What’s remarkable is that Trump barely campaigned in Iowa, didn’t appear in any of the GOP primary debates and still won an outright majority of caucus delegates, besting the second-place finisher, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by 30 percentage points.
Sarat points out, “So loyal were Trump’s supporters in Iowa that 71 percent of them told pollsters last night that they would consider him fit to serve as president even if he were to be convicted of a crime.”
Trump even cleaned up among the state’s evangelical voters, who in the past have supported true believers such as Sens. Ted Cruz and Rick Santorum and Gov. Mike Huckabee.
So why did Trump win so big in Iowa? It’s simple: Most Iowans think Trump did a great job as president and that the country needs him to put it back on track after three dismal years under President Biden.
Trump, most of his supporters believe, is the only one who can fix the country.
And evangelicals have become more willing to overlook Trump’s flaws because as president he delivered for them on policy, most prominently in appointing three conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. Those three appointments were crucial to overturning Roe v. Wade, the court’s 1973 ruling finding a constitutional right to abortion.
“Trump’s Iowa victory should be a wake-up call,” Sarat concludes. “His opponents inside and outside the Republican Party will have to up their game quickly if they want to stop him from returning to the Oval Office.” Good luck.
Read the op-ed at TheHill.com.
