A protester stormed the stage during Florida televangelist Ron DeSantis’ town hall in Iowa on Tuesday, briefly disrupting proceedings chanting, “No oil money.”
The disruptor was able to unfurl a medium-sized banner in front of the White House hopeful before being promptly escorted off the stage at the Des Moines event hosted by Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.
“You know, you live and you learn with these people. Really?” DeSantis quipped amid the uproar. “Alright. All right. Well, you guys, that was a mistake. You don’t understand that properly.”
The interruption didn’t seem to bother DeSantis, who, once the incident was resolved, continued his thoughts on abortion, trying to distinguish himself from former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on the issue.
The protester chanted, “No oil money” before being dragged off the stage. AP
“I think he fell in with some of these left-wing keepers [about abortion],” DeSantis said of Haley, who has pulled even with or topped the Florida governor in several polls in Iowa since December.
“He has chastised pro-lifers, saying, you know, ‘You shouldn’t be talking about putting women in prison.’ Nobody talks about that,” DeSantis said. “I have never met a single pro-lifer who has ever talked about that. That’s a trope that the left and the media will use, but he’s content.”
With less than a week to go before the Jan. 15 caucus, DeSantis leads Haley in the second-place race in the Hawkeye State by a slim 0.2 percentage point margin, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Ron DeSantis touted his visit to all 99 counties in Iowa during his town hall Tuesday, a tour in which his wife Casey and the couple’s three children routinely accompany him. Reuters
Trump, who refused to debate his GOP primary rival, maintained a seemingly insurmountable 35.6% lead in Iowa, according to poll aggregators.
DeSantis, however, claims to like his “underdog” position, saying that he likes “having lower expectations.”
“I’ve been answering questions from people all over the state,” DeSantis said. “These other candidates, you know, Donald Trump is not ready to come and answer your questions. I don’t think Nikki Haley has gotten a fraction of this district.”
DeSantis said that he likes having “lower expectations” and being the “underdog” in the race. Reuters
“So, I’ve been here. I have done it right. I think Iowans appreciate that and we’ll do well, though, I like having lower expectations to be honest with you.
“I’ve been the underdog all my life and everything I’ve ever done,” he added.
DeSantis doubled down on his preference in a press conference after the town hall, telling reporters, “You’re going to make predictions … I like to be underestimated.”
His answer came in response to a question about whether he could win Florida’s March 19 GOP primary, where Trump also leads by a wide margin.
“I think being the underdog suits me better … .what’s going to happen is, starting with Iowa, you’re going to see a lot of volatility with this, you know, when people start voting, you’re going to start seeing that and I just think when people see all this,” he said.
“I am someone who can bring the party together, conservatives believe in me, we have a great concrete track record, we will be able to do it.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
