Fox News’s Sean Hannity hosted a town hall with former President Trump on Tuesday in Davenport, Iowa where the former president answered a range of questions from the primetime network host.
Trump took swipes at President Biden, some of his GOP rivals and answered questions surrounding media reports that cast his second-term as a “dictatorship.”
The event was held the night before the fourth Republican primary debate, which Trump is again skipping, opting instead to hold a private fundraiser.
Trump in his remarks during the town hall lauded the state of Iowa, where polls have consistently shown him leading his rivals by more than 20 percentage points.
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Trump says his campaign plans to blitz Iowa in the lead up to the first caucus of the primary calendar in the state next month.
Trump said he loves Iowa, where he had two “big victories” and where he says he will win by a lot more in 2024. He said he plans to spend the weeks leading up to the Jan. 15, 2024 primary in Iowa.
“I love you very much. You’ve been so incredible to me. I’m gonna be around for the next, you know, five weeks now. And we’ll be coming here a little bit and then the last couple of weeks we’ll be blitzing because we don’t want to take—we’re up I guess by like 30 or 40 points, but we’re not taking any chances. We don’t want to take any chances,” Trump said.
Polls have consistently shown Trump leading his rivals by more than 20 percentage points in Iowa and his lead in national polls is even greater.
– Alex Gangitano
During his final remarks, Trump touted that he fought to keep Iowa caucuses first in the nation after the Democrats opted to put South Carolina first in 2024, in a move pushed by President Biden.
“I kept you first in the nation, you know that, I was the one. Nobody else,” Trump said to the crowd in Iowa.
“It was a big move, Sean, to move Iowa into the middle or to the back of the pack because they don’t know if it represents this country. I said Iowa represents this country more than any place and it also represents tradition. When you think of Iowa, you think of farms and you think of politics and we’re going to keep it that way,” he added.
Iowa Democrats will hold their caucuses in January and release the results on Super Tuesday in March, following negotiations with the DNC, to allow Iowa to hold its starting spot on the Democrats’ presidential nominating calendar and to fit in compliance with Iowa law requiring in-person caucuses.
– Alex Gangitano
Trump on Tuesday touted the travel ban that targeted several Muslim-majority countries during his administration.
“Remember, I had the travel ban. I said ‘I don’t want people coming from countries that want to blow us up.’ And we put a travel ban and some people thought I was discriminating, but think about it. I went four years with no problem,” Trump said.
“We didn’t have any problem. We didn’t have buildings being knocked down. We didn’t have World Trade Centers,” he added, in apparent reference to the 9/11 terror attacks in New York City.
Trump was answering a questions from Hannity during which a table was displayed of how many people from certain countries — including Afghans, Egyptians, Iranians and Syrians — had been found at the southern border in the fiscal year ’22 and ’23. The chart also had stats from those coming from China and Russia.
Trump promised back in September to reimpose and expand the travel ban if reelected to a second term, a plan the current White House blasted.
“We had a very strong travel ban. If you came from a country that was a country — I can tell you right now, I can name every one of them —we just didn’t want you,” Trump said.
—Julia Mueller
Trump claimed U.S. climate envoy John Kerry is laughed at when it comes to climate.
“Our country can be rich again. John Kerry has to be stopped. He is destroying our country, this guy,” Trump said during the town hall. “He goes all over the world talking to these people about getting rid of coal plants. They all laugh at him.”
Kerry, a former secretary of state, has long been an outspoken critic of the former president.
He claimed Kerry is treated “with respect,” but that when “he’s gone, they say, ‘what an idiot. what a jerk.’ And then they go ahead and build the coal plants.”
Trump also knocked the Green New Deal and questioned the push toward electric power.
“We have so much wealth and power under our feet. No other country has it. China doesn’t have it. Why are we going to electric?” he said in regards to oil and gas supply in the U.S.
—Julia Mueller
Trump called out his Republican rivals Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, arguing the two want to “play around” with Social Security.
“We have more wealth than anybody but we don’t use it. And then guys like DeSantis and guys like many of the Democrats, but guys like DeSantis and to a lesser extent, Nikki Haley, they want to play around with Social Security,” Trump said.
“They don’t have to touch Social Security. We have money laying in the ground,” referring to the U.S. supply of oil and gas, adding it’s “far greater than anything we can do by hurting senior citizens.”
Trump said that DeSantis wanted to bring up the Social Security age, arguing that an increase to 70-years-old would be “a big increase” while a raise to 75-years-old would make people “devastated.”
Trump has previously taken aim at DeSantis for looking to raise the retirement age to 70 when the Florida governor served in Congress.
— Alex Gangitano
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Biden campaign seized on Trump’s remarks during the town hall that he wouldn’t be a dictator during a second term “other than day one.”
“I love this guy, he says, ‘you’re not going to be a dictator are you?’ I said no, no, no, other than day one,” Trump told Hannity in a video shared by the Biden-Harris rapid response team on X.
“We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator,” Trump added during the event.
The DNC’s rapid response team also shared the video, captioned: “And there you have it.”
