Iowa embraces ‘inevitable nominee’ Donald Trump as rivals flail

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Donald Trump showed no cracks in the armour of his campaign to return to the White House after scoring an overwhelming victory in Iowa over his closest Republican rivals, prevailing in all 99 counties of the Midwestern state.

The result was widely expected, but it confirmed the tight grip Trump has retained over most voters in his party, who remain devoted to him despite the criminal charges he faces in courts across the US and yearn to see him back in office.

It has also raised the stakes for Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, and Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the UN, to mount more effective campaigns against the former president starting with the next contest in New Hampshire next week and into South Carolina next month.

“No one’s campaign is over,” said Kevin Madden, senior partner at consultancy Penta and a former Mitt Romney 2012 campaign official. “Both DeSantis and Haley still have an argument for continuing on. However, judging by what Republican base voters in Iowa are saying, they are currently falling short in making a convincing case that Trump is beatable.

“Republican voters see him as the inevitable nominee, and they’re already falling in line,” he added.

Trump won the Iowa caucuses with 51 per cent of the vote compared with 21 per cent for DeSantis and 19 per cent for Haley. Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech investor who finished in fourth place, dropped out of the race and endorsed the former president. Trump won a majority of Iowa Republicans over 45, very conservative voters, white evangelical Christians and those with some or no university education, according to entrance polls published by the Washington Post.

During his victory speech in downtown Des Moines, the state capital, Trump sought to be charitable towards his remaining rivals, praising them for being “smart people” after launching vicious…