Top Democrats did not react to Donald Trump’s crushing win in the Iowa caucuses on Monday with the dismay that might have been expected. Instead, the victory of the twice-impeached, 91-times criminally charged former president was heralded as an early beginning to the battle for the White House itself.
Called early, Trump’s victory came by 30 points over the hard-right Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, who edged the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley for second. Only one of 99 Iowa counties did not go for Trump: Johnson county, which includes the University of Iowa, was won by Haley, the relative moderate left in the race – by a single vote.
Responding to Trump’s win, and using an acronym for Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America great again”, Biden told followers: “Here’s the thing: this election was always going to be you and me versus extreme Maga Republicans. It was true yesterday and it’ll be true tomorrow.”
~15% of Republicans came out to vote in Iowa.
Half voted Trump: 7%.
Republicans make up 34.5% of total voters in Iowa.
7% of 34.5% is 2.415% of Iowans who actually voted for Trump.
This is a crushing defeat for Trump and the entire Republican party.
In any sane political system this whole thing would not be more than a minor news item in the local press.
I mean, yeah, but it’s a caucus in a primary with an heir apparent and was held on a night with horrific weather. I don’t think we can conclude that much.