Trump Notches a Commanding Win in the Iowa Caucuses as DeSantis Edges Haley for Second Place - Flathead Beacon

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

69% : Having repeatedly vowed vengeance against his political opponents in recent months, Trump offered a message of unity in his victory speech.
65% : After visiting the court, Trump will fly to New Hampshire to hold a rally Tuesday evening.
62% : In a preview of a remarkable balancing act Trump may have to manage in the months ahead, he was expected to be in court in New York on Tuesday.
59% : Trump showed significant strength among Iowa's urban, small-town and rural communities, according to AP VoteCast.
58% : The Associated Press declared Trump the winner at 7:31 p.m. CST based on an analysis of early returns as well as results of AP VoteCast, of more than 1,500 voters who said they planned to take part in the caucuses.
54% : "God called us to do that to support Trump," said 64-year-old David Lage, donning a captain's hat at Trump's victory party.
51% : The Associated Press determined at 11:17 p.m. CST that DeSantis finished a distant second to Trump.
47% : Initial results from eight counties showed Trump with far more than half of the total votes counted as of 7:31 p.m., with the rest of the field trailing far behind.
47% : The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether states have the ability to block Trump from the ballot for his role in sparking the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.
42% : Trump has increasingly echoed authoritarian leaders and framed his campaign as one of retribution.
33% : About three-quarters of Iowans responding to AP VoteCast said the charges against Trump are political attempts to undermine him, rather than legitimate attempts to investigate important issues.
32% : One relative weakness for Trump comes in the suburbs, where only about 4 in 10 supported him.
31% : The results left Trump with a tighter grip on the GOP nomination, though it could take several more months for anyone to formally become the party's standard bearer.
30% : Trump has made courtroom visits a part of his campaign -- heading to court voluntarily twice last week while his opponents campaigned in Iowa -- in a strategy designed to portray him as a victim of a politicized legal system.
28% : But those who ventured out delivered a roughly 30-point win for Trump that smashed the record for a contested Iowa Republican caucus with a margin of victory exceeding Bob Dole's nearly 13-percentage-point victory in 1988.
24% : A shrinking field will compete there after conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy suspended his campaign after a disappointing fourth place finish and endorsed Trump.
23% : Both showed Trump with an insurmountable lead.
21% : A jury is poised to consider whether he should pay additional damages to a columnist who last year won a $5 million jury award against Trump for sex abuse and defamation.

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