Ron DeSantis visited all 99 counties in Iowa. Donald Trump won all but one of them.
More than 35 years ago, Donald Trump hosted what promoters billed as “Once and For All,” a boxing match between undefeated heavyweights Michael Spinks and Mike Tyson. After knocking Spinks down in less than a minute, Tyson proceeded to knock out his quite-accomplished opponent about 30 seconds later. Trump inflicted last night in the frost what he witnessed at Boardwalk Hall on a warm June night all those years ago. He obliterated the competition in Tysonesque fashion.
Iowa, like Tyson-Spinks, ended before it started. One anticipated the destruction in that fight from the foreshadowing body language during the ring instructions. The also-rans playing the expectations game or dropping out in advance of Iowa performed their version of Spinks shoegazing before “Once and For All.”
Trump not only swept every county not named Johnson County; it appears he exceeded 40 percent in all but four and exceeded 50 percent in all but 13 of the 99 counties. Prior to last night, the most lopsided victory for a Republican during a contested caucus occurred a few months before that Tyson-Spinks fight when Bob Dole defeated George H.W. Bush by 13 percentage points. Trump looks like he pulled off a 30-point victory last night — not bad for a guy who in 2016 lost to Ted Cruz and nearly lost to Marco Rubio there.
Trump overperformed among evangelical, rural, and conservative voters. The higher the level of education, the worse he performed.
Iowa Republicans called immigration the top issue followed by the economy, according to Fox News’ Voter Analysis. Those two issues switched in order of importance in CNN’s entrance polls. CNN noted that two-thirds regard Joe Biden’s 2020 election as illegitimate; about the same judge Trump still fit for the presidency if convicted of a crime. Three in five wish to ban most abortions.
DeSantis surrogate Chip Roy, right on so much, sounded absurd in calling it “absurd” that news organizations called the night early for Trump “in order to impact the decision.” A more rational response came from Vivek Ramaswamy, who abruptly dropped out and endorsed Trump. (Given Ramaswamy’s adoring tone toward the former president, one wonders if he would have voted for himself had he stayed in the race).
Possibly New Hampshire, which displays a maverick streak and boasts nothing like the evangelical presence of Iowa, provides Nikki Haley more fertile ground. Still, she cannot hope to win there — or even in her home state of South Carolina. Neither can DeSantis, who, although he did not win a single Iowa county, managed to edge out Haley for second.
Michael Spinks, an intelligent man boasting wins over such legendary boxers as Larry Holmes, Dwight Muhammad Qawi, and Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, wisely retired rather than demand a rematch after his drubbing in Atlantic City. Continuing seems as pointless for Haley and DeSantis.
In boxing, the referee stops the fight when he sees too much punishment inflicted. In politics, a more sadistic and masochistic sport, it goes the distance unless and until the losers say no más.
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Bitter Ron DeSantis Beats Defiant Nikki Haley For Second Place in Iowa Caucuses
