Gov. Napoleon DeSantis in Waterloo (Iowa)

OPINION:

Because “de Nile” ain’t just a river in Egypt.

It’s a new year, so as sure as January, the political press will return to Iowa this month to invent new ways to claim that former President Donald Trump is actually losing the election.

Polling shows the former president with a gargantuan — and growing! — lead over all his rivals for the Republican nomination.

“But national polls don’t count!” they shriek. OK, fair enough, though oddly humorous that the press seems to have just discovered this age-old truth.

So look at the polls in important early states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Ooof.

Mr. Trump is leading in them all. And again, by margins that make him nearly untouchable.

The most amazing revelation about these polls — both nationally and those conducted in key, early states — is that Mr. Trump is actually GAINING support. After all that has been thrown at Mr. Trump and billions of dollars’ worth of hotly negative advertising from the media, he is somehow still winning over new converts.

Polls show him gaining from 8 to 15 points since the end of summer — a polling movement that would be unimaginable for any figure as universally known as Donald Trump.

But still, according to the press, it’s a nail-biter for Mr. Trump going into 2024.

What is particularly astonishing for Mr. Trump’s prospects is that while Mr. Trump floats atop a field of candidates, he has still managed to collect a majority of support in the primary cycle. Most polls show him breaking the 50% barrier, and further polling suggests he still has room for more support.

He is the most famous politician alive, and yet the support registered in polls today is a floor, not a ceiling!

“But polls don’t win elections!” they scream. Heh-heh.

OK. The whole government-media complex has built itself around worshipping political opinion polling, and suddenly, they want to be all cautious about reading too much into their precious political opinion polls.

OK, liars.

So let’s game out how this works.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has placed all his chips on Iowa.

Iowa is his Waterloo. And with his high-heeled boots, Mr. DeSantis is almost as tall as Napoleon.

But exhaustive polling suggests Mr. DeSantis loses badly in Iowa to Mr. Trump, who has spared nothing this time organizing for the caucuses.

It is also worth remembering that in caucuses, intensity of enthusiasm counts extra. And Mr. Trump wins the enthusiasm contest every time.

Herein lies the next media lie, however. They call it the “expectations game.”

Ha ha ha ha. That’s the game where they make up the rules, constantly change the rules and no matter what, Mr. Trump loses every time.

So, when he comes in first place in Iowa this month, the press will claim he lost because Gov. Napoleon did not perform as badly as somebody thought he would. Or Mr. Trump loses because former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley performed better than Gov. Napoleon.

Then, it will be off to New Hampshire for the next round of the expectations game.

Again, no matter how bigly Mr. Trump performs, the press will declare that he lost because somebody else did better than somebody expected. And then on to South Carolina.

But at some point, somebody has to actually start winning. And if the polls are to be believed, that winner appears to be Donald Trump.

So, Happy New Year to the political press. Get over it!

• Charles Hurt is the opinion editor at The Washington Times.