By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...Another largely White state has voted and it's another victory for racist Republican Donald J. Trump. This time, it was New Hampshire, where projections had the divisive, oft-indicted former president beating last opponent standing Nikki Haley soundly.
It's a battered freight train of pain he rides, but, somehow, the 77-year-old Trump seems happy to be rolling towards that now-expected battle against Democrat Joe Biden in the 2024 General Election. The voting yesterday was called a win by The Associated Press and CNN for Trump with barely 21% of the vote counted.
Slowly and steadily, the gap widened as the tabulation proceeded. It would be an easy and unmistakable takedown of Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and an ex-United Nations Ambassador in the earlier Trump Administration.
Speaking to supporters at her campaign headquarters in Concord, Haley congratulated Trump on his victory. But she’s staying in the race.
"New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last," she said.
That challenge moves to her home state next month for the next primary. And even as some pundits are saying Haley will stay in through the Super Tuesday primaries in early March, they say her motivation may be a belief that Trump could die on the campaign trail.
Yesterday's defeat came two days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the Rolling Pageant and threw his support to Trump.
A buoyant Trump thanked his supporters and essentially said the race for the Republican Party's presidential nomination is over. Scenes of the ex-president belied all of his legal problems, his interaction with supporters looking very much like those of a normal, unbridled candidate enjoying himself.
Trump is scheduled to return to his defamation trial in New York on Thursday. He's also still on the hook for three other trials, the result of 91 felonies filed by federal prosecutors and the State of Georgia, where he faces RICO charges to do with his alleged plot to overturn the 2020 election.
Still, a win is a win is a win in politics.
Never mind that, so far, it is essentially just a rather giddy White people carnival. Iowa, where Trump won that state's caucus a week ago, is 89.8% white. New Hampshire is 89.6% white - both figures according to the most recent U.S. Census.
South Carolina, however, will see a large number of Black voters, but Hispanics are not to be seen in the game until the March 5 Super Tuesday voting, when Texas heads to the polls.
Something about this set-up is skewed, is our feeling.
But give Trump his moment in the spotlight one more time. He is looking only to the national election in November, perhaps to hopefully win and unload the worst court cases for as long as he is president. His ongoing defamation case concerns magazine writer E. Jean Carroll, a woman who accused Trump of raping her. She won that particular case, but is now sitting in for the punishment side of things, i.e. a judge's ruling as to how much Trump will pay her.
None of that made it to the meaningful conversation ahead of the voting in Iowa or New Hampshire. Trump supporters - the MAGA sorts - are staying with him through Hell or High Water.
The odds for that showdown with Democrat incumbent Biden?
Most of the writing I've seen in the major publications says Biden will easily beat Trump.
We'll see about that all-inclusive dogfight, yes...
-30-
I'm okay with that. Biden is a decent president.
ReplyDeleteEcho that. X2
DeleteThere's no doubt many people will vote for Biden just to keep trump out. Even people who don't normally vote will vote a block trump vote. The truth is trump needs to be in jail, this entire thing is absurd and has gone on too long.
DeleteAnyone surprised by this? Of course he'll win it. The GOP knows that he's their ticket back to power so, of course, they'll rally around him even if they have to hold their noses to do so, so to speak. The goal here is power and prestige, not actually leading the country. That goes for both parties, btw, not just one or the other. ALL politicians engage in power at all costs moves and if they can't personally achieve that power, they'll swing in behind someone who can, simply because it'll sweep them along in the comet's tail behind the other person in reflected glory.
ReplyDeleteNew Hampshire Republican Governor Chris Sununu mocked Donald Trump on Tuesday, saying that the former president is "surrounded by losers."
ReplyDeleteHe said it.
DeleteNot another cent for Dak Prescott!!!
ReplyDeleteTrade him!
DeleteHaley tried to walk a political tightrope to not offend MAGA's. All of them walked that tightrope except Christie. In the process, she has made herself look comical. Haley won't last much longer. Even Tim Scott recently endorsed Trump. Despite the fact, it was Haley who appointed him to the Senate when she was Governor. That's sticking the knife right in the back there. For her to win in MAGA Country, where Trump's support is absolute for a significant portion of that population - like the deep South - including South Carolina - isn't going to happen. Scott stuck that knife in deep because he knew she doesn't have a chance, and it's politically expedient for him to back the winning horse. Politics is a dirty business.
