By Illinois Review
President Donald Trump has won a decisive and historic victory in Monday night’s Iowa Caucuses, beating his Republican opponents easily and solidifying his status as the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States.
At 7:30 pm CST, just thirty minutes after the start of the caucuses, CNN had already projected President Trump the winner – leaving host Jake Tapper and the panel of political commentators stunned and in disbelief that the race was already over with less than 1 percent reporting.
“The former president pulling off a huge early victory in his bid to return to the White House,” said CNN’s Tapper. “Trump easily beating his top opponents Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley…”
Tapper then added, “This is the earliest I can remember ever calling such a thing.”
Trump finished thirty points ahead of his opponents and pulled off the unthinkable – winning 98 of 99 counties in Iowa. In Johnson County, Trump was just 1 vote short.
Longtime political advisor and Trump confidante Roger Stone, who remains a close friend of this publication, reiterated the gravity of tonight’s victory, posting on his X account,
“No Republican has even won the Iowa caucus by more than 12%. By that measure, Trump is headed to a landslide.”
In the meantime, an embarrassed and humiliated DeSantis campaign spokesman – Andrew Romeo, tried to claim election interference after the race was called for Trump so quickly, posting on X,
“Absolutely outrageous that the media would participate in election interference by calling the race before tens of thousands of Iowans even had a chance to vote.”
Romeo then tried to falsely claim that mainstream media outlets like CNN and The New York Times, who both called the race for Trump almost immediately, were trying to help the Trump campaign.
“The media is in the tank for Trump and this is the most egregious example yet.”
DeSantis finished in second place – way behind Trump. Haley finished in third and Ramaswamy in fourth place.
During an election night speech, a visibly disappointed Ramaswamy addressed supporters and announced he was suspending his presidential campaign. But Ramaswamy wasn’t done yet, he had one more announcement to make.
“This has to be an America First candidate in that White House…and earlier tonight I called Donald Trump and congratulated him on his victory, and now going forward, he will have my full endorsement for the presidency…”
In Illinois, many Illinois Republican Party officials lined up early behind DeSantis, including Republican national committeeman Richard Porter and AM 560 radio host and state central committee member Jeanne Ives.
When DeSantis launched his presidential campaign last May, Porter was in Miami making phone calls and raising money for the campaign. And during an interview with Crain’s Chicago Business during that same time, Ives told reporter Greg Hinz,
“I’m a DeSantis fan. I like a strong governor with a proven record of accomplishments…Florida has, what, a $21 billion budget surplus? And Trump? If he’s the nominee, I’ll be 100% behind him.”
And this past September, Ives, on her personal Facebook page, slammed an upcoming event with Donald Trump Jr., who was coming to Illinois to promote Letters To Trump, and falsely claimed that event hosts that were hosting the former president’s son couldn’t sell tickets.
Since the 2015 presidential campaign, the IL GOP has remained anti-Trump.
During the 2016 national GOP convention, many Illinois Republican Party leaders, including then Gov. Rauner, former Gov. Jim Edgar, US Sen. Mark Kirk and Rauner-appointed Comptroller Leslie Munger, skipped the convention because they did not support Trump.
In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, IL GOP chair DonTracy’s family-owned business, Dot Foods – where he is an owner, donated to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden – who at the time, was running against President Trump.
On March 23, 2023 Tracy and the IL GOP traveled down to Naples, Florida and hosted a private reception featuring former US Attorney General Bill Baar, who served as AG under the George HW Bush and Donald Trump presidential administrations.
Baar remains critical of Trump, and in November 2022, he published a scathing opinion piece in the New York Post, writing,
“Unless the rest of the party goes along with him, he will burn the whole house down by leading ‘his people’ out of the GOP. Trump’s willingness to destroy the party if he does not get his way is not based on principle, but on his own supreme narcissism. His egoism makes him unable to think of a political party as anything but an extension of himself – a cult of personality.”
Late on Monday night, Trump addressed a packed room full of supporters from his Iowa election night headquarters and sounded like the Republican nominee for President, saying, “I really think this is time now for everybody – our country, to come together.”
The former president was grateful to Iowa for their support and he was gracious to his fellow opponents – leveling his attacks against President Joe Biden, instead.
“He’s the worst president we’ve had in the history of our country.”
The next caucus is in New Hampshire on January 23rd.
