Donald Trump's other Tuesday endorsement
It was overshadowed by an endorsement from a much bigger name in politics, but Aissa Wayne, the daughter of the late actor John Wayne, threw her support behind Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the museum celebrating her father's birthplace Tuesday.
"We need someone like Mr. Trump, with leadership qualities, someone with courage, someone that's strong like John Wayne," Aissa Wayne said during an event at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum in Winterset, Iowa.
Trump lauded John Wayne, saying he represents the strength and power that American people want right now. He also said it was "tremendous" to have Aissa Wayne's endorsement.
As they stood together in front of a wax statue of her father, Aissa said, "If John Wayne were around, he'd be standing right here."
Trump said the endorsement "means a lot because it does mean that strength that you don't see," Trump explained to the room of mostly reporters.
Trump also spoke to reporters an continued his ongoing battle with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, by calling out Cruz for having a "rough temperament."
"Ted has got a rough temperament," Trump said, turning around Cruz's own questioning of Trump's temperament Monday. "You can't call people liars on the Senate floor when they're your leader, it's not a good thing to do if you want to sort of curry favor and get the positive votes later on down. So Ted is worried about his temperament, and people are talking about his temperament."
The event was meant to be an outdoors but due to snow and temperatures close to zero degrees, it was moved inside. This meant that only a few Trump supporters, such as Cheryl Sondall, a volunteer whose son works for the campaign, were allowed into the small room for the event.
"I guess it's nice to know people in high places," she said. Sondall is now a precinct captain for Trump even though she said is not a regular caucusgoer.
Sondall is the kind of person Chuck Laudner, Trump's Iowa State Director, was referring to when he spoke to reporters about the campaign's ground game in Iowa.
"We do things different, and we reach out to people that wouldn't normally be caught dead at caucus events. And so, we're feeling really good about our chances, we feel really good about our reach, and I think you're going to have a surprise on caucus night," Laudner said.
He said the campaign has had 13 caucus trainings in the last week after Trump turned to him to answer a reporter's question about the campaign's ground game.
Laudner, who does not reply to reporters questions about the campaign in Iowa, expressed frustration for what he claims is false reporting.
"Now misreported in the media, wildly, horribly, that we had 12 people at that caucus training last Friday. It was 120, and you all know it. But no one corrected it. 120. No, so that's why we don't talk to you folks all that much about our ground game, because you're welcomed in, we get your cameras in, and then you misreport it anyway," Laudner said as he grew visibly angrier.
The training he is referring to is the Pizza Ranch caucus training last week where Trump made a surprise visit.
This John Wayne Birthplace Museum event and last week's Pizza Ranch stop, where Trump picked up the endorsement of the chain's co-founder, mark a new phase for the Trump campaign in Iowa. In addition to large rallies, Trump is now spending more time on smaller, retail-style campaign events.