Former President Donald Trump is planning to skip this week’s Iowa Family Leadership Summit, a key cattle call in the Hawkeye State, after launching a rhetorical broadside Monday against popular GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to attend Friday’s event, as is Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, according to organizers.
Presidential aspirants who do attend the gathering in Des Moines will sit for an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
“Unfortunately there is a scheduling conflict and the president will be in Florida this weekend headlining the premier national young voter conference with Turning Point Action conference while DeSantis is nowhere to be found,” a Trump campaign spokesperson told The Post Tuesday.
Trump, 77, held a rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa July 7 and zinged Reynolds on Monday in response to reports of her warming up to DeSantis, his chief foe.
“I opened up the Governor position for Kim Reynolds, & when she fell behind, I ENDORSED her, did big Rallies, & she won. Now, she wants to remain ‘NEUTRAL.’ I don’t invite her to events! DeSanctus down 45 points!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, using his preferred spelling of DeSantis’ name.
Reynolds has remained neutral in the GOP primary contest thus far and has attended a mélange of events with various contenders, including Trump.
The governor wasn’t at Trump’s rally Friday and her office insisted she wasn’t invited, though the 45th president’s campaign claimed Reynolds has a standing invitation to all his events. DeSantis later defended his fellow governor in response to the dig from Trump.
“@KimReynoldsIA is a strong leader who knows how to ignore the chirping and get it done. She earned a landslide re-election because she delivered big results, and she is poised to deliver even more for Iowans in the special session,” he tweeted Monday evening.
This is not the first major Iowa cattle call Trump has missed. Last month, he was conspicuously absent from Sen. Joni Ernst’s “Roast and Ride” fundraiser — despite the senator’s team reportedly purchasing large video screens in order to show recorded remarks by the former president that never took place.
In April, Trump opted to address the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s 23rd Annual Spring Kickoff remotely instead of in person.
Trump lost the 2016 Iowa Republican caucuses to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), but has won the state in each of the last two general elections.
Trump has a 24-point edge over his nearest rival DeSantis in Iowa, per the latest RealClearPolitics average of polling.