by admitting that he was "concerned" by the fact that he was only six points up in the state, despite everything that he has done for them.
"For me to only be up six [in Iowa], I'm a little bit concerned, I'll tell you that." -- Trump https://t.co/4jNO0ITCuF— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602718615
The first big talking point was the controversial Hunter Biden story and his alleged dealings with a Ukrainian energy executive which was strongly pushed by Republicans on Tuesday. The spread of the story has already been limited by Facebook and Twitter but that didn't stop Trump from rambling about it in the open spiel of his speech.
Trump wastes no time hyping the already discredited Hunter Biden emails story https://t.co/0leRuIcnvo— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602718710
As you can imagine, Trump was quite happy to talk about this at length and claimed that the Obama Biden administration was the 'most corrupt in history' and that Biden shouldn't be allowed to run for president.
Trump claims Biden "should not even be allowed to run for the presidency." https://t.co/35ui2VfGLW— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602718839
Trump then brings up the story about Bruce Ohr resigning from the department of justice, which has hardly been a major story but Trump still wanted the people of Iowa to know about it.
"Do you hear the news? Bruce Orr is finally out of the Department of Justice" -- Trump brings this up like people i… https://t.co/uGUeR0FVGi— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602718951
Trump moved back to Biden and seemed to have trouble saying the name of the energy company that the Democrats have been linked to.
"Burimisia" https://t.co/696vlnvMq2— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602719013
Continuing to rundown Biden, Trump claimed that the former vice president made a profit out of the job.
The Biden family treated the vice presidency As a for-profit corporation flying around the globe. Collecting millions of dollars from China and Ukraine and Russia and other countries, in fact, the wife of the mayor of Moscow, gave Hunter Biden a check for $3.5 million in cash while his father gave away the store to Russia, including Crimea, remember Crimea.
Ironically, Trump criticises Biden for getting 'rich and powerful at your expense.'
Joe Biden personifies the selfless and corrupt globalists who got rich and powerful at your expense. Take a look at the people that are funding his campaign. People assumed that they'd be funding my campaign, I don't want them, We don't want them, we never needed them.
Trump then goes into some very contentious territory claiming that 'Biden and his cronies' have 'flooded your communities with illegal immigration, deadly drugs, MS-13 savages that assault, rape, and murder innocent Americans.'
"They lived behind gated walls and they flooded your communities with illegal immigration, deadly drugs, MS-13 sava… https://t.co/XNZNI0gfLq— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602719337
Trump then goes for a trip down memory lane and is reminiscing about the 2016 election which he claims was the 'most exciting evening in the history of television.'
It was one of the greatest evenings ever. There are those who say it was the most exciting evening in the history of television the highest-rated evening in the history of television, And you know what the election we have coming up on November 3rd is actually more important.
After 15 minutes, Trump started to complain about the wind and decided to remove his tie and put on a MAGA hat.
"Should I take off the tie, or no?" -- Trump is now doing costume change https://t.co/arWMoaEBt6— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602719541
Trump then openly admits that if the Obama administration had done a good job then he wouldn't be the current president.
The only reason I'm your president is because the previous administration did a poor job, so poor, in fact, that I said I'm going to run for president and you know what, if they did a good job, I wouldn't have run and if they did a good job. I guess I wouldn't have won when you think I wouldn't have run and I wouldn't have won, but they were so bad and it turns out that was so totally corrupt.
The president then tries to claim that the country was starting to come together under his leadership but that was all scuppered by coronavirus.
Trump realizes that people who can make sense of his speech are more than 6 months old and remember that the countr… https://t.co/Gdg5dZXsz4— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602719889
He then talks about US senator and Iowa native Joni Ernst but has trouble saying the name of the state.
Trump mangles the word "Iowa" in Iowa https://t.co/m8xgGChPDC— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602720634
A truly distasteful moment occurred when Trump tried to mimic Joe Biden but appeared to imply that his opponent had difficulties raising his arm.
Trump mockingly mimics Joe Biden. #BeBest https://t.co/LlqCLWJ3sa— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602721077
Trump tried to paint a very simplistic picture of what he thinks suburban women want from politicians.
"I saved the suburbs. I saved the suburbs" -- delusional stuff from Trump https://t.co/MNqCb7xNSU— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602721153
Trump then lashes out at former Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker who he calls 'stupid.'
"We're not gonna destroy the American dream for stupid people like Cory Booker ... yeah, he did a great job as mayo… https://t.co/VKWUxwrefj— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602721245
In less than a minute Trump explains that his youngest son, Barron had Covid-19 but again calls it the 'China-virus' but adds that he associates the word 'corona' with Italy.
Trump says that Barron Trump has "corona-19" https://t.co/1wKRBVnXVk— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602721322
Trump also talks about his bout with Covid-19 and claims that when he was in the hospital he was 'surrounded' by 12 doctors.
The President talks about how he had twelve doctors https://t.co/FKSYx3m9vK— Acyn (@Acyn) 1602721608
Around 50 minutes into his speech, Trump gets distracted by a F-35 fighter jet which he thinks 'sounds good' and adds that 'you can't see it.' Oh no, not this again Donald.
Trump gets distracted by a plane that he describes (dubiously since he's at an international airport) as "a brand n… https://t.co/AZrFfwcOXY— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602721596
Trump then started to invite some of his pals up on to the stage, including Iowa governor Kim Reynolds who he called 'honey.'
Here's Trump referring to the governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, as "honey" https://t.co/eoExLg3Xqu— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602722016
He tells one of the people on stage, a local wrestler called Dan Gable, that he is immune to Covid when Dan reluctantly touched elbows with the president.
Trump: Dan, I’m immune and I can’t give it to you https://t.co/6LLw56YHLP— Acyn (@Acyn) 1602722122
Trump then starts talking about wrestlers and goes on a rambling story about champion golfer Tiger Woods.
It is with great champions, you see it and you see it all the time with great champions, but there are very few Jack Nicklaus. You see Tiger got the same award when Tiger won the Masters a few months ago. I said you know what That's an incredible thing he did and we gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom and he said it's one of the greatest honours.
Trump touts about the economic recovery in the pandemic but seems to be playing a little fast and loose with some of the statistics.
Trump touts recent job gains without mentioning that more than 20 million jobs were lost at the beginning of the pa… https://t.co/KzgrKx1Yk6— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602722717
Four years after claiming that Mexico were going to pay for the wall, Trump is still saying the same thing about a structure that hasn't even been finished yet.
The President again claims Mexico is paying for the wall https://t.co/v1NFlOedie— Acyn (@Acyn) 1602722902
Trump admits to the crowd that he was annoyed that a story about a devastating hurricane in Florida and flooding in Iowa got more coverage than him being nominated for the Nobel prize. This warranted a muted response from the crowd.
Trump tells his story about he how and Melania recently watched the evening news expecting to see coverage of his N… https://t.co/ape0fAmyaT— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602723156
Trump closes out his speech by telling the people of Iowa that he'll never return there if he doesn't win the state in the election. The people aren't quite sure how to respond to this.
"If I don't get Iowa, I won't believe that one. I may never have to come back here again if I don't get Iowa. I'll… https://t.co/6EXYSmiBND— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602723545
Trump leaves the stage with his now routine YMCA dance, which we'll never get used to.
Trump ends the rally with some fist-pumping and awkward dancing to "YMCA" https://t.co/rub8Momz31— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1602723747
With that, Trump's Iowa rally was in the books. He is due to speak in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin between now and Saturday, in a major drive leading up to the election on November 3.