After the clear victory in Iowa: in Trump’s eyes, the primaries are already over. Machete attack on Berlin metro station – two people injured

Donald Trump is back. And there doesn’t seem to be anyone in the Republican Party who can stop him. That was the message that the former American president spread on Monday, as soon as his clear victory with 51 percent of the votes in the first primaries in the state of Iowa became clear.

Trump appeared before the cameras in Des Moines on Monday evening and made a conciliatory impression. The 77-year-old said: “I really think it’s time for our country to come together.”

He then delivered a speech that only Trump could deliver: an impromptu collection of thanksgivings, self-praise, asides and programmatic promises. The ex-president also found some words of praise for his internal party rivals, whom he had defeated more clearly than expected.

Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, won 21.2 percent, Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina, won 19.1 percent. Vivek Ramaswamy was in fourth place with 7.7 percent; The serial businessman withdrew from the race for the White House on election night. (Ramaswamy immediately called on people to vote for the ex-president in the next primaries.)

The primaries are not over yet and Trump is not yet officially the candidate of his party – but it is understandable that the president, who was voted out of office in 2020, sees himself as the virtually invincible leader of the Republicans after his victory in Iowa. With a low turnout in the election – about 110,000 party members took part in the caucuses in record low temperatures – he did better than predicted.

And perhaps even more importantly: the two main competitors could not live up to the high expectations. A few days ago, the DeSantis camp had predicted that the Florida governor would win by 60,000 votes. The bottom line was that there were only just over 22,000 on Monday.

The governor of Florida is happy with second place

Yet DeSantis was extremely satisfied with his performance in a short speech on Monday evening. The 45-year-old said finishing second in the Republican field gave him enough momentum to fight in the next primary.

That won’t be easy, as the first primaries will take place next Tuesday in the east coast state of New Hampshire – where voters have not yet warmed up to DeSantis’ political ideas.

Haley, on the other hand, is now fully committed to the next area code. “I love you, Iowa,” she said in her speech, “but we’re on our way to New Hampshire.” Haley must now defeat Trump next Tuesday or her campaign will be over.

The former governor never expected an Iowa victory; But recently, good polls had suggested that Trump, 51, could be pulling away, at least in metropolitan areas where many well-educated Republicans live. But in the end she only won the majority of votes at the party meetings (caucuses) in one of the 99 administrative districts. Trump won the remaining 98 counties.