MAKE AMERICA COLD AGAIN: Trump stages dramatic flyby in massive private jet and offers children the chance to run through the plane as hundreds hear their hero in the freezing wind
By DAVID MARTOSKO, US POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM IN DUBUQUE, IOWA
PUBLISHED: 15:27 EST, 30 January 2016 | UPDATED: 21:52 EST, 30 January 2016
Speaking on the frosted tundra of the Dubuque, Iowa regional airport, Donald Trump returned to Iowa to a hero's welcome as his hulking Boeing 757 staged a dramatic flyby before landing on a tiny airstrip.
Then he offered children the chance to run through the airplane.
'This is now crunch time!' he told screaming fans gathered at the mouth of a hangar. 'This is what it's all about. We have to get out there and caucus and do all the things we have to do, otherwise we've just wasted our time.'
Then he said he had 'a little bit of an idea,' asking if there were kids under age 10 present.
'Without their parents,' Trump insisted, 'we'll let them run through the plane!'
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ARE YOU AFRAID OF SNOW? Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump urged his supporters in Dubuque to support him in Monday's Iowa caucuses even if a blizzard hits the state
HIGH DRAMA: Trump's private Boeing 757 touched down after staging a thrilling flyby while the theme music from the movie 'Air Force One' played over loudspeakers
Look, the parents are upset!' he laughed, likening the offer to the helicopter rides he offered children at last year's Iowa State Fair.
'I don't want he parents running through, because they'll damage it!' he laughed as moms and dads looked around nervously.
Trump's iconic plane made a dramatic flyby at the small airfield before landing in front of nearly 1,000 cheering supporters.
His campaign staff blared the theme music from the film 'Air Force One' as the plane, sporting massive letters spelling 'TRUMP,' zoomed past at low altitude and then climbed again – only to circle the airport before finally touching down.
Donald Trump: 'If we win in Iowa... we can run the table'
The gathered Trumpeters could also hear radio chatter from air traffic controllers as they relayed landing instructions to John Dunkin, the Republican front-runner's longtime pilot.
'Don-ald! Don-ald! Don-ald!' they screamed as the aircraft door opened.
Trump said the United States government had just agreed to spend nearly one-third the amount of his net worth on a replacement for the official presidential aircraft.
'Three billion dollars they're spending on Air Force One!' he boomed.
'I guarantee we could do better. We could negotiate cheaper.'
MAKE AMERICA COLD AGAIN: Temperatures hovered just south of 40 degrees Fahrenheit as Trump spoke into an open airport hangar where about 1,000 people had gathered
Trump did allow that 'it's time' to get a new Air Force Once 'because it's an older plane' with engines that 'spew' carbon emissions – 'if you believe in that to begin with.'
He mocked President Barack Obama for using the aging 747 to escape to Hawaii for holiday golfing vacations.
GET OUT THE VOTE: 'I'm leading only by five points!' Trump fretted. 'I'm not used to five points!
'Who wants to leave the White House for two or three weeks?' Trump asked, saying he would work harder and rest less.
Trump also took a jab at another Democrat – Hillary Clinton, the party's leading presidential contender who is enduring a fresh news cycle about 22 top-secret classified emails found among personal messages she once kept on a home-brew server..
'It's hard to believe, but it looks like she's going to get the nomination,' he said as a stiff breeze rippled his hair.
'They're not going to do anything about it!'
Iowans are accustomed to frigid winds blowing through their quadrennial political circuses.
Monday's caucuses, though, might see a new level of numbing weather.
Some forecasts are calling for as many as 20 inches of snow in parts of the state, making travel impossible on Tuesday.
If the storm comes early, it could affect turnout on caucus night, limiting participation to only those Iowans who are the most dedicated and motivated.
'If a lot of people come, Trump wins by a lot. If they don't come, I don't win!' he predicted on Saturday.
'Get out on Monday! Caucus! I think the storm's going to be on Tuesday. I hope.'
But 'supposing it's on Monday,' he mused aloud. 'You're from Iowa! Are you afraid of snow?
Iowa's polls, Trump noted, represented his smallest lead in any state where surveys have been taken.
'I'm leading only by five points!' he fretted. 'I'm not used to five points!'
Before Trump arrived, a campaign official threw dozens of 'Make America Great Again' winter hats to supporters clustered around a makeshift stage, under a pregnant shelf of cloud cover.
The entire event had the feel of improvisation, from the 'America's Got Talent' contestant who blasted the National Anthem, Jimi Hendrix-style, to the absence of an American flag for attendees to face while they recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
'Since we don't actually have a flag here, we're going to pretend we have one,' a master of ceremonies said.
'CRUNCH TIME': Trump will make three campaign stops on Saturday, two on Sunday and two on Monday before settling in to see how devoted his screaming fans really are
But the political planning behind an event like Friday's lunchtime Iowa arrival made it anything but spontaneous.
Organizers handed out voter registration cards and caucus location guides. Police screened cars as they entered the airfield's seam-bursting parking lots.
'We've never seen anything remotely like this,' one officer told DailyMail.com. 'Never. Not at a little airport like this.'
Trump also mocked the Fox News Channel for sacrificing half of its audience by refusing his offer to participate in Thursday night's Iowa debate if the network donated $5 million to his veterans-charities fundraising efforts.
'They did about half the number they should have. They did 12 million,' he said, referring to the size of Fox's debate viewership.
He also dismissed reports that his decision to boycott the event was motivated by a feud with one of Fox's anchors.
'What's her name again, Megyn Kelly?' he asked. 'I don't care about her. What the hell difference does it make?'
'I wanted $5 million to go to our veterans. Actually, for awhile I thought they said yes.'
'It was a lousy debate anyway,' Trump claimed. 'Boring! Boring. It was a hard thing to watch, wasn't it?'
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