Iowa caucuses: what does Trump's victory portend?
Donald Trump has won a sweeping victory in the first Republican caucus for the US presidential election. With 51 percent, he took more than half of the votes in Iowa, followed by Ron DeSantis with around 21 percent and Nikki Haley with roughly 19 percent. Fourth-placed Vivek Ramaswamy has dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump. Europe's press braces for hard times ahead.
Europe must prepare itself
Trump's impending comeback should be a wake-up call for the EU, La Croix warns:
“It's well known how little enthusiasm the ardent defender of fossil fuels has for the fight against climate change in which Europe is currently invested - in particular the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, which Joe Biden later brought his country back into, was thanks to him. We hear Trump's doubts about continuing support for Ukraine and his opposition to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which the EU favours. ... If he becomes president again, we will need a strong Europe. ... The main thing now is to not underestimate the importance of the European elections that await us in June.”
Populist advocate of the "true" America
Dserkalo Tyschnja explains what makes Trump so popular:
“The ex-president's 'unsinkability' cannot be explained solely by his (negative) charisma, his demagoguery and his outstanding showmanship. As in previous presidential races, he has positioned himself as the voice of the interests of the 'real' America. ... He was best able to grasp the mood of pessimism, uncertainty and fear among his core electorate made up of lower-middle-class white Americans without a university degree, and found simplistic, often unrealistic but attractive answers to the issues that were important to them.”
Blind to social justice
La Stampa is surprised that Trump is so popular among low-income groups:
“Social justice hardly seems to play a role in the decisions of voters in almost all countries. At the beginning of his term of office in 2017, Donald Trump gave colossal gifts to the super-rich with his 1.5 trillion-dollar tax cuts. With the spending policies of Joe Biden's administration, lower incomes have made up some of the ground lost to higher incomes. ... But as we saw in Iowa, support for Trump is booming.”
Trump candidacy would be a gift to the Democrats
Tygodnik Powszechny does not believe that Trump would be able to secure a majority again:
“There is no denying that having Trump as a rival would be the best gift for the Democrats: the incumbent US president with record low approval ratings could turn the election into a referendum against Trump. Just like in 2020 and 2022, when it came to the key election battle for Congress (the Democrats retained their majority in the Senate thanks in part to their anti-Trump rhetoric). Also working in Biden's favour is Donald Trump's increasingly shrill rhetoric, which includes hints that he would not shy away from using the FBI and the Department of Justice to take revenge on his political enemies if he were to win.”
Polarisation the wrong strategy
Biden should focus on his own strengths rather than the threat posed by his opponent, De Morgen advises:
“Biden must not make the mistake in his campaign of adopting Trump's 'us versus them' approach, as he is now doing. His vilification is making Trump a major magnet right now. ... Instead, Biden can learn from Iowa, where few younger people voted for Trump and fewer women participated - the very target groups that helped the current president win the 2020 election and could do the same in 2024. To secure their support, Biden should play up his own strengths rather than lashing out at the bullhorn from Mar-a-Lago.”
Easy wins for Trump
Delfi predicts that Trump will make a clean sweep:
“The ex-president's victory in Iowa is no surprise. The polls have been predicting it for months. ... DeSantis invested a lot of resources in Iowa, so his second place is also no major surprise. But the large gap between him and Trump shows how much influence the ex-president still wields among Republicans. Trump received more votes in Iowa than DeSantis and Haley combined. ... The next stop in the Republican primaries is New Hampshire next week. Polls show that Trump is the favourite there, too. ... A Trump victory in that state would also be a big step on the road to the nomination.”
Europe must stand on its own two feet
The EU urgently needs to realign its defence policy, warns Club Z:
“According to EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, Donald Trump said in an informal conversation with Ursula von der Leyen in 2020 that 'if Europe is attacked, we will never come to your aid'. Also that Nato 'is dead and we will leave Nato'. He is also reported to have said: 'You owe me 400 billion dollars because you Germans have not paid what you should have paid for defence'. ... If Trump returns to the White House, Europe will not only have to deal with his hatred of the old continent, but will also urgently have to shoulder the entire burden of its own defence.”
A strange symbiosis
For the Aargauer Zeitung, the relationship between Trump and the media is mutually beneficial:
“As in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, this strange symbiosis between the media and the anti-politician Trump is re-emerging. It's like a mutual obsession. Journalists report on him extensively, often with a warning undertone, while Trump never forgets to unleash his hate tirades against the 'enemies of the people' at every appearance. In the end, both benefit, because attention is the most important currency in both the political and media business.”