CNN's Kim Brunhuber speaks with Thomas Gift, the Director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at the University College of London, ahead of Monday's Iowa GOP caucuses.
INDIANOLA, Iowa — Donald Trump implored his supporters Sunday to brave frigid temperatures and deliver him a decisive victory in Monday’s Iowa caucuses, saying their vote would help bring to Washington the retribution he has repeatedly promised if he returns to the White House.
The former president has set sky-high expectations for his own performance in the first contest of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. He spent the day before the caucuses trying to ensure he meets them. His main GOP rivals all spent Sunday in Iowa as well, making last-minute appeals to Iowans open to hearing them.
At a rally in Indianola, Trump said his supporters could fight back against his political enemies, claiming that the four indictments he faces were driven by politics and renewing his false claims about the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Many in the crowd wore white and gold caps identifying them as Trump caucus captains who will help round up support for him Monday night.
“These caucuses are your personal chance to score the ultimate victory over all of the liars, cheaters, thugs, perverts, frauds, crooks, freaks, creeps and other quite nice people," Trump told the audience. “The Washington swamp has done everything in its power to take away your voice. But tomorrow is your time to turn on them and to say and speak your mind and to vote."
More than 30 minutes before the doors opened for Trump's rally at Simpson College, Marc Smiarowski said he planned to do just that.
“I’m here in part out of spite,” said the 44-year-old public utility worker who drove 40 miles from Huneston to see Trump. “I can’t abandon him. After what they did to him in the last election, and the political persecution he faces, I feel like I owe him this. He’s our only option.”
Hours before the start of the 2024 primary race in Iowa, CNN Political Commentators Bakari Sellers, Kristen Soltis Anderson, Kate Bedingfield …
He was among more than 100 layered in Carhartt coveralls with hats and hoods pulled down tight to fight off the minus 18-degree Fahrenheit (minus 28-degree Celsius) chill. It was a test run for Iowa’s caucuses Monday night — and of the devotion Trump said last week would make his supporters “walk on glass” for him.
He took it a step further on Sunday, suggesting casting a vote for him would be worth dying for.
“You can’t sit home," Trump said. "If you’re sick as a dog, you say ‘Darling, I gotta make it.’ Even if you vote and then pass away, it’s worth it.”
Even as he predicted his supporters would deliver a substantial victory over his nearest rival, he sought to temper expectations that he could cross 50% of the vote, a threshold never crossed in a contested Republican caucus. The previous record for a margin of victory was Bob Dole's nearly 13-point win over Pat Robertson in 1988.
“Well we should do that. If we don’t do that, let 'em criticize us, right?” Trump told volunteers in Des Moines on Sunday morning. Still, he told them: “Let’s see if we can get to 50%.“
Both former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has bet big on Iowa, exuded confidence in national interviews as they compete for a caucus showing that will boost their campaigns even if they don't beat Trump.
The final Des Moines Register/ NBC News poll before Monday’s caucuses found Trump maintaining a formidable lead, supported by nearly half of likely caucus goers, compared with 20% for Haley and 16% for DeSantis. Haley and DeSantis remain locked in a close battle for second.
“With our folks, they’re committed, they’re gonna be there,” DeSantis said on CNN's “State of the Union,” noting that the Republican calendar doesn't end with Iowa. “We’re going to have a good night.”
The sun was out across Iowa, but some streets and highways remained covered in snow from a Saturday blizzard. Temperatures stayed below 0 degrees Fahrenheit all day and were not forecast to rise into positive territory until Tuesday. The weather — by far the coldest since Iowa started leading the presidential selection process in 1976 — continued to disrupt plans.
Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann predicted the weather wouldn't substantially dampen turnout, saying Iowans can handle cold weather as long as the roads aren't icy.
Because of travel conditions from Des Moines, Haley canceled a Sunday morning stop in the eastern city of Dubuque about an hour before it was to start. She swapped in a virtual town hall.
Voters walking into the venue were given the news by campaign staffers, who offered some a T-shirt, hat or yard sign as consolation.
“I don’t blame her,” said John Schmid, 69, a retiree from Asbury, a few miles outside Dubuque. He is a Haley supporter but wanted to see the “refreshing” candidate in person.
“It’s just part of living in Iowa in January,” he said.
Haley did make it to an event in Ames, a college town much closer to Des Moines.
“It’s been 11 months, and it comes down to tomorrow,” Haley said of Monday’s votes, repeating her frequent call to GOP voters to elect her as a “new generational leader that leaves the negativity and the baggage behind and focuses on the solutions of the future.”
Trump continued picking up support from Republicans who’d remained on the sidelines. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who ran for the GOP nomination himself but failed to catch fire, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio endorsed him Sunday. In picking Trump, Rubio passed over DeSantis, the governor of his home state, and Haley, who endorsed Rubio at a crucial moment in his own unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign.
Some voters, too, were waiting until the last minute to make up their minds.
Judy Knowler, 64, of Peosta, had hoped to see Haley in person to help her make up her mind.
