President Trump will rally supporters in Wisconsin on Tuesday night, providing his own form of counterprogramming while Democratic presidential candidates debate in Iowa.
The president will hold a “Keep America Great” rally in Milwaukee, the city that will play host to the Democratic National Convention in July. Wisconsin — which Trump carried by about 23,000 votes in 2016 — will be a critical swing state in November.
Trump is expected to take the stage shortly after 8 p.m., while the Democratic debate will commence in Des Moines, Iowa, at 9 p.m.
The overlap provides an opportunity to counterprogram the final Democratic debate before the Iowa caucuses for a president who is known to fixate on media coverage and ratings.
But Tim Murtaugh, the campaign’s communications director, said Wednesday’s timing was unintentional, because rallies are scheduled independent of outside events. He cited the president’s rally in Michigan last month that happened to fall on the same night the House voted to impeach Trump, though that rally was scheduled well in advance.
The president regularly devotes a portion of his rally speeches to attacking his prospective Democratic challengers. He is likely on Tuesday night to seize on fresh tensions between Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), which burst into the open on Monday.
The Sanders campaign has become increasingly willing to attack Warren, prompting Trump to speculate there was a “feud brewing.” Warren then confirmed Monday night that she met with Sanders in December 2018, and the Vermont senator “disagreed” with her belief that a woman could win the presidency.
Trump is also likely to levy his usual criticism against Democrats over impeachment in advance of a Senate trial that is expected to begin next week.
Tuesday’s Milwaukee rally is the second of four such events Trump has scheduled for January. He traveled last week to Ohio and will hold rallies in New Jersey and Iowa at the end of the month.