Trump's landslide victory in Iowa paves the way for his nomination as the Republican candidate for president

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis campaigned for months in all 99 Iowa counties. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy toured them all twice. Former President Donald Trump has been on the verge of winning in the 99. He has lost by one vote — 1,271 to 1,270, according to the provisional count — against Nikki Haley in Johnson County, where the University of Iowa is located. Except for that vote , Trump has achieved a perfect victory in the Iowa caucuses. His overwhelming victory with 51% of the votes practically knocks down his rivals in the first round and paves the way for his nomination as a Republican candidate for the presidential elections on November 5, 2024.

In his celebration speech, Trump had good words for everyone except the president, Democrat Joe Biden. He already sees himself competing against him to return to the White House. The caucus of Iowa have shown that Trump is fireproof in the face of scandals and accusations among the bases of the Republican Party. He has achieved 51% of the votes, a record for a candidate who has not competed for the presidency. He is about 30 points ahead of Ron DeSantis (who achieves 21.2%) and even more than Nikki Haley (19.1%). As if that were not enough, the fourth in contention, millennial Trumpist Vivek Ramaswamy (7.7%) has thrown in the towel and offered his support to the former president.

Trump has taken 20 of the 40 delegates up for grabs in Iowa, but he has achieved much more than that. He has shown that polls that give him a 50-point advantage in the country as a whole They are serious. He has certified that his strategy of not participating in debates with the rest of the candidates and presenting himself as if he were the sitting president works. He has taken advantage of his visits to court by presenting himself as a martyr (this Tuesday he had an appointment in New York in a civil case of sexual abuse and defamation). He has campaigned claiming responsibility for the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and calling those convicted of that act “hostages.” With his undisputed charisma and leadership, he makes his voters passionately devote themselves to the cause. He has made it clear that there is hardly any room for surprise.

After Iowa's victory, the next stop is New Hampshire. The former ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley hoped to achieve a second place in Iowa that would certify her as a rising value before the appointment in a State in which polls give her more than 30% of voting intention (Trump has more than 40%). In New Hampshire, Haley has the support of the governor, Chris Sununu, and has inherited the voters of the retired anti-Trumpist Chris Christie. However, after the Iowa result, she has the feeling that everything has been decided before starting.

Trump has won with a low turnout. The polar cold this Monday in Iowa, with temperatures below 20 degrees below zero, has caused many people to stay home. Just over 110,000 votes have been counted, far from the more than 180,000 in 2016 and even below the 120,000 in 2020, when there was hardly any interest, since the then president had no real competition.

Trump, who asked his supporters to vote for him even if they died trying, had the most enthusiastic followers, according to polls. Haley had the least mobilized of her and that may have relegated her to third place. Although in theory the cold and snow made it more difficult for rural voters, Trump has shown that he is the favorite of Republicans in the cities as well.

His support is somewhat lower among moderate Republican voters, who partly favor Haley, and among anti-abortion activists, who prefer DeSantis, according to polls this Monday in Iowa. He also has somewhat less support among young people .

Biden vs. Trump

“It looks like Donald Trump just won Iowa. He's the clear favorite on the other side right now. But here's the thing: this election was always going to be you and me against MAGA extremist Republicans. “It was true yesterday and it will be true tomorrow.” Joe Biden tweeted after the results were known.

Haley tries to link Trump and Biden. “They have more in common than you think,” she told her followers this Monday in the speech after the caucus. And after remembering that both are around 80 years old (Biden is 81 and Trump is 77), he added: “They lack a vision for the future of our country, because both are consumed by the past, by investigations, by revenge.” , for grievances.” This Tuesday, his campaign began airing ads in New Hampshire with those messages.

DeSantis has breathed a sigh of relief with second place, but his prospects in New Hampshire are poor. He hasn't thrown in the towel yet, but no one sees that he has a way to beat Trump. Iowa was in theory the perfect state for him: white, conservative, religious… If he is 30 points behind Trump there, where is he going to beat him?

Trump hasn't had much time to celebrate his victory. This Tuesday he had an appointment in a New York court for a civil lawsuit in a case of sexual abuse and defamation of the writer E. Jean Carroll that the former president has described as “pure fiction,” although he was already convicted the first time. “After a historic victory in Iowa, I am going to the Witch Hunt encouraged by Biden in Lower Manhattan to fight a FALSE Case of a woman I have never met, seen or touched,” he wrote on his social network. “Naturally, it begins right after Iowa, and during the all-important New Hampshire primary, where, despite his sinister attempts, I will be tonight! “This is a gigantic electoral interference scam, promoted and financed by political agents,” he added.

Trump's victory in Iowa was so resounding that the Associated Press, the reference on the matter, and the data teams of most television stations proclaimed his victory when in many caucus Voting had not even started yet, only half an hour after the time at which the assemblies were called. The agency explained that the initial results from eight counties showed an insurmountable and extrapolated distance in favor of Trump.

Unlike the States with primaries, in the caucus In Iowa, there are generally no ballot boxes—some of the participants collect the votes in a rather informal way—nor a fixed time at which voting ends. Some assemblies may end in a few minutes, while others may take time to determine the outcome. AP speaks out when it considers that there are no doubts. And this time, there were no doubts.

Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.

_