Former President Trump has announced he will be attending a Fox News Town Hall event on the same night as the next Republican debate.
Both events, the town hall, and the debate, will take place on Wednesday, January 10 during the 9 pm ET hour. The debate is being hosted and sponsored by CNN with only two candidates planning to attend, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley.
The town hall event will be hosted by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum and is set to take place in Des Moines.
As the battle for Iowa rages on, it’s still basically Trump running 20 points ahead as DeSantis and Haley battle for second place, according to the Washington Post:
But the frenzy of activity in the last stretch before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15 belies a growing sense among political veterans across this state that the basic outcome is set and a Trump victory is all but assured, even as the former president is campaigning much less aggressively than his rivals. Although the state has a history of photo finishes, and some warn against crowning Trump just yet, many Republicans have set their sights on subplots that underscore the unusual dearth of intrigue over who will win.
But resignation is already setting in among some Republicans who support Trump’s challengers, without a single vote cast.
“I believe Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee no matter what I or anyone else does,” said Will Rogers, an activist in the Des Moines area who plans to caucus for Haley and who used to lead the county GOP. “I just don’t think there’s a way to crack the code,” Rogers said.
Chickens shouldn’t be counted before they hatch which is why Trump has events planned in Iowa for the next several days leading up to the caucuses on Jan. 15. Between now and then, every candidate will be living in Iowa trying to scratch and claw a few more votes here and there.
Trump is likely going to win, the question is the margin. If he can hold on to a 20-point victory, a blowout by Iowa standards, the rest of the primary states will start falling like dominoes.
However, if Haley or DeSantis can make a dent and cut a lead to low double or high single digits, it’ll make Trump less inevitable but still the most likely nominee.
Put another way, DeSantis has everything riding on Iowa, and a weak finish there will doom his campaign. Furthermore, if Haley bombs out, it could hurt her already flailing chances in New Hampshire.
Follow the Trump event schedule, the GOP debate schedule, and the full primary schedule to stay on top of everything happening in January.
