As expected, former president Donald Trump destroyed the field at the Iowa caucuses Monday evening, with the race being called for the GOP frontrunner a mere 31 minutes after it began. Trump didn’t just win a state he physically campaigned in far less than any of his top rivals; he dominated, winning 98 of 99 counties and virtually every demographic in the Hawkeye State.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis finished second, while former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley finished third. Vivek Ramaswamy, the Cincinnati, Ohio businessman, finished fourth and immediately suspended his campaign, throwing his full support behind Donald Trump in the process.
That stood in stark contrast to the DeSantis camp, which claimed election interference because of the race being called so early. DeSantis campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo said, “The media is in the tank for Trump and this is the most egregious example yet.” It is an odd take by DeSantis’ people to claim that the media is pulling for Trump, but DeSantis took his 30-point loss in stride and said “we’ve got our ticket punched out of Iowa.”
After the historic win in Iowa, President Trump praised the other candidates, calling them “very smart people, very capable people.” He also said of DeSantis and Haley specifically: “I want to congratulate Ron and Nikki for having a good time together. I think they both actually did very well.” The victorious Trump was also very effusive in his praise of Ramaswamy. He continued: “I also want to congratulate Vivek because he did one hell of a job. He came from zero…that’s an amazing job.”
Trump’s post-caucus message was straightforward. In a call for unity amongst the GOP, Trump vowed to “straighten out all of the death and destruction that we’re witnessing” and urged the GOP to “come together and straighten out the world and straighten out the problems.”
It is unlikely that Haley or DeSantis are ready to quit despite Haley winning a lone county by a single vote on Monday. The former U.N. Ambassador had predicted it would be a “two-person race” after Iowa, and she may be correct in that it may be DeSantis and Trump.
Watch Trump’s post-victory speech on unity here:
Many inside the party were quick to celebrate the former president’s swift Iowa domination. House Conference Chair Elise Stefanik quickly posted on X: “I have said it before, I will say it again — President Trump is our Republican Nominee for 2024 & he will defeat Joe Biden this November to #SaveAmerica!” Even former critics like former Fox contributor Megyn Kelly seemed to be warming up to the thought of Trump back in the White House. She stated: “Trump wins Iowa easily. Honestly – what a comeback versus where he was after 2020. It’s truly stunning.”
It seems to be a foregone conclusion that Donald Trump will be the GOP nominee. The only real question is, will the party support him full stop? Trump claims to have already chosen his running mate, and his momentum seems unstoppable, so the sooner the rest of the Republicans get on board, the better the chances of unseating the disastrous Biden regime in November.
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