One Republican operative based in Iowa said they are preparing for a months-long battle against Republican presidential opponents such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who trail Trump in the polls but have built better machinery to find and secure votes.
According to interviews with a dozen sources, including longtime Trump campaign allies, state and local officials in Iowa, and GOP strategists, the “fretting” extends even to Trump’s own family members.
One source who has worked in Iowa, who spoke out in an effort to spur change in the campaign, described a phone call with the former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., in which he voiced his concern about a lack of experience on the Iowa campaign team and said multiple times that they need “an adult in the room.”