Jan. 10 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump was in Iowa on Wednesday night to participate in a town hall, where he laid out his priorities for a second term, calling for a strong border and energy independence as his opponents debated each other across town.
The Fox News town hall, moderated by Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier, was filled with Iowa Republican voters — decided and undecided — to ask questions before Monday’s caucus.
One of the first questions was about the changing dynamics of the race for the Republican presidential nomination as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dropped out of the race Wednesday.
Trump said he is not worried and said based on the polls, “I think we’ll win substantially,” referring to New Hampshire.
Another question raised concerns about chaos with another Trump presidency, which President Joe Biden has been campaigning on during recent speeches.
“They have chaos now. They have chaos at the border,” Trump argued. “All of the chaos is caused by the Democrats constantly going after me.”
“I have no wars. I am the only president in 70 years who had no wars,” Trump added. “The new narrative is I’m going to be a dictator. That’s the only thing Biden can run on.”
“I will be a dictator on only two things: the border and on energy independence. After that, I am not going to be a dictator,” Trump said, adding that his priorities with a second term would be to cut gas prices and finish the border wall.
Trump also touted his economic accomplishments during his four years in office, as he faces numerous court battles.
“We had the greatest economy in history. We had no inflation. We were energy independent before COVID. We had an incredible four years,” Trump said, adding that the Biden administration is piling on indictments because Trump claimed he can not run on his own record.
“It’s a witch hunt, it’s election interference by Biden because he can’t win an election fair and square,” Trump claimed. “I’m leading Biden in every single poll. I’m leading in Michigan by 11 because of Biden’s mandate for electric cars.”
While Trump’s opponents for the Republican presidential nomination were in Des Moines for one final debate, before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus next week, Trump chose not to participate Wednesday night. It is the fifth time Trump has skipped a Republican debate.
Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis were the only other candidates, besides Trump, to meet the 10% polling requirements for Wednesday’s Iowa debate, as Christie announced he would end his campaign.
Trump has defended his decision to skip the debates and suggested the other candidates should rally behind him to unseat Biden in the November presidential election. While Trump currently holds a significant lead over Haley and DeSantis in most polls, Haley has trimmed Trump’s lead in New Hampshire to 7%, according this week’s CNN poll, which was conducted by the University of New Hampshire.
Trump will spend his last few days before Monday’s Iowa GOP caucus, holding two campaign appearances on Saturday and two events on Sunday. This week, Trump opted to make two court appearances instead of spending time in Iowa. On Tuesday, he attended appeals court arguments in Washington, D.C., as he tries to dismiss his federal election interference case based on claims of presidential immunity.