When I’m busy with work or I just don’t want to engage with Nazis, I stop paying attention to Donald Trump and his “presidential” campaign on a daily level beyond the headlines. The headlines are bad enough, and it feels like The Onion couldn’t even make this stuff up. Trump has been making increasingly wild statements about how he has the right to kill his political enemies and he hates NATO and thinks it should be defunded and he’s rooting for a recession. Well, all of those wild statements worked and that insurrectionist piece of sh-t just won the Iowa caucus.
Donald J. Trump won the Iowa caucuses in a landslide on Monday, a crucial first step in his bid to claim the Republican nomination in a third consecutive election as voters looked past his mounting legal jeopardy and embraced his vision of vengeful disruption.
Mr. Trump’s record-breaking triumph, called by The Associated Press on Monday night only 31 minutes after the caucuses had begun, gave the former president an important win in a state that had rejected him eight years ago.
But on a bitter cold night, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida finished in a distant second place, according to The A.P. His narrow edge over Nikki Haley in a state where he had increasingly banked his candidacy could provide him some much-needed money and momentum in the battle for the mantle of Mr. Trump’s chief rival.
With Mr. Trump far ahead in most polls, much of the focus heading into the caucuses had been on the race for second, as Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations, spent as much time and money attacking each other as they did the front-runner. With Mr. DeSantis finishing ahead of Ms. Haley in Iowa, and her leading him in New Hampshire, the possibility of a two-person race remains elusive for foes of Mr. Trump, who fear a split field will ease his path to the nomination.
Even before the Iowa results were in, Mr. DeSantis had symbolically decided to fly directly to South Carolina after Iowa instead of to New Hampshire, which votes on Jan. 23 and where Ms. Haley is making her next stand.
If you’re wondering about the percentages, Trump won with 51%, then DeSantis and Haley basically split the rest, with DeSantis winning 21% and Haley winning 19%. I’ve seen the headlines for months about Trump being “worried” about DeSantis or Haley or both, but I never really believed it? Like, Trump could end both of their careers in about a week if he just put some effort into it. While Iowa has never been the biggest indicator – and the caucus turnout this year was pathetic – I’m absolutely sure that Trump will be the Republican nominee.
2,083,000 registered voters in Iowa
718,000 registered republicans
only 102,000 voted today
53,219 voted for Trump
almost 2.5%Sleep well ????
— scha·den·freu·de (@BlisterPearl) January 16, 2024
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
