In case there was any doubt, this Monday, January 15, Martin Luther King Day, the Iowa Republicans confirmed it in the caucuses for their party's nomination: Donald Trump is the absolute winner. The recurring notion that today the Republican Party is Trump's party was reaffirmed in a historic election in favor of the former president. At the moment, Trump has earned a resounding 51% of the votes.
After hours of uncertainty and a close fight, second place went to the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, with 21.3%; while third was the former ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley.
The indomitable and energetic Vivek Ramaswamy, who in the last few hours suffered a setback due to former President Donald Trump's attacks on his campaign, barely achieved 7.7% - however, in his victory speech, Trump gave him a friendly nod and congratulated Vivek for coming "out of nowhere."
From these Iowa caucuses, only 40 delegates are distributed (out of a total of 2,400 throughout the country). To obtain the Republican nomination, the candidate must win 1,215 delegates. However, although the number of Iowa delegates does not represent even 1% of the total, this type of primary is decisive for the rest of the campaign in that it can predict the electoral performance of the candidates. And today's message was resounding.
Unless the Democrats' judicial maneuvers succeed and they manage to remove Trump from the game, everything suggests that come November, we will see a repeat of the 2020 elections: Former President Trump will face President Joe Biden, who is currently the only candidate of the Democratic Party.
Due to his poor showing, Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. For now, both Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley remain in the game. In his second place speech, DeSantis maintained that his results are encouraging because he achieved them despite, according to him, having everything against him.
Perhaps what DeSantis could aim for, considering today's results, is to maintain second place and have a favorable and decisive position facing the presidential elections. Nikki Haley, for her part, will do everything possible to overtake DeSantis's position. The truth is, with today's results, it seems that Haley could have a chance. She performed better than many expected.
As The New Yorker once ironically put on its cover, so far it is only Donald Trump, the giant, with the rest of the candidates like dwarves trying to light a spark off of his flame ofsuccess. It doesn't look like this will change anytime soon.
