As Donald Trump seeks the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, he has laid out his vision for a second term that includes locking up political opponents, conducting sweeping immigration raids and searching for replacements for Obamacare. 

On the campaign trail, he has engaged in harsh rhetoric to describe political enemies as “radical thugs that live like vermin,” said that immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally are “poisoning the blood” of the U.S., touted himself as “the only one who will prevent World War III,” and suggested suspending parts of the Constitution because of the “stolen” 2020 presidential election. 

The former president’s comments have ignited concerns from critics and scholars who have warned that a second Trump administration threatens democracy — even as his advisers push back on those fears, dismissing them as baseless. 

Many likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers have no issue with several of Trump’s recent controversial statements, a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll has found — and more often than not, they say the same statements make them more likely to support the former president. 

Holly Rice, a 57-year-old poll respondent […]