Flying on Thursday to South Carolina to headline his 25th midterm rally this month, President Donald Trump and his political team made a decision, according to one of his advisers: Instead of holding an in-person rally this weekend in Kansas, Trump would deliver his closing argument there over the telephone.
A few hours later, another weekend rally in Iowa was similarly scrapped.
Trump told reporters he didn’t “feel I have to go to Kansas” because GOP Sen. Roger Marshall was “doing really well.”
The decision relieved some political operatives on the ground, who were happy to hear Trump would be engaging in telerallies that tend to be more scripted.
Less than 24 hours later, the plans changed again. The rallies in Kansas and Iowa were back on, both now scheduled for Sunday.
Speaking at the White House on Friday afternoon, Trump said he’d received calls from friends in Iowa and Kansas asking him to reconsider the cancellations.
Trump said his voice is operating at “about 49.2%” as he talks about participating in upcoming rallies in Iowa and Kansas
Officials said the schedule had merely been rearranged to allow more time for Trump to dial into virtual events. But people familiar with the matter described different motivations to CNN.
After signing off on the changes, Trump had grown irked over the media coverage about his decision to cancel his final rallies, those people said. His irritation was apparent when he returned from South Carolina and lashed out at a reporter who questioned why he called off the events.
Trump lashes out when asked about his health after scrapping Kansas rally
President Donald Trump said Thursday his decision to scrap a planned rally in Kansas this weekend had nothing to do with Sen. Roger Marshall’s electoral prospects — or his own stamina after a month of nonstop travel. When a reporter asked Trump about his health and followed up with a question about whether the cancelation was because he was sick of traveling, Trump lashed out.
The president demanded the rallies be reinstated, the people familiar said, sending staff who had just worked to pull the events off the calendar scrambling to put them back on.