Right as the town hall ended around 10 p.m. ET, the Biden campaign blasted out an email to its supports with the subject line: “Donald Trump: Day One Dictator.”
—Julia Mueller
Updated 10:05 p.m.
Trump proclaimed that he doesn’t think Biden will make it through the 2024 election.
“I personally don’t think he makes it. I haven’t said that, I’ve been saving it for this big town hall,” Trump said. “I think he’s in bad shape physically.”
He joked that if he blew on Biden, the president would fall over.
“I personally don’t think he makes it physically,” the former president said. “Mentally, I would say he’s equally as bad and maybe worse.”
Hannity brought up criticism from prominent Democrats, citing top adviser to former President Obama, David Axelrod, who last month questioned if Biden should consider stepping aside.
Biden, 81, is the oldest president in U.S. history and has faced questions for months over if he’s too old to run for reelection. Trump is 77.
— Alex Gangitano
Trump took a swipe at President Biden after being asked about the current president’s “cognitive decline” amid concerns about the incumbents age and health as he tries for a second term.
“Nuclear weapons are the biggest problem we have. And we have a man that can’t put two sentences together. We have a man that doesn’t know he’s alive. And he’s backed up by the media,” Trump said during the town hall.
Asked whether he thinks Biden will be the Democrats’ candidate in 11 months, Trump said “I personally don’t think he makes it.”
“I think he’s in bad shape physically,” Trump added.
—Julia Mueller
When Hannity asked if Trump would seek retribution should he be elected to another term, the former president responded he would only do so on day one: On the matter of border security and to allow for the drilling for oil.
“Under no circumstances, you’re promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” Hannity asked.
“Except for day one,” Trump replied. “I want to close the border and I want to drill.”
“That’s not retribution,” Hannity said.
“I love this guy, he says, ‘you’re not going to be a dictator are you?’ I said no, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator,” Trump said.
The Washington Post, The Atlantic and The New York Times each published stories referencing a “Trump dictatorship” in recent days, arguing a new Trump presidency posed a threat to democracy. Trump allies have pushed back on the blaring warnings.
— Alex Gangitano
Trump on Tuesday responded to President Biden’s remarks hours earlier that day to donors that the incumbent was “not sure” he would be running in 2024 if Trump wasn’t gunning for the GOP nomination again.
“I think somebody gave him a talking point, they thought that would sound good,” Trump said at the Fox News town hall, when asked for his reaction to the president’s comment.
Trump then referenced new reports that a Democratic megadonor has contributed to his Republican presidential rival Nikki Haley’s campaign.
“And then you hear the talking points. That’s the only thing they are good at: cheating at elections and great talking points,” Trump said of Democrats.
Biden had said earlier Tuesday at a campaign reception in Weston, Mass., that “if Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running. But we cannot let him win.”
—Julia Mueller
Trump likened himself to infamous gangster Al Capone when Hannity asked if he has plans if elected president to abuse power, as some recent media reports have suggested.
“I’ve often said, Al Capone, he was one of the greatest of all time, if you like criminals,” Trump said. “He got indicted once. I got indicted four times. I wonder what my father and mother would say looking down.”
Trump has previously claimed he’s been indicted more than Capone, including in a speech last month in Iowa.
Trump and his allies have fired back at media warnings of a second Trump term.
— Alex Gangitano
Former President Trump came out swinging at the town hall against President Biden, lamenting that the United States is being laughed at under the Biden administration.
“Right now, we’re not a great country, we’re a country in decline, we are a declining country. We’re laughed at all over the world,” Trump said.
He also argued that the war in Ukraine wouldn’t have happened under his presidency and that the Hamas attack against Israel also wouldn’t have occurred under his watch. Additionally, Trump said U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan would have happened with “tremendous strength and power.”
— Alex Gangitano
Sean Hannity kicked off Trump’s town hall by disputing media reports that reference a Trump “dictatorship.”
“Here’s the thing: we already know what would happen under a Trump presidency. Why? Because he’s already been president,” Hannity said in remarks before the pre-taped town hall aired on his show.
“There was no dictatorship. We did not lose our constitutional rights. We did not go to war. The people who hate Donald Trump, they simply have been and continue to lie to you.”
Trump and his allies have pushed back against warnings that a second Trump term could edge toward a dictatorship — after the Washington Post, The Atlantic and The New York Times each published stories referencing a “Trump dictatorship” in recent days.
—Julia Mueller
Trump has maintained a comfortable lead in polls coming out of Iowa.
A NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom survey from late October found that 43 percent of likely GOP Iowa caucus attendees say Trump is their first-choice candidate, giving him a 27-point lead over his closest challengers.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley tied for second place in the survey, each garnering 16 percent of respondents listing them as their top candidate.
The Iowa causes will be held Jan. 15.
Read more about the Iowa poll here.
The town hall will air starting at 9 p.m. on Fox News and will last one hour, according to the network.
It is expected to last during the hour that Hannity’s namesake primetime show airs and is pre-taped.
The former president previously attended an Iowa town hall event hosted by Hannity in July. Trump was in Iowa over this past weekend for a rally.