Trump’s prospects brighten after stunning victory in Iowa: rivals called ‘vanity projects’

The Republican Party is still the party of Donald Trump. This was very well proven by the party caucuses in Iowa on Monday, January 15th. With an impressive 51%, Trump beat out both Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (in second place with 21.2%) and third-place Nikki Haley (19.1%).

The former US president took Iowa, as CNN writes, with an unprecedented margin. This puts him on the ski track for the third extension in a row. However, the return of the ex-president, notes CNN, is stunning for another reason. He prevailed despite 91 criminal charges and other legal complications that threaten both his freedom and his fortune.

His triumph in Iowa came three years after the events of January 6, 2021 (the storming of the Capitol by Trumpist opponents of Joe Biden’s victory). It is very significant that pro-democratic forces in the United States are still trying to pin all the blame for what happened on Trump, but little comes of it.

There is only one conclusion here (and it is indecently obvious) – turning your legal difficulties into the actual basis of a presidential campaign works like clockwork. Trump has clearly succeeded in convincing his voters that he is the victim of political persecution. Frankly, that’s what it looks like. This has become his “superpower”, which gives him advantages that no other candidate has. To succeed, he doesn’t even need to participate in debates and sweat as much as his rivals do. The court has actually already become the main platform for Trump to demonstrate himself and his “political martyrdom.”

By comparison, Ron DeSantis was literally all-in on Iowa, visiting all 99 counties before caucus day. The result is only second place with a gap of 30 percentage points over Trump.

Trump’s promises to win the presidency as “retribution” to his enemies also fit well into the current circumstances of America’s political reality. Trump calls the country’s current democratic authorities “parasites” and warns that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of America. This is something that is urgent in American society and something that this society demands to be resolved. Trump is giving voters what they want to hear. This also contributes to his triumph in Iowa and beyond. According to the latest polls, Biden is rapidly losing ground, while Trump is only strengthening it. The former president’s victory in Iowa, Politico argues, would cement his current dominance in the party. It foreshadows a general election rematch with current President Joe Biden.

However, there are other candidates behind Trump. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, considered a younger copy of Trump, scored 7.7% and decided to leave the race, expressing support for his “big brother” in the party. What about the rest?

It was clear from the start that the fight in Iowa was a battle for second place. Desantis’ second place is a kind of consolation prize that does not guarantee anything for this candidate. As Donald Trump said in his victory speech to his fellow party members, “Now is the time to come together.” A bold hint that it’s time for the rivals to move and admit that no one can surpass Trump.

Carey Lake, who was the Republican candidate in Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial race, told The Hill that other candidates’ bids are now “vanity projects”: “They have no chance of winning. For them to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into Iowa and New Hampshire to try to unseat an unlikely candidate would be unfortunate. “I hope they take a little break, do some soul-searching, and recognize that President Trump is the right man to save America.”

Yes, the next stage of the presidential race is the New Hampshire primary next week. Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, if you ignore the voices convinced of Trump’s victory, have proven that there is a significant electorate in the Republican Party that supports someone other than Trump. The only difficulty is that it is not clear whether it is large enough.

CNN is confident that there will now be more pressure on Haley and DeSantis to drop out of the race. According to Republican strategist Scott Jennings, “It’s not a race for second place, it’s a race for relevance, and everyone loses except Donald Trump”: “This GOP wants to give Donald Trump another chance to prove them all wrong, that everyone it was a witch hunt that the elections were rigged. It’s obvious they want another chance; it shows up in national polls and we see it in these caucuses.”

The scale of Trump’s victory makes the situation much more difficult for his rivals. Iowa is just one state in a long nominating process, that’s true. The votes cast at the caucuses represent a small portion of the state’s population. But Trump’s dominance among rural voters in the state reflects his support base across the country outside cities and suburbs. And polls suggest his victory here could be replicated in most GOP bastions across the country.

Simply put, Trump managed to create a recognizable brand, which, by the way, both other Republican and Democratic candidates cannot boast of. He appears to Republican voters as a human-like political madman challenging the rules of the hated elites. Trump himself confirms this formula: “Sometimes you need controversy to succeed.”

The ex-president, also due to his temperament, seems to be a unique political figure in the United States. He is organic in all his madness, he is organic even in the judicial “scenery” that does not drown him. Perhaps this is the secret of triumph. And American society may just be missing something real. So far, it is Donald Trump who provides all this.