WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump on Sunday called on supporters to endure frigid temperatures and give him a decisive victory at Monday's caucuses in Iowa, saying their vote would help bring to Washington the retaliation he has repeatedly promised if he returns to the White House.
The former president has raised expectations for his own performance in the first race of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. He spent the day before trying to make sure he fulfilled them. Their main rivals also spent Sunday in Iowa, making last-minute appeals to the state's citizens willing to listen to them.
At a rally in Indianola, Trump said his supporters could fight his political foes, claiming the four indictments he faces were politically motivated, and renewing his false claims about the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Many in the crowd wore white and gold caps identifying them as Trump caucus captains who will help rally support for him Monday night.
"These caucuses are your chance to score a definitive victory over all the liars, cheats, thugs, perverts, frauds, thieves, weirdos and other pretty nice people," Trump told the crowd. "The Washington swamp has done everything it can to silence them. But tomorrow is their time to face them and speak their mind and vote."
More than 30 minutes before the doors opened for Trump's event at Simpson College, Marc Smiarowski said that's precisely what he had planned.
"I'm here partly out of spite," said the 44-year-old utility worker, who drove about 65 miles (40 kilometers) from Huneston to see Trump. "I can't give it up. After what was done to him in the last election, and the political persecution he faces, I feel like I owe him this. It's our only option."
Smiarowski was one of about 100 attendees who showed up even though the thermometer reached -28 Celsius (-18 Fahrenheit). It was a rehearsal for Monday night's caucus, and for the devotion Trump said last week would make his supporters "walk on glass" for him.
On Sunday he went even further, hinting that voting for him would be something worth dying for.
"They can't stay home," he said. "If you're sick like a dog, you say, 'honey, I have to do it.' Even if you vote and then die, it's worth it."
The leader in the polls
Trump still has all the polls in his favor. The latest, published today and produced by NBC News, speaks of a lead of almost 30 points over the former ambassador of the United Nations, Nikki Haley.
Forty-eight percent of Republicans surveyed want him to be the Republican nominee, compared to 48 percent who want Haley to be. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has 20% of the vote and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has 16%.
Trump has canceled all planned rallies in Iowa and opted to participate virtually in several events. He only went to one this Sunday, in the city of Indianola.
Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley also faced the low temperatures of Iowa on Saturday and are fighting in these last hours to overcome Trump, presenting themselves as the alternative of the future against the former president, who has four impeachments against him.
On Saturday, the two met in person with voters in several Iowa towns to end the day in Davenport.
"Rain or shine, or snow! We have a country to save and it's clear that people in Iowa City know we have to get to work securing the border, addressing our debt, and confronting our enemies," Haley said on her X account.
For his part in Council Bluffs, DeSantis followed the same line of his recent speeches in which he has attacked his former political godfather, Trump, for "running to fix his problems" and Haley for "running for the defense of donor problems."
The governor of Florida, for his part, showed himself to be a candidate who is going to solve the problems of the people, "to change this country."
How do caucuses work?
To be elected as a party's candidate, candidates must win a majority of the 2,469 delegates that are distributed proportionally in the country's 50 states.
Iowa has 40 delegates (1.6% of the total), who are the ones who end up choosing the candidate, and which the candidates add proportionally to the votes obtained.
Anyone who is 18 years of age or older on Election Day, who is registered in a district as a Republican Party voter, or who registers that same night at special polling stations located at polling places can vote in a caucus.
While primaries (the other alternative in which parties choose their candidates) resemble an election day, with citizens voting for hours, caucuses are a set day and time. Next Monday 15, at 19:00 hours (01:00 GMT on Tuesday), in the case of Iowa.
Citizens vote at polling stations (about 700, located mainly in public buildings) on pieces of paper that are counted at the end. The results are then read aloud and then electronically fed into a general counting system.
Unlike a primary election, caucuses are not organized by the state but by the parties themselves and are conducted by volunteers.
With information from The Associated Press and EFE