Iowa is one of the early battleground primary states for Republicans, with their caucuses being scheduled in 2024 for January 15th.

With that clock ticking, and millions of dollars of donor money at stake for the winner of the Iowa caucus, a majority of the GOP candidates descended on the Lincoln Day Dinner in Des Moines. Each candidate was allowed a ten minute speech, but only three speeches are getting any attention after the fact.

Obviously, the speeches by Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are getting the most attention, as the two candidates are currently running one and two in all the Republican primary polls. But the speech by former congressman Will Hurd – a complete longshot candidate – is also getting attention for its shock value.

Now, Hurd was allowed to use his ten minutes to say whatever he wanted that he thinks will attract voters in Iowa, and make an impression. It’s clear he made an impression – but it’s highly unlikely to win him votes in the Iowa caucus.

Former Texas GOP Rep. Will Hurd was heckled by Iowa Republicans after he told the Lincoln Day Dinner, an important party fundraiser, that former President Donald Trump was seeking reelection because he was trying to “stay out of prison.”

“Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again. Donald Trump is not running for president to represent the people that voted for him in 2016 and 2020. Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison,” Hurd said Friday during the Iowa Republican Party event in Des Moines.”

Parts of the crowded ballroom erupted into boos, with several guests clanging their flatware and glasses with their silverware, one day after special counsel Jack Smith hit Trump with more charges in the federal classified documents case.”

“Listen, I know the truth. The truth is hard. But if we elect Donald Trump, we are willingly giving Joe Biden four more years in the White House,” he said. “America can’t handle that.”

Does Will Hurd believe what he’s saying? Obviously. Did he read the room for the event? Nope! Hurd is making this vanity run for president as a former congressman because he apparently believes the media hype that if ONLY some kind of centrist Republican will run, then of course that candidate would find support! Hurd, at the moment, is not meeting the requirements (40,000 individual donors or 200 individual donors in at least 20 states, plus polling at one percent in three national polls, and has reservations about the candidate support pledge, which of course got attention from CNN) to make the debate stage in August. What does he have to lose by calling out Donald Trump? Not much.

Ron DeSantis spoke early on in the event, and his speech focused solely on policy and attacking Democrats.

As he ticked through the pivotal aspects of his campaign message — his record in Florida, his aims to halt “weaponization” of the federal government and his pledge to “rip the politics out” of the military — he received consistent applause from the crowd. He took and left the stage to standing ovations from a portion of those in attendance.”

“I’m running for president because we as Republicans cannot be content with simply managing the decline of our country a little better than the Democrats,” DeSantis said.”

He also attacked Vice President Kamala Harris, who has criticized new educational standards in Florida that she and others say undermines critical conversations around slavery, in part instructing that enslaved people “developed skills” for “personal benefit.”

DeSantis’ defense of his state’s new curriculum has drawn criticism from several Black Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, whom he said this week are siding with “the left” and the vice president. He said Harris was creating “phony narratives” about the new standards.”

“We have beaten the left’s agenda in the state of Florida, so she thinks she can come down and lie about what we’re doing,” DeSantis said. “I’m not budging an inch. We are going to fight back against these people, and we are not letting them take over our schools any longer.”

https://twitter.com/NvrBackDown24/status/1685109453178195968
DeSantis clearly read the room better, and his speech reflects that. Red meat regarding his policies to a crowd that wants to hear about winning back issues from Democrats is always a good play.

However, Donald Trump, as the last speaker of the evening, took his ten minutes to, after listing off what he did for Iowa as president, complain about Ron DeSantis.

The former president frequently avoids attending multicandidate events in person, questioning why he would share a stage with competitors who are badly trailing him in polls. Still, with Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus less than six months away, Trump joined a dozen other GOP hopefuls in speaking to about 1,200 GOP members and activists at the Lincoln Day Dinner.”

“If I weren’t running, I would have nobody coming after me,” Trump said in his only veiled reference to his legal issues. He also insisted the same would be true if he were trailing in the polls.”

While DeSantis didn’t mention the former president by name, meanwhile, Trump didn’t return the favor. He told the crowd, “I wouldn’t take a chance on that one,” and repeatedly branded him “DeSanctus.”

WATCH President Trump's entire speech at the Lincoln Day Dinner, where he lists his Administrations incredible accomplishments.

Watch our coverage of the Lincoln Day Dinner here: https://t.co/9KyWipl0m1 pic.twitter.com/eAIhachZet

— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) July 29, 2023

Trump has repeatedly shown that he is taking DeSantis’s candidacy both personally and seriously (and keeps using the weird “DeSanctus” nickname, which just sounds like Trump has a lisp, not that he’s trying to mock DeSantis). He isn’t complaining about anyone else in the field being “disloyal” by running for president. But when you listen to the speech, Trump sounds flat. The speech itself is delivered well enough – though he does say that he’s going fast because he only has ten minutes – but there’s none of the usual Trump energy. And the crowd clearly wanted the Trump energy, because they were cheering and ready to cheer for him. The ten minute limit actually works well for Trump, because it keeps him focused and on track while delivering his speech (something that has been a problem in the past). Still, something of Trump’s usual zing has been lacking lately. He is 77 now, and when he started off in 2015, he was 69. Eight years have passed, and being president for four of those years would age anyone. Is this what we will see through the rest of the 2024 primary season? There’s no doubt that Trump is alive and alert, especially as compared to Joe Biden, but he definitely is not the Trump of eight years ago. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing will be determined by voters.

But you, the concerned voter, should be watching these speeches and forming your own opinions on the speakers. It will take you twenty minutes to watch both DeSantis’s and Trump’s speeches. How do YOU think they did?

Featured image: GPA Photo Archive on Flickr, cropped, Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)