On the same day a judge in one of Donald Trump’s ongoing federal criminal trials imposed a limited gag order to stop the former president from making further statements attacking prosecutors and court personnel, or attempting to intimidate witnesses, Iowa’s top law enforcement officer endorsed Trump for president.
“I am proud to announce my endorsement of President Trump because Iowans know he is the only candidate who can defeat Joe Biden and bring prosperity back to America. We have seen what Joe Biden’s America looks like— rampant crime, lawlessness, and broken communities,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a written statement the Trump campaign published in an email on Monday. “During President Trump’s first term, he stood up for law enforcement, kept our families safe and secured our Southern border. He will do that again when he returns to the White House.”
The email concluded with “Watch Attorney General Bird’s endorsement,” and linked to a tweet from Trump War Room containing a video clip of Bird introducing Trump at a campaign event in Adel on Monday. Oddly, Bird doesn’t actually endorse Trump in the video clip.
“You know, here in Iowa, we’ve got things pretty good compared to the rest of the country, don’t we? Yeah,” Bird says as she stands in front of hay bales in the minute-and-a-half-long clip. “But the rest of our country sure is another story. You know, the border’s wide open. Our law enforcement are disrespected. We have — well, uh — the Biden administration seems to be against farmers, right? They sure are. And terrorists are attacking Israel.”
“Now that never would have happened when Donald Trump was president, would it? No way.”
Despite invoking “lawlessness” in her written statement and “disrespect for law enforcement” in her Adel remarks, Bird never mentioned the 91 state and federal felonies Trump is currently facing in four criminal trials, or the two gag orders that have been imposed to stop the former president from his attacks on court officials. The gag order issued in federal court on Monday was preceded two weeks ago by a limited gag order issued by the judge in Trump’s state-level criminal fraud case in New York. The New York judge issued the gag order after Trump attacked a court clerk on social media with a series of lies that led to deluge of angry emails and threats.
The attorney general’s avoidance of the unprecedented state and federal indictments of an ex-president is understandable, since she was in Adel not to promote the rule of law, but to promote Trump as a candidate in the Iowa Republican Caucus.
After taking the stage as the speakers blared Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American,” Trump praised Bird.
“One of the truly most respected people in all of politics, beyond your state, beyond anywhere,” Trump said, before kissing Bird on her right cheek.
The Trump/Bird relationship on display on Monday was a stark contrast to Trump’s relationship with Gov. Kim Reynolds. Trump has publicly disparaged the governor for not endorsing him. Reynolds has said she intends to remain neutral in the Iowa Caucus, but her multiple appearances with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and the easy rapport between the two governors, have led some to conclude that by her actions, Reynolds has tacitly endorsed DeSantis. The governor denies this, but according to a New York Times story in July, that’s certainly the view of the Trump campaign.
“Trump advisers have snickered privately about [Reynolds] having neutrality-in-name-only,” the Times wrote. “… [T]hrough her words and deeds, Ms. Reynolds seems to be softening the ground in Iowa for Mr. DeSantis, appearing to try to create the conditions for an opening for him to take on Mr. Trump.”
Whatever “softening the ground” means, it doesn’t appear Reynolds has helped DeSantis much. Trump has held a commanding lead in every poll taken of likely Republican caucusgoers in Iowa. The most recent poll had Trump as the first choice of 55 percent of respondents who said they will “definitely” or “probably” attend the Jan. 15 caucus. That poll, conducted by Iowa State University and Civiqs between Oct. 6 and 10, found DeSantis a distant second. The Florida governor was the first choice of only 17 percent of respondents.
Trump in Iowa describes military officials as “some of the dumbest people I’ve ever met in my life” — and gets big applause for it pic.twitter.com/UmbQQAxJwQ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 16, 2023
Bird is the second statewide elected official to endorse a Republican candidate for president. In August, Iowa Treasurer Roby Smith endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy, a millionaire tech investor who has never held elective office, and who is running on a platform that includes radical and impractical promises, such as raising the voting age to 25 for most Americans.
In the new Iowa State/Civiqs poll, Ramaswamy was the first choice of 5 percent of the respondents. That’s a sharp drop from the previous poll in which he almost had double digit support. In that September poll, Ramaswamy was the first choice of 9 percent.
