The 2024 Republican presidential primary is underway — and, on Monday, former President Donald Trump secured a runaway victory in Iowa. The Intercept’s D.C. Bureau Chief Ryan Grim was joined by politics reporters Ken Klippenstein and Prem Thakker in a virtual roundtable on the results of the Iowa caucuses and the year ahead in GOP politics.
Among the topics they discussed were Trump’s conspicuous silence on Israel’s war on Gaza, Nikki Haley’s positioning on U.S. support for Ukraine, the Project 2025 plan by conservative groups to overhaul the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win, the growing ambivalence among young Democrats toward voting for Joe Biden, and the next primary race in New Hampshire.
“[The Iowa results were] probably the best of all worlds for Donald Trump,” Grim said. “Nikki Haley, who was his biggest threat in New Hampshire … finished third place. That hurts her heading into New Hampshire. [Ron] DeSantis doesn’t have a path that I can see to any victory in any state.”
Looking ahead to the November election, Klippenstein and Thakker said that even if Trump doesn’t win another term, the demand for his brand of politics among Republican voters will endure.
“Just from the results we have, there are two ways of looking at it: One is Trump versus non-Trump votes. … Another frame is if you think of it as MAGA and MAGA-adjacent politics versus non-MAGA,” Thakker said. “That reminds you that there might be some people who are tired of Trump and his tweets or he could be a little less brash … but regardless, there still seems to be an appetite for it.”
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
Contact the author:
Related
Latest Stories
Israel’s War on Gaza
Portland AI Company Ships Targeting Tech to Israeli Drone Maker
Video processing firm Sightline Intelligence, which claims its AI can separate civilians from militants, faces protests at home.
License to Kill
Trump’s Killing Spree Isn’t Stopping the Flow of Drugs Into the U.S.
The Trump administration falsely claims that boat strikes target fentanyl and have halted 97 percent of cocaine shipments to the U.S.
Voices
Never Apologize
James Comey, Zohran Mamdani, and the lost art of doubling down.