The White House has rescheduled weekend rallies in Kansas and Iowa after briefly canceling them yesterday, according to a White House official and another source familiar with the plans.
The president will now attend rallies on Sunday in Salina, Kansas, and then Cedar Rapids, Iowa — a different Iowa location than where the previously scheduled and canceled rally was to be held, a separate source familiar said.
Less than 24 hours ago, the president announced he would not attend either rally and would opt instead for a series of tele-rallies that could reach more voters ahead of Election Day.
Now, it appears the president will be attempting to do all of the above.
“President Trump loves his supporters, and in addition to nearly 20 tele-rallies, he will hold back-to-back rallies in Kansas and Iowa on Sunday,” the source familiar with the plans said. “No one works harder, fights harder, or loves the American people more than President Donald J. Trump!”
“The rallies were rearranged for scheduling purposes to accommodate nearly 20 additional tele-rallies that were recently added to the President’s schedule,” the source added.
A Trump adviser said that the team thought it might be better to get Trump “in as many places at once” by doing more tele-town halls, but that the president wanted to do in-person rallies instead.
“He wants to be out with his people,” the adviser said. “No one does a rally quite like him, and that’s how he wanted to close out the cycle.”
Asked after the cancellations yesterday why he wasn’t going to Kansas anymore to support GOP Sen. Roger Marshall, the president told reporters: “Because I think he’s doing well. We’re going to do a tele-rally for him instead. He’s doing, he’s doing very well.”
When asked whether the return to Kansas marked an acknowledgment of Marshall’s tighter-than-expected re-election race, one of the sources responded that the White House is “feeling bullish about both states, but it’s about giving the people what they want.”
This weekend’s rallies are part of the president’s planned midterm travel blitz, in which he said he would travel to 35 places across the country to help boost turnout for Republican candidates.
Trump has repeatedly touted what he believes is the positive impact of his rallies on GOP candidates, going as far as to suggest that his presence in battleground states has boosted Republicans in the polls.
Concerns over high costs connected to the Iran war have helped turn the Kansas Senate race into a toss-up in a state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate for nearly a century.
Trump, who has campaigned at 25 rallies in the past month, has admitted that the blitz has not been “easy,” saying through a hoarse voice Monday that “God didn’t make your vocal cords to do a rally every day.”
But he insisted Thursday that he felt “perfect” and lashed out at a reporter who pressed him about whether the rally cancellation in Kansas was tied to his health.
“You’ve been following me for two weeks. I feel perfect. You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape. You look like hell,” Trump said to the journalist.
He canceled Iowa’s rally hours after that interaction, after a White House official and a person familiar with the matter confirmed that Trump’s appearance was off.
The Republican National Committee said in a news release Thursday that the rallies were canceled with the goal of “maximizing opportunities for President Donald J. Trump to speak to voters across the country.”
GOP operatives in Iowa, where all congressional races this year except one are competitive, told NBC News before the rally there was rescheduled that in-person rallies would have been helpful. Trump’s rally Saturday was originally slated to take place in Dubuque, in the contested 2nd Congressional District.
“A tele-rally will be helpful in boosting turnout, but an in-person rally would have been really helpful,” an operative said.
Another operative said he “would love to have the president,” but he said, “Iowa’s in pretty good shape.”
Trump is also scheduled to hold an event in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Friday. He will be campaigning for Republican Rep. Randy Fine and Sen. Ashley Moody, who are running in races rated solidly Republican by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
No events have been announced for Monday.