ReplyDeleteYeah orangie not winning the general for sure. He should not be winning Republican nomination either. We weren't all MAGA. Now as an Independent I will help make sure he does not win the General.
DeleteI'll be supporting Haley until the RNC national convention and hopefully until November. If Trump is nominated, I will be voting Democrat for president, senate and congress. If you are worried about having Trump as president, you should be more worried about Trump with a senate and house that will bow at his feet.
ReplyDeleteAmericans are bored with Trump and the Republicans know it.
ReplyDeleteGo Baltimore Ravens!!!
ReplyDelete49ers beat Lions; Ravens beat Chiefs.
DeleteI am disgusted by these people that will suck up to Trump. They will sell their souls for power. I think we have enough people in this country with common sense to rid ourselves of this petulant child once and for all in November.
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that Nikki Haley would grant Trump a pardon; this crucial detail should not be overlooked during the election, creating chaos again.
DeleteIn a few days or weeks, when she inevitably drops out of the race, Haley will endorse Trump. She's no moderate, just playing at one.
DeleteSupreme Court says Texas Guard can’t block federal agents from border. Time for a showdown. U.S. Army vs. Texas National Guard. Oh, and the Uvalde DPS cowards.
ReplyDeletePeople who love this country will not trade our freedoms for trump. He will lose in '24 if he even lives long enough to make the election.
ReplyDeleteJMHO. The RGV isn't as engaged in this. I don't hear the talk at all.
ReplyDeleteTo a large extent, you are correct. Valley news includes some national reporting, but rarely localizes it. I do hear stuff at my restaurant, where people seem to gather to talk about such things as these primaries or the Border; that sort of stuff...
DeleteAgree on the primaries being only for whites so far. We in Texas have to wait until March 5 Super Tuesday to have our say. Rigged system. For sure.
ReplyDeleteRepublican here, but I’m tired of the Trump dementia, tired of the Trump stink. I’m voting for Biden in 2024!
ReplyDeleteThey like Trump's hatred of certain groups of people. It's about hatred and fear. They don't care about his policies...and they don't know what they are.
ReplyDeleteThe Biden Immigration bill currently stuck in Congress, contains the funding we have been begging for, down here at the border. Funding for more BP agents, funding for more asylum/immigration judges. Funding for more high technology border security measures and more funding for fencing projects....But the Republicans do not want to pass this bill because it will make Biden look good...Are they thinking we will wait until 2029 for relief? The GOP needs to be fired this November.
DeleteWe've never had a President willfully set on demagoguery and grifting his supporters. The really scary bit is that Trump's supporters seem to be so fanatical of him, they're insulated against the reality of who he is and what he does.
ReplyDeleteThen, there are those who are fully aware but don't see anything wrong with it.
The Republican Party has turned into a criminal organization under Trump.
DeleteRepublican majority in the House is down to one! Republicans keep deluding themselves thinking they have the majority and can force their way or the highway. Any real party would realize when you are barely holding on to a majority in one chamber you need to work with the others side to get the best compromise you can.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing is Republicans weren't smart enough to see that the reason Trump became a Republican was to take them down from the inside! Every builder knows that taking something down from the inside is the easiest way to take it down! I think in that regard Trump is doing a fabulous job! They forgot how much they snubbed Trump when he was a Democrat! Well Trump hasn't and we know what paybacks are don't we!
ReplyDeleteTrump still has a significant hurdle ahead of him, and no amount of fundraising or voter outreach can eliminate it: He needs to win a potentially decisive showdown at the Supreme Court.
ReplyDeleteTrump: "I want To See Biden In Prison."
ReplyDeleteBiden: "Why does Trump think I would visit him in prison?"
I don’t want Trump just to be defeated. He needs to be made an example of…he needs to be accountable for his actions and America needs to show his behavior and actions are not OK and should not be repeated. We need to establish character and virtue as must haves in every candidate from now on.
ReplyDeleteSen. Susan Collins (Maine), the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee and a key figure in getting bills passed through Congress, says she will NOT endorse former President Trump, even if he becomes the Republican Party’s nominee for president.
ReplyDeleteGood for her!
DeleteTexas Republican Sen. John Cornyn endorses lawless Donald Trump.
ReplyDelete