Trump Restores Kansas and Iowa Rallies After Canceling Them

President Donald Trump ordered his weekend rallies in Kansas and Iowa back onto the schedule after canceling them earlier in the week.

On Thursday, while flying to South Carolina for his 25th midterm rally of the month, Trump and his political team decided to cancel an in-person appearance in Kansas and deliver the closing argument over the telephone instead. Hours later, a scheduled rally in Iowa was dropped as well. Officials said at the time that the schedule had been rearranged to allow more time for virtual events, and by Thursday evening his super PAC, MAGA Inc., announced plans for virtual events in 19 states to "energize voters, drive turnout, and help deliver victories." When Trump returned from South Carolina, he told reporters he did not "feel I have to go to Kansas" because GOP Sen. Roger Marshall was "doing really well." Marshall told reporters he believed he was doing well enough in the polls that Trump had better places to spend his time. Less than 24 hours after the cancellations, the plans changed again. On Friday afternoon at the White House, Trump said friends in Iowa and Kansas had called to ask him to reconsider. "We have a couple of races that are very important," he said, adding that those contacts asked him to appear in person rather than by telephone. He also cited Saturday college football games as a reason to move the events to Sunday. People familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump had grown irritated by media coverage of the cancellations. His frustration was visible when he addressed a reporter who asked about the pace of his campaigning. "You've been following me for two weeks. I feel perfect," Trump said. He added that the reporter looked "like hell." After that exchange, Trump demanded the rallies be reinstated, and staff who had removed the events from the calendar scrambled to restore them. A statement confirming the change read: "Rallies are BACK ON!" The cancellations drew quiet relief from some Republican operatives in battleground states, who noted that telephone rallies tend to be more scripted and avoid the extended digressions that mark his in-person events. One Republican official said the rallies consume time that GOP activists would otherwise spend door-knocking and canvassing. The same official told CNN, "Thank God," adding, "He hasn't moved the needle anywhere." Trump advisers say the president remains in demand on the campaign trail, and his political team continues to field requests from GOP campaigns asking for visits before the elections. Trump will travel Friday to Daytona Beach, Florida, for a rally with Republican candidates for Senate and governor, and he is expected to spend part of the weekend at Mar-a-Lago, where an annual Halloween party is planned. Sunday's events in Kansas and Iowa will bring his total to 28 rallies since the start of October. He has acknowledged the schedule has affected his voice.

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