DeSantis and Trump hit Iowa in dueling campaign appearances

Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis jostled for Iowa Republicans’ support at campaign stops Saturday with just 100 days before the Hawkeye state’s January caucuses.

At a Waterloo rally, his third stop in Iowa in a little over two weeks, Trump spoke to more than 1,700 attendees at a rally to shore up their support in January, while hundreds more people waited outside.

“We have to win bigger than we’ve ever won before, because our country is going to hell,” the former president said. “We’ve gotta stop it.” 

The ex-president ripped into President Joe Biden as being responsible for Hamas’ bloody assault against Israel Saturday due weakness the commander-in-chief has displayed on the global stage. 

“The Israeli attack was made because we are perceived as being weak and ineffective, as with a really weak leader,” he said. 

Trump also lashed out at New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office is pursuing a $250 million civil fraud case against him, calling her “grossly incompetent” and “an evil person.” 

DeSantis, meanwhile, spoke to a crowd in Ankeny at one of three campaign stops in the first-in-the-nation state Saturday, where he promised to “use lethal force” to crack down on Mexican drug cartels bringing drugs into the United States and to improve mental health services for veterans.

“Our kids are being murdered by the Mexican drug cartels and by the [Chinese Communist Party] who is giving the precursor chemicals,” he said.  

The Republican presidential hopeful, who recently relocated about a third of its staff from Florida to Iowa to focus efforts on undercutting Trump’s lead in the state, also took an opportunity to bash his main party rival for falling down on his 2016 campaign promise to stick Mexico with the bill when erecting a border wall.

“That wasn’t a promise followed through, but you can actually get Mexico to pay if you know how to use your authority,” he said, suggesting he could impose fees on money people in the United States send back to families in Central America. 

“You’d raise billions of dollars, you’d be able to fund the wall from sea to shining sea,” he added. 

“Not only will I keep my promises as president, I’ll keep Donald Trump’s promises that he didn’t do.” 

The 77-year-old ex-president is dominating the field in the GOP leadoff state, outpacing DeSantis, 45, with a  33.2 percentage point lead over DeSantis, according to the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate.

With Post wires.