![]() “It’s not a race for second, it’s a race for relevancy and everyone is losing except for Donald Trump,” said Republican strategist Scott Jennings. The magnitude of Trump’s victory also makes it much harder for his distant rivals to claim any true momentum coming out of Iowa. Kari Lake, a staunch Trump supporter running for Senate in Arizona after refusing to recognize her 2022 gubernatorial loss, told reporters at his victory party that the other candidates couldn’t win and were running “vanity projects.” While Trump was gracious to his opponents in his victory speech, there will be increasing pressure from his campaign for them to get out of the race so he can concentrate on Biden. In rural areas, where most Republicans live, she made little impression.Īnd while Haley and DeSantis proved there is a substantial constituency in the GOP for someone other than Trump, it’s not clear that it is large enough to defeat him, even if one of them were able to emerge as the sole alternative to the former president. ![]() But the electoral map of Iowa also illustrates the daunting task she faces in creating a path to the GOP nomination. Haley came third but she is most focused on next week’s New Hampshire primary, where independent, undeclared voters and moderate Republicans offer her best chance to score an early win over Trump. It is a showing that doesn’t offer DeSantis much hope of capturing the nomination, but may at least give him a rationale for staying in the race. Ron DeSantis claimed second place, narrowly ahead of former South Carolina Gov. Monday’s result posed huge questions for Trump’s rivals. Instead, the president who attempted to overturn democracy to stay in power used democracy far more effectively than any of his Republican opponents to win an electoral endorsement from GOP voters who want him back in the White House.ĭeSantis and Haley fail to emerge as the single anti-Trump candidate Trump’s vow to win a second term dedicated to “retribution” against his enemies, his labeling of political opponents as “vermin” and his warnings that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of America, which are reminiscent of 1930s dictators, were no disqualification in Iowa. For Americans who believe Biden’s warning that Trump is the “most anti-democratic president with a small ‘d’ in American history,” Monday night will have sown utter dread. His caucus victory also demonstrates the success of Trump’s election denial strategy, which has convinced millions of GOP voters of the false belief he was illegally ejected from power in 2020. In fact, his successful leveraging of his criminal plight to paint a narrative of persecution is the superpower that renewed his bond with GOP base voters and left his rivals with an impossible conundrum about how to exploit his liabilities. Trump’s dominance on Monday night shows that among the most committed Republican voters, there is no price for him to pay for the worst attack on an election in modern history. His Iowa triumph came three years and nine days after he told a mob to “fight like hell” before it ransacked the US Capitol in an attempt to thwart the congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win. In a head-spinning snapshot of the unprecedented times, he’s expected to show up in a courtroom in Manhattan on Tuesday morning for the opening of a defamation trial. He won despite 91 criminal charges and other legal entanglements that threaten his freedom and his fortune. Trump will win Iowa Republican caucuses, CNN projectsīut the ex-president’s rebound is more stunning for another reason. Former President Donald Trump walks onstage at a campaign rally in Mason City, Iowa, on January 5, 2024.
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