NEWS AND OPINION:
Yes, it’s all eyes on Iowa on Monday, where Republicans will cast their vote for the party’s presidential nominee in November. One candidate in particular is drawing much attention, of course.
Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo got some insight from Rep. Byron Donalds, Florida Republican, in a conversation on Sunday.
“Let’s talk about the Iowa caucuses. Your reaction to former President Trump now having the largest lead in Des Moines Register history?” Ms. Bartiromo asked.
Indeed, a Des Moines Register/NBC News poll released Saturday revealed that Mr. Trump enjoyed 48% support of the respondents, followed by former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley with 20%, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with 16%.
“First, I think it’s indicative of the fact that the people of Iowa remember how the country was running, how efficient it was, how our borders were secured, and how the world was actually at peace when President Trump was running the White House and he was running our country,” Mr. Donalds said.
“People in Iowa want to get back to that. And, look, no disrespect to Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy, but they have never done this job. Donald Trump has. So, the pressure in Iowa is not on President Trump. It’s on these other three candidates. Can they demonstrate any ability to get close to Donald Trump in the actual result?” the lawmaker continued.
“Because, if they cannot, Maria, this thing is going to be game, set and match, because Donald Trump, in my view, is going to win New Hampshire, he’s going to win South Carolina decisively, and then we’re just going to run away and get the whole nomination,” Mr. Donalds predicted.
WEATHER OR NOT
A round of applause please for all the hardy Iowa voters, candidates, officials, poll workers, journalists, security and public maintenance personnel plus others who have braved a frigid polar blast as winter rages in the Hawkeye State.
The weather has also inspired a spate of headlines in the past 24 hours alone. Here’s just a few:
“Iowa will see coldest caucus weather in decades” (Axios); “In Iowa, GOP presidential candidates concerned about impact of freezing temperatures on caucus turnout” (CBS News); “Subzero temperatures are set to make Iowa’s caucuses the coldest in history” (The New York Times); “It’s you and me now, Nikki Haley says to Donald Trump before Iowa caucuses” (Fox News); and “Trump’s supporters stand for hours in the cold to see him in Iowa a day before the GOP caucuses” (U.S. News & World Report).
‘UNFILTERED AND UNINTERRUPTED’
Live coverage of the Iowa GOP Caucus on Monday gets underway on C-SPAN and C-SPAN2 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.
“We’ll preview the first-in-the-nation voting and then take viewers inside a Republican Caucus in Iowa,” the network said in a statement to Inside the Beltway.
Once the caucus begins, C-SPAN viewers will watch the process unfold — unfiltered and uninterrupted — from registration to caucus captain speeches to vote counts. On C-SPAN 2, we’ll do something different — offering our viewers the CaucusCast — two experts providing historical context and real-time, play-by-play analysis of each step of the night’s caucus,” C-SPAN noted.
Find them at C-SPAN.org.
FOR THE LEXICON
“Battle tested Trump.”
This noteworthy phrase comes to us from M.D. Kittle, an investigative reporter who parsed the state of former President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.
“If the 2024 presidential campaign and the past eight years have taught us anything, it’s that there are people in this deeply divided republic who would crawl through broken glass, barbed wire, and solid ice to vote for the former president,” Mr. Kittle wrote in an analysis for the Federalist.
“Still, Trump, rolling into the caucuses with a 50-percentage point lead over his nearest challengers nationally and up by at least 35 percentage points in Iowa, isn’t taking anything for granted,” he said.
Mr. Kittle, incidentally, is a 30-year veteran of radio, newspaper and online journalism, according to his biography.
RECALLING NOV. 2, 1983
“On this November morning in the White House Rose Garden, President Reagan signed the law that would make the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. a legal public holiday. In the presence of his widow, Coretta Scott King, President Reagan lauded the extraordinary contributions of this singular man in the fight for equality of rights in America,” the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute said in a written statement.
Indeed, the 40th president signed off on that law on Nov. 2, 1983.
“This past November marked the 40th Anniversary of that bill signing. The effort to set aside a day of remembrance for the life’s work of Dr. King began almost immediately after his untimely and tragic death. The bill languished in Congress throughout several presidential administrations but ultimately was signed during President Reagan’s first term in office,” the statement noted.
“Each year on Martin Luther King Day, let us not only recall Dr. King, but rededicate ourselves to the commandments he believed in and sought to live every day,” Reagan said on the morning he signed off on the law.
“In his own life’s example, he symbolized what was right about America, what was noblest and best, what human beings have pursued since the beginning of history. He loved unconditionally. He was in constant pursuit of truth, and when he discovered it, he embraced it,” the 40th president said.
POLL DU JOUR
• 49% of U.S. adults say they would be “financially better off” if former President Donald Trump wins the 2024 presidential election.
• 81% of Republicans, 51% of independents and 15% of Democrats agree. 53% of men and 45% of women also agree.
• 30% overall say they would be “financially worse off” if he wins the election.
• 5% of Republicans, 26% of independents and 59% of Democrats agree. 25% of men and 35% of women also agree.
• 21% overall say their finances will “stay about the same” if he wins the election.
• 14% of Republicans, 23% of independents and 26% of Democrats agree. 22% of men and 20% of women also agree.
SOURCE: A CBS New poll of 1,904 U.S. adults conducted Jan. 10-12.
• Follow Jennifer Harper on X @HarperBulletin.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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