Trump touts Iowa ground game as caucuses near

Christmas carols played, lights twinkled and Donald Trump touted his Iowa ground game in Cedar Rapids on Saturday.

As Christmas and caucus day inch closer, reports in The Des Moines Register and The New York Times have questioned whether Trump’s campaign has been effective in lining up precinct captains and laying the groundwork to ensure his supporters turn up on caucus day.

Trump forcefully refuted that notion Saturday in front of a crowd of more than 1,000, saying everyone would see the fruits of the campaign's labor come Feb. 1.

“We’ve got such an incredible ground game,” he said.

Ahead of the event, Trump staffers worked the crowd, encouraging them to call up people on their Christmas card mailing lists and urge them to vote for Trump.

Stacia Bissell, a Cedar Rapids business owner, said she’s committed to voting for Trump and would consider making phone calls to friends and family, “depending on how much time it would take.” She has three kids and is busy running her company, she said.

“But I would do my part as a citizen to promote the one who I think will get the job done,” she said.

In his speech, Trump also hit former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, both Democrats, after Sanders aides appear to have inappropriately accessed private Clinton campaign data.

“It actually shows you how vicious and disloyal that whole group is,” he said.

Trump also ran through many of his campaign trail greatest hits: knocking his Republican rivals, asserting his support for ethanol, doubling down on his controversial immigration plans, disavowing super PACs, calling Bowe Bergdahl a “dirty, rotten traitor” and assailing the media for unfair coverage of his campaign.

And although most in the crowd cheered and applauded Trump throughout his event, across the street about 75 people gathered to protest his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States.

Moussa Maizi, who works with the Cedar Rapids Islamic Center, said he came to the protest expecting to stay for only a short time. But when he saw how many people had arrived, he said he was taken aback, calling the gesture of solidarity “heartwarming.”

“I don’t watch TV at home just because of (my children),” said Maizi, who said he became a U.S. citizen in 2011 after emigrating from Morocco in 2000.

“The fear is that they’ll feel within themselves that they don’t belong here,” Maizi said. “Or that they cannot practice their faith. That they are not welcome here although they were born here. The fear that one day they may go traveling and they cannot come back for the simple fact that they are Muslims.”

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AT THE EVENT

SETTING: Christmas trees, garland and poinsettias adorned the hall at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Cedar Rapids where Trump spoke. Christmas carols played over the loudspeakers.

CROWD: More than 1,000 people were in attendance.

REACTION: The crowd cheered throughout the event, including when Trump touted his poll results and when he bashed fellow Republican presidential candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. The crowd "awwed" audibly when Trump introduced his son and grandchildren.  

WHAT’S NEXT: This was Trump’s only stop of the trip. He has not yet announced future campaign stops in Iowa. Check DesMoinesRegister.com/candidatetracker for more details.