The competing ambitions of former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis collide Saturday in Iowa, the closest the two have come to each other on the road as they move toward a 2024 showdown.
DeSantis will flip burgers and chat up potential caucus-goers in northwestern Iowa on Saturday before addressing a local Republican fundraiser in Cedar Rapids. Meanwhile, in Des Moines the same night, Trump will speak to thousands of his followers at a signature rally, his first campaign event since CNN’s town hall on Wednesday and his first time in a controlled setting since a jury found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming of author E. Jean Carroll.
“We’re going to Iowa because we’re going to Iowa,” one Trump adviser said, downplaying the dueling events. “We are 100% focused on caucusing this trip and outreach to potential voters.”
Even as Trump demonstrates an early dominance over the GOP primary field, the decision to bracket DeSantis’ visit and the frequent attacks aimed at his rival signal that the former president still sees the Florida governor as his most serious potential challenger for the party’s nomination.
DeSantis, for his part, has approached the GOP’s 2024 front-runner cautiously as he maneuvers toward a presidential campaign of his own. The governor has spent much of the past month avoiding Trump – dodging the former president’s constant missives and deflecting questions about his potential rival’s mounting legal troubles – and there is little indication he plans to change strategies before he officially gets in the race in the coming weeks.
“You know, there’s different stuff in the news, but we’ve been busy,” DeSantis said Wednesday, the day after the E. Jean Carroll verdict came down.
Allies of DeSantis, however, have begun testing potential counterattacks. Leading up to…
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