“I have one foot in Nikki’s camp but we’ll see,” she said in Dubuque. “It’s an opportunity most Americans don’t get to be this close in person.”
After his rally, Trump dropped by a Casey’s convenience store in Waukee with Burgum, where he picked up pizzas that a store worker said would be “the best you’ll ever have.”
He then headed to a firehouse, where he passed out the pizza, and chatted with a group of first responders about their trucks, posed for photos, and ate a slice.
“This is good pizza, by the way,” he said.
It generally takes just two ingredients to create avalanche conditions: A slope of 30 degrees or more, and layers of snow.
“Avalanches are really tied into having layers within the snowpack, and those layers are caused by weather conditions,” said Ben Bernall, an avalanche forecaster with the U.S. Forest Service Panhandle Avalanche Center. “It's kind of like a cake: You might have a nice thick layer that's good and cohesive, and then a thinner layer of frosting. Then put another cake on top of that, and throw in the factor of a slope angle or steep terrain.”
Extra pressure on top of that snowpack “cake,” from wind, rain, heavy snow or motion can cause some of the layers to shear off and slide down the slope, Bernall said.
Sometimes that slide happens in the form of loose snow, called a “sluff.” Sluffs account for only a small percentage of deaths and property damage from avalanches, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center.
But many avalanches are made up of slabs, where a large layer of snow breaks away and slides down the mountainside. Those account for most fatalities.
Another kind of avalanche occurs when wind creates a cornice of snow that hangs over a ridge or the edge of a steep slope. An overhanging mass of snow can fall suddenly, catching anyone standing underneath or on top of the cornice by surprise, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
Above: Rescue crews work at the scene of an avalanche at the Palisades Tahoe ski resort Jan. 10, 2024, near Lake Tahoe, Calif.
Movement, rapidly changing weather, wind — any one of these things can cause an avalanche. But experts say 90% of the avalanches that cause injuries or deaths are triggered by the victim or someone with them.
That means that people who ski, snowmobile, snowshoe or enjoy other activities in the snowy backcountry should check the avalanche forecast before they head out, and make sure they have the right safety gear.
Most ski resorts have avalanche protocols or mitigation systems. Often that means checking snowpack stability. Avalanche experts and ski resorts also sometimes use remote detonations to trigger slides manually, removing the riskier layers of snow, before skiers are allowed on the slopes.
Above: Rescues crews work at the scene of an avalanche at the Palisades Tahoe ski resort Jan. 10, 2024, near Lake Tahoe, Calif.
Loud noises, generally. Despite what cartoons and movies might have you believe, the sound waves created by someone yelling aren't enough to trigger an avalanche, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center.
In particularly unstable snow conditions, however, an extremely loud noise, such as from a nearby explosion, could do the trick.
Above: Rescues crews work at the scene of an avalanche at the Palisades Tahoe ski resort Jan. 10, 2024, near Lake Tahoe, Calif.
An average of about 28 people die in avalanches every year in the U.S. according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Last winter, 30 people died in avalanches in the United States. All of them were skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, snowshoers, climbers or hikers, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
Three climbers in Alaska’s Denali National Park died in May in two separate incidents on the same day. One triggered an avalanche while skiing in the park’s backcountry. Two others were swept away as they prepared to climb a peak known as Moose’s Tooth. Their bodies were never found.
Above: A charge is detonated to remove avalanche risk near the scene of Wednesday's deadly slide at Palisades Tahoe Ski resort in Olympic Valley, Calif., on Jan. 11, 2024.
There are several ways to avoid an avalanche, but running isn't one of them. Dry slab avalanches typically reach speeds of between 60 and 80 miles an hour within seconds of starting, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center. Wet avalanches usually travel around 20 miles an hour.
By comparison, eight-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt reached a record running speed of just under 28 miles per hour in the 100-meter dash in 2009 — and that was on a flat track, not a churning, snow-covered slope. Experts say most people who are caught in avalanches are on the slope when the slide occurs.
A better plan is to avoid the avalanche before it happens. Recreationists can check the avalanche forecast at their regional avalanche center or at www.avalanche.org. Experts say backcountry users should also learn and watch for the signs of avalanche terrain and unstable snow, and avoid cornices and risky areas.
Bernall said three pieces of gear are essential for anyone in in avalanche country: an avalanche transceiver, which sends a location signal to other people in the group if one person gets buried; a shovel to test the snowpack and dig out any buried companions; and a thin, folding avalanche pole that can be used to poke into the snow to find someone who has been buried by the snow.
It's also a good idea to use the buddy system, Bernall said, and to be versed in wilderness first aid and rescue skills.
“Good decision-making in the backcountry is the biggest piece of the puzzle,” he said. “With the right decision-making, everything else is kind of obsolete.”
Above: Two mountain hikers are dwarfed by the winter landscape of the Formazza Valley, northern Italy, on April 11, 2004.
