Victory by landslide and call for unity. The ex-president Donald Trump announced this Monday, after winning his first victory in the primary process within the Republican Party, that it was time for the United States to “come together,” in a conciliatory message that was immediately followed by anti-immigrant comments. The New York tycoon won the Iowa caucuses with more votes than all his rivals combined in 98 of Iowa's 99 counties. During his victory speech, he urged voters to unite: “Our country must unite. We want to unite. Whether Republicans or Democrats, liberals or conservatives.”“It would be so good if we could come together and solve the world, solve the problems and put an end to all the death and destruction that we see,” he said.
Trump even praised his Republican rivals: “I want to congratulate Ron and Nikki for the great time we had together,” he said of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the former U.N. ambassador. Nikki Haley. He then went through a list of policies and issues he would like to address if re-elected to the White House, including a plan to “seal” the U.S.-Mexico border and “rebuild our cities.”
He also gave renewed air to the false conspiratorial claim that his 2020 election defeat was fraudulent by promising to “straighten our elections” and advocate for the use of ballots. He criticized Joe Biden as usual, calling him the worst president to ever hold office.
The audience included some of the party's hardliners, such as Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida and former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who refused to acknowledge her 2022 defeat for governor. The event featured two giant screens that repeatedly announced “TRUMP WINS IN IOWA!” in white letters on a black background before moving to the conservative channel Fox News.
Republican voters continue to believe Trump is their best chance to beat President Biden in November, even as Nikki Haley leads Biden in a race by a larger margin than either Trump or Ron DeSantis. Republican voters want a candidate who promises tax cuts and different immigration policies. Trump called illegal immigration to the United States “poisoning the blood of the country.” While most voters disagree with this language, eight in 10 Republican voters say they agree with it.