According to latest reports, Trump received 56,260 votes (as of this writing) in Iowa, earning him 20 delegates. Ron DeSantis took nine delegates with 23,420 votes, followed by Nikki Haley with eight delegates and 21,085 votes and Vivek Ramaswamy with three delegates and 8,449 votes.
Ramaswamy, by the way, arrogantly claimed prior to the vote that he would "win" the Iowa caucus. He ended up taking fourth place with fewer than one-sixth the number of votes Trump received, and has since suspended his campaign while endorsing Trump.
DeSantis, despite having received more than $100 million in donor money via his Never Back Down SuperPAC, took second place, trailing Trump by a long shot with less than half the number of votes Trump received.
"DeSantis has enjoyed the support of self-proclaimed Iowa influencers such as Steve Deace and Bob Vander Plaats," reports The National Pulse. "He also carried the endorsement of Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds ... In the end, none of it mattered, with Trump dominating the evening."
(Related: Did you catch the news about Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, who lied that he was shot at first, before shooting and killing Ashli Babbitt during the January 6 "insurrection?")
Trump: Unity is "going to happen soon"
Trump's record-setting win in Iowa has basically solidified his eventual taking of the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Facing life-threatening cold weather and dangerous driving conditions – and possibly apathy over the clown show circus known as American politics – Iowa saw the lowest turnout caucus in 25 years. Even so, Trump received a 30-point win over his opponents, smashing the record for a contested Iowa Republican caucus with a margin of victory exceeding that of Bob Dole's 13-percentage-point victory back in 1988.
Many were shocked by the outcome, including contenders DeSantis and Haley who are still showing no signs of dropping out of the race, even though neither of them stands a chance at winning the nomination, let alone the election itself.
"Neither candidate appeared poised to exit the race, though they leave Iowa struggling to claim making much progress in trying to become Trump's strongest challenger," reported The Associated Press (AP).
In his victory speech, Trump served up a message of unity.
"We want to come together, whether it's Republican or Democrat or liberal or conservative," Trump said. "We're going to come together. It's going to happen soon."
As usual, the next GOP contest is scheduled in New Hampshire, which will hold the first-in-the-nation primary on January 23. One month and one day later, South Carolina will hold its primary.
"Because of your support, in spite of all of what they threw at us, we got our ticket punched out of Iowa," DeSantis told a small crowd of supporters during a visit to South Carolina.
Haley, meanwhile, is gunning for victory in New Hampshire where she hopes to be more successful with the state's independent voters.
"When you look at how well we're doing in New Hampshire and in South Carolina and beyond, I can safely say tonight Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race," Haley commented, imagining herself to be in the race alone with Trump and actually standing a chance against him.
While all this is taking place, Trump is still contending with the lawsuits filed against him. A jury is set to consider whether or not Trump should pay additional damages against a columnist who won a $5 million jury award last year for sex abuse and defamation.
Will Mr. Operation Warp Speed himself win the 2024 election? You can keep up with the latest at Trump.news.
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