About 28 people die in avalanches every year in the U.S. according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Here’s a look at why, when and how avalanches occur, and some tips on how to stay safe from slides:
It generally takes just two ingredients to create avalanche conditions: A slope of 30 degrees or more, and layers of snow.
“Avalanches are really tied into having layers within the snowpack, and those layers are caused by weather conditions,” said Ben Bernall, an avalanche forecaster with the U.S. Forest Service Panhandle Avalanche Center. “It's kind of like a cake: You might have a nice thick layer that's good and cohesive, and then a thinner layer of frosting. Then put another cake on top of that, and throw in the factor of a slope angle or steep terrain.”
Extra pressure on top of that snowpack “cake,” from wind, rain, heavy snow or motion can cause some of the layers to shear off and slide down the slope, Bernall said.
Sometimes that slide happens in the form of loose snow, called a “sluff.” Sluffs account for only a small percentage of deaths and property damage from avalanches, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center.
But many avalanches are made up of slabs, where a large layer of snow breaks away and slides down the mountainside. Those account for most fatalities.
Another kind of avalanche occurs when wind creates a cornice of snow that hangs over a ridge or the edge of a steep slope. An overhanging mass of snow can fall suddenly, catching anyone standing underneath or on top of the cornice by surprise, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
Above: Rescue crews work at the scene of an avalanche at the Palisades Tahoe ski resort Jan. 10, 2024, near Lake Tahoe, Calif.
Mark Sponsler, Associated Press
Movement, rapidly changing weather, wind — any one of these things can cause an avalanche. But experts say 90% of the avalanches that cause injuries or deaths are triggered by the victim or someone with them.
That means that people who ski, snowmobile, snowshoe or enjoy other activities in the snowy backcountry should check the avalanche forecast before they head out, and make sure they have the right safety gear.
Most ski resorts have avalanche protocols or mitigation systems. Often that means checking snowpack stability. Avalanche experts and ski resorts also sometimes use remote detonations to trigger slides manually, removing the riskier layers of snow, before skiers are allowed on the slopes.
Above: Rescues crews work at the scene of an avalanche at the Palisades Tahoe ski resort Jan. 10, 2024, near Lake Tahoe, Calif.
Mark Sponsler, Associated Press
Loud noises, generally. Despite what cartoons and movies might have you believe, the sound waves created by someone yelling aren't enough to trigger an avalanche, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center.
In particularly unstable snow conditions, however, an extremely loud noise, such as from a nearby explosion, could do the trick.
Above: Rescues crews work at the scene of an avalanche at the Palisades Tahoe ski resort Jan. 10, 2024, near Lake Tahoe, Calif.
Mark Sponsler, Associated Press
An average of about 28 people die in avalanches every year in the U.S. according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Last winter, 30 people died in avalanches in the United States. All of them were skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, snowshoers, climbers or hikers, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
Three climbers in Alaska’s Denali National Park died in May in two separate incidents on the same day. One triggered an avalanche while skiing in the park’s backcountry. Two others were swept away as they prepared to climb a peak known as Moose’s Tooth. Their bodies were never found.
Above: A charge is detonated to remove avalanche risk near the scene of Wednesday's deadly slide at Palisades Tahoe Ski resort in Olympic Valley, Calif., on Jan. 11, 2024.
Scott Strazzante, San Francisco Chronicle via AP
There are several ways to avoid an avalanche, but running isn't one of them. Dry slab avalanches typically reach speeds of between 60 and 80 miles an hour within seconds of starting, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center. Wet avalanches usually travel around 20 miles an hour.
By comparison, eight-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt reached a record running speed of just under 28 miles per hour in the 100-meter dash in 2009 — and that was on a flat track, not a churning, snow-covered slope. Experts say most people who are caught in avalanches are on the slope when the slide occurs.
A better plan is to avoid the avalanche before it happens. Recreationists can check the avalanche forecast at their regional avalanche center or at www.avalanche.org. Experts say backcountry users should also learn and watch for the signs of avalanche terrain and unstable snow, and avoid cornices and risky areas.
Bernall said three pieces of gear are essential for anyone in in avalanche country: an avalanche transceiver, which sends a location signal to other people in the group if one person gets buried; a shovel to test the snowpack and dig out any buried companions; and a thin, folding avalanche pole that can be used to poke into the snow to find someone who has been buried by the snow.
It's also a good idea to use the buddy system, Bernall said, and to be versed in wilderness first aid and rescue skills.
“Good decision-making in the backcountry is the biggest piece of the puzzle,” he said. “With the right decision-making, everything else is kind of obsolete.”
Above: Two mountain hikers are dwarfed by the winter landscape of the Formazza Valley, northern Italy, on April 11, 2004.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump participates in a virtual rally at Hotel Fort Des Moines on Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa.
People listen as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks to volunteers at Hotel Fort Des Moines on Sunday in Des Moines, Iowa.
Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis departs after speaking at a Northside Conservatives Club Meeting at The District on Friday in Ankeny, Iowa.