Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader, has voiced strong concerns about former President Donald Trump being the 2024 GOP presidential nominee.
Vander Plaats, who has achieved enormous influence in Iowa, has expressed his desire not only for the eventual nominee to act in a dignified way, but also his worries about how to win over younger generations who will be voting for decades to come.
“The problem people of Faith have with @realDonaldTrump isn’t Church attendance. Has everything to do with the ‘fruits of the Spirit.’ For example, F bombs and mocking people with disabilities. You can be a statesman while being a bold leader,” he declared on Sunday.
On Saturday, Vander Plaats also voiced concerns over Trump signing the CARES Act into law in March 2020, which included $400 million in funding for new COVID-related election measures. His concerns came after fellow Iowa evangelical and prominent podcast host Steve Deace wrote,“There it is. Trump funded the very ballot harvesting scheme Democrats used to steal the last election,” in relation to the CARES Act. Vander Plaats responded on Saturday, “This, and more, is why @realDonaldTrump supporters are looking for another candidate. The facts aren’t lining up with the repetitive rhetoric. This is the #swamp.”
In another tweet, Vander Plaats reiterated his concern for the future, writing, “We not only want to win the next election, but also win the next generation.”
Vander Plaats simply wrote, “Agree” as he quoted GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s September 2022 column in POLITICO in which Ramaswamy quoted from his upcoming book “Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence” with this statement criticizing Trump: “While Donald Trump promised to lead the nation to recommit itself to the pursuit of greatness, what he delivered was just another tale of grievance, a persecution complex that swallowed much of the #GOP Party whole.”
“I think what’s happening now with the latest indictment, I think those who are for Trump are going to be more emboldened and more cemented in for their support for Trump, but those who are looking for an alternative to Trump, I think they’re looking more than ever for an alternative to Trump,” Vander Plaats told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto last week in the wake of the latest indictment against Trump. “So I do believe the president has a self-inflicted ceiling, and I think others are looking for who else it could be so we could turn the page to that next generational leader.”
Vander Plaats praised Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, and Ramaswamy, saying, “Iowans are kicking the tires of a lot of these candidates right now. It’s August 2; when we get to November 2 and December 2, you’re really gonna see where the coalescing is gonna take place.”
With regard to current polls, Vander Plaats pointed out on August 2, “I like to remind people that if those current poll numbers are right, then in 2008, you would’ve had Giuliani, in 2012 you would’ve had Rick Perry, and in 2016, you would’ve had Jeb Bush or Scott Walker.”
On August 1, Vander Plaats tweeted, “While all these polls show @realDonaldTrump the clear front runner, I see no evidence on the ground to support. My early hunch is he gets beat in #IowaCaucus All narrative regarding him is the same: 1) He did good. 2) Can’t win. 3) Time to move on. 4) Need to win.”