Trump Has Set the Media’s Hair on Fire
Is the sky finally falling?
“Can Trump be stopped?” Sohrab Ahmari wondered for The New Statesman on January 24, 2024, repeating a question currently dominating practically every news cycle.
“Donald Trump has clinched the New Hampshire primary in the race to be the Republican presidential nominee, as the polls predicted,” noted Ahmari dejectedly. “The New York Times currently projects an 11-point margin to Nikki Haley in second place — tighter than what he achieved in Iowa, to be sure, but still formidable. The result attests to Trump’s enduring grip on the GOP voter base, as well as the disconnect between the desires of rank-and-file Republicans and the party establishment as embodied by Haley.”
“Haley, a former UN ambassador, went into New Hampshire with solid advantages,” Ahmari noticed. “For one thing, the Granite State allows undeclared voters, who make up 40 percent of the state’s electorate, to take part in either party’s primaries.”
In New Hampshire, Haley did indeed perform well with the state’s independent, undecided, and Democratic Party-friendly voters. Less so with the state’s registered Republicans, though Haley outspent Trump by a considerable sum.
“Then there was Haley’s money advantage,” Ahmari admitted. “Her campaign and its allied political action committees…