MANCHESTER, N.H. — President Trump — in town to upstage the Democrats on the eve of the first-in-the-nation primary — gleefully mocked them over their still-unresolved Iowa caucus debacle before an overflow crowd of thousands.
“The Democratic Party wants to run your health care, but they can’t even run a caucus in Iowa,” Trump crowed. “Does anyone know who won Iowa?”
The president repeatedly riffed on the chaotic Iowa caucus — an embarrassment for the Democrats now hanging over the Granite State’s primary after U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders decided Monday to challenge the results.
“I think they’re trying to take it away from Bernie again. I think Bernie came in second,” Trump said. “They’re doing it to you again, Bernie, they’re doing it to you again.”
But even as Trump sounded a note of sympathy for Sanders, as he slammed the “socialist Democrats for trying to take away your health care” — invoking the Vermont senator’s self-described democratic socialism in his jab.
The president also took another victory lap after his impeachment acquittal last week.
“The United States Senate voted to reject the outrageous, partisan impeachment hoax and to issue a full, complete and absolute total acquittal,” Trump said to roars of approval. “The radical left’s pathetic partisan crusade has completely failed and utterly backfired.”
In between taking shots at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and playing up his economic record, Trump riffed on the smaller crowd sizes of his Democratic foes, including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who have spent the past week racing across New Hampshire to lock up votes before Tuesday’s primary.
“We have more in this arena and outside of this arena than all of the other candidates, meaning the Democrats, put together and multiplied,” Trump said.
The president’s supporters packed the Southern New Hampshire University Arena up to the nosebleeds, filling far more seats than the New Hampshire State Democratic Party managed to do just two days prior for a dinner that doubled as the final cattle call for the Democratic presidential hopefuls before the primary.
While Democratic-leaning voters here are still struggling to decide who to vote for, Trump is expected to cruise to an easy victory in the Republican primary Tuesday over former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld and former Illinois U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, who has officially ended his bid.
“I don’t think that we really have a candidate against us,” Trump jibed.
John Klardie of Derry, N.H., said, “Nobody draws a crowd like him. Even in an uncontested primary, people are going to come out and vote for him and send a message.”
Among Trump’s supporters was a sizable contingent of Massachusetts residents, including Kelley Sardina of Billerica, who praised the strong economy under his administration and drew comparisons to former President Ronald Reagan.
“You don’t have to like the guy, but you can’t deny what he’s doing,” she said. “He’s not a politician. He’s a businessman. And that’s what we needed, a businessman to straighten us out.”
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