Donald Trump has reinstated his planned campaign rallies in Kansas and Iowa after initially deciding to replace them with phone-ins. Both events are scheduled for Sunday, CNN reports.
The change came less than 24 hours after the president's team canceled the events. Trump traveled to South Carolina for his 25th rally in support of Republican candidates this month, and was then expected to conclude his tour with events in Kansas and Iowa.
Rallies First Replaced with Phone-Ins
According to CNN, the initial decision was to replace the Kansas rally with a phone-in. A few hours later, the Iowa rally was similarly canceled.
Trump told reporters that he did not feel he needed to travel to Kansas because Senator Roger Marshall was doing "very well." The phone-in rallies have been welcomed by some local political organizers, as they are usually more scripted and allow for tighter control over messaging.
Officials later explained the changes as a scheduling reshuffle to give Trump more time for virtual events. People familiar with the matter, however, gave CNN a different version of the reasons.
The president insisted that the rallies be brought back
After the decision to cancel the rallies became public, Trump became irritated by media coverage of his recent rallies. Upon his return from South Carolina, he reacted sharply to a journalist's question whether the change was related to his health or fatigue from the long trips.
At the White House, Trump said that he had received calls from friends in Iowa and Kansas who asked him to reconsider the decision. "I don't feel like I should go to Kansas," he said earlier, speaking of Marshall's campaign.
According to people familiar with the matter, the president insisted that the rallies be restored. This forced officials who had already removed the events from the calendar to urgently restore them.
Trump also spoke about his vote, which he said was running at "about 49.2 percent". However, the latest version of his schedule includes in-person events in both states, important to the Republican Party's efforts to maintain its position in the midterm elections.
Sources: cnn.com