Des Moines, Iowa: This year’s Iowa caucus was always Donald Trump’s to lose, Ron DeSantis’ to win, and Nikki Haley’s to exploit.
Heading into the first race of the 2024 election year, Trump was the overwhelming frontrunner, with almost every poll showing he had about half of the state’s Republican caucus voters ready to nominate him as their preferred presidential candidate.
Trump performed so strongly that his win was projected just minutes after voting began.Credit: AP
If he didn’t win resoundingly, his rivals would have been able to claim a moral victory and argue that more Iowans braved snow and sub-zero temperatures to vote against him than for him.
If he did win big, it would be yet another sign that the modern-day Republican Party is very much the party of Trump and his Make America Great Again movement.
In the end, Trump’s win was so decisive it was called by the Associated Press just 31 minutes after the caucusing began, surprising some whose votes were still being tallied when the breaking news alerts started coming through.
With most votes counted by 10pm Iowa time, he had won more than 51 per cent – 30 points ahead of DeSantis and Haley, who are now battling it out for second place.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the 38-year-old conservative warrior who had modelled himself on Trump, came a distant fourth and immediately dropped out of the race.
The result was particularly disappointing for DeSantis, the Florida governor previously considered by some as the future of the party.
DeSantis had put all his chips on winning Iowa, hoping it would propel him to the next round of primaries, and eventually into the White House as a Trump-like figure, minus the baggage.
He spent big on advertising, knocked on doors across every one of the state’s 99 counties, and even had the endorsement of Iowa’s popular governor, Kim Reynolds, and evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats. In the end, it wasn’t enough to lift his flagging campaign.
DeSantis said he’ll fight on, but his national ambitions hang in the balance because polls suggest he is likely to struggle in next week’s primary race in New Hampshire, where Haley has been surging and has her greatest chance of potentially beating Trump.
All three candidates then move on to South Carolina, where Trump is currently leading in the polls.
Whatever happens at other primary races is yet to be seen, but one thing is clear: Iowa is very much Trump country now, and the former president is one step closer to returning to the White House.
It’s an extraordinary set of circumstances. After all, Trump faces 91 criminal charges over four trials. He also faces two civil trials: a defamation battle beginning this week involving writer E. Jean Carroll, and a civil fraud trial for which his real estate empire is on the line.
Yet, for many of the Iowans this masthead spoke to, none of this mattered. Those supporters subscribe to the view that the former president is being politically targeted by President Joe Biden and the Democrats.
They hold fears of illegal immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border; of China stealing their jobs; of a Democratic president they believe is too old and too incompetent.
Some still believe that the 2020 election was stolen, and many view the 2024 election as their “final battle” to “save America”.
As veteran election analyst Charlie Cook put it: “The make-up of the Republican Party today is definitely buying what Donald Trump is selling.”
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Iowa landslide proves Republicans are ‘buying what Donald Trump is selling’
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16.01.2024
Des Moines, Iowa: This year’s Iowa caucus was always Donald Trump’s to lose, Ron DeSantis’ to win, and Nikki Haley’s to exploit.
Heading into the first race of the 2024 election year, Trump was the overwhelming frontrunner, with almost every poll showing he had about half of the state’s Republican caucus voters ready to nominate him as their preferred presidential candidate.
Trump performed so strongly that his win was projected just minutes after voting began.Credit: AP
If he didn’t win resoundingly, his rivals would have been able to claim a moral victory and argue that more Iowans braved snow and sub-zero temperatures to vote against him than for him.
If he did win big, it would be yet another sign that the modern-day Republican Party is very much the party of Trump and his Make America Great Again movement.
In the end, Trump’s win was so decisive it was called by the Associated Press